Edition 36 Free
VERSE
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Thomas Kelsall
Karma's joke
Failure
Jonathan Kim
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Verse Magazine acknowledges the Kaurna, Boandik and Barngarla First Nations People as the traditional custodians of the unceded lands that are now home to the University of South Australia’s campuses in Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Whyalla. Verse Magazine respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past, present and emerging. Verse Magazine also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia. It was and always will be Aboriginal land.
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Editor’s Letter Fossils of a human heart Karma’s joke Imagine: Jonathan Kim Matter of hearts Playlist: Songs to put a spring in your step Interview: Thomas Kelsall Taboo: Failure Humans of UniSA Grace Feature: Lucy Edwards The initial unknown Infinity Review: How do you hipster your food? Puzzles The signs according to The Witcher Club Feature: Women in STEM USASA Calendar USASA President’s Letter
Cover: Lucy Edwards
As we wrap up our final edition before the incredible Blak Out editorial team steps in, I’d like to shout out everyone who has been involved with Verse, in some shape or form, this year. So, on behalf of Emma, Nina, Jordan and myself, thank you to our contributors, whose considered thoughts and creative ideas have been a joy to publish. I’d also like to thank you, our readers. We hope you’ve lost yourself in these pages as much as we have and that they’ve inspired you in some way. Although this is where the Verse team signs off, it’s not the end of the magazine for this year (hooray!). Keep your eyes peeled for the incredible Blak Out edition, which is being run by the Aboriginal student guest editorial team. They’ve been working behind the scenes to get the inaugural Blak Out edition of the ground and organising events to launch the mag in October. No matter where you’ve been or who you are, Verse has always been for and by UniSA students. I truly hope you saw something in these pages that resonated with you. Everyone take care and we’ll see you again soon!
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Verse Magazine
Created by students for all students. Verse Mag is your UniSA magazine. It’s unusual, unconventional and pretty damn cool. Submit your work and stay up to date with everything Verse, including the latest stories, reviews, release dates and heaps more at VerseMag.com.au Facebook.com/VerseMagAdelaide Instagram.com/VerseMagazine 3
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Fossils of a human heart I shed dead skin in a trail of diary entries and old poems, snaking through my life’s path – the fossils of the human heart, footprints, preserved in stone. I watched the slow extinction of a past girl – each leaf dropping eventually, though new ones will grow. I read the things she wrote and it’s peculiar – how much she isn’t me. The air smells fresh outside, it’s been raining today – a comforting white noise, but I don’t have you here to put your head on my shoulder, and tell me about now things that keep me grounded here. So my mind takes a walk, a hopscotch, along my stepping stone leaves or stepping stone petals – my trail of past things that fell from past me. There are still pieces of her, new flowers grow from old roots. But she was fading, waning, I knew, when I stopped writing about him and started writing about you. Words and Artwork Lauren Rawlings
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Karma’s joke I can’t bring myself to tell him that every day, I will my heart to move on, to forget, but still, it waits for him– with every single beat, it waits. It searches for him in every crowd, on every street, in every queue. It steers me to the places he loves– to his favourite sculpture, his favourite store, his favourite café– all the while playing his favourite tunes over and over again. I imagine his laughter, I see the little crease at his eyes when he smiles. the tilt of his head as he leans in to kiss me. I feel the weight of his hand on my thigh when I’m driving. I look over to the empty seat convinced I can feel the heat of his gaze. It seems I can’t forget him, for he is everywhere I go– he walked out but the love never did –that’s the cruellest of tricks. He could have at least taken the love with him
when he left. I guess I’m being unfair– it was my decision for our love affair to end, it was me that said goodbye. But there are days when I forget why– when I wake up and I’m so angry at him for letting me go. Days where grief grips my throat choking the life out of me. Nights where the fire has left my lips, and the will and fight has left my soul. So, here we are– great gusts of wind blowing between us and all around us. And the cosmos, well the cosmos sent madam karma and she’s laughing great, big roars of laughter. Laughter so loud that everyone else thinks it’s the sound of thunder clouds chasing the storm, and we’re all out here bracing for the rain to fall. And while everyone is cursing the weather man for getting it so wrong, and tucking their umbrellas back in their bags, I’m sitting here with the precipitation
falling from my eyes because I’ve made a mistake. I let him go when all I wanted was to pull him close. And now I’m left with karma’s laugh, and the thunder clouds and the pouring rain and memories of what could have been, should have been and used to be. Regret, like karma… she’s a bitch. Words Tabitha Lean Photography Mitch Ingham
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Jonathan Kim
Interview Christina Massolino Right: Mirror & Plaster #, 2017, Mirror and plaster, 30x30cm (each mirror).
After studying engineering, completing two years of military service, and running a business in international trade and economics, Jonathan Kim moved from South Korea to Australia with his wife and awoke a once-dormant creative flair. Seeking something new that fulfilled his creative desire that had, until now, been denied by societal pressure, Jonathan began creating art. In 2018, he graduated from UniSA with a Bachelor of Contemporary Art with honours in art and design. Jonathan also spent time studying and practising art at the British School in Rome, Italy. Currently undertaking a residency at ACE Open, Jonathan’s works revolve largely around Post-Minimalism, and he excitingly blends his Western involvement of art and study with his South Korean cultural upbringing and experience. Verse’s arts contributor, Christina Massolino, sat down with Jonathan to discuss his life experiences, minimalist theories and approach to art.
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Above: Installation view, Density, Liverpool Street Gallery, 2018, Adelaide. Right: Installation view, Hatched The National Graduate Show 2019, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts. Photograph: Bo Wong. Below: Installation view, Density, 2020, FELTspace, Adelaide. Institute of Contemporary Arts. Photograph: Bo Wong.
