Debate issue 21

Issue 21 | SEPTEMBER 2013 www.ausm.org.nz

Issue 21 | SEPTEMBER 2013 Directory p6 p6 reception City Campus Level 2, WC Building 921 9805 Mon-Thurs: 9am-5pm Fri: 9am-4pm North Shore Campus Level 2, AS Building 921 9949 Mon-Fri: 11am-1pm

Cover

by Bethan Powell p22

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Nigel Moffiet p8

designer/PHOTOGRAPHER Ramina Rai

contributors

Abigail Johnson | Annaleisha Rae |Arlene Kelly | Cassandra Arauzo | Chantel Strydom | Julie Cleaver | Kieran Bennett | Mike Ross | Samuel J. Hennessy | Scott Yeoman p10

p17

Illustration & Photography Nicole Koch | Ramina Rai

advertising contact

management Kathy Anderson General Manager 921 9999 ext 8570 kanderso@aut.ac.nz advocacy Siobhan Daly AuSM Advocate 921 9999 ext 8311 siobhan.daly@aut.ac.nz

Matthew Cattin matthew.cattin@aut.ac.nz

sub editor

Manukau Campus MB107 921 9999 ext 6672 Mon-Thurs: 9am-3.30pm governance & leadership Kizito Essuman AuSM Student President 921 9999 ext 8571 kizito.essuman@aut.ac.nz

EDITOR

Kate Lin kate.lin@aut.ac.nz

printer

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publisher

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AuSM all rights reserved

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marketing Kate Lin Sales and Marketing Co-ordinator 921 9999 ext 8909 kate.lin@aut.ac.nz events Carl Ewen Student Life Manager 921 9999 ext 8931 carl.ewen@aut.ac.nz media Matthew Cattin Publications Co-ordinator 921 9999 ext 8774 matthew.cattin@aut.ac.nz vesbar Zane Chase Vesbar Manager 921 9999 ext 8378 zane.chase@aut.ac.nz volunteers & clubs Lauren Howe Volunteers Coordinator 921 9999 ext 8911 lauren.howe@aut.ac.nz

www.ausm.org.nz

5 | Editorial

19 | Wordfind

6 | The Fear of Food

20-21 | Candidates for Elections

8-9 | Artist of the Week 10-11 | MUSIC Jesse Sheehan

22 | Lyrics & Why They Should Matter

12 | Old Films

23 | Albert Einstein

14 | Prez Sez

24 | Top Five Female Con Artists

15 | Memorandum & Auckland's Got It Going On 16 | Nifty News 17 | Young & Hungry Festival 18 | Short Story

26 | AuSM Updates and Internz 28-29 | Road to Nowhere 31 | Polyamory

This publication is entitled to the full protection given by the Copyright Act 1994 (“the Act”) to the holders of the copyright, being AUCKLAND STUDENT MOVEMENT AT AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED (“AuSM”). Reproduction, storage or display of any part of this publication by any process, electronic or otherwise (except for the educational purposes specified in the Act) without express permission is a break of the copyright of the publisher and will be prosecuted accordingly.

Inquiries seeking permission to reproduce should be addressed to AuSM.

disclaimer Material contained in this publication does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of AuSM, its advertisers, contributors, PMP Print or its subsidiaries.

debate is a member of the Aotearoa Student Press Association (ASPA)

32-33 | Reviews www.ausm.org.nz

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Vote

Voting has commenced in the 2014 AuSM Student Representative Council Elections.

By now, you should have recieved an email to your AUT student email address with a link to an online ballot that allows you to vote.

Online voting takes a few seconds but it can make a huge difference.

The Student Representative Council determines the future direction of AuSM, lobbies on your behalf and represents you at all levels. It also ensures AuSM continues to deliver services such as Orientation, debate, Vesbar, the AuSM Lodge, discounted transport, Student Job Search, Liaison services and much more.

This is your chance to have a say in the people leading your students’ association.

If you did not recieve an email, contact the Student Information Centre to check the status of your account. Only students who have paid their fees will be eligible to vote.

Voting runs from 30th September to 10th October.

by Matthew Cattin Hello all.

Where to begin? It’s been one hell of a ride.

Never has a sport lulled to me into such a false sense of security. Everything seemed so perfect… The penalty deduction, the villainous Spithill, the seven point buffer…

How could it all go so wrong?

I wouldn’t at all consider myself a sports fan – despite my rippling athletic physique.

I catch the occasional All Blacks test if I’m feeling particularly masculine and I’ve been known to jump on The Breakers bandwagon close to the finals. The only team I lend consistent support to is The Warriors and even then I never let myself get too emotionally invested – that, of course, would be playing with fire as any Warriors fan will know…

watch Oracle in such fine form when the Kiwis were so close to that damned cup.

Even more upsetting to have the rug jilted from beneath us in those three infamous races ruined by conditions.

It’s hard to come to terms with the fact that Oracle took out the cup through sheer speed and ability. Sure luck played a small role in denying NZ a victory or two but at the end of the day, when the yanks (well… The three yanks on board) found their stride, there was no stopping them and with eleven wins throughout their campaign, there’s no denying they crashed the party, drank all the booze and trashed the house the Kiwis worked so hard to build.

In the beginning, I was all optimism. Team New Zealand was racing in fine form, streaking from easy victory to easy victory.

Oracle was being dominated like nobody’s business and it was an absolute pleasure to watch. They scored a few wins capitalising on Kiwi mistakes but I never imagined they would get any positive points on the board, let alone take the cup.

This morning, I awoke with a belly full of nerves and a heart full of dread. Judging by the string of defeats of late, I knew deep down that to take the cup would mean a perfect race by the Kiwis, a broken mast for Oracle, and a minor miracle from our true Lord and saviour Poseidon. I sat nervously on the bus as the race got underway, checking NZ Herald’s live updates like a man possessed. It started off swimmingly but hell, so did the previous race and we all know how that turned out…

The last week has been like watching the second half of Titanic – it was long-winded, heart-breaking and you always knew there was room for just one team to float on the board… I must admit it was devastating to

When Oracle pulled 500 meters ahead, I pocketed my phone and sulked with some Radiohead – no point being a masochist now is there. I was surprised to discover that the most overwhelming emotion I felt was relief.

No more 6AM alarms to early bus into Shed 10, no more nail-biting races and no more media bombardment. I can finally relax in the mornings and enjoy my sleep ins.

To the Team NZ boys I say job well done.

Mr Barker handled the situation like a true gentleman, composed and positive until the very end. He stayed strong for his team and his country despite the enormous pressure upon his shoulders. He acknowledged from the beginning it would not be a walk through the park and when Oracle found its feet, he praised the team’s efforts and said I told you so. It’s unfortunate that the levels of sportsmanship were not reflected by the final scores but I reckon we ought to be more proud of the quality of the team members than of the quantity of races won. Here I am getting all emotional again…

Perhaps with a bit of therapy and few All Blacks test rebounds, I’ll get over this year’s America’s Cup campaign. I only hope the rest of the country does too. Like any grieving process, proud Kiwis first need to snap of out of their denial, stop making excuses and accept the reality – little old New Zealand just didn’t have what it took.

So thanks for the memories Team New Zealand.

(Even if they weren’t so great).

Matthew www.ausm.org.nz

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The fear of food.

By Nigel Moffiet

Judging by half the health studies reported it’s amazing I’m still alive and, by some standards, I probably don’t have much time left.

Soon I’ll stumble upon yet another half-baked piece of research which will inform me of a seemingly innocuous food item which sits on the supermarket shelf like a silent assassin. Eggs are bad; they will kill me.

Coffee will speed up my heart rate and burst my veins. Sugar! Why not ingest drain cleaner instead? You eat wheat? ‘Oh my, come, take a seat dear boy’. It’s not like we’re eating poisonous puffer fish on a daily basis or anything – you know, the kind that takes a trained samurai (or some shit like that) to prepare; the kind that almost killed Homer Simpson (like there’s ever a rotten bit of food that will kill him).

And this is merely a list of food items! If I were to consider the other daily health hazards I confront going about my day, you could say I’ve dodged a bullet. Or more wildly, I’ve dodged a spraying massacre of ammunition – hey, I cross the deathly hazard that is Symonds Street most days!

But here I am. Still kicking.

Of course, sticking to food items, we know of people with deadly allergies; we have to be hyper aware of our peanut consumption in crowded spaces. Sure there are people who can’t tolerate gluten. Of course obesity is a serious health risk and there are people who battle with diabetes.

But I’m not talking about that.

I’m talking about the mass-anxiety-inducing, fatalistic stories which take the assumption the ultimate human endeavour is to live forever (or, at the very least, live until the ripe old age of 153 before dying of natural causes). I’m talking about stories that demonise basic food items.

I was recently alerted to a post on the food blog Forks Over Knives which ran an article (never mind the fact it was written by a qualified pseudo-scientist specialising in alternative remedies for this and that) condemning the evil nature of eggs. We’re reminded that eggs have zero fibre, are massively high in saturated fat, are loaded with cholesterol, so on and so on… and think about it, it says: “Eggs hold every piece of the puzzle needed to produce a new life.

Within that shell lies the capacity to make feathers, eyes, a beak, a brain, a heart, and so on. It takes a lot of stuff to make such a complex being.”

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In other words, says the article, no wonder eggs are bad for us.

Yet, isn’t this just a typical piece of paranoid food propaganda? Okay, perhaps not if you’re vegan or inclined to agree with the statement that eggs are bad which, even I admit, seems rather logical and disgusting in the context given. However, it’s also unfairly alarmist and suspiciously militant – am I to trust such advice? Should I buy into the hype that if I eat, on average, more than one egg a week, I’m essentially putting my life at risk?

I thought such beliefs were debunked by other studies which showed it’s not the eggs per se that are bad for you, it’s the way we cook them – the only way eggs should be cooked: fried in a puddle of butter and served with dripping, slithering slices of bacon.

So who are we to believe? I can’t take the multitude of contradicting scientific viewpoints any more. And I’m using the debate around eggs as just one small example. I’ve become paranoid and mistrustful, opting instead to continue living life on the edge: I grease the bottom of the frying pan; I grease that baby like there’s no tomorrow and slap a couple of eggs down and listen to them splatter and fry with a menacing grin. Dicing with death baby. Yeah that’s how I like it.

When food propagandists incite a life and death scenario it’s no wonder the argument often, quite literally, takes on biblical proportions.

As Kirby Farrell writes in Psychology Today: “Holy foods ("manna," the Eucharistic "body and blood of Christ") provide cosmic nurture to sustain believers forever, assuming you obediently keep Satan's additives out.”

Such a belief extends to basic food items when we consider righteous foods to be "natural" or "organic", says Farrell. “The idea is that we live in an envelope and have to keep it pure, which takes some paranoid attention to ‘fight off’ an ‘attack’ of illness… A few hundred years ago medicine's only weapon was to regulate intake by diet, leeches or emetics (to purge disease), and surgery (to excise the bad).”

There’s a funny anecdote about past New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange. He was sitting at a formal dinner event with cartoonist Tom Scott when a bunch of chocolates reached their end of the table.

“No thanks, my body is a temple,” said Scott. “Pass them along here,” said Lange, interrupting in a booming voice. “My body is a warehouse!”

So I will continue to eat my eggs guilt free. After all, as Farrell states, “paranoia is a sort of eating disorder since it ruins your appetite for life”.

Your opportunity to vote for lecturers and other AUT University staff that you think provide outstanding service to students.

