I SSUE 2: M IS FOR MOM
MONDAY WEDNESDAY FRIDAYTUESDAY THURSDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY Do you have an upcoming event? Let us know and we’ll do our best to include it in our calendar. Email: grapeshot@mq.edu.au JULY 27 29 228 1 International Joke Day 30 3 18114 World Listening Day 25 7 Chocolate Day 2821142619125 29221582720136 3023169 Paperback Book Day 1710 World Emoji Day 3124
CONTENTS ISSUE 2: M IS FOR MOM 4 NEWS 20 REGULARS 38 FEATURES 52 CREATIVES 58 REPEAT OFFENDERS Newsflashes Kakadu National Park Return to First Nations Traditional Owners Sexual Assault Survey How Deadly Are The Mozzies? (Japanese Encephalitis) The Oscars 2022: The Winners and Losers National News Budget 2022 Calling For Government Reform Zachary Rolfe Accquitted Over Death of Kumanyi Walker CHALLENGE: Reading Everyday POP CULTURE REWIND: An Ode to Mamma Mia! ILLUSTRATED: Mother Goddesses From Different Cultures/Religion I Don’t Get It: The Crunchy Mum Movement YOU ARE HERE: Pyrmont MOB: ‘M’ is for Matriarch Parenting:MumCatChoiceNestingDaughterofPupsThe Western Way Parenting: The East Asian Way Mother is for Guilt Aboard the Mothership M is for Maggot Review of ‘Turning Red’ Grapey Book Club: “Constellation Route” by Matthew Olzmann Horoscopes 6261595654535048464442393534302724211816129865 Viewsexpressedbytheauthorsarenotthoseofthepublisher.
EDITORS’ LETTERS
My dearest Grapeshot readers, Welcome to the second issue of Grapeshot this year, M is for Mom! This issue is one that is close to my heart, as it is a tribute to my own mother. Even as an adult today, my mother is, and always will be, my best friend. However, beyond appreciating the impact my mother has made in my life, this issue is also a tribute to the friend who is the mom in friend groups, the sin gle father that has taken on both roles as a parent, and mother nature, who continues to give us this beautiful environment we live in.
Editor-in-Chief
The idea of a mum or a mom can be interpreted in so many different ways. Mothers can be biological, adop tive, real and fictional. Mothering doesn’t have to be done by women, but young girls are often brought up by comparison to their mothers.
The pages of this issue are filled with stunning designs inspired by tranquility and a neutral colour palette to give you, the reader, a sense of peace and calm as you run your eyes across the pages. The stories and articles in this issue are exceptional, as they capture thoughts about different parenting styles, creative non-fiction pieces, and heart-touching reviews. I am always impressed by the incredible effort the Grape shot team puts into bringing each issue and my vision to life, and this issue is a testament of the talent and rigor everyone in the team possesses. As you read this issue, I hope that you take a moment to think about the maternal figures in your life and ap preciate the impact they have made. This issue is also an opportunity for you to reflect on the maternal role you may unknowingly play in someone else’s life, as a pet mom, older sibling, or a friend.
Being a mother can be an identity, but it can also be the role you take in a relationship. You might be the “mom” of your friend group (“make sure you wear a jumper, it’s cold out!”). You might feel an innate con nection with mother nature. Perhaps you miss your mother-land or have forgotten how to speak your na tive mother-tongue and you want to find your way back to that cultural history, that missing piece that makes up the puzzle of your individual identity.
Nikita Byrnes, Deputy Editor-in-Chief
With Salihalove,Rehanaz,
Grab a cuppa or spread out your picnic blanket - you’ll probably want to stay and read a while.
Hello! Welcome back to Grapeshot! We are excited to have you here for the second issue of 2022: M is for Mom. This issue is an homage to all things maternal. Moth erhood as a cultural ideal is somewhat paradoxical; to identify as a mother is to identify yourself by virtue of your connection to someone - or something - else. Your selfhood is inextricably linked to the individual identity of another. While that might sound scary, as you flip through the pages of this issue of Grapeshot, I guarantee you will find it beautiful.
Grapeshot’s second issue is filled to the brim with homages to motherhood: a history of a strong fami ly matriarch; what it means to parent in the Western world; and letters of admiration to the universe.