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Imagine
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What have you noticed differentiates approaches to Western art and East Asian art, particularly in relation to ‘energy’, which you’ve associated with your work previously? My background in art education is based on Western art. I first started studying art at the University of South Australia, so my aesthetic curiosity began with Western art history. Therefore, my current practice also started with an interest in minimalism. When my teacher Louise Haselton asked me what kind of art genre I liked in my first year of my undergraduates, I answered minimalism. After that, I made many different styles of artwork; however, I started to research minimalism again from the last semester before graduation. As a result, I presented an installation art using plaster blocks and mirrors at the graduation exhibition in 2018 (See: Mirror & Plaster #, 2017). However, I found the mirror was being interfered with by the exhibition environment, such as the audience, place, etc. And I also found that it was due to the physical properties of the mirror. The new question led to the research in my honours program, and my research topic naturally changed to the post-minimal art movement (See: Density, 2018). To be honest, I did not know anything about Lee Ufan and his art until then. However, I began to pay attention to the relationships between the elements that made up artwork and discovered Lee Ufan’s theory Encounter in the course of the study. Lee Ufan, a Korean Post-Minimalist artist, is a large inspiration to you. Can you tell us more about that? In Lee Ufan’s theory, the relationship between objects and mediums is more important than the physical structure of the work. In my research, the relation is called Gong-gan-seong (공간성, spatiality), and I think it is physical, not conceptual. So, my research argued Gonggan-seong should be perceived by the body, not by the brain and adopted phenomenology as a methodology. However, I wondered if phenomenology could accurately reflect my artistic ideas when it is in the realm of epistemology in Western philosophy. Also, I feel that my concept is closer to structuralism. Therefore, I came to use the term energy, especially in the process of applying structuralism based on East Asian philosophy, such as Taoism(道敎), Yin-Yang(陰陽) and Fengshui(風水). Simply put, you can think of it as my own word, a comprehensive and broad representation of the physical relationship between two or more materials. While studying in Italy, what was the artistic link in Post-Minimalist discourse that you connected to Lee Ufan? Lee Ufan’s theory has indeed provided a rock-solid foundation for my current research. However, Lee Ufan’s discourse began in Korea and Japan in the 1970s
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and focused on nature and industrialisation, as well as the confrontation and compromise between Asian and European arts. Lee’s idea profoundly influenced Japanese sculptural movement Mono-ha and Korean painting concept Dansaekhwa. However, as I live in the 21st century, I thought my art has to embrace more social interest and responsibility. As a result, I have expanded my art practice by studying other postminimalism other than Dansaekhwa and Mono-ha for the past two years. Italian Arte Povera was one of the post-minimal movements that covered more comprehensive topics through a broader range of materials. So, I applied for the residency program at the British School at Rome, which is supported by the Helpmann Academy, and luckily, I got the opportunity. My practice during my three-month residency was an attempt to study and incorporate Arte Povera into my work. It was a crucial task in Rome to find the structures and materials applicable to my work every day. Also, it was a significant achievement to visit various cities in Italy and study the works of past Arte Povera artists and their influence on current Italian works. I believe residency in British School was an excellent opportunity to broaden my artistic practices. And I am grateful to Helpmann Academy for giving me that opportunity. The outcomes can be seen through works exhibited at June Mostra 2019 at British School at Rome, Spazi Aperti XVII Romanian Academy in Rome, Extra Virgin West Gallery Thebarton and Encounter Linden New Art (See: Encounter, 2020). When I visited your studio, there was a work behind your desk that featured many hanging, alternating black and white fabric pieces which were tied up and weighted by rocks at the bottom. You asked me what I thought of it, without having explained the meaning of the work. You then told me some of the meanings and asked what I thought of it again. My perception had changed. What is it about the viewer’s process and the importance of their knowledge or a lack thereof that interests you? As I said before, in my art practice, it is essential to provide the audience with an experience of Gong-ganseong. As a Canadian media scholar McLuhan claims, I regard that giving people diverse media experiences is the social responsibility of an artist trained in dealing with media and space. However, pre-experience or stereotype about the material or structure of artwork become an obstacle to the perception of intact spatiality. Also, it is hard to make a preconceived idea come to realise and erase it. Therefore, I have mainly applied objects close to raw materials and abstract structures to my work (See: Hatched, 2019). On the other hand, I happened to experience that when I presented works using traditional Korean materials
and structures, audiences based on Western culture approached very objectively. I realised that their perception of my work changes after they know its cultural background. So, I am interested in telling how prejudice affects art appreciation through a reverse process that adds a preconceived idea to objective perception. That is why my work borrowed traditional Korean colour theory Obangsaek (오방색, Five Colours, Five Direction) and black and white symbolising Yin Yang (See: The Inbetween, 2019). A lot of your works involve natural materials, like rocks and wood. Why do you use these and what is their significance? There is indeed a lot of natural materials involved in my work. However, rather than applying them for particular purposes, they are the most accessible material in Australia. For example, when I worked in Rome last year, I made many of small sculptures, and I used more industrial materials, such as broken marble, pot, brick, tin or H beam, for my practice. It is also the result of my work process for this phenomenon. At the beginning of my work, I go around the studio to investigate the optimal structure and collect materials. The range of travel gradually extends from the surrounding city to the countryside. In this process, I inevitably involve the materials that I encounter more often on those travels, and here in Adelaide, they are stones, timber and iron fittings. So the elements that make up my work reflect the place I work. Meanwhile, the stone used in recent work has a slightly different meaning in that it intentionally applied Korean elements. Stone was very familiar and useful in my childhood in Korea. Girls used five small stones to play Gongginori(공기놀이), while boys chose flat stones for playing Biseokchigi(비석치기). My house was decorated with stones because one of my father’s hobbies was collecting smooth and beautiful stones. And my mother used stones to store fermented food. In addition, stone installation, both religious or general, were easily seen in Korea in the past. Stone was a common, useful and meaningful material even in the unprocessed state in Korea, and for that reason, it is applied to my work as an element of Korea (See: Density, 2019). There are a lot of things that we often encounter in our daily lives, but we do not particularly recognise their existence. I think that is because we are used to accepting what is made and presented. My work is intervening in the position or state of the things that exist but is ignored or distorted in order to get people to recognise them. And I believe that Gong-gan-seong is the source that makes people aware of it, and I think it is affecting people’s bodies as energy. I think that
understanding the nature of things is the first step in understanding the world in which we live. And I hope that my practice could give clues for the discourse such as equality, peace, and the environment (See: The Cultural Distance, 2020) Even though in the eyes of everyone around you, you are an artist, you mentioned to me you still doubt it’s truth. Why is that? I was born in the late 70s in the outskirts of Suwon city in Korea, and my parents used to do small business. In my childhood, there were no theatres in my town, let alone art galleries. In the 1980s, Korea’s industrialisation progressed very quickly, and the things that I had to do were preordained. I first entered university in Korea to become an engineer but later graduated from a university in China in international trade and economics. As a result, I became a businessman. Ever since I came to Australia in 2008, I always thought about business opportunities, and most recently in 2014, I majored in international business in TAFE SA. As you may have already noticed, I have never learned art professionally since I was young, and I have never thought I could be an artist. Of course, I used to write poems when I was young. I was very excited to be able to talk about myself and the world in a short, concentrated language, but I did not believe I could be a poet. There was a miraculous change in my life. In 2016, I entered the University of South Australia in Visual Art. At that time, I thought that photography would be my specialisation. However, I got better refutations in sculpture, painting, and drawing classes, and I majored in sculpture during my undergraduates. It was such a dramatic reversal in my life. Although I have participated in three residential programs and have many exhibitions since graduation, I still ask myself, ‘Am I really an artist?’ or ‘Am I really doing art?’. However, it is not that bad because it makes me constantly ask myself what art is. I am so happy to be an artist and hope that this motivation will be maintained in the future. What advice do you have for other emerging artists? In the past, doing art was a virtue of scholars in East Asia. They believed that their paintings, fonts, and their gardens reflected their spirit and character. I firmly believe that artwork should be the result of artists’ own Self-finding and Self- introspection’. If you are an emerging artist, you should continuously ask yourself what you are doing, what it is for and why. Also, if you have to do something for it and it is the right thing to do, do not hesitate because you are an artist.
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Imagine
Top Left: 42cm The Cultural Distance, 2020, table, chiar and cushion, dimensions variable. Photograph: Sam Roberts. Model: Sam Roberts (Left) and Gabi Lane (Right) Left: Installation view, The Inbetween, Sauerbier House, 2019, Port Noarlunga. Above: Installation view, Density, 2020, FELTspace, Adelaide. Institute of Contemporary Arts. Photograph: Bo Wong.