Nominations close on 11th OCTOBER Vote now @ http://tinyurl.com/AuSMAwards2013 www.ausm.org.nz

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Artist Of The Week Hannah Nova Dudley Hannah Nova Dudley is a Kiwi lass currently eight months into her tattoo apprenticeship in the sunny Gold Coast of Oz. Judging by her mind-blowing drawings, you’d perhaps guess she was trained by art ninjas in the deep jungles of Laos but alas, her origin story is much less impressive. “I first started drawing when Whangaparaoa Civic Video released a colouring competition for the film Flushed Away. I eagerly went home and coloured my little heart out while simultaneously watching the movie for inspiration. I won the competition and got a free DVD and some mint Aero chocolate which I threw away because I hate mint. And I've been drawing ever since.” Her biggest inspirations thus far have been her Dad who is also very artistic and Robbie whom she apprentices under. She also throws out a special thanks to Mr. Seaton from school.

“Not many people liked him. But I really did! He always said not to shy away from art or try to be modest all the time - to not doubt yourself and do the best you can. He said something like that anyway – he probably just worded it a whole lot better.” Tattooing has been a long-time dream for Hannah so it’s inspiring to say the least to see somebody making it with their artistic talent. Way to go.

You can check out more of Hannah’s work by searching Hannah Dudley Art on Facebook.

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Jesse Sheehan Finds His Fire

by Matthew Cattin On a bright Sunday morning, I visited young Jesse Sheehan at his Grafton flat. He invited me in and popped the kettle on for some tea. I made myself at home as the flat’s overly friendly cat tried for my affections and Jesse made himself some breakfast. It was certainly a nice morning for an interview and as we chatted about music, Auckland transport and upcoming gigs, I almost forgot I was on official debate business.

Jesse Sheehan is one of Auckland’s up-and-coming solo artists – a wizard on guitar and a strong vocalist to match. He first caught my attention absolutely dominating the opening slot for one of my favourite bands, Alabama Shakes, in January this year. He first caught New Zealand’s eye however back in 2009 when he took out the esteemed Smokefree Rockquest – the first solo male artist to do so.

Since taking out the quest, Jesse has released two EPs and a handful of singles; his latest being How the Light Gets In with its leading single I Need to Get My Fire Back. I asked Jesse why he decided on the EP route rather than tackling a full album. “It wouldn’t have taken much too just add a few tracks and call it an album. I’ve always thought of my first album as something that has to be the embodiment of all I wanted to do – a real artistic statement. And I guess creatively I wanted more time to explore different things,” he says. “An album, which I’m sort of working towards now, will have a cohesive sound to it and I’ll have established what I want to be – at least for the moment. I wouldn’t want to say this and then go back on it – it’s just a theory – but I love the idea of actually going somewhere other than here just by myself and writing a full album from scratch, not using any of the songs I’ve already written. I love the idea of getting better at writing, by writing songs and then getting so good at writing that I can go away and just write an album from scratch - those are usually the best albums. My favourite album is Kid A and I also love the new Frank Ocean album as well, Channel Orange. I think both of those albums have a cohesive thing to them, from track one to the end they embody something – they’re an art in themselves. I’d love to do an album like that.”

Although Jesse has only just bleeped on my radar, he’s been writing tunes most of his life, no doubt wooing the ladies with his talents from a very young age. “I started when I was eight I think. I learnt chords on guitar – I knew maybe two or three chords – and my favourite thing to do was make songs out of them. I’d hear tragic love songs on the radio and just copy them so you’ve got an eight-year-old playing a tragic love song and it’s like ‘what’s happening?’ But you know I kept writing – I wrote all through high school in my bedroom. I thought that I might be a guitar player in a band but I never thought I would be a songwriter. I never really aspired to that until I was 17 and I had to enter Rock Quest by myself because my band was too old – they were a year ahead. I was like ‘I might just do this for fun’ and then when I won that and was also in Play It Strange, I was like oh, maybe I should pursue this as well.”

I asked how much of an impact winning Rockquest had on Jesse’s career and it surprised me to learn that the victory – while a huge boost to his confidence as an artist – also had its setbacks. “It was good and it was bad to be honest. At the time I was writing really

alternative things so the places I wanted to be like bFM and Camp A Low Hum immediately turn away when they discover you were in a competition like Rockquest,” he says. It did however land him a ten grand Rock Shop voucher which he used to buy a couple of gorgeous guitars and a year’s supply of strings – purchases he now looks back on with a slight twinge of regret. “If I could do it all again I would do it differently,” he says. “Never give a 17-year-old $10,000… They don’t know what they’re doing.”

After Rockquest, Jesse says he had a hard time adjusting to the pressures of being a musician. “Every artist thinks they’re the only ones to go through that but no, I’ve often thought I should stop this and do something else,” he says. “After high school and Rockquest and all that, I was so hyped up, you know? It’s quite damaging that kind of hype. You’re surrounded by people who are telling you you’re going to be the next big thing and blah-blahblah, but then they don’t help you in any way, they just say that.

You’re forced into this harsh, really hard adult world.”

Give up, however, Jesse did not. Instead he started teaching guitar to young students as a means to take money out of the equation.

“The hard thing to juggle is thinking ‘okay, well I want to be successful, I want to be appreciated for what I’m doing so maybe I should just write songs that I think are gonna achieve that.’ And I think for me, the importance of teaching is obviously I need it to pay rent and things – but it also takes the money equation out of it. I don’t need to think ‘okay, I need to write a song that’s going to be a pop smash hit or I won’t eat this month’. It means I can take a more real, honest approach to how I make music.” On top of tuition, Jesse has made his coin as a sessions guitarist for Sony and band member for various Kiwi artists.

If you’re up for a laugh, I’d thoroughly recommend checking out Jesse’s endearingly bizarre music videos – my personal favourite being 2011’s Grandma’s Cookies. “The song is a story of a jealous love triangle with two people who are in love with each other and the narrator is the ex of one of those people – the spurred lover.

So he comes in and kills them both and puts them in a pot and turns them into cookies,” Jesse explains. How excellent is this?!

“It’s funny because it got banned from day time TV and stuff. It’s pretty tame I would have thought. It’s a pretty crazy world - you look at music channels and there’s Rihanna naked grinding on a pole and then there’s a little bit of tomato sauce on the wall and it’s a bad influence on eight-year-olds – it doesn’t seem to quite work.”

Jesse’s latest video for his new single Sunshine is no exception – you can expect an uplifting and quirky interpretation of the catchy tune complete with a delightful dance routine. Win. Jesse admits it’s difficult to get noticed in the New Zealand music scene but is dead set on persevering with his dream whilst retaining artistic integrity. “I don’t want my songs to be pop fodder,” he says. And at only 21-years-old, time and talent are definitely on Jesse’s side. “I am glad that I persevered now because even though it’s still small, I feel like there is still progress being made, things are starting to roll and people are starting to recognise me (I don’t mean people in the street, I mean the industry), more gigs are coming in and even though things are happening very slowly, I feel like they are still moving up.”

Image by Meredith Rehburg

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"I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse."

By Chantel StrydoM

Ever dreamed about stepping into a black and white film? Have you ever pretended that Humphrey Bogart was about to chase you to the airport and declare his love for you?

No? Was that just me? Oh…awkward. Before Twilight, The Hunger Games and Despicable Me were even conceived, their predecessors were making history. My first ever memory of watching an old film was at my grandparents’ house. I was sitting on the floor in front of the old box T.V that still had dials for volume and channels and I couldn’t have been older than eight. The film was called Casablanca and as Bogart would say, it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Ever since that day, old films have become somewhat of an obsession with me. Let me give you a little run down of my top old-school films and maybe by the end you might find your own favourite.

No. 1 Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942) In World War II Casablanca, Rick Blaine, exiled American and former freedom fighter, runs the most popular nightspot in town.

Rick lives the dream until cynical lone wolf Blaine comes into the possession of two valuable letters of transit. When Nazi Major Strasser arrives in Casablanca, the flattering police Captain Renault does what he can to please him, including detaining a Czechoslovak underground leader Victor Laszlo.

Much to Rick’s surprise, Lazslo arrives with Ilsa, Rick's one time love. Rick is very bitter towards Ilsa, who ran out on him in Paris, but when he learns she had good reason to.

They plan to run off together again using the letters of transit…until Laszlo finds out…

No. 2 Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941) At a San Francisco detective agency works Sam Spade and Miles Archer. The two men are partners, but Sam doesn't like Miles much. When a knockout who goes by the name Miss Wanderly walks into their office one night however, everything changes. Miles is dead. And so is a man named Floyd Thursby. It seems Miss Wanderly is surrounded by dangerous men. There's Joel Cairo, who uses gardenia-scented calling cards. There's Kasper Gutman, with his enormous girth and feigned civility. Her only hope of protection comes from Sam, who is suspected by the police of one or the other murder. More murders are yet to come, and it will all be because of these dangerous men, and their lust for a statuette of a bird: the Maltese Falcon.

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No. 3 Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly, 1952) In 1927, Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont are a famous on-screen romantic pair. Lina, however, mistakes the on-screen romance for real love. Don has worked hard to get where he is today, with his former partner Cosmo. When Don and Lina's latest film is transformed into a musical, Don has the perfect voice for the songs but Lina, even with the best efforts of a diction coach cannot cut it and they still decide to dub over her voice. Kathy Selden is brought in, an aspiring actress, and while she is working on the movie, Don falls in love with her. Will Kathy continue to "aspire", or will she get the break she deserves?

No. 4 Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) John "Scottie" Ferguson is a retired San Francisco police detective who suffers from acrophobia and Madeleine is the lady who leads him to high places. A wealthy shipbuilder who is an acquaintance from college days approaches Scottie and asks him to follow his beautiful wife, Madeleine. He fears she is going insane, maybe even contemplating suicide, because she believes she is possessed by a dead ancestor. Scottie is sceptical, but agrees after he sees the beautiful Madeleine.

No. 5 Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) Phoenix office worker Marion Crane is fed up with the way life has treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam in lunch breaks and they cannot get married because Sam gives most of his money away in alimony. One Friday Marion is trusted to bank $40,000 by her employer but seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and heads towards Sam's California store. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into The Bates Motel. The motel is managed by a quiet young man called Norman who seems to be dominated by his mother.

No. 6 Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) Often regarded as the greatest film of all, Citizen Kane follows a group of reporters who are trying to decipher the last word ever spoken by Charles Foster Kane, the million-

aire newspaper tycoon: "Rosebud." The film begins with a news reel detailing Kane's life for the masses, and from there, we are shown flashbacks from Kane's life. As the reporters investigate further, the viewers see a display of a fascinating man's rise to fame, and how he eventually fell off the "top of the world”.

No. 7 To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962) Based on Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning book of 1961, To Kill a Mockingbird stars Atticus Finch, an honest lawyer in a racially divided Alabama town in the 1930s. He agrees to defend a young black man who is accused of raping a white woman. Many of the townspeople try to get Atticus to pull out of the trial, but he decides to go ahead. How will the trial turn out - and will it change any of the racial tension in the town?

No. 8 Sunset Blvd.

(Billy Wilder, 1950) The story, set in '50s Hollywood, focuses on Norma Desmond, a silent-screen goddess whose pathetic belief in her own indestructibility has turned her into a demented recluse. The crumbling Sunset Boulevard mansion where she lives with only her butler Max, who was once her director and husband, has become her self-contained world.

Norma dreams of a comeback to pictures and she begins a relationship with Joe Gillis, a small-time writer who becomes her lover, a decision that will soon end with murder and total madness.