GOT SOMETHING TO CONTRIBUTE? SEND PITCHES, IDEAS, QUESTIONS, WORDS, PHOTOGRAPHY, AND ART TO GRAPESHOT@MQ.EDU.AU
Hundreds celebrated the historical event at Cooinda after 45 years of years of “unfinished business”. Such “unfinished business”, as Mr Bush-Blanasi describes, refers to the land grants to the Kakadu Aboriginal Land Trust previously held on behalf of the traditional Subsequently,owners. the handback will provide ongoing economic benefits for local people. Mr Bush-Blanasi suggests that there will be opportunities to direct and be involved in enhanced park operations, fire abatement programs, and the new carbon economy.
Ken Wyatt, the Minister for Indigenous Aus tralians, commented on the ancillary benefit of increased jobs, stating that, “Land security is economic security and this move empowers Aboriginal Territorians to use their land for their future.”
On 24 March 2022, half of the Word Her itage-listed Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory was returned to its tradi tional custodians. This includes around 10 000 square kilometres of the traditional country of the Limilngan/Minitja, Murumburr, Gianduja, Yurlkmanj, Wurngomgu, Bolmo, Wurrkbarbar, Matjba, Uwinymil, Bunidj, Djindibi, Mirrar Gundjeihmi, and Dadjbaku peoples.
KAKADU
Traditional
by Olivia Chan Deed of Grant recognizing traditional owners as new landowners
“For too long there have been two classes of land in Kakadu National Park - Aboriginal land and other land ‘subject to Aboriginal land claim’,” said Samuel Bush-Blanasi, the North ern Land Council chairman. This refers to land already under Indigenous title and vacant Crown land that is yet to be brought under Indigenous title via Native Title claims.
To First Nation Owners
5 NEWSFLASHES
“Traditional owners can take better care of their country through improved joint management and cultural site protection and by caring for their country as only they know how to.”
NATIONALRETURNSPARK
The National Student Safety Survey delivered unsettling results released on 23 March 2022, particularly due to the increase in sexual harassment. The survey was conducted in late 2021 garnering results from 43 189 university students across Australia. Female and gender diverse students received significantly higher mea sures of sexual harass ment than male students: Again, female thantitiesreceivedgender-diverseandstudentsfarhigherquanofsexualassaultmalestudents: • 10.5% • 3.9% • 14.7% • 22.4% • 1.4% • 0.6% • 3.2% • 2.2% • 25.8% • 25.3% • 18.4% • 43.3% • 17.5% • 15.6% • 1/20 • 1/90 The contexts of sexual harassment are as follows: The contexts of sexual assault are asnon-binariestransgendersmalesfemalesfollows: innon-binariestransgendersmalesfemalesclubs,societies, events, and spaces in student accommodation or residences in private home or residence general campus areas lecture studentsuniversitytheatres/labslibraryhavebeensexually assaulted since starting university have been sexually assaulted in the past 12 months Furthermore, according to the results on sexual assault: NEWSFLASHES 6 Sexual Harassment and Assault Prevalent IN AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES According to the results on sexuAl hArAssment 1/6 1/12 students have been sexually harassed since starting university have been sexually harassed in the past 12 months
Additionally, around two-thirds of victims knew some or all the perpetrators Theinvolved.trends are mostly consistent with the 2016 National Survey. Despite COVID-related difficulties and remote learning - 58.5% of participants re ported moving to fully online learning - the results demonstrate how gen der-diverse individuals and young women were on the receiving end of the most sexual harassment and assault at university.
To comment on the situation, Professor John Dewar, the Chair of Univer sities Australia, stated that, “As a nation, this cannot be tolerated, and as a sector, we will continue to be part of the solution.”