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Matter of Hearts 16
I have been hit by time and space, Woven by this endless lace. I am tired of this chase. Can I find some peace in this hopeless place? For a decade, I have been fixing this broken locket. Can you find some love for me in your pockets? Bones are getting thick, holding this fragile heart. When I show my scars, they applaud calling it art. Swaddled soul of mine, sulk silently through my veins, When I found our picture in my ripped jeans. A melancholic song I write every day, Staring at the ceiling with an oblivion sight. Nothing in the world has come easy or without a fight. You leave something to get somewhere. You have to untie knots to be tangled again. All this worry of yours will be in vain. I have been trapped with these desires. I can’t comprehend, I gasp upon the beliefs that are futile and cannot transcend. Deep eyes of yours, Busy with the chaos and chores. My dream on your land can be a lament. Will you look in my eyes for a moment? Shattering the glass, swimming the pool of dead dreams, I have gathered my swaying heart to rest. Am I still a story buried in your chest? Words and Photography Gaurangi Joshi
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Songs to put a spring in your step
How nice is the weather? My mum calls it ‘Show weather’—sunshine, grass, warm cinnamon doughnuts—you know the one. The Adelaide Show might be at least another year away, but I think we know, now more than ever, the good of getting outside. So, grab your earbuds and some gloves. Plant some wildflowers, sing, and dance like nobody’s watching. Even if they are. Here’s to spring and other new beginnings. Playlist Jordan White Artwork Oliver White
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Playlist
Van Morrison Spacey Jane Dominic Fike U2 Emily Wurramara Simon & Garfunkel Lime Cordial BENEE, Kenny Beats Split Enz Ali Barter, Dawson Edward Sharpe Dhapanbal Yunupingu Emily Wurramara Chuck Berry The Beatles
Brown Eyed Girl Cold Feet Chicken Tenders Beautiful Day Lady Blue April Come She Will Addicted to the Sunshine Night Garden Six Months in a Leaky Boat Four Days Janglin Maralitja Carry Me Home Stop and Listen When I’m Sixty Four Follow us at versemag on Spotify.
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Interview Jordan White Photography Thomas Kelsall
For our interview this time around, we caught up with Thomas Kelsall. In his final year of studies, Thomas is an aspiring investigative or political journalist. He was previously editor of On The Record and has received the Julie Duncan Memorial award in recognition of his outstanding achievement as a student journalist two years running. A lot of Thomas’ work focuses on the broader challenges that impact people’s everyday lives like politics and the environment. He is studious and driven by a rare dedication and passion for his craft that will undoubtedly enable him to continue sharing stories that matter well into the future.
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Thomas Kelsall
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Can you please tell our readers a little about yourself?
I am a fourth-year journalism and professional writing and international relations double degree student. I originally got into journalism because I wanted to become a sports writer. That didn’t work out because the first time I did sports writing, I found out how repetitive it is and now my interests certainly lie in politics, international relations, and things that affect people’s lives in more materialistic ways. I’ve lived in Adelaide all my life. I’ve read a lot of Humans of UniSA before and lots of them have interesting country stories and, you know, home is where the heart is and they love that small town feel that is, perhaps unfortunately, not me. I have been a city kid all my life. I appreciate the romanticism of [country] regions and I anticipate that I’ll eventually end up somewhere regional for my first journalism job. I’m looking forward to that but my heart has always been with urban life.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not studying or scrolling through Twitter?
Uhh… Scrolling through Twitter? I’m a big sports guy. I’m a huge Crows fan, which is not good this year. I’m also a massive Everton fan and I did my exchange in Liverpool predominantly for the reason that I wanted to watch Everton home and away. So, sports is obviously a big part of my life. Not only watching but playing. I don’t play cricket anymore, but I love a good kick of the footy with my mates and still play basketball with them a bit as well.
You’ve worked with On The Record (OTR) for a few years now. Tell me about it and your experience there?
I joined in 2018 as a journalist in my second year and things got toxic and the whole enterprise broke up in July of 2018. The whole website went dormant for a period of about eight months until March of 2019 when I decided to apply to become editor to start things up again and I was very surprised that I actually got the role. But I really assumed a lot of responsibility with that, and really wanted to get it back up and running again. Because I think a student paper is quite an important institution, and without something for students to have easy access to, in terms of publishing and getting something they can put in their portfolio, I think the journalism program would lack a lot. One of the things I’m most proud of is that I managed to fix that publication, hire about twenty people—all of them fantastic—and that there was a sense of comradery. There was a real sense of what On The Record can be, and how important it is, which we didn’t have the year before. Now, it’s thriving under a new editor and I’m extremely happy under the progress it’s made since I left as editor.
What are some high or low moments from your time with OTR?
When we had our first story that broke a thousand views, that was a big time. That was also a lowlight because we had to edit for potential defamation claims as well, so it swings in roundabouts. Highlights? I think when I got past the month of July as editor because that’s when everything broke up last year. One of my goals was that OTR would get through a full year. When we passed July, and I knew everything was going to be settled - that they were going to be publishing for the rest of the year - that there was no publicity, infighting, and politics - that’s when I managed and realised that I build a cohesive group, that was a highlight. I thought it would be more of a challenge than it was. I put a lot of time and research into investigating how a team operates best; how to make sure everyone knows what is expected of them, that there is no confusion and things like that. But at the end of the day, nothing is possible if you don’t have a good group. But I had a really good group with OTR and I’m so proud of them and what they did last year, and the ones who stayed on this year.
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Interview
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You recently won the Julie Duncan Memorial award for the second year in a row. What was winning it for a second time like?
It was a big surprise in the second year. I wasn’t expecting it and I didn’t think I deserved it, but of course, you take these things when they come along. There’s certainly other people that I would’ve nominated for that award, and who deserve to be recognised. I was very happy when I won it last year because, you know, I worked very hard. But this year was a complete surprise. And the Zoom session for the awards night was absolute chaos! It got hacked by some Indonesian guy who started shouting stuff at the start of the awards ceremony. That was very awkward but it’s been a great story to tell since. So, this year was kind of bizarre. The first year I won it, I got to go to an awards night and meet all these incredible South Australian journalists who I look up to, and had a lot to drink as well. It was an all-round good night whereas this year was quite strange. Winning something that I did not expect to win. Very contrasting experiences.
You graduate next year. Where do you hope to go next?
Honours thesis, with Ben Stubbs as my supervisor focusing on feature writing. Just to expand my resume a bit and also because entering the job market in the middle of the pandemic/recession is never ideal. And hopefully, I’ll win the New Colombo Plan Scholarship and go to India, but that all depends.
Do the job prospects for journalism worry you? Is there a backup?
I think about this every day. Yeah, it’s a lot of self-doubt and every week that I log onto Twitter, I will see a new wave of job losses. The people affected by that are people who are much more talented than me, people who have much more experience than me. People who I look up to. When you see that, it’s disheartening; not only because you don’t want people to lose their jobs, but because these are the resumes you’re going to have to be competing with in the future. So, yeah, it’s horrifying. And then you have a god-awful economic situation to exacerbate some trends. There’s no way to put it other than bleak.
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You’ve described yourself ‘despondent’ and having ‘difficulty finding reasons for optimism’ about the world. How do you feel about the world as of lately?
I think I just outlined some of my reasons for despondence but obviously, the journalism world is only a small part of that. I’m currently reading The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells and it’s just that process of realising that the effects of something like climate change are going to be very present in my life and have a very material effect on my life.
In your article about India giving you hope for the world, you highlight that India’s youth, or at least those you encountered, remain hopeful despite poor, sometimes horrid living conditions. How do you compare this to our outlook in Australia?
I think the first thing that India teaches you is that almost everything in our lives is completely dependent on the situation we were born into, the circumstances we were born into. You know, the postcode we were born in.
Before 2016, the year a lot of things changed for all of us, climate change in my mind was always something that was going to affect people in 2100 and beyond my lifetime. But the way this bushfire season was and the way the science I’m reading is, it has only increased my despair and frustration that we all just sort of seem to be not aware of it. And just kind of blindly walking through our days, unaware of the ecological collapse that is on our horizon.