No. 9 Modern Times (Charles Chaplin, 1936) Chaplin’s last 'silent' film, filled with sound effects, was made when everyone else in Hollywood had advanced to talkies. Charlie turns against modern society, the machine age, (The use of sound in films?) and progress. Firstly we see him frantically trying to keep up with a production line, tightening bolts. He is selected for an experiment with an automatic feeding machine, but various mishaps lead his boss to believe he has gone mad, and Charlie is sent to a mental hospital... When he gets out, he is mistaken for a communist while waving a red flag, sent to jail, foils a jailbreak, and is let out again. We follow Charlie through many more escapades before the film is out.

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According to a survey that was conducted by the NZLSA, significant numbers of students suffer with anxiety and depression. Our AUT Law Student Society is having its Wellness Week next week from 7th – 13th October. It is the second time this programme is being ran and this time it is bigger and better. Students’ welfare and wellness is very important that is why I have taken a personal interest in this programme. Please see the information below for more information on the Mental Health Awareness week.

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DLA Phillips Fox & AUTLSS Goody bags Get these for FREE during your lectures!

Hello debate readers, The race is on for the AuSM Student Representative Council for 2014. For the next two weeks, AuSM will be holding candidates forums alongside our free feeds on the respective campuses. This is a fantastic opportunity for all students to meet the candidates face-to-face, engage with them and ask questions. I wish all the candidates all the best.

[Phone]

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YOGA CLASSES

During classes

WELLNESS GIFT PACKS

Throughout the week

EXAM PREP WORSHOPS

DLA PHILLIPS FOX WELLNESS BOOK & GIFT PACKS~ FUN PRIZES FROM 5 + A DAY ~ AUT SPORT + FITNESS YOGA CLASSES ~ MASSAGES ~ HEALTHY SNACKS ~ STRESS FREE PLAY DATE WITH SPCA PUPPIES ~ EXAM PREP WORKSHOPS FOR FIRST AND SECOND YEARS ~ Business vs Law Sports game ~ CHECK EMAILS AND FACEBOOK FOR UPDATES

PREZ SEZ

The local Council elections are just at the corner. I will use this opportunity to encourage all students who are eligible to vote to simply have their say. The decisions that are made at the ward, local board and mayoral levels affect the communities that you live in as well as the university environment with traffic, transport, accommodation, and parking needs. A liveable and great city like Auckland needs great students like you to elect people to lead it. For more information on the 2013 Auckland Council Elections, please go to www.voteauckland.co.nz

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Join us for a fun filled week to create awareness and provide support as the end of year exams draw near!

Check the Time7-13 Table October For 2013 Events!

Exam Prep Workshops For first and second years.

Gold coin donation on entry. 5+ a Day gift bags to be won.

October

Business vs Law Sports game Please register along with your mates for some healthy competition on the sports field!

2013

De-­‐stress: Have a stress free puppy play date! Come hang out!

Monday

Tuesday

7 Wellness Week Starts!

Collect your goody bags!

FREE circuit fitness class 1-­‐ 2pm WT FREE YOGA 2-­‐3 pm WT

Wednesday

8 Property Exam Prep Workshop.

Free Fresh Fruit @ Lunch Time WU level 1

Thursday

9 Torts Exam Prep Workshop.

Free Fresh Fruit @ Lunch Time WU Level 1

Friday

10 Legal Reasoning Workshop

Puppies 12pm Green Quad + Free Fresh Fruit

Saturday

11 Business vs Law Sports Game-­‐ Register now!

Free drinks, snacks & Prizes

3:45-­‐5pm

Sunday

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To register your spot on the SPORTS team or to BOOK a place for a WORKSHOP please email us at info@autlawss.org.nz Check our FB events page for updates and more info!

By Scott Yeoman

@scott_yeoman

A memorandum

Memorandum [mem-uh-ran-duh m] -noun, pl. –dums, -da 1. A short note designating something to be remembered, especially something to be done or acted upon in the future; reminder.

Emirates Team New Zealand didn’t choke...they lost to a better team OK! Correction: At the end of last week’s column I foolishly counted the swan-cats before they’d hatched. I claimed the Americans could learn something from Kiwi sailing tactics and well...I was wrong.

sniff and suddenly became unbeatable, and along with clever changes to their boat and tactics, left us in their wake. But should we be so surprised?

But we didn’t choke.

Choking is when you’re expected to win no matter what the other team does. In sailing that term is void. The other team is always capable of ‘doing that something’ to turn the tide, especially when they are intelligent, talented people being paid an absolute mint to do so.

However for many of us a week ago it did seem like we were bringing the cup home no matter what - there were talks of knighthoods and the focus quickly turned to how Auckland was going to host the famous event. ETNZ warned New Zealand that it wasn’t over, but we said “naaaaaaah, don’t be so humble guys.”

Then a day later, on September 19, Oracle started winning and didn’t stop for another seven races.

We knew from the start that Oracle was a very professional and outrageously rich outfit that weren’t exactly going to get drummed 9-1. They had a solid reputation, a very skilful crew, a team of razor-sharp tacticians and an owner who is known for his willingness to throw everything behind his team. They were defending champions on home soil. They had everything necessary to stage one of greatest come-backs in sport history... and so they did. Unfortunately this was combined with a mixture of mistakes made under tremendous pressure, and eventually desperate and panicked sailing which un-hinged Dean Barker and his crew and left a country in mourning.

But that’s sport. We lost to a better team that didn’t give up when defeat was most definitely staring at them in the face.

It was a brave and respectable come-back that deserves to be commended. So don’t complain about better technology, more money, or time-limits – we knew about all of that going into it.

I guarantee ETNZ aren’t making those excuses, they realise they lost fair and square and will now be evaluating and preparing for the next challenge. I for one can’t wait.

What frustrated people the most was the fact that the Kiwi’s were serving for match point when they hit the net half way up.

Confused but still confident they wound up and served again, this time hitting it even lower – losing by 1:24 min. Oracle then got a

AUCKLAND'S GOT IT GOING ON

By Mike Ross So I had a little bit of a boo-boo last week. Not a physical boo-boo, but a boo-boo of the ‘I'm-a-bit-of-a-dickhead’ variety. Slaving away at a bit of work experience (as university students, we all know the struggle), I neglected my position as esteemed gig professor of this publication and didn't write a column.

"That's not so bad", I hear you thinking. "Work experience can be demanding and tough; don't be so hard on yourself Mike".

Well yes, it was tough, and thank you for your sympathy. But whatever my excuse, it was always going to be hard to justify not having time to write a shitty, completely irrelevant introduction for a gig guide that is 90% copied and pasted from Facebook event pages. So I am here, apologising, and asking sincerely for forgiveness. May I never fail you again.

Now that that's over, these are the events that have been clogging my notifications this week:

Friday

which has been rinsed on George FM all year. These guys are popular as hell, and by the time you read this, the gig may well be sold out, so head to 1-night.co.nz ASAP to check.

Saturday

A Weird Night Out @ The Imperial Labyrinth, Fort Lane It's always cool to see something a little bit different in Auckland nightlife, and this gig certainly ticks that box. Located in the never-before-used basement of Fort Lane's new Imperial complex, A Weird Night Out pulls together musical styles from all over the world and bundles them together to fit a club environment. Acts playing on the night include the legendary Todd Edwards, who recently collaborated with Daft Punk on their new album, as well as Nick Hook, the producer of Azealia Banks' hit 212. Filling in on local support is Weird Together, Nick D & Dick Johnson's side project, as well as She's So Rad and High Hoops. I haven't been this excited to party in a long, long time. Tickets are $20 from iTicket.co.nz.

TNGHT @ The Studio, 240 K Roa This Friday, they'll finally be here: Hudson Mohawke and Lunice. Two of electronic music's biggest producer playmakers right now, the duo is known as TNGHT when they team up, and are one act you don't want to miss. They're the producers of trap anthem Higher Ground,

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Cricket... It's Just A Man's Sport, Right?

Down admits that receiving news of her selection came as a shock.

“The idea of making the squad this year hadn’t even crossed my mind. It was something that I was working towards for future years.”

“At the first training camp in Lincoln, I was sitting in a room with players who only three years ago I was idolising. To be honest, I was pretty star struck.”

By Arlene Kelly Want to learn something new at university today?

Cricket’s not just a man's sport. The Whiteferns (@WHITEFERNS) are the New Zealand Women’s Cricket team and are currently ranked higher than the BLACKCAPS in their respective fields.

Captained by Dunedin born Suzie Bates, the Whiteferns follow closely behind England, Australia and the West Indies. Players are selected from a provincial competition and this year AUT were fortunate enough to claim two of the selected athletes. Georgia Guy (19) and Lauren Down (18), who both study on the North Shore Campus, are two of the youngest in the squad.

Along with myself, they both play provincial cricket for the Auckland Hearts (@AucklandHearts). Guy, who bowls deadly off-spinners, and Down, who could hit Jimmy Anderson over extra cover for six are making the most of the opportunities they have been given.

Starting at a young age hasn’t held either Guy or Down back, with both having prior experience representing NZ in Emerging Player tournaments against both England and Australia. Along with five other Auckland representative players, the Whiteferns squad train most days, with a mixture of technique and gym sessions. It’s a big commitment, but the players agree it will be worth it in the long run.

For Guy, her selection in the NZ squad was the perfect end to a perfect season. Her previous form for the Auckland Hearts in the 2012/13 season made her a standout option in selections. However, she never once took her spot for granted and says that she will continue the intense trainings to try and secure her spot in the playing eleven.

“No amount of hard work could ever beat the feeling you get when representing your country at the highest level. Hopefully one day the game will gain some more credit because in comparison to the Blackcaps at the moment, the women are kicking ass.”

The two rising stars will be looking to have a successful domestic season in the hope of being selected for the West Indies tour of New Zealand. Eight matches will be played at different venues around the country in what is expected to be a very exciting series.

Africa On Her Sleeve The one off event will take place on Saturday 12 October at KFM, Auckland, and will feature the work of fashion designers and artists.

For those with more fashion sense than I, the designers include four local African designers; Chipo Chiyangwa, Maureen Chimwayange, Nomsa Botshiwe and Portia Muumbe – as well as designs from New Zealand born Lucy-Mae Goffe-Robertson and Thai born Lucie Sutichinta.

By Matthew Cattin The vibrant colours of Africa are set to dazzle a Kiwi audience in upcoming art and fashion show Africa On My Sleeve.

Conceived and organised by third year PR major Makanaka Tuwe, the show is the first of its kind to occur in Auckland.

“It comes from my love for Africa. I’m from Zimbabwe but overall I just love the continent, I love my culture, I love my heritage and I felt like everywhere else around the world African culture and art was being recognised. New Zealand is so far away from the rest of the world yet we are so close now because of social media– I thought that it was time that something was done about African representation in New Zealand communities,” says Tuwe.

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“I thought oh hey, why not do an event that gives these amazing girls a chance to show off their stuff, as well as an opportunity for New Zealand to appreciate the African art and fashion that comes from within New Zealand”.

Born in Zimbabwe, Tuwe moved to New Zealand in 2003 at the age of 10 and has spent much of her time since advocating Africa, women and culture in New Zealand.

Juggling the event planning with her final year at AUT has had its moments of stress but Tuwe is positive it will all fall together on the night – hopefully with the help of her mother.

“I’m trying to talk to my Mum to get her to make some African food here and there but if that doesn’t work out I’ll have to make it myself,” she says.

Tickets range from $20-30 and all guests receive drinks, food and goody bags upon admission.

Young, Hungry Talent.

fellow actors work because of the time constraints that apply on such a fast paced set. Throughout the rehearsal process our relationship has shifted and as we’ve gotten to see more of each other outside of those confines. It’s been amazing. I love Amelia and respect her very much.

Young & Hungry seems a good way of sharing experiences and mentoring. Have you had the opportunity to teach or learn anything thus far?