NEWSFLASHES 7
He proceeded to provide an apology to all victims: “To every single Univer sity student who has experienced sexual harassment or sexual assault, or has a friend, family member or loved one who has - I am sorry. I am sorry for what you endured. I am sorry for how that may have affected your rela tionships, your mental health, your studies and your life.” If you have any concerns about personal experiences or another person’s experiences with sexual harassment and sexual assault on our campus, please visit: sault-harrassmenthttps://students.mq.edu.au/support/personal/sexual-asby Olivia Chan Despite such alarming results, only low proportions of victims filed a complaint or sought assistance: This may have been contributed by the lack of awareness on the processes of filing a complaint or seeking assistance by many students: • 1/30 • 1/20 • 1/6 • 1/4 • 1/2 • 1/2 • 1/2 • 2/5 students who were sexually harassed made a formal com studentsplaint who were sexually assaulted made a formal com studentsplaint who were sexually harassed sought support or studentsassistancewho were sexually assaulted sought support or assistance know nothing or very little know about the formal reporting process for harassment know nothing or very little about where to seek support or assistance for harassment know nothing or very little about the formal reporting process for assault know nothing or very little about where to seek support or assistance for assault
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF JEV IN HUMANS? Sudden onset of fever Headache • Vomiting • Neck stiffness • Coma • Permanent neurological complications Encephalitis Death SHOULD I BE WORRIED?
NEWSFLASHES 8
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JEV is a virus spread through mosquito bites with the virus carried from pigs or water birds. These carriers hold the virus in their blood for up to a week. While most humans who have caught JEV have asymptomatic infections, on rare occasions it may lead to severe disease and death. Rest assured, JEV cannot be transmitted from human to human, or by eating meat from an infected animal - but beware the mozzies!
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Authorities are saying that most people have little cause to be worried. 99 per cent of JEV infections are asymptomatic, and most symptomatic JEV have minor, cold-like symptoms. The fatality rate of symptomatic JEV is 25-30 per cent. Although it is unlikely you might contract JEV or develop se vere symptoms, perhaps now is the time to invest in picari din-based insect repellents. by Olivia Chan The Japanese Encephalitis Virus (‘JEV’) that you’ve been hearing about recently was discovered at piggeries across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia in February. The mosquito-borne virus has since caused three deaths. 20 Australians have been confirmed as having the virus, with 12 listed as probable cases across Victo ria, NSW, South Australia, and Queensland, with more poten tially to come. ARE THE MOZZIES?
•
HOW
What is the Japanese Encephalitis Virus (JEV)?
NEWSFLASHES 9 The 94th Academy Awards will definitely not be forgotten any time soon. With the continued jokes and discus sions made about the La La Land/Moonlight mishap in 2017, it is safe to say that debates and memes will be forever carved into the history of pop culture after Will Smith slapped and swore at Chris Rock in the middle of the ceremony. Despite this shocking turn of the events, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences had some big wins (and losses). The Oscars 2022 THE WINNERS AND LOSERS Best Sound, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design and Best Visual Effects Best Supporting Actress Best Live Action Short Best Costume Design Best Makeup & Hairstyling Best Original Screenplay Best Animated Feature Best Documentary Short Best Animated Short Best Documentary Feature Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor and Best Picture Best Original Song Dune Ariana DeBose in West Side Story. DeBose is the first openly queer woman of colour to have won this cateogory. The Long Goodbye. Riz Ahmed’s win for this produc tion makes him the first Muslim and Pakistani to win this award. Cruella The Eyes of Tammy Faye Kenneth Branagh for Belfast Encanto The Queen of Basketball The Windshield Wiper Summer of Soul Coda Billie Eilish’s ‘No Time to Die’ for James Bond: No Time to Die
Denzel Washington’s nomination for The Tragedy of Macbeth continues his lead as the most nominated African American with ten nominations and two wins. Lati nos Guillermo Del Toro and Lin-Manuel Miranda also nabbed nominations. Chi cano director of Raya and the Last Dragon Carlos López Estrada also received a nomination for best ani mated feature. Coda actor, Troy Kotsur, has be come the second deaf actor in the Academy’s history to be nominat ed for an award, and the first to win the Best Supporting Actor category. Rasmussen’s Flee nomination for best animated was also a monumental win for the Mus lim community. This comes in light of An nenberg Inclusion Initiative’s Report which found no Muslim characters represented in animation in the top 200 grossing films be tween 2017 and 2019. Despite some of these “wins”, only four ac tors of colour were nominated for awards. This falls from the nine nominations of peo ple of colour in 2021. However, it must be noted that many large studios halted releas es of big picture films due to the pandem ic in 2021, which begs the concerns about how many films with people of colour are funded by smaller and independent studios - studios that only gained traction because of the exclusions by larger studios who sup port and fund more white actors.