But, the outlook on life there is so much more positive compared to people here. It was one of the most confusing and startling things that I observed when I was over there. I didn’t understand how someone with a subsistence diet and living conditions of mud and cramped rooms with five people, and domestic abuse, and their father being poisoned and dying on New Year’s Day, how those people would be smiling and welcoming. It really is a testament to the human spirit, but I don’t know how to import that into my own life. I complain about small things all the time, I’m incredibly obviously despondent about the state of the world and my living conditions are very, very comfortable in
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comparison to that. So, it’s a contradiction that I still haven’t gotten my mind around. A lot of people say that ‘they don’t know any better’, which I’m not sure about. There might be something to that. But other people say, when you’re in that situation, the smallest things can seem like the greatest gift of all, so you take things for granted a lot less. They’re the only two explanations I’ve heard on it. I’m sure there are plenty out there I haven’t read that I need to read. You’ve got a keen interest in politics. Do you think other young Australians should be interested in politics?
Yeah, I’m quite routinely stunned by people who just lack an interest at all or awareness. That is the most concerning thing to me. I very much understand people who don’t want to pay attention to politics because it is too complicated or too depressing—which I’ve experienced sometimes, I need to tune out of news and just have a day off—but people who actively refuse to learn about the world around them concern me. A lot. It’s something I’ve observed in my friends a lot, not just strangers. It’s people I know and it concerns and frustrates me.
You spent a semester at the University of Liverpool last year. What was that like?
It was the best time of my life, absolutely. I can’t recommend enough doing an exchange and it was just before everything here hit with COVID. So, the contrast between what I did in Liverpool and what I’m living now is so great that my memories of that time are so much more fond than what I thought they would have been at the time. Just the excitement of being able to plan a weekend trip every week to some new European capital that I hadn’t been to before, being able to watch Everton live every week, building the most amazing group of friends that I’m still in contact with. Having contacts in Europe that I can rely on the next time I go back. Yeah, the excitement and optimism I had about my life at that stage is something I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to re-capture. So, yeah, that’s my ringing endorsement of student exchange.
Are you brave enough to make any calls on the 2020 election? Do you think we can survive another 4 years of Trump?
Uhh… I think Joe will win. But the thing that concerns me is that at every stage of the process, we have counted Donald Trump out. We said he wouldn’t run and he ran, we said he wouldn’t win a primary and he won several, we said he wouldn’t win the nomination but he did. Surely, he can’t win the presidency, he did. So, I don’t want to just say he’s not going to win re-election but I think the polling is too significant at this stage to say with any confidence that it’s a chance.
Our taboo column this time around is on success, productivity, and the possibility of failing uni given everyone has just had a rough semester. Do you have anything to say on this?
I am incredibly self-critical. I beat myself up over every single day of productivity and procrastination and I can say that my ambitions for my career are extremely high. So high they’re slightly embarrassing. And I’m always in fear of not reaching those goals, which is also quite inevitable considering how high they are. I don’t know how to get out of that mindset. I don’t have much advice for getting people out of that mindset either. But it’s also like saying ‘just get over your ex’ or ‘get over your depression’. It’s not easy, is it? They’re very simple things to say but I think the way our minds are wired and the way they’ve been shaped since we were fourteen, fifteen. There has been so much focus on developing your career and it starts in year 10 at the latest, and after six or seven years after shaping career success and pressure and promotion, it is extremely hard to unwire that and have a different mindset on things. I can’t offer advice, I think it is something beyond me. The only thing I can say is that I do, deep down, think life is about the impact you have on other people. I dedicate a lot of energy on that. Maybe if I don’t have success with the career I want, I will be able to devote a bit more focus on that and improving other people’s lives.
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USASA Leadership & Club Grants
Launch your ideas. Have an exciting idea for your club or campus that needs a kick-start? Apply for grants ranging from $500 - $2,500 each month. Find out how to apply at USASA.sa.edu.au/Grants
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Edition 36 2020
Words Nina Phillips Photography Kaitlyn Davison
The hypnotic blue glow of my laptop screen burns my retinas and taunts my mind, as I stare into the endless void of a blank Word document. It’s three in the morning and my only companion is a lone cursor that blinks at me every 1.25 seconds like an anxious parent. “C’mon. Just type something, anything,” the flashing line seems to implore me. I sigh and clasp my hands together in an attempt to crack my knuckles. Ragged fingernails bite dry, paper-like skin, but, having cracked the joints mere moments before, a satisfying pop does not greet my ears. Instead, my shoulders slump forward and posture crumples beneath the weight of the early morning silence. Ahhh… There’s nothing quite like an anxiety-riddled night of knuckle cracking and nail biting to send the stress levels soaring and crush your sense of self-worth. Am I right or am I right? Perhaps you’ve got a bunch of exams coming up and don’t know how or where to start. Or maybe you’re unsure about an essay topic and have, once again, left your assignment to the day before the deadline. Whatever the situation, it seems to me that the further into my degree I get, the less motivated I am to study and the more unlikely I am to complete assessments on-time. Lately, simple tasks—like typing in a blank Word document—feel increasingly difficult to complete. And I often find myself binge-watching anything I can, whether it’s a flashing cursor or The Office, in order to unintentionally intentionally—or potentially, intentionally unintentionally—avoid my university work altogether. Procrastination is a sly and cunning beast that spares no one. It slithers into our minds and instructs us to avoid unpleasantness at all costs. With a multitude of unwatched Netflix shows and other digital distractions a click away, anyone can fall into its vicious cycle of self-destruction. It’s human nature. We procrastinate to avoid feeling overwhelmed but feel overwhelmed because we procrastinate. Thus, it can be extremely difficult to break free— Even when… God knows, God knows you want to break free!
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Sure, you could simply Google, ‘how to avoid procrastination,’ and hope one of the 8,130,000 search results will teach you a life-hack or two. But in terms of university study, let’s consider why we procrastinate. For many of us, it is not the unpleasantness of the work itself that leads to a cycle of procrastination. After all, the majority of us choose to be here. And yet, it’s easy to forget that our interests and life ambitions are not set in stone. Take me for example. When I began my double degree in journalism and English literature, I was vehemently opposed to the idea of working anywhere that wasn’t a well-established print newspaper. I wanted to be a “proper” fourth-estate, hard news journalist. However, over the years, various creativity-driven classes and assignments have challenged me to explore other modes of news reporting. While I still possess a desire to seek and report “The Truth”, after completing my degree I plan to travel abroad and use a range of digital mediums to creatively deliver intriguing news stories. Or at least, that’s what I tell my ever-concerned rellies. In truth, I fear I am neither cut out for a nine-to-five nor freelance journo lifestyle. And, as the pandemic continues to test the bounds of travel and economic stability of the media industry, my future job prospects seem to be dwindling. In times of social and economic strife, our personal plans and goals are often greatly tested. For quite a few university students, I’d wager, the present uncertainty surrounding the future has resulted in several nights of intense procrastination and, potentially, a bunch of failed assignments, exams and/or subjects. Personally, if it wasn’t for the complimentary non-graded passes in SP2 of 2020, my GPA would have dropped quite significantly this year. However, it must be noted, this is not a new phenomenon. In a not so distant past, when our every move was not yet dampened by the sinister shadow of a global pandemic, we university students were still procrastinating and struggling to pass like no tomorrow. I believe, it is our internal uncertainty, amplified by the pressures of societal and cultural ideas, that is the most damming motivator of procrastination. As aforementioned, our interests and life ambitions are constantly changing. And yet, we are expected— by ourselves and others—to complete our university degrees with a clear idea of how our lives will unfold—all the whilst juggling part-time jobs, relationships, hobbies, social lives and more.