Oh absolutely. We’ve been working in an unconventional way, both devising and honouring an amazing script. Amelia and Sha starting out by telling us they wanted us (the cast) to have real ownership of this show, so every member of the cast has stepped into the directorial role at one point or another. Throughout the process we’ve all been devising and making, then stepping out to act as an outside eye, and having to not be precious about what we create if it’s not working. In that way we’re all teaching and learning from each other, using the different skills and backgrounds we all have to enrich and create the piece and make it truly ours.

Does Young & Hungry offer opportunities to under 25’s that they would be unlikely to have outside of the program?

Young and Hungry offers a professional theatre experience to actors and crew that perhaps haven’t had one before. It’s a chance to work with great, new, New Zealand scripts, and the current movers and shakers of the Auckland + Wellington theatre scenes. With Young and Hungry you’re meeting the people who making exciting theatre right now, while you work with the exciting young people that are going to make the theatre tomorrow.

What are you hoping audiences will get out of the play?

Hopefully it’ll be so visually beautiful that even if you’re not following the crazy existential narrative, you’ll still walk away inspired.

That’s what this experience has been for me, inspiring. So I hope that’s what rubs off on our audiences.

The 2013 Young & Hungry Festival features two exciting shows and runs at The Basement until October 12. Get amongst theatre lovers!

Debate caught up with Shortland Street’s Pearl McGlashan to chat about her role in 2013’s Young & Hungry Festival – an annual theatre event created and performed entirely by talented 15-25-year-olds.

With the Young & Hungry festival, the emphasis is completely on young talent. What is it like to be working with a relatively young cast and crew?

It’s been great! Our cast ranges in age from 17-23, so we’ve got two actors that are still in school, and a couple who have graduated from drama school or various other degrees already. I think there are many advantages to working with a young cast and crew, we have a clear voice, and are motivated and dedicated to getting it out there.

Could you give me a brief synopsis of the show Atlas Mountains Dead Butterflies and your role within it?

Atlas is an extremely complicated and beautiful script. The writer Joseph Harper certainly hasn’t made it easy for us. It’s an existential rollercoaster at times, but our cast along with our directors Amelia and Shadon, have tried our best to make the play accessible. Because we have created an ensemble piece all of us play many roles throughout.

You act alongside Amelia Reid in Shorty St. How has it been seeing her step into the directing role?

Amelia and I were talking about this the other day, and how our relationship has completely changed. Shortland Street is an amazing environment but you don’t really get to see how your

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The Little Things That Make Life Great

By Cassandra Arauzo

The one thing Evelyn refused to be was normal.

Unlike me, I was normal. I’m a blended colour on the palette of society.

“For goodness sake” I said, longing to tell her to shut up. ”You’re far from normal!”

“You prance around in your tutu, fanning incense around the room like some old hippie... Eve, you eat microwave dinners and complain when that food doesn’t look exactly the way it does on the package.... normal four year olds don’t do that, normal people wouldn’t care less.”

She’s girlie. Ambitious. Verging on drag queen.

She wanted to be everything and anything at once: a ballerina, an actress, a model, Puerto Rican, a contortionist, a nurse, a figure skater and wonder woman. I watched her occasionally. She spent inordinate amounts of time waltzing around our living room with a doily on her head. She strutted down the hallway as the new Miss Universe, during which time she would also claim she won the Nobel Prize for the best colouring picture.

At her ripe age of four, she was inquisitive about everything.

I suppose she watched our mum and saw exactly what she wanted not to be. Mum was the perfect definition of plain Jane. She had brown hair, not chocolate or deep maroon, but just brown. Her eyes didn’t even sparkle a little. They were so concerned, full of deep regret and anguish. She puffed. Inhaled.

Sucked at the nicotine that drained the life out of her. Bony and gaunt with hollow eyes, a shade of yellow – something I started to see in my reflection. Evelyn escaped this world. I don’t blame Evelyn for not wanting to be normal. I don’t blame Evelyn for not wanting to be like us.

Most nights we ate tea in front of the telly.

You could see Evelyn’s googley eyes suction on while her mashed pumpkin slid off her fork. Every moving coloured picture to her

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was a whole new world. You could see her mind racing at the thought of meeting “Big Bird” or becoming a champion swimmer.

Her world - like television - was endless.

I preferred to watch Eve as I ate my tea. Unlike telly she was completely unpredictable, still full of her hopes… dreams.

As long as Evelyn longed for abnormality she will forever aspire towards it as she suffers an extreme case of curiosity. I on the other hand, suffer from world- weariness and discontent with my own skin.

was concerned I wasn’t going to be the one breaking this girl’s heart.

She had everything going for her - absolute denial.

In my eyes there was no way she could be all if any of the things she dreamt about. But she didn’t know any different therefore it couldn’t hurt her, not yet at least.

The next afternoon left me stunned. Evelyn came howling home at her discovery that Kindergarten was not only not going to make her a star, but that every other one, two, three and four year old were eager to be a big star too. In between her moans and sniffles I gathered that Brian too wanted to be an actor, and some girl called Lauren was going to win the Nobel Prize before her.

Her emerald eyes burnt into me. A glimpse of hope told me she was waiting for my reassuring response.

So for the following years I envied her way to slide by life at such ease - ignorance was bliss for sure. I stayed trudging through life, dragging my feet behind me. I’ll wait for the day, if it ever comes, for Eve to fit in with the rest of us “no hopes”. However I hope that she never loses herself to society like Mum did…like I have. With any luck others might take a moment in their life and look at a child like Eve as a learning curve rather than an annoying sister. Because in today’s society I believe that kids like Evelyn can teach the adults and the subsequent teenagers to be innocent again. Teach the washouts who have become closed minded to the idea of imagination because they believe it sets you up for disappointment and failure.

Was this the time where you tell a child: “life’s a bitch?” I don’t remember when it happened to me. Did it hurt? Was I once like Evelyn? Was reality an atrocity to me also?

Gathering by the boogers running down her nose and her clutching fingers on my arm, I figured it must hurt to realise you weren’t much more special than anybody else.

Maybe I was the one who needed to be told; life isn’t about reality all the time and maybe life’s only a bitch because that’s what I make of it. Perhaps I too wanted to be fantastic and I just followed my mother’s footsteps.

Reality was for people who had lost their imagination but most importantly their innocence.

I became conscious of something that I admired in my little sister, and to my surprise, despite her annoying zoo - loo chants at 7am she had an amazing ability to truly believe she could be everything and anything. This was a real gift that I hoped she never grew out of.

I certainly did. Are children doomed to be like their parents? Like our mother?

Possibly I wanted to be a young soul, without a doubt, that has done no wrong and only sees the world through genuine and pure love. A believer? A dreamer? Unfortunately I’m not. Never will be. I kept to the path with society and never strayed like Evelyn does.

The undying innocence to believe a 90-kilogram man, climbed through our tiny apartment window to deliver gifts. That a flying old dwarf lady swapped her tooth for ten cent coins, and that she - a four year old, in the small city of Tauranga, New Zealand, could find the cure for cancer. As far as I

Too many people think that only adults need to set an example for our children, but infact there’s so much to learn from the example set by children themselves. Our struggles in life would somehow be made easier this way.

At least, that’s what Evelyn showed me.

Because the one thing she refused to be was normal.

America’s Cup Wordfind

ANGUISH BARKER BILLIONAIRES COMEBACK DEFEAT

DEPRESSION DIRTYCHEATS EMIRATES FOILING MELANCHOLY

MOURNING NIGHTMARE ORACLE PENALTY POSTPONED

SANFRANCISCO SPITHILL STEROIDS TURMOIL WATERTORTURE

Circle all the words in the America's Cup Wordfind, tear this page out & pop it into the box on the side of the red debate stands, and you could win two "Squawk Burgers' vouchers for Velvet Burger, Auckland CBD! Tooooo easy!

Name:

Email: www.ausm.org.nz

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2014 Candidates For The AuSM Student Representitive Council For the next two weeks during the Voting period (commencing Monday 30th – Friday 10 October) we will be holding Candidates Forums alongside our Free Feeds on the respective Campuses. This is your opportunity to speak to your fellow AUT students as well as meet your other Candidates who are also vying for positions on the AuSM Student Representative Council.

Please see the following schedule: Week 1 (From Monday 30 September – Friday 4 October ) ALL Candidates to attend Monday 30th - Manukau Campus at 12pm onwards Tuesday 1st – North Shore Campus at 12pm onwards Thursday 3 – City Campus at 12pm onwards rd

Week 2 (From Monday 7 October – Friday 10 October) ONLY President and Vice President candidates Monday 7th - Manukau Campus at 12pm onwards Tuesday 8th – North Shore Campus at 12pm onwards Thursday 10 – City Campus at 12pm onwards th

President Goldsbury, Thomas To my fellow students, I am your Presidential candidate for 2014, not only have I been Involved with AuSM for a year now as your elected Business and Law Representative. I have also performed the role of acting president which is why I believe I have what it takes to lead our student voice. I have something to share with you all - "I have a dream", to create an environment where students are prepared to embrace and overcome any challenges faced in today's challenging world. "I have a dream", that students are given all necessary tools to achieve any/every career aspiration they have, that every culture is accepted within AUT with warmth and humility. I will push for the best technology, vibrant student life and welfare for us all. That is my dream and that is what I can offer as your 2014 presidential candidate. Go for GOLD-sbury!!

Kingi, John Kia ora and greetings! My name is John Kingi and I am your AuSM Vice President. I am running to be your AuSM President. I am a

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communications student and I have a passion for our university and your success. During my term as Vice President I have supported the services you care about including free feeds, support for clubs and various events and gigs during orientation. As your AuSM President I will continue work I have begun as Vice President including achieving free internet on campus, keeping access to Facebook available and unrestricted, having cheaper shuttle services and getting AUT support for a purpose built recreation center on our city campus by 2015 for all AUT students to enjoy. I believe I have the experience and the passion to make a difference on your behalf and it would be an honour to serve as your President in 2014.

Cheers.

overcome any challenges faced in today's challenging world. "I have a dream", that students are given all necessary tools to achieve any/every career aspiration they have, that every culture is accepted within AUT with warmth and humility. I will push for the best technology, vibrant student life and welfare for us all. That is my dream and that is what I can offer as your 2014 presidential candidate. Go for GOLD-sbury!!

Mohanakrishnan, Charanya

Vice-President

I am Charan pursuing my PhD under School of Computing and Mathematical Science as well completed Master of Engineering Studies in AUT. I hereby have nominated for the position Vice President. During my schooling have been school people leader and worked for student welfare. While doing my masters has been the member of AuSM as well worked as a student mentor. Since previously worked for student welfare will be able to provide a sustainable association for AuSM members. Will work and give voice at all levels to provide tremendous service to develop the quality of student life at AUT. I believe student movement can do more, as a Vice President will ensure a greater focus on delivering more benefits for the student’s well-being with fun-filled activities. I’d like to get an opportunity by putting together bunch of folks and able to make that happen doing stuff for students.

Bhimasetty, Srujan Swamy Krishna

Pokino, April

Hi, my name is srujan swamy krishna bhimastty and I am running for the position of Vice President of Student council at AuSM. I am determined and will work to my greatest potential to make the coming years the most memorable ever. It is the job of the Vice President to help the president and it is both our jobs to represent the fellow students. I will take this job seriously and do it to the best of my ability. I am not afraid to voice my opinions or stand up for what I believe in. I value creativity and am willing to brainstorm ideas and alternative ways to resolve problems. I will be ready and willing to listen to the insight and ideas of others. It’s really the ideas and hard work that can make it a better year for all of us.

Kia Ora. My name is April Pokino, I am a second year Bachelor of Communication Studies student. I am a great listener and believe that I have the skills to be a great Vice President. As a current president of a large club at University with over 300 members, I have the people management skills and experience to be your Vice President. I feel as a student there are many issues that must be addressed on campus. For example there is a need for the reduction of Parking Prices, the need for more computer labs and the need for free internet AND printing. These are just some of the issues that I am willing to fight for as Vice President. If you vote for me I will definitely ensure that there WILL be staplers and pens at ALL assignment drop boxes. I will make your Uni-Life easier.

Tuilaepa, Suavi Honorable students, my name is Suavi Tuilaepa and i am humbly running to be your next President. As a current AUT University student I possessed high standard level of experience domestically and internationally as a United Nations and Pacific Islands delegate to the world youth organization. As your President i will shape and debate the important issues concerning our members to the board and draft new effective resolutions. My pride and honor is my culture, language and church.

Goldsbury, Thomas To my fellow students, I am your VicePresidential candidate for 2014, Not only have I been Involved with AuSM for a year now as your elected Business and Law Representative, I have also performed the role of acting president which is why I believe I have what it takes to lead our student voice.

I have something to share with you all - "I have a dream", to create an environment where students are prepared to embrace and

Tahir, Ali I believe in challenging the status quo. I believe in transforming AUSM. I believe in a brighter future for all you AUSM people. I believe we are AUSM together. What i believe is that we should be doing more than just 'free feeds' for you. I believe in challenging your mind. I believe in setting your creativity free. I believe in generating opportunities for AUSM members. I believe we are the best University in

New Zealand. This is my belief, and if you too believe, then vote for me as your vice president.

The dream is to transform our organisation into a social enterprise, involving all aspects of society within our university and any external members of the New Zealand community. This is the future. This is the belief to restore the very notion of what is it to be a university. A university about the people.

Walls, Jason Have you got the balls to vote for Walls? My name is Jason Walls and I am running for the position of Vice-President of AuSM for 2014.

I am no stranger to student politics or AuSM; I have sat on the student council for two years serving as the disabilities affairs officer. During my time, I gained important governance skills, as well as a knowledge of how to effectively engage with students regarding important issues. However, I am not done with AuSM just quite yet. As your Vice-President, I would make sure: A) The students are ALWAYS represented fairly. B) AuSM's exposure in all three campuses is increased, meaning we can deliver more services to YOU. C) AuSM remains one of New Zealand's most popular and well run student organisations. So vote Jason Walls as your AuSM Vice-President for 2014!

Disability Affairs Officer Milroy, Jordon Having a disability has given me an edge in this world. Growing up in Samoa, with Cerebral Palsy, I learnt how to overcome challenges.

This is a great skill to have if I am successful and Become part of AuSM, as the Disability Affairs Officer, will allow me to fill the missing link between disability awareness and the University of the Changing World. Outside of university life I am involved with youth group for Pacific Islanders with disabilities, as a group leader, as well as promoting disability awareness through speeches and climbing buildings around the globe. I have a great sense of humour, positive spin on life and I believe that I am a great team player. I look forward to being part of an AuSM future.

Noonan, Simon I am Simon. I am standing for the Disability Affairs Office. I am deeply committed to disability rights, as well as general human and environmental rights. I have a BA in Virtue Ethics and a BSc in Conservation Ecology, and am now in my second year of an LLB here at AUT. I have spent many years studying, as well as doing conservation work when my health allows. I am familiar with the health and disability networks of the universities I have been to. I bring experience, a committed and proactive attitude, an ability to work by myself and in a team but most importantly, empathy, understanding, and an ability to listen and translate problems into solutions.

But then what student politician wouldn’t tell you that? Thing is, I am not a politician, I am just ethically committed to this cause. Please consider voting Simon Noonan for Disability Affairs Officer.

Pasifika Affairs Officer Keil, Theresa I am a born and raised Samoan student. I am motivated, adaptable and responsible student seeking to help all Pasifika students at AUT who are in need of help getting on the right trace with their studies. I am inspired to bring together a community of Pasifika students to be involved with each other through events and activities that is provided by AUT University.

I have a clear, logical mind with a practical approach to problem solving and a drive to see things through to completion. Working at Apia Broadcasting Ltd TV3 has made me a more effective communicator with people from different cultures.

Tuilaepa, Suavi Talofa Lava and warm Pacific greetings to you all, my name is Suavi Tuilaepa and i am running to be your next Pasifika representative.

I possessed high standard level of experience domestically and internationally as a United Nations and Pacific Islands delegate to the world youth organization. As a Pasifika representative i will shape and debate our important issues concerning our Pacific members to the board and draft new effective resolutions. My pride and honor is my Pacific culture, language and church.

Business and Law Faculty Representative Issaeva, Jacky Blurb was not made available to Returning Officer or AuSM at the time of print.

Maxwell, Kahutia Kia ora, I'm Kahutia Ngamahara Maxwell, but you call me Kahu. I am an opportunist individual in my first year studies. I'm inviting YOU to vote for me to represent YOU and our Business faculty on the AuSM executive council. In my studies so far I've experience the ultimate highs and dramatic lows of uni life - from parties O'week (no I mean O'month) at WSA to the stress of exams, I know that it can be soooo challenging. I'm a Vice Chancellor scholarship student, receiving a lot of support from AUT and now I want to give back! I feel that a business rep needs to portray the ideals and tenacity of the business faculty. Vote for me and I will use what I am learning in Business to help make YOUR uni life a little easier and a lot better! Vote for the bro! Churr!

Te Ara Poutama representative Paranihi, Eru NÄ tou rourou, nÄ taku rourou, kia ora ai e te iwi TÄ«hei Mauri Ora I would like to run as AuSM rep for Te Ara Poutama (TAP)in 2014. I recognise the need for TAP to have a representatie who is familiar with the student body. I have studied here for two years, and I feel I am the best person for the job. I intend on using my experiences and

hard working ethic to make things happen for Te Ara Poutama, these include: He RÄ Whakanui: MÄ ori Grandaunt & Graduate celebration 2014 & Access to learning recourses for Te Ara Poutama students. I cannot make things happen without your help. Although I will be your rep, I will still need you supporting me. Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, Ä“ngari he toa takitini. My success is not individual, it is a collective. Mauri Ora. Eru Paranihi.

Wikiriwhi-Heta, Michael Kia ora and hello, I'm Michael WikiriwhiHeta and I am this year’s Te Ara Poutama representative on the AuSM council. I am reapplying for this position because I know I am a good candidate with the knowledge and assets of my predecessors that vacated the role and also with my knowledge that I have for this year would definitely be an asset for me and a benefit for the faculty. My main concerns are the benefits that people don’t know about i.e. student services, scholarships, travel opportunities and even get the word out to the students about what AuSM does as a charity and also as a student support centre as well. I am also a man of my word and always try to strive for the best for the students of the university. Kia ora ra.

Campus location based representatives North Shore Brown, Chaz Kia Ora e te iwi whanui, My name is Chaz Brown and I am running as your candidate for the 2014 AUSM North Shore/Akoranga Representative. I am currently a 2nd year Health Science (Occupational Therapy) student.

My intentions of being your representative are based around my passion for health, sports and education. Being an experienced sporting athlete in rugby league, as well as my multi cultural background alongside the leadership roles I have gained the vital skills of representing YOU and the Akoranga Campus.

If is to get funding, to get more FREE food, organise sporting events, speaking out for my fellow peers, and letting the small campus of north shore be heard loud and proud, then allow me to do my thing on your behalf. Churr !

Dixon, Chris I have been working with the AuSM free feeds for the past year and a half and get to interact with the students from various campuses especially the north shore since I live in Student Accommodation and try my best to provide a better experience for those students on the north shore that I feel are under-represented in AuSM. I have a very eccentric, CARING personality and am willing to try nearly anything and will be willing to sit down and just talk with anyone, hear their concerns and what they would like to happen on the shore. I would then take this to the higher Ausm guys that be and fight for FAIRNESS among the campuses. I am a psychology student so I spend my time on the shore, I live there, I like it there so I wanna make you like it too :D

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Skeet Skeet Why Song Lyrics Really Should Matter.

by Matthew Cattin To quote the immortal words of Rihanna, “I’mma make you my bitch. Cake, cake, cake, cake, cake, cake, cake, cake, cake, cake, cake, cake, cake, cake, cake.” I don’t even… What?! In what world are these lyrics acceptable? Has society dumbed down so much that it’s willing to meekly roll over and accept the onslaught of stupidity currently excreting all over the charts? Don’t get me wrong, I love cake, and I’m sure Rihanna does too. But is it really necessary for her to uhh, make a lame song about it? Perhaps I would be willing to make exceptions if the music behind the lyrics was mind-bogglingly next level. Maybe in the hands of David Bowie or Lou Reed, a song about bitches and cake could reach above and beyond its lyrical content - but only because the words would most definitely be sung ironically and not with the blatant hypersexuality Rihanna conveys. I mean come on, it’s not even her birthday and her man friend is going to lick the icing off anyway.

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against lyrics of a sexual nature. It’s a part of life, write about it if you so desire but for the love of god, use some originality and some taste! Use a degree of subtlety instead of brandishing sweaty testicles all over the show. And I’m by no means a pro, but here’s a tip. Maybe vary your lyrics from time to time, you get what I’m saying? Branch out a little. When every song on an album is about bitches, hoes, cakes and titttaaaays, well, it gets a little dull.

I feel like pop artists just don’t put in any effort these days. I admit even bands like The Beatles had their fair share of poor lyrics but you have to understand how conservative music had to be in that era. They also made up for it with some absolute pearls - Eleanor Rigby, Let it Be and Strawberry Fields Forever to name a few. Today, people be like “let’s rhyme ‘boom, boom, boom’ with ‘moon, moon, moon’ – people will lap it up.” NO! Stop it!

Everybody stop lapping! Today there is no excuse for such atrocities. The world is your pallet, write lyrics that provoke thought and discussion, challenge people - stop playing it safe. I’m not saying you have to use big words like “strawberry,” but you have an audience of millions – tell us a story - make us feel and think. Below I have done a spot of close reading on two popular music songs, James Taylor’s Fire and Rain from 1970 and Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz’ Get Low from

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2003. Both songs entered the US Billboard Hot 100 charts, peaking at third and second positions respectively.

“Just yesterday morning they let me know you were gone, Susanne the plans they made put an end to you, I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song, I just can't remember who to send it to.

“I've seen fire and I've seen rain, I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end, I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend, But I always thought that I'd see you again.”

The first verse sees James lamenting the loss of his close friend Susanne who committed suicide while he was recording his first album. Friends of James were worried the news would distract him from the writing process and therefore neglected to tell him the sad news until six months after her death. The chorus alludes to his stay at a mental hospital after he sank into a deep depression as a teenager. The fire refers to the electroshock therapy he received during his stay, and the rain to the cold showers he’d take post-treatment. He then refers back to his friend Susanne, explaining that he’s lived both sides of the coin, the light and the dark, but he always expected her to remain a constant in his life. It’s a beautiful tune, supported by lyrics that, although not literarily genius, tell a personal story.

“3, 6, 9 Damn she fine, Let me see ya sock it to me one mo' time, Get low, get low, get low, get low, To the window, to the wall, To the sweat drop down my balls, To all you bitches crawl, To all skeet skeet motherfucker, All skeet skeet got damn, To all skeet skeet motherfucker, All skeet skeet got damn.”

In this chorus, we see Lil John objectifying women as nothing more than objects to fulfil his sexual desires. The repetition of the command ‘get low’ conveys his domineering attitude towards women and perhaps also his insecurities about his height. In order to feel a sense of masculinity and value, he needs all the women in the club ‘from the windows, to the wall’ to crawl on the floor.