However, I don’t believe normalising procrastination and avoiding unpleasantness all together is the solution here. After all, how else, without countless sleepless nights of pre-exam jitters, will we discover our unsuitability toward a certain career path. But perhaps, normalising failure might not be such a bad thing. Personal and societal demands for certainty—in terms of career aspirations— are as dangerous as they are impossible. Likewise, the capitalistic desire for everyone to be constantly productive calls for an unrealistic expectation of humans to behave like machines. Isn’t it time we treat ourselves like people? By normalising failure at university, we could encourage each other to learn from our mistakes and determine where our strengths lie. Whether it’s an assignment, an exam or a subject, there shouldn’t be any shame in speaking to your peers and tutors about your academic struggles. In turn, your procrastination—fuelled by a fear of failure and uncertainty toward the future—could lessen. Rather than hiding behind your procrastination, learn to implore it. Ask yourself: Why am I procrastinating? Is it uncertainty? Is it a fear of failure? How can I work around these feelings? Remember, failure is not weakness and procrastination is simply a manifestation of our fears and uncertainties. These feelings don’t have to consume us.
In a world that demands clear goals and constant productivity, you may feel alone in your tendencies to procrastinate when the going gets tough. Just know, you’re not alone. We all do it. And for good reason too. Life can be… shitty sometimes, and bloody busy and frustrating too.
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Artwork Alexandrina Seager
Everyone has a story. Humans of UniSA is a deep dive into the lives of our fellow students to unravel the threads of their personal history, quiet ambitions, and their hopes, worries and joys. Take a fleeting glance into the vivid lives we pass by each day in the hallways and classrooms of UniSA.
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re you comfortable in there or do you want to sit in the bean bag couch? Bean bag couch. Cool. So, my name is Lucy and I’m in my fourth year of exercise physiology, at the moment. So… I’m very, very squeamish. Yeah. I used to watch cartoon videos of surgery sometimes and that would make me, like, see stars. And in first year uni in anatomy, you have to look at cadavers and I didn’t really fully understand that… So the first couple of times it was okay and they’d sort of given us a pep talk saying ‘you don’t actually have to go in’ but everyone was going in, so I didn’t want to be the loser who didn’t but oh I should’ve been. And then on my third time going in, um, I walked in with my lab coat and I didn’t have any friends in my anatomy class as well and then we’re looking at the leg with the foot which, again, it was okay. It was fine. It was all fine until the lady goes ‘…and look at what this muscle does’ and she tugged on the muscle and it made the foot, like, flex and I went ‘oh, okay’ and I felt a bit hot. Temperature started going up and you know they’d said, ‘the temperature’s set at a cool, like, 15 degrees, so you shouldn’t be getting hot in there.’ But I’m getting a bit hot and I was just like, ‘look away for a minute, you’re only in here for another five minutes.’ So I looked to the corner of the room and there’s a fucking head. There is a head in the corner, just looking back at me and I left the room and never went back in but I still passed. So many. You know this too. They all stem from each other. There’s little parts that stem from this but my biggest fear is flying. I hate it and I’m okay—actually, no I’m not. I hate flying in itself, but I think that stems from tight spaces being trapped and the heights—it’s just a death trap. You shouldn’t fly. You just shouldn’t fly. And I think I woke up to that in about year five because I was always fine with flying until I was old enough to realise that you know in the movies where they crash in the ocean and they gently land and you know all the slides poof out and everyone jumps out I remember looking at mum and being like ‘yeah look but at least you land on water’ and mums like ‘landing on water from this height is like concrete’ and that just like woke me up to the real world. And that was it. Childhood gone. Psychologists come at me. Oh.. my advice to 14-year-old Lucy? I think I’d probably just tell her to relax a little bit. Like I tell myself to relax now anyway but… probably to not care what everyone thinks quite so much. Because you would know we were always the crazy ones in school and that was so much fun. But I think but sort of from 14, when I went to high school, I got very cautious about what I said when I wasn’t with my friends. I wish I had been a bit more independent outside my friendship group then. Put myself out there a little bit more. Because I do that a bit more now and that was what uni was good for.
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It’s so much easier. And I reckon that’s from having a job as well. In customer service, you have to speak to strangers every day. Biggest dream. I’m one of those people who don’t think super, super far into the future or anything too crazy but my dream next year is to have either a full-time job in the EP field or at least working three days at a good EP job that I enjoy and then just staying at Ginger’s for a little bit longer. I think that’s more realistic than a full-time job straight out, but I really want to be in an EP job that I really like—and learning. Something that I can learn from as well. I don’t want to somewhere where I’m forced to be super, super independent. Because I think in your first few years it’s really important to be able to have the mentors as well so I don’t learn it all the wrong way. Although UniSA has given me a fantastic foundation. Thankyou UniSA. Now let me pass with honours. Please. So, my research team and I are looking at chronic fatigue syndrome. We are sort of doing it in two parts. We’ve made a survey that we gave out to health professionals who treat people living with MECFS and we got really good responses on that. Everyone was so lovely. So what we are trying to see is whether their perceptions on physical activity and exercise is beneficial or harmful and why. And sort of part of that is what do you believe makes a source trustworthy and stuff. In the area, it’s really sad because there is so much misinformation out there that everyone is confused and people are told the wrong things so it’s just a cycle of mistrust. We want to take a step back and publish this that way future research into chronic fatigue can stem from it and work out what direction it needs to go in and what needs to be fixed. Ugh, Folklore. Gosh, love it. I think, genuinely, it could be my favourite album. That’s hard because Lover was— there’s just so many good ones. My new favourite track at the moment—it changes every week and exile will always be the absolute fave—but I’m loving peace. The first listen I was like ‘meh it’s good’ but now it’s cool. And cardigan and betty were just like old, throwback Taylor Swift. Literally, whenever I get into the car its just Taylor Swift shuffle. Nah, it’s actually the best album ever and that’s not even a big call. That’s FACTS—and leave that on there. That’s fact. Come at me. Taylor Swift is talented. She didn’t deserve what she got. Yeah, I’m changing my honour thesis: ‘How Taylor Swift can benefit from exercise physiology.’ I wish. Interview and Photography Anna Day
Humans of UniSA
Lucy Shannon Bachelor of Exercise Physiology (Honours)
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Christopher Filosi Bachelor of Design (Communication Design)
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Humans of UniSA
Y
eah, it is nice to be back at university, it’s good. In person. Um, alright what do you want to know? I’ll answer anything.