Now he has the club the way he wants it, the perspiration gathers on Lil John’s slick

testicles and he progresses to ejaculate over the crawling women in an aggressive attempt to display masculine dominance.

These lyrics are mindless, sexist and offensive trash – Lil John probably could have had more success had he simply taken a dump on his notepad. For shame.

What shocks me however is how a song like Get Low ever made it into the charts, let alone nearly took out the top spot. Do people understand what they are ‘getting low’ on the dancefloor to? Well it’s blatant, disgusting sexism of the highest degree.

I can’t help but feel that getting these songs to the top of the charts endorses the messages within them and I’m definitely not okay with that. Yes, I recognise lyrics don’t always reflect the ideals of the author but there seems a consistency to the theme of degradation I find disturbing. Take a look at the names of a few of the tunes on Lil Jon’s album We Still Crunk!. We have Where Dem Girlz At?, Just A Bitch, Bounce Dat Ass, Move Bitch and of course the classic, Let My Nuts Go. With titles like that, I’d say it’s a pretty safe bet the lyrics aren’t all that thoughtful, let alone respectful.

I just don’t get it. If music is art, why are so many artists tagging dicks everywhere?

We expect society to change yet popular music – a huge influence on the masses – is projecting a culture of sexism, bigotry and hypersexuality. It just seems such a waste – you have these super-power celebrity artists with an almost infinite reach and they waste their efforts with lyrics about sex, wealth, tittaaaays and brushing teeth with a bottle of Jack. Disappointed.

Here are some impressively stupid lyrics I found.

“I’m trying to find the words to describe this girl without being disrespectful. Damn Girl.

Damn you’se a sexy bitch.” - David Guetta featuring Akon.

“Bitches suck my dick because I look like J.K. Rowling.” - Lil B. “Young, black, and famous, with money hanging out the anus.” – Mase.

"Lucky that my breasts are small and humble so you don't confuse them with mountains." - Shakira “If the light is off, then it isn’t on.” – Hillary Duff

So was Einstein just an inherently gifted scientific prodigy who was able to conceptualise every theory he supposedly invented on his own, without building on prior discoveries? Yeah right.

Surely someone with that sort of mind would be intelligent enough to research other theorists’ viewpoints, at least out of interest if nothing else. But if not Einstein, who is to credit for all of the great breakthroughs in relative motion? There are numerous individuals to recognise, in fact too many to name. Theoretical discoveries and creative processes are generally collective ventures, ones where people build on existing ideas adding their own nuance and expertise to the subject matter. Nonetheless there are two major scientists whom Einstein heavily embezzled information from.

Firstly, there is the French mastermind Jules Henri Poincaré (1854-1912). Keswani, the author of Origin and Concept of Relativity (1965) stated that, "Poincaré introduced 'the principle of relative motion' in his book, Science and Hypothesis, published in 1902". Einstein’s thesis which was created in 1905 ‘coincidentally’ features similar discoveries, yet he claims to have never read or encountered Poincaré’s report… how convenient.

There is also the Dutch physicist Hendrik Lorentz (1853-1928) who won a Nobel Prize in physics in 1902. Lorentz’s findings were the fundamental basis of Einstein’s paper. Bjerknes, who was a meteorologist instrumental in creating the modern weather forecasting system, stated that, “Einstein's theory is not a denial of, nor an alternative for, that of Lorentz. It is only a duplicate and disguise for it.” Sorry to be like that kid who told everyone in primary school that Santa wasn’t real, but Einstein is, indeed, a phony. He even said himself that, “The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” He was a blatant cheat, and he knew it.

Albert Einstein: The Full Equation Written by Julie Cleaver When most people hear the name Albert Einstein they think of a genius, tongue-poking scientist and perhaps the formula E = mc2.

Those who know slightly more about him recall that he was an imaginative German physicist who fundamentally created the theory of relativity.

Even 56 years after his death, Einstein is still globally renowned as being one of the great masterminds of the 20th century. On a personal level he was one of my academic heroes, his quotes proudly plastered all over my walls. However, when I looked beyond the glowing aura that surrounds him and actually studied his works, I discovered a harsh and disappointing truth. To the scientific community, his brilliance is not actually correlated with inventive discoveries, but rather his ability to plagiarise other scientists and sneakily dodge copyright lawsuits.

In 1905 Einstein wrote a long thesis entitled On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies. This article discusses the theory of relativity, part B disclosing the ever famous formula E=mc2. However, Einstein failed to mention a single source throughout his whole thesis. Scholarly journals generally contain pages of footnotes and references therefore his inability to cite even one source is beyond peculiar, even for his times. Not to mention the fact that Einstein was also a trained patent clerk, making him more than aware of laws regarding plagiarism.

But how did he get away with this? Why didn’t somebody in the know brutally expose him and reveal his deceitful nature to the entire world? The answer is basic, almost obvious: money. The scientific community was profiting greatly from their new poster boy, receiving generous research grants and attention from the media they never before had. So for the greater good of their society they overlooked the truth about Einstein and falsely praised him regardless.

Keep in mind that all this went down in the early nineteen hundreds, so there were no snarky online bloggers to shut him down and reveal him to the public. If Einstein was alive today perhaps this scandal would not have occurred. Although despite numerous semi-recent attempts to expose him, including Christopher Jon Bjerknes book, Albert Einstein: The Incorrigible Plagiarist (2002), his idolised reputation has remained ingrained in the collective public opinion.

Now I’m not trying to entirely discredit Einstein; he still was an innately intelligent man who helped propel a few discoveries here and there. However, the towering pedestal he stands on is unfairly deserved. But Einstein’s story is just one example among hundreds, perhaps thousands, of common misconceptions, thus bringing me to my point: Interroga Omnia -which is Latin for Question Everything.

It is easy to trust accepted beliefs, but they are far too often tainted with inaccuracies. So unless you want to be deceived your whole life, challenge established truths; delve deeply into matters and find the accurate, objective answers to your questions. Your findings may likely be worse than your initial perceptions, but they also may surprise you for the better. Either way, as an intelligent member of this world it is your right to know what is really going on and to not be unknowingly misled into constructing your reality based upon lies. So try to avoid simply listening to the truth, instead, hunt for the truth. Interroga Omnia.

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Top Five Female Con-Artists

Left to right: The Fox Sisters, Maria Christina Jonhson, Bonnie Sweeten, and Sante Kimes.

By Abigail Johnson

It is often said that women manipulate their way through life. While that is just a sexist stereotype in the woman-hater’s arsenal (I mean, I’m yet to see a women manipulate her way into the oval office), it was very true of these ladies. Here are five of the most cunning female con-artists.

5. The Fox Sisters Okay so if we include these three, the list makes seven female con-artists. The Fox sisters of the 19th Century were a group of young New York women, who convinced the world they could talk to ghosts. Through systematic and discreet foot-tapping, knuckle-cracking and finger clicking, the two youngest girls, Kate and Margaret, at 10 and 12, convinced their parents that ghosts were responding to their questions. When the eldest sister Leah found out she took control of their careers. With their parents so easily fooled the girls took on the world, and gained international notoriety as ghost-whisperers.

They enjoyed successful careers as mediums, but all fell victim to alcoholism- perhaps out of guilt, perhaps for no reason at all. In 1888 Margaret, desperate for booze, confessed to the hoax, and demonstrated their method, for a poultry $1,500. They each died in poverty.

4. Barbara Erni Hailing from Liechtenstein, Barbara Erni travelled 18thCentury Western Europe stealing from inns with a cunning confidence trick. She would arrive at her chosen inn and demand the heavy chest she carried be kept in the most secure room of the building- that of course being the room where the valuables were kept.

She would claim that the chest contained great treasure, but instead it would hold her male accomplice- a dwarf. When night fell he would hop out and fill the chest with the room’s valuables, and the two would run off into the night together. Eventually she was

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caught and confessed her guilt to seventeen charges of theft. On the 7th December 1784 Erni was sentenced to death by beheading.

Interestingly she was the last person to receive the death penalty in Liechtenstein, and capital punishment was outlawed in 1987. The identity and fate of her male accomplice is still unknown.

3. Maria Christina Johnson Johnson, born in 1971, is the first on the list from our time, and is a woman who was very adept with 21st century technology. Not afraid to use her feminine charms to her advantage, Johnson, who sometimes went by the name Gia Hendricks, charmed multiple men into meeting up with her. She would then steal their credit cards, and spend up large. She also claimed to be the owner of a modelling agency, going so far as employing people, so that she could have access to their bank account numbers and pilfer their accounts.

It took another cunning woman to bust her; one of her female victims, Stephanie Younger, a woman Johnson hired as her assistant.

Stephanie set up a Facebook sting which “Gia Hendricks” fell for. The information was handed over to the police and Johnson was arrested in Hollywood, California.

2. Bonnie Sweeten Suburban paralegal Bonnie Sweeten triggered a nationwide search when she called the police claiming she and her nine-year-old daughter

had been kidnapped by two black men.

Actually she was at Disney World, using a coworker’s stolen passport, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. By the time Sweeten made that ill-fated call, which led to her arrest, she had swindled over one million dollars. She had managed to forge judge’s orders to get money from her clients, and took out over $150,000 against her boss’s property. Pretty despicable, but in her most charming move she tunnelled $280,000 out of a relative’s retirement fund, leaving him penniless. She was arrested when the FBI found her and sentenced to eight years in jail.

1. Sante Kimes Sante Kimes is the only murderer included on this list, and while the others can be seen as entertaining crooks, who we can admire (to a point) for their cunning, Kimes can be seen as nothing more than an awful human being. Born in 1934, Kimes, along with her son Kenneth conned basically everyone she met. With her son she murdered two people, including her maid whose identity she stole.

Kenneth confessed to murdering a third. She also burnt down her own house for insurance money, impersonated Elizabeth Taylor to get into celebrity functions, and violated slavery laws. She has been played by Mary Tyler Moore in the movie Like Mother, Like Son: The Strange Story of Sante and Kenny Kimes, and Judy Davis in A Crazy Little Thing Called Murder. She is currently serving 120 years in a New York jail for women, and has been described by the judge who prosecuted her as “One of the most evil individuals” she knew.

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Stepping It Up In San Fran.

Third year communications student Annaleisha Rae reports from her Internz internship at San Francisco.

After a very rough day for us New Zealanders here in San Francisco, it is actually uplifting to write this report about my time here, as it reminds me what incredible experiences have come out of my stay throughout the America’s Cup. I have been living in San Francisco for just over three months now and helping out at the Kiwi Landing Pad thanks to the AUT Internz program that allows graduates to gain a cultural work experience in the USA. The Kiwi Landing Pad is one company that has partnered up with AUT for the program. At KLP, we help to give kiwi tech start-ups a leg up as they enter the US market and provide them with a shared workspace to meet other companies, network and build business relationships, join events and gain opportunities they would not otherwise be open to.

Since my first day it has been an absolute whirlwind of exciting events, new experiences and a lot of unfamiliar faces to learn. But as each day goes by, I am becoming more comfortable with the San Franciscan lifestyle, in particular with the way businesses operate and how much you have to adapt to a new way of working and living when coming from New Zealand.

Through my time at the Kiwi Landing Pad, I have met countless numbers of entrepreneurs, business owners and media, as well as having the chance to mix with key figures like the NZ ambassador Mike Moore, the NZ Consulate General Leon Grice, Minister Amy Adams, a US State Senator, Sir Stephen Tindall, and others from the city and New Zealand.

I have been involved with management, marketing and in producing web content for the company, and helped to organise and run the very first Kiwi Tech Entrepreneur Day, which turned out to be extremely successful. I have also been lucky enough to visit both the Facebook and Twitter headquarters - a past student of AUT (Kate Taylor) now works for Twitter and arranged for me to go and visit for lunch!

All this aside, simply being here in the USA and taking in everything it has to offer has definitely changed my perspective on the way the working world operates and with help from the entrepreneurial people I meet daily, I am constantly learning new skills, building a solid network of great people, and getting involved in exciting experiences every day. I would highly recommend applying for the Internz program if you are interested in gaining unforgettable life experiences and new skills you cannot learn from any book. What are you waiting for?

Updates AuSM 2014 Student Executive Council Voting Open Voting is opened now until 10th October!

Have you voted for the AuSM Executives 2014 yet? Make sure you check your AUT email for the link to your online voting account.

AuSM Awesome Award 2013 Do you know an AUT Staff member that deserves recognition for the awesome work they do? Vote for them now! http://www.surveymonkey.com/ s/2013ausmawards AuSM Survey We Want You! We value your feedback! Help us to make AuSM better and provide you with greater services next year! Heaps of great prizes for draw! You might be the lucky ones who will win prizes such as Logitech Z506 surround sound speakers, Apple TV, Sony portable power bank supply and more!

Survey link: http://www.surveymonkey. com/s/2013ausmsurvey Entry closes on 11th October 2013. Make sure you keep an eye on our https://www. facebook.com/ausm1 for latest update!

AuSM Clothes Swap Clear your wardrobe now! It’s swapping time! Drop off your pre-loved clothes, shoes

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oraccessories between 1st – 8th Oct 2013 to AuSM office City Campus and get your clothes swap on the 10th October! Stay Tuned with us check out our Facebook page https://www. facebook.com/ausm1 Bitchin’ Bingo Bitchin' Bingo is back on Monday, 30 September, 6.30pm at Vesbar!

Free to play, awesome prizes to be won! See you there! For more info: http://tiny.cc/ ausmbb2013 Guy Carter Hypnotist Back by popular demand! Join us this Thursday 3rd October at Vesbar at 7pm!

AuSM presents to you Guy Cater - The Hypnotist. Free entry for all. Check out for more info: http://tiny.cc/GCTH War against Breast Cancer bake off Join the war against Breast Cancer this week!

100% of the funds raised will contribute towards helping those in need with NZBF. -2nd Oct at North Shore Campus from 10 am at Lower Lime Cafe -3rd Oct at City Campus from 10 am at Hikuwai Plaza Please check out AuSM Event page for more details. http://tiny.cc/ausmeventsnzbf

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Find all the words in page 19's America's Cup Wordfind, send it our way & you'll go in the draw to win two "Squawk Burger" vouchers from Velvet Burger. Delicious!

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Drop your entry into your nearest AuSM office, or the box on the side of the red debate stands, or email debate before 12pm Thursday. What’s up for grabs? Two “squawk burgers” vouchers for Velvet Burger on Fort St, Auckland CBD.

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ON A ROAD TO NOWHERE

by Nigel Moffiet

Earlier this year CNN asked the questions: are universities responsible if graduates can’t find jobs? Should universities be doing more to help graduates find work? The topic was highlighted by the plight of Southwestern University law graduate Michael Lieberman who had to move back home after failing to land a job. So what did the poor boy do? He did what all Americans like to do – he’s suing the university. As the university had boasted a 97 per cent employment rate within nine months of graduating he said he “had high hopes for employment. With this degree I thought I would get a job."

The CNN poll was mixed. Some held the view that students should know what they’re getting into before paying for their degree.

“Universities prepare people to enter the work force. They do not control the job market. If I'm the judge who gets his lawsuit, I'm kicking him out of my courtroom,” said one respondent. “You chose to get a degree in basket weaving, not the university,” said another sarcastically.

While others supported Lieberman and his quest to sue the university. “Yes they should be responsible. Private and public universities spend so much advertising and marketing their university that if you advertise it, then people should be able to get it.” While another bemoaned the cost: “Universities are guilty of robbing students blind. It’s insane how much ‘educaton’ (sic) costs these days.” And again: “Yes! Especially if the school uses job placement as a form of recruiting new students.”

Last week the issue had even been picked up in a TVNZ interview with New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations President Pete Hodkinson. Is this really the responsibility of universities or is it up to the students Hodkinson was asked. “I think it doesn’t rest purely on the shoulders of universities or any tertiary institution or solely on the

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shoulders of students. I think it’s a combination of input from industry, community needs, the students themselves and tertiary education institutions taking a responsibly for ensuring there is value in the degrees they are conferring,” said Hodkinson, sitting on the fence perfectly.

But just how much value a degree has for an average Kiwi is up for debate. Last year the NZ Herald reported a 2012 OECD Education at a Glance report which put the net value of a tertiary education at just $63,000 over a working life for a male and $38,000 for a female. This is compared with $395,000 for a male in the US. Hodkinson addressed the need to reassess the value of a degree.

“At the moment we have increasing concerns and an increasing misunderstanding really of the costs and benefits of tertiary education and what that’s driving is a greater need to understand the value of a degree in the market place.”

The Herald quoted Professor Jacqueline Rowarth of Waikato University's management school who claims many students are “sold a crock by people telling them to follow their passion. We fund an awful lot of peculiar courses," she said.

This was also on the back of the Government’s crackdown on student loans and allowances which has been implemented over the last couple of years. The government has also placed restrictions of borrowing for courses that don’t meet the skills shortage list. And when debate looked into this last year, it’s fair to say we did uncover some pretty outrageous course: The Philosophy of Star Trek at Georgetown, Zombies in Popular Media at Columbia, Politicizing Beyoncé at Rutgers and Muppet Magic at Santa Cruz just to name a few.

Hodkinson says universities need to place importance on offering courses that meet work place demands. Universities should be “ensuring that there is skills relevance in the degrees they are conferring and ensuring that there is great practical placements and real work experience that the students can be doing while they’re studying.”

world of employment on your own. Scrounging around, debate has dug up a few tips which you probably knew already: Don’t give up making contacts Ask around: friends and family, classmates, lecturers, connecting with groups online, there are a lot of people and tools right in front of you that can help when on the job hunt.

Author and president of consulting company How To Find Work Ron McGowan also responded to the CNN question of the day.

“Universities have been short-changing their graduates for years,” he says. “They have no affinity whatever with the challenges their graduates are facing in trying to find meaningful employment in today’s workplace.”

The Internship Although you don’t want to be taken advantage of, this is a good opportunity to put your skills into action and prove yourself. Looks good on the CV too and if you’re lucky you might even get paid a little, but don’t waste too much time if it all comes to nothing.

Yet, McGowan praised a very strict initiative at the Indian Institute of Technology in Rajasthan where the college tells recruiters of major companies to stay away from their graduates, thus encouraging more entrepreneurialism.

When Hodkinson was asked if it was irresponsible of universities to offer courses for which there are no jobs he was cautious not to point the finger.

“Well obviously there’s an element of workforce planning that needs to go into structuring tertiary education but a lot of it is reliant on the information that tertiary institutions receive as well and we’ve seen where that can go wrong with the teaching profession for example…

Hundreds of graduates qualifying into teaching and being told that they don’t have the jobs and won’t have the jobs for the next five to 10 years and they need to look to Australia.”

But when the last textbook is flung across the room and the final energy drink fueled all-nighter is put to rest, you walk off into the

Keep your eyes peeled Keep track of all the notice boards and online job sites. Set up your email to alert you whenever a relevant job comes up. Hey don’t forget the basics – even the local paper! The old fashioned ways are sometimes the best ways.

Be bold Put a lot of time and thought into a good CV and make sure your cover letter is specific to the job you are applying for– there are plenty of online tips for that now. Send your CV straight to the inbox of a company you’d like to work for with a follow up phone call even if they’re not advertising. You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Cover up your dirty secrets Make sure your email is professional. sexybeachbody101@hotmail is pushing it. Put all your social media rubbish on private and delete all those obscene selfies and scandalising images that pop up when you Google your name. www.ausm.org.nz

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Disability Student Support Education without barriers Disability Student Support provides information and a range of supports to Deaf students and students with impairments to help them participate fully in the learning environment.

Register with the AUT Health Centre NOW and receive FREE health services.

If you require assistance from Disability Student Support, please contact us as early in the semester as possible so that we may do all we can to make your time at AUT more rewarding.

City Campus Location: WB119 Phone: (09) 921 9999 ext 8262

North Shore Campus Location: AS208 Phone: (09) 921 9999 ext 7778

Email: disability.office@aut.ac.nz www.aut.ac.nz/disability

Domestic students who register with us as their GP get FREE health services.

International students – we can directly bill Vero and Unicare for consultations covered by your policy.

Health, Counselling and Wellbeing Ph City 921 9992 or North Shore 921 9998

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POLYAMORY

By Samuel J Hennessy

Up on the deck of somebody’s home in Hamilton, I was being labelled a man-whore, a sex addict, someone incapable of a loving relationship. The reason why? I’d let slip that I was involved in a polyamorous relationship.

but knowing that love is valid in each and every context which it presents itself and being brave enough to engage with that will teach and inform, confuse, excite and challenge the progressive idea of relationships (in my humble, contestable opinion).

I was offended to say the least. But I do wonder whether you, or others you know, feel the same way about polyamoury? There’s a chance you/they may be right. But also worth considering is that there is a lot of information missing in people’s understanding of open relationships.

Recently I did a short interview with Jay-Jay, Mike and Dom of the Edge morning show. Lovely folk, though grossly overpaid.

What they were really interested in, was the hot topic of jealousy in open relationship dynamics. And a hot topic it is. Even when you subscribe to love as non-quantifiable, jealousy will still rear its malignant head. It’s a hard emotion. But it is just that, an emotion.

Our society gauges far, far too much weight on the significance of jealousy. This sense that suggests violence against a lover’s other partner is permissible is a commonly held view amongst young men. And for women, the sense of absolute betrayal of loyalty, trust, and love if her man was to “stray” with another. And again in homosexual relationships, I’m not an expert but perhaps the feelings are similar? Absolutely, if one is committed to monogamy then they ought to live that out, anything else is betrayal. But, these affections for others, even acts of intimacy, do we hold them as the worst imaginable because we feel we possess something of the other person? Polyamoury strives to recognise individual freedom, knowing we cannot possess another in a term coined “compersion”, finding deep satisfaction in the other’s pleasure. It’s powerful stuff, but with practice becomes liberating.

I’m regretfully pessimistic about long term relationships. Not so much that they don’t have value - they are the epitome of human expressions of love and life, central to society’s wellbeing - but the pessimism falls in on the outcome of so many of these initially beautiful expressions: the split. I found myself in such a place, knowing that my partner at the time and I were really at the end of what we could offer each other. But we wanted to challenge the same old narrative: “it was good, then it got hard, then we split and it was sad.” So we were willing to blow the walls out on our inherited ideas of romance, love, living in the same space; we were introduced to the initially offensive world of polyamoury - open relationships.

There is an abundance of reasons why people, that included myself, react to the idea of an open relationship so adversely. I get it. I even respect it. But there are some powerful challenges that the idea of opening up a relationship can bring that can radically enhance both parties (or more) satisfaction if done carefully, thoughtfully, and with full respect for the other(s).

One of the comments that has come up often is: “you can’t have your cake and eat it too.”