So I started my studies and professional life as an accountant which is quite a bit different than communication design. I was always very good at academic stuff at school, especially accounting, and so I got a job straight out of high school... so it was my first day of University, and I was not at University because it was also the first day of my job! And so, from then on it was like suit and tie three days a week at the accounting firm and then two days pretending to do uni work... and you know, I really wouldn’t, and then I’d work fulltime in the holidays and that just carried on for my entire degree. So, throughout that process, I was always reassured by successes that I had. You know, I got a job and in my first year of commerce I did really well, and everything was telling me that I was on the right path until I finished my degree and I was working fulltime and there wasn’t that next year of university—just the next forty years of my career in front of me, that I really began to think about what I wanted to do with my life. Yeah, absolutely it was a bit dry! Yeah I think it’s a very practical degree, or a very practical field, and I never really wanted to be an accountant but I saw it as a jumping-off point into other areas of my life, like working in finance at larger corporations but yeah I got to the point where I realised I didn’t want to spend forty to eighty hours a week doing the work necessary to get to that next stage of my career. Yeah so I never really considered design as a path at all in my life, it’s not like I got into design in high school, but I guess I was always very aesthetically focussed as a person... yeah, my own aesthetic but even appreciating art and beauty and design. From a very young age I remember arguing with my parents over what clothes they were going to put me in because I wanted to choose the outfit, not them, you know. And so there were always these hints throughout that I was more creative than I gave myself credit for, and it was also again not the thing that you did if you were so academically inclined... all of the reassurance that I got was always pushing me down a professional path, rather than something in a creative field, and it wasn’t until I had my first relationship and you know, fell in and out of love and lived life a little bit that I really understood what it was that I wanted with my life, and then yeah gave it a go. Just on a whim I applied, got accepted to the degree and so then I was like, here we are, here we go! No... well we can talk about it... there’s not much to speak about at the moment, but yeah I don’t know, I’m a very romantic person I guess, but I don’t, I don’t... I don’t know how... it’s not... I don’t know. I don’t like, date people. I don’t have any of the dating apps, you know, so it has to be quite serendipitous for me to meet someone and for us both to be interested in one another.
Yeah, I never really sort of fit in as an accountant, not that I was bad, I was always more creative you know? I had long hair and the way that I wore my suit was a little bit different... and I feel even the same in design where it’s just like I may be a bit more professional perhaps in the way that I speak or... what was that? Refined? Thank you! Uh and so yeah it is a bit different where I don’t really feel myself as being fully in one category, but it’s interesting because I feel I can speak two languages—I can speak to someone in a suit and say the words that they want to hear and be able to understand the jargon that they’re throwing at me, but I can also do the same in a creative context. Is it? Yeah well, I hope it’s going to be competitive when I’m trying to find a job at the end of the year! I’m very anxious about finding work at the end of the year. I think another reason for my anxiety is that I have very high standards. Like, I expect a lot of myself and also for myself and so I don’t necessarily want to accept ‘a job’—I would like the job to fulfil me in a deeper way... and that’s more so what I’m concerned about—how easy, or how long will it take me to find that? Yeah, serendipity. Something will work out. My Italian background? Yeah, I think it’s both a big and a small part of my existence. Like, I think part of the reason that I was so professionally focussed early on comes from the fact that my parents grew up in an immigrant household and therefore have a certain level of pragmatism that I find is common with my friends whose parents also grew up with similar backgrounds. Also, where we’re from in Italy is not usually the place where people came from, you know, we’re from Northern Italy whereas most of the people come from the south, so there’s like a different culture which is a bit more refined, or a bit more urban and so there isn’t as much of the err... ‘woggy wog’ sort of thing in my background... um but no I grew up in Australia like all of my friends are... well I would consider myself an Australian. Yeah, it’s an interesting question. Yeah, I don’t know how well I answered. For next year? I want to be working on something I’m passionate about, but that I’m also learning a lot from. Even though I’m coming to the end of my degree at the end of this semester, I still feel like a student and I think I will still feel like that for a number of years into any sort of career, and so what I would want is to be in a position where I can absorb as much as I possibly can so that I can contribute later. Interview and Photography Emma Horner
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What? I hate that question so much—like, what do you want to know? Be more Pacific Ocean... Man, I hate talking about myself. Just try make me look good and not like a dick. Okay. Continue. Why am I studying psychology? Mostly for the money. No, I’m kidding. I’m kidding… Coming from a male perspective, mental health and the way mental health is viewed, it’s like very interesting how, you know, men aren’t allowed to talk about their emotions and stuff. A lot of what I went through with my mental health journey, if I was just able to talk about it, and there wasn’t so much stigma surrounding it, it would have been a lot easier. And like, possibly opened some doors that were just slam closed when I was really struggling. So, I think a lot of the reason I’m doing it is because I want to change that perspective and start to normalise conversations around mental health. But also, obviously, the money and prestige play a part in it a little, but mostly to help people. It’s like 80% to help people and 20% like, ‘150K a year doesn’t sound too bad’. But that’s if I get into Masters... So really, it’s to help people. It’s just fun making jokes— that are semi-true. Dot. Dot. Dot. Unless? How did you know I went to a boy’s school? Yeah nah, I only went there for three years, so, I don’t think the culture really impacted me much. But like, that was probably the peak of the not so good stuff. I think it had accumulated by that point. I grew up in a country town, multiple country towns, so I think that played a pretty big part in it all. The idea of mental health in country towns is pretty much non-existent… When I was there anyway. Do you really want to do the COVID question? Oh, alright. Essentially, most faculties at UniSA have gone back to in-person tutes except psychology—for some unknown reason… So, we’re disputing it and hoping to get some sort of answers and/or get it put back in-person… Yeah, that’s probably all I’m going to say on that… Like fuck. I’m paying money to do university in-person. I’m supposed to be on exchange in Canada and I’m not. I’m fucking here, doing [uni], through Zoom. Am I keeping busy? Oh, how? I’m an SANFL umpire. So, umpiring league footy. I also coach the SANFLW boundary umpires… Um, I climb stuff. Yep, there you go. That’s a big one. I climb up walls in my spare time… Yeah, bouldering. Where? ABC. Adelaide’s Bouldering Club. Hashtag promotion. Hashtag pay me. Nah, it’s great gym if anyone wants to start bouldering and climbing up walls… Running! Yes, I run! Because it’s good for your mental and physical well-being. That’s pretty much it... Oh, I do photography as well. And I write poetry. My poetry’s not good though… It’s like, just a great way to express your emotions without having
to directly address them. That’s why I do it because I’m terrible at addressing my emotions. I was terrible. I’m getting better. Maybe… For me to sit down right now and be like, ‘Nina, this is how I feel,’ it’s super hard. But you also don’t want to ruminate on how you feel because that leads you down a very dark path. So, if you have a creative outlet, such as writing or photography, it allows you to express those emotions without having to sit there and think about the emotions. So, I just sit down and write, and then I’ll read it and I’ll be like, ‘Wow, that’s how I feel. Okay.’ I think the value of having creative outlets are wildly underestimated. Especially from a male perspective—it’s very much frowned upon to do anything that’s mildly feminine. Because we are men! And men don’t cry! Batyr runs a thing called Being Herd… It’s essentially a program for young people to share their stories of lived mental ill-health experience. So, I did a two-day workshop where you sit down with a bunch of people and write your story. But mine was really weird... It was run with only men. Yeah, no. On purpose… It felt very— for lack of a better word—empowering. Seeing men talk about stuff like this, gathered together to change the stigma around mental health. It was super weird because of the social stigma of men not opening up to each other… It was also online because of the pandemic, which kind of sucked. I’m a very face-to-face person… it would’ve been better to be able to hug everyone. But it was still a really cool experience. We’re doing more speaker development stuff, so hopefully, I’ll be able to share my mental health journey with a whole crowd of people. I’m actually terrified of public speaking. But everyone knows the best way to get better at public speaking is to speak about a very very vulnerable subject in front of hundreds of people. That’s obviously the best idea… For sure, I think if we’re able to listen to people’s stories and see things from other perspectives, it allows us to understand them… their world and their community better. And therefore, make better choices on the basis of that rather than just our own opinions and beliefs. Last year in uni, I learnt about white privilege and the extent that effects, well, everything... I think I knew about it before, but I didn’t understand it… I did an Indigenous studies course that, essentially, teaches you the “actual” history of Australia. And there were a lot of things I didn’t know… It was very—I don’t want to say confronting—just very much a, ‘here’s everything you ever knew, but also, here’s what it all actually means,’ type experience... I think, exploring both sides—all sides—of a story is super important. Because if we don’t do that, we’ll never move forward. Interview and Photography Nina Phillips
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Humans of UniSA
Will Carter Bachelor of Psychology (Counselling and Interpersonal Skills)
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Grace She is lipstick filters and cigarette kisses a dark smoke that twirls into a midnight sky. She is every streetlight on every horizon and every delightful drunken stupor. She is the sand in your hair and the ocean at dawn and the whiskey on your breath. But most of all what she is is colour and light and what it means to be wholly alive. Words AG Travers Artwork Alexandrina Seager
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Right: Float - Digital Illustration and Collage, 2020. Inspired by escapism and natural tendency to be a lone wolf.