And I thoroughly agree. And I think most people operating in open relationships would. Polyamoury is not easy. In fact, in my experience it was considerably harder as it demanded so much more honesty and flexibility than I had ever encountered in monogamy. Being able to deal with your love’s attraction to another person, for whatever reason, is hard. What it requires is a total shift from quantitative love. For some reason it seems embedded in our social structure, that once you decide you love someone, or enter a formal relationship, then the amount of love you have for others is reduced to zero - romantic love being a quantity that is absorbed by one other person. But where did we get this from? Whose script are we reading off? I certainly have always felt attraction to other women, even whilst in a deeply satisfying relationship… Why is that? Polyamoury asks the people involved to understand that love is not quantifiable, it’s endless the more you let love do its thing you find you have a wider scope of capacity. Not necessarily the same degree, type, or scope of love for every individual you find attractive (though some try)

Putting jealousy through a rational interpretation works in two ways. One: your partner might be interested in something that is impossible to offer, dark skin, muscle tone that won’t fit inside a tee shirt, or the ability to wrangle the complexities of a motor vehicle. Or two: that they are receiving something that you could deliver better on. In which case, in the context of radical honesty, requires you to step up and start working on the areas you could do better in. I felt the greatest joy in knowing my partner could enjoy all the good and wonderful attributes of other men, but in spite of what they had, she would always choose me. Not out of obligation or duty, but because she really wanted to be with me.

And believe me rules are crucial to success. We had an established rule that intercourse with others was off the cards, but anything else goes. The amount of integrity it takes to turn down those opportunities again and again is hard work, but a true testament, I feel, to the love and devotion I had for her.

Jay-Jay, Mike and Dom assumed that jealousy was what killed the relationship off. Not even close. We spent too much time together overseas in travel, and decided we wanted to move on. Something I value and respect. But the lessons in the complexities of love I learned during our open relationship will guide and inform my future relationships, monogamous or open, to a greater potential of love.

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31

MGMT

MGMT Rating: Reviewed by Nigel Moffiet

I’ll clear this up right away: This self-titled third album doesn’t offer up anything like Time to Pretend (that massive hit from MGMT’s debut 2008 joy ride album Oracular Spectacular ). Instead, MGMT have continued against the grain of their debut, developing immunity towards anything too poppy or catchy.

If Time To Pretend was a sarcastic jab at extravagant rock stardom with the lyrics “We'll choke on our vomit and that will be the end”, this latest album balances things up by making a mockery of all the unlucky ones who can’t strum a guitar and would love to, quite frankly, be living the rock star dream. As sung on the track Your Life Is a Lie, “Here’s the deal/Open your eyes/Your life is a lie/Don’t say a word/I’ll tell you why/You’re living a lie.” Perhaps the song is humorously sardonic but it’s also nasty and mean. Even the repeated bashing of a cow bell (which features heavily on the track) isn’t tongue- in -cheek enough to dismiss the insult. However, despite the lack of pop groove, the song is hypnotically catchy and the strongest on offer.

The opening track Alien Days also comes close to having a structured pop sound. It opens with spacey sounding organs and the voice of a young child speaking the lyrics, “Sometimes the windows combine with the seams in a way that twitches on a peak at the place where the spirit was slain” – whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean.

And from there on the album delves into an experimental whirlpool of art rock. If you are to draw on classic influences you could say MGMT have probably listened to Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd a number of times before. And more contemporary influences would be the dreamy sounds of The Flaming Lips.

MGMT also play a cover by an obscure 60s rock band from New York called Faine Jade. The song Introspection begins with a slow moving groove and lightly sung abstract lyrics before reaching the psychedelic chorus, “Introspection, what am I really like inside? Introspection, why have all the prophets lied? There's a season when I will find out where I am and there's a reason, and I will someday find the plan”. It blazes to life like the vivid, chemically induced colours of psychedelia.

You could almost call it a stoner epiphany. But then, this could also put you off a bit too.

It certainly holds you back. Although I’m not averse to philosophical musings and artistically abstract lyrics there is definitely a pseudo quality to the album which sounds amateurish and boyish in parts.

So not only is there no Time To Pretend, there’s also no Kids or Electric Feel (the other big radio friendly hits from the debut). But MGMT doesn’t apologise for this. Band member Ben Goldwasser told Rolling Stone magazine the group isn’t “trying to make music that everyone understands the first time they hear it." So there you have it. It’s a deliberate slow burner. Perhaps too much of a self-indulgent one though. As Jake “the Muss” might say: “Oh don’t play that shit, friend…Play something we all know.”

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Rush

Directed by Ron Howard Staring Daniel Brühl, Chris Hemsworth, Olivia Wilde Rating: Reviewed by Nigel Moffiet

Rush is a character study of the real life Formula 1 rivalry between British playboy James Hunt and calculating Austrian speedster Niki Lauda during the 1976 racing season. When the high octane started burning and the V12 engines started roaring, the movie was a deathly thrill ride. Yet, when the checkered flag waved and the racers pulled into their pit lanes and stepped out of their cars I found the movie underwhelming.

Ron Howard is focused on the title of this movie throughout. The racing scenes certainly are a rush not only for the audience but also for Hunt (played handsomely by Chris Hemsworth) and Lauda (played efficiently by Daniel Brühl). These two characters are spurred on by their competitive rivalry to the point they will risk their lives to become motorsport champions. I was reminded of the Hunter S Thompson quote talking about “the edge”… “there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over”.

And while the racing scenes are shot with heart and realism, the gritty part of the movie felt contrived and formulaic. Yes there was drama, but it wasn’t intensely gripping drama. And while comedy was built into the script and it simmered on the surface in many scenes, it wasn’t convincing. For a moment or two the film could have almost become a race car version of Spinal Tap; or an odd resemblance to Will Ferrell’s Talladega Nights. It never got that bad, but that’s how the drama played out for me when it was clearly striving for a lot more. Chris Hemsworth wasn’t totally convincing as the British race car legend either – in a number of scenes his twangy Australian accent stood out like he was on the set of Home and Away.

Daniel Brühl played Lauda more convincingly as a master race car driver with unflinching vision. In one playfully ironic scene Lauda and his soon to be wife Marlene Knaus (played by Alexandra Maria Lara) are stranded in the countryside with a broken down car. Two guys drive by and come to a sketching halt not because of Knaus’ beauty, but rather a holy-shit-it’s-race-car-legend-Lauda moment.

Not only do the men give the couple a ride, they are flattered to let Lauda drive. Of course, he drives slowly. Why compromise safety when nothing is resting on the outcome? They continue to tempt him so finally he shows them why he’s a racing champion. His focused intent is reminiscent of Alex driving his Droogs in the Durango 95 in A Clockwork Orange.

The movie doesn’t pretend to paint Lauda and Hunt as likeable characters. They both have rocky relationships with their wives and are overtly cocky and proud. As rivals they are eventually drawn to each other through mutual respect. This is where the movie has its strongest emotional impact, and it’s played to effect when we see how Hunt reacts to Lauda’s near fatal accident and the outcome that results. But overall Hunt and Lauda are a rush behind the wheel and sluggish on their feet.

Much Ado About Nothing

The Cuckoo's Calling

The double edged sword that exists around Shakespeare is what makes some people love him and others hate him. I for one think The Bard is a total genius and my brain hits a large and unpleasant wall when I try to comprehend that some people don’t feel the same way. In an entirely different section of the literary world is a man also considered a genius by some - a semi-ginger wordsmith by the name of Joss Whedon. Creator of the much loved 90’s staple Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Whedon is also equal parts revered and reviled.

I however sit firmly in the revere camp. When I heard that the two would be combined in Joss Whedons production of Much Ado About Nothing, I was equal parts intrigued and hesitant.

Earlier this year, J.K Rowling sneakily released a new crime novel under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, avoiding the hype and excitement that comes with her name. But since the secret was revealed, as a big Potter fan I felt almost obliged to read The Cuckoo’s Calling - which as it turns out was one of the best books I have read for ages.

Directed by Joss Whedon Starring: Alexis Denisof, Amy Acker & Fran Kranz Rating: Reviewed by Kieran Bennett

Much Ado is one of Shakespeare’s lighter plays, being by and large about the various romantic follies and adventures of a noble Italian family and the harm that gossip can have and a true Shakespearean comment on love. That is not to say that everything is always wonderful; the story in real Shakespearean fashion takes some rather tragic twists and so if you’re expecting an uplifting tale of love and romance, you may want to leave around 30 minutes in, have a really long bathroom break and return for the last 10.

The story is of course one of the oldest around and so to linger on it would be redundant. Whedon’s version is however very linger-worthy.

Shot in semi-secrecy over 12 days at Whedon’s own house and starring mainly all actors that he probably has on speed-dial; the film has a certain innocent, fun-loving air to it. That’s not to say the film becomes goofy - there’s an excellent balance struck between Shakespearean drama and Whedon’s own brand of subtle, but no less silly humour. What is particularly refreshing however, and what may make the production more attractive is the fact that Shakespeare’s words aren’t heavily doled out like great slabs of rock; rather they’re allowed to just be spoken normally. It makes the story far more comprehensible and actually serves to highlight not only the abilities of the fairly solid cast but in fact some of the more clever jokes within the script.

Amy Acker is to be noted particularly for her performance as Beatrice.

Equal parts stinging wasp and pining lover, Acker manages to show her characters transformation rather than telling; all the while being incredibly entertaining. Her opposite Alexis Denisof as Benedick should also be commended for managing to take a character who is essentially a marriage hating ass-hole and turning him into someone who’s not quite funny, but sympathetic.

Despite a fairly turgid middle section where there isn’t much to do other than wait for all the characters to catch up with the audience, Whedon’s production of Much Ado is a solid work. Possessing of nothing but fun (and a little drama and treachery) this may be the best point for those who don’t like Shakespeare to finally start.

Written by Robert Galbraith Rating: Reviewed by Ethan Sills

Three months ago, supermodel Lula Landry fell to her death from her penthouse apartment. It was decided that she jumped, but her griefstricken brother believes otherwise and wants his own investigation.

Enter Cormoran Strike, easily the most vivid, detailed, fascinating lead character I have encountered for a long time. The love child of a rock-star and his groupie fling, crippled ex-army police officer turned private detective Strike begins the novel living in his office after the relationship with his manipulative girlfriend disintegrates, struggling with debt and a minimal client base. Landry’s brother appears with the case to find Lula’s apparent killer, which Strike reluctantly accepts for the money, doubtful there is anything to investigate. However, he quickly finds more to the model’s death than anyone anticipated.

Strike is the perfect detective, a mix of strong morals, a Holmesesque eye for detail, topped off with heavy bitterness from his failed relationships and troubled childhood. Every detail about Strike is revealed naturally, as we learn them through his new receptionist Robin, allowing for her and us to build our connection to this mysterious lead. Robin is the perfect counterpart to Strike, with a childlike glee over his world. The two have a very real bond, from their awkward meeting to their uneasy partnership as they are submerged further into Landry’s life. There were times when their internal monologues get repetitive, but you cannot help but enjoy the very human bond between the two that serves as the perfect backdrop to this mystery.

Rowling brilliantly describes the world around Strike, detailing everything from the murkiness of London celebrity to the tameness of suburbia. We are introduced to some of the most dynamic, varying characters I have ever read, Rowling vividly describing every key person Strike meets. All catty but mysterious, each character displays unique, eccentric personalities, each with their piece to add to the puzzle of Lula’s last day.

I have not read much crime fiction, but a key part of Potter I always enjoyed was the mystery, the unanswered questions and subtle clues that came together for a satisfying conclusion. Cuckoo allows Rowling the freedom to make the mystery the central plot, and she truly pulls it off. It has a truly gripping storyline set in such a real and colourful world, and each chapter contributes to the mystery, heading towards a conclusion that shocked but greatly pleased me as a reader. While it’s certainly not Potter, this is a must read for anyone that enjoys a good mystery or is simply looking for an excellent read; Cuckoo will satisfy you either way.

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