As a part of Edition 36, Verse Magazine decided to reach out to talented local artist and frequent contributor Lucy Edwards, to get a better look at some of her works and hear the inspirations behind them. Lucy Edwards is a second year Communication Design student, and freelance designer and artist. She has a fierce love of colour, texture and collaging. Lucy has always had a creative streak, but has only started to take digital collaging and illustration more seriously this year. Using her roots in abstract acrylic painting, she applies an unconventional approach to her work, creating intuitively and with a strong value of freedom. Lucy says her mind and heart are at ease when expressing her truest self with her works.
Lucy Edwards You can find Lucy on Instagram @lucyedwards.creative and on Facebook @ Lucy Edwards Creative.
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Above: Beyond Love - Digital Illustration and Collage, 2020. Inspired by love itself and connection with others. Right: Digital Illustration and Collage, 2020. Inspired by wild botanicals and the water.
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Lucy Edwards
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Lucy Edwards
Right: Digital Illustration and Collage, 2020. Inspired by love of 70’s rock music and the disco era. Below: Digital Illustration, 2020. Inspired by nature and love for hiking through mountains and hills.
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The initial unknown There is no certainty in life, So, there is to be no certainty in who stays. So, what is one to do when their heart palpitates at the sight of another? I tell you there is no certainty they will like you back. But does one not owe it to themselves to be honest and kind? To seek that which they want to find? To lay out their heart, to outstretch their hand To pass their heart to another Without fear of the outcome. There is no certainty, there is only the initial unknown. That which comes after is not death. But death will come friend, So, outstretch your heart in hand. Words William Carter Artwork Kaitlyn Davison
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Infinity Edition 36 2020
Words and photography Nahum Gale
They say moments last forever if encapsulated through art. Recently, I have taken a hobby in film photography and entwined with my love for music, I have decided to craft something pristinely nostalgic. Here are a series of shots over the last month, paired with songs that made this month of my life special. From the St Kilda Mangroves to Rundle Street to Semaphore Beach to The Parade on Norwood, infinity only lasts when entrained through lyrics and captured through a lens.
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With Days by The Drums
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With Over and Over Again (Lost and Found) by Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah
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With Soldier, Poet, King by The Oh Hellos
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With Transatlanticism by Death Cab for Cutie
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USASA Academic Advocacy
Free, confidential & independent advice. Advocates help you to pursue your rights on a wide range of academic troubles & can increase your chances of receiving a positive outcome. To book an appointment visit USASA.sa.edu.au/Advocacy
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How do you hipster your food? Like riding the subway because it’s underground? Only use the microwave because you don’t like conventional ovens? Maybe you burned your tongue because you sipped your turmeric latte before it was cool. Okay okay, all jokes aside, if you answered yes to any of the above, it might not be your fault, it’s probably in your (skinny) genes... Alright now, before we Tumblr further down the rabbit hole of hilarious puns, we must ask ourselves—is there anything a hipster can’t ruin? There is, but you probably haven’t heard of it... Words and artwork Emma Horner
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Puzzles
Smoothie Bowls Hipster Rating: I’m shook Let’s face it, smoothies are gross. They are an amalgam of different foods and liquids smooshed up to the consistency of cement for the express purpose of getting them the hell down your throat FAST because you are super busy and need to drop your penny farthing in for a service before you forage for food in the community garden... a smoothie bowl just looks to me like more work to make and twice as long to consume. Snatched! Cold Brew Hipster Rating: So extra You’ve got your single origin, natural process, microlot, farm gate direct, specialty grade beans from the Aldea El Coyegual region of Guatemala, so now you’re going to grind them up real slow and careful with your $450 Comandante C40 MK3 Nitro Blade Hand Grinder, and then... wait soak the grinds in cold water? For a couple of hours? Yeah lets be real, cold brew tastes like someone dropped an old teabag into a puddle of diluted, muddy water. You can miss me with that shit, hunty. Activated Charcoal Anything Hipster Rating: It’s a lewk... Ice-cream, burger buns, waffles, lattes, toast, macarons, pizza bases, cocktails, yoghurt, iced tea, bagels, hot dogs, even toothpaste... yes the list of perfectly fine things you can ruin with activated charcoal is extensive. It might look cool on Instagram, but activated charcoal has been disproven as a ‘detox’ aid, and in fact the only thing it will actually do for you is bind to vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients and then suck them right out of your butt when you next hit the wiz palace. Shady.
Sriracha Hipster Rating: Big yikes... Oh my God please shut the fuck with your sriracha. Between corn chips, dark chocolate, almonds and hommus, we’ve shoved the word sriracha in front of enough mainstream foods which were perfectly fine as they were. It’s over. You ruined it.
Anything in a Mason Jar Hipster Rating: Sksksksk What can you put inside a mason jar? Pfff, what CAN’T you put inside a mason jar is more like it! When John Landis Mason patented the Mason Jar in 1858, he thought he had just invented the perfect utensil for home canning and food preservation... little did he know that one hundred and sixty odd years later, some hipster asshole would use it in lieu of a light fitting, illuminating the untapped potential of the humble Mason Jar. This thing can literally be anything you want it to be, from a cute napkin dispenser to a cocktail glass in an overpriced, underground prohibition style bar where a prerequisite for employment is a beard and a penchant for anything from Best Made Co. 55
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Down 1. Exercise ___________use exercise to treat patients with chronic illness 2. The petrified remains of a prehistoric plant or animal 3. Courteous good will 6. A type of hot, chilli sauceThe northernmost state in the United States8. 8. What goes around comes around Puzzle Master Anna Day
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Edition 36 2020
The signs according to The Witcher Artwork Emma Horner Words Anna Day (saw a TEDTalk on astronomy once?)
“Toss a coin to your Witcher...”
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Horoscopes
Virgo Aug 23 – Sept 22
“Whatever you lack in talent, you make up for in confidence.” Fake it ‘til you make it, Virgo.
Libra Sept 23 – Oct 22
“If I have to choose between one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all.” ¿Porque no los dos?
Scorpio Oct 23 – Nov 21
“You can’t outrun destiny just because you’re terrified of it.” But you can sure as hell try. Now’s the time to get working on your speed off the mark.
Sagittarius Nov 22 – Dec 21
“You need a nap!” Pluto has popped up in your zone so now is the time to sleep and sleep well.
Capricorn Dec 22 – Jan 19
“It’s like ordering a pie and finding it has no filling.” Expect some disappointing news. It will likely make you hungry.
Aquarius Jan 20 – Feb 18
“There is not a person alive who does not look in the mirror and see some deformity...except for us.” Venus is in your quarter this month, Aquarius. And she told me to tell you that if you’ve got, flaunt it.
Pisces Feb 19 – Mar 20
“I love the way you just sit in a corner and brood.” Taking up mindfulness can do wonders for your health. You should try it Pisces.
Aries Mar 21 – Apr 19
“I hate to break it to you, but that ship has sailed, wrecked, and sunk to the bottom of the ocean.” If you find yourself lamenting lost opportunities, you can always take a trip to the seaside. Just make sure you don’t get washed up.
Taurus Apr 20 – May 20
“Chaos is the same as it’s always been. Humans just adapted better.” Life is chaos. Chaos is life. Embrace the only certainty in life and watch yourself thrive.
Gemini May 21 – June 20
“You turn yourself around. That’s what it’s all about.” Todd Chavez and the Hokey Pokey gods have spoken. Change comes from within.
Cancer Jun 21 – July 22
“Respect doesn’t make history.” But it does get the dishes done. Think of others this coming month, you angsty, little crab.
Leo Jul 23 – Aug 22
“In the face of the inevitable, good leaders should always choose mercy.” It’s likely you’ll have to face a challenging test soon; it’s either leaving the last slice of pizza for someone else or taking the wheel and parallel parking for a friend. We see you Leo and we love you.
Club Feature: Women in STEM
Clubs
Who are Women in STEM?
What are Women in STEM goals?
Women in STEM is a network of people which aims to support women who are entering fields that were once considered ‘non-traditional’ for females; Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics. Together, we strive to empower women in these fields and in doing so, we hope to play a part in correcting gender imbalance within these industries. Our main objective is to provide support for women who will likely be within the minority once they enter STEM workplaces. This means bringing our members opportunities to network, develop professional and personal skills as well as build a sense of community with other people entering similar fields.
What’s been some of your biggest achievements as a club?
Last year we won ‘Club of the Year’ and of course, it was amazing to have our work recognised by the UniSA community. We have also seen remarkable growth in our membership numbers, as the club was only created three years ago, and we have upward of 160 members. However, we’d like to say our biggest achievement as a club is the sense of community we have created. We really feel as if Women in STEM is a place that everyone feels safe and valued, and the work we do to support women is a step in the right direction for equality and gender balance in STEM industries.
What are Women in STEM looking forward to most for the rest of the year?
We have quite a few events in the works which we are really looking forward to bringing our members. We are planning a networking event, where we plan to host a panel of industry professionals from a variety of STEM fields so that members can ask questions about entering the workforce and gain an idea of how to better their employment prospects. We have also been planning a major event with the Women in STEM club from the University of Adelaide. This will be the first intervarsity event that our club has done and so we are very excited to see that through, however we are aware with increasing restrictions that we may have to postpone this. All future events will be posted on our social media pages—so stay tuned.
If someone doesn’t study a STEM degree or doesn’t identify as female, can they still be involved?
Absolutely! One of the core values of our club is inclusivity. We are founded upon the basis that everyone, regardless of gender identity, ethnicity or academic background, is equal. If you believe in achieving equality, then you are more than have a place in Women in STEM UniSA!
How can we get involved with Women in STEM?
If you’d like to become a member, you can do so through the USASA website. You can also follow us on social media, where we share news of all our events and other things happening in the club. You can follow us on Facebook (@WomeninSTEMUniSA), Instagram (@winstemunisa), Twitter (@WinSTEMUniSA(, and LinkedIn (Women in STEM at UniSA).
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Online USASA is Empowering You Online. We are helping all student stay connected. Explore USASA Club events plus other great opportunities and activities for you to get involved with.
SOLUTIONS
USASA.sa.edu.au/Events
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Crossword Solutions Across
SUDOKU Solutions Easy
Not So-Easy
4. The fourth season (Spring) 5. Typically bearded (Hipster) 7. An east-Asian philosophy (Taoism) 9. STEM stands for Science, Engineering Technology and (Mathematics)? 10. A pointless wat to eat almonds (Activated)
Down 1. Exercise (Physiologist) use exercise to treat patients with chronic illness 2. The petrified remains of a prehistoric plant or animal (Fossil) 3. Courteous good will (Grace) 6. A type of hot, chilli sauce (Sriracha) 8. What goes around comes around (Karma)
Puzzle Master Anna Day
President’s Letter Well, my final Presidents letter for the year, so to everyone who has taken the time to read any of these, thank you. In saying that, I am still around till December 31st, and I’ll keep working for you all until then. The next edition of Verse is the Blak Out edition, and you’ll be hearing from our fantastic Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Rep Rhys Peden. Make sure you grab a copy of that when it comes out.
With semester 2 in full swing at the time of writing this, it is great to see students back out on campus. Nature is healing. Whilst there seems to be some hope of normality now, USASA is still at the coal face, making sure that students get every concession that they need to be successful this semester. There is still massive uncertainty about what the future holds for students, and as an institution, UniSA needs to be ready for anything. The response was okay in semester 1, but we can’t let up now. We’re seeing more and more cases of severe hardship within the student populous, especially in our international student cohort. Whilst the virus itself may have lapsed slightly at the time of writing this, the new virus, hardship, is making itself felt even more. A report recently released by researchers from the University of Technology Sydney found some sobering statistics regarding international students. During COVID, 61% lost their employment, a 1 in 3 go without food quite often, and 44% fear that they can’t afford tuition. This number seems staggering and surprising to some, but for students, this is our reality, we live in this. What we need now is action on a national scale, to protect and support students.
On a lighter note, USASA is currently trying to work through having the Neon Night Party at the West Oak and Lions Art Factory. You might remember way back in the “olden days”, pre this lockdown snafu, that we had planned the Neon Night pub crawl, however due to restrictions that had to be cancelled. Hopefully, if restrictions hold off, we can get this event back so you can all blow off some of that mid-semester steam in a safe and fun environment. Were also working away at the next UniTopia event, which will be delivered online. Make sure you keep an eye on our social media and newsletter to keep up to date on all of the great things coming up. Anyway, that’s it from me. It’s been a pleasure writing to you all each issue. If you need me, you can find my details on the USASA Website, or come visit me at City West, HH2-16. — Noah Beckmann
For anyone reading this right now, we hear you, and we are working for you. We are trying to make sure that UniSA and more broadly, state and federal governments take student hardship for what it is very quickly becoming: a humanitarian crisis. If you do need support, you can access the USASA Financial Counselling service, or access the Student Hardship Fund. For international students, you also have access to the International Student Support Package. If you are in need, make sure you utilise these services and the many others that the university has on offer.
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Want to be a
Student Leader in 2021?
Lead & represent your peers. • Develop confidence & leadership • Build networks with staff & students • Increase your employability • Receive professional development • Assist with events • Give a voice to all students • Gain experience on Boards & Committees • Take part in university decision-making
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Nominations open 7 - 18 September. Voting open 19 - 23 October. Find out more at USASA.sa.edu.au/Election
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AG Travers Alexandrina Seager Anna Day Christina Massolino Christopher Filosi Emma Horner Gaurangi Joshi Jonathan Kim Jordan White Kaitlyn Davison Lauren Rawlings Lucy Edwards Lucy Shannon Mitch Ingham Nahum Gale Nina Phillips Noah Beckmann Oliver White Tabitha Lean William Carter Women in STEM
@AGTravers @alexandrinaseager @_anna_day_ @christina.massolino.art @cpfilosi @emmahorner @tranquilizedwayfarer @jonathankimart @jordan.white306 @kaitlyn.dvsn @laurenkathleen_ @lucyedwards.creative @lucy_shannon @Mitch_ingham_ @nahumspoetry @ninaphillips27 @noahbeckmann @oj.white @haveachattabs @wolledgeispower @winstemunisa
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