The Winners: Representation and Hosts
Moving far from the 2015 controversy of #OscarsSoWhite, the Awards have bro ken milestones for many underrepresented groups this year.
Kirsten Stewart in Spencer had her first nomination and made history becoming the first openly gay female to be nominated for Best Actress. She was also accompanied by best supporting actress winner Ariana Debose being the first an openly queer Afro-Latina female to win in this category.
NEWSFLASHES 10
Jessica Chastain in The Eyes of Tammy Faye Drive My Car Will Smith in King Richard
Despite the controversial comments made by Amy Schumer, Schumer’s co-hosts Re gina King and Wanda Sykes were enter taining hosts. The three hosts played with unique comedic styles to keep both their audience and viewers at home entertained. The three hosts also managed to keep com posure and comedic execution after the Smith-Rock altercation despite the drastic change in atmosphere and tension after the Best Director Best Actress Best International Feature Best Actor Jane Campion in The Power of the Dog. Campion is the first woman to have won this category twice.
The comments are especially untime Flee which was nominated in two animation categories is about a queer Afghan man leaving Afghan istan as a refugee. Director Alberto Mielgo who won the Best Animated Short category noted that “ani mation for adults is a fact. It’s hap pening. Let’s call it cinema”. by Jasmine Joyan
The losses of this year’s event cannot be dis cussed without being reminded of Will Smith slapping Chris Rock in the middle of the ceremo ny. Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith comparing her to GI Jane due to her bald head. Pinkett-Smith, who has been open about man aging alopecia was clearly unimpressed with the comment, provoking Smith to go on stage and slap Rock. Smith could then be heard telling Rock to “keep [his] wife’s name out of [his] f*****g mouth”. Smith apologised to the Academy and nominees in his accep tance speech for Best Actor but did not apologise to Rock. Howev er, Smith uploaded on Instagram a public apology to Rock citing he ‘was out of line and…was wrong’. The Los Angeles Police Department has confirmed that Chris Rock has declined to file a police report. The slap has resulted in both memes and discussions about male toxicity, jokes about people suffering with auto-im mune diseases, and the relationship with hair for African American women. After the Academy publicly considered expelling Smith, Smith took action by announcing his resignation, stating that he will accept any further disciplinary actions that the Academy decides to make. This year, the Oscars made the decision to cut the live presen tations of nominees and win ners for eight categories to increase viewer engagement due to the decline in view ership. The eight categories omitted were: documentary (short subject), film editing, makeup and hair styling, music (original score), production design, short film (animated), short film (live action), and sound. President of the Academy, David Rubin, in a letter that was sent to the Academy’s members cited the cutting of the live presentations to “prioritize the television audience to increase viewer engagement and keep the show vital, kinetic, and relevant”.
NEWSFLASHES 11
The backlash to the statement was strong. Sound editors and engineers petitioned against the decision stating that they “respectfully disagree and are opposed to the changes”. It continues that “every film is greater than the sum of all the parts…we all make films together”. Film professionals including Guill ermo Del Toro and James Cameron also signed a letter insisting the Acade my reverse its decision. Many were also upset about the comments made about the an imation category. The display for the category, hosted by Halle Bailey, Lily James, and Naomi Scott, were all actresses who have played, or will be playing, in the live remake of Disney prin cess animated films. The hosts not only emphasised that animation is part of “mov ie experiences as kids” and an experi ence which “kids watch and adults have to endure”, undermining and belittling the animation category angering many animation fans and producers.
The Losers: ‘The Hit’, Omission of Presentations, and Animation Fiasco
NATIONAL NEWS 12 2022BUDGETFEDERAL With much anticipation, the Federal Budget dropped on 29 March 2022 at 7:30pm. So, what does it entail? We’ve split it up into thelooksectionseasy-to-understandforyoutotakeaatwhataffectsyoumost. Motorists: Cheaper Fuel (Temporarily) • Halved flat tax levied per litre of fuel for the next 6 months, which translates to saving 22 cents per litre. • Enforced by the Australian Competition and Consum er Commission (ACCC) who will monitor fuel prices to prevent retailers from making larger profits. TAXPAYERS: MORE TAX RETURNS • Low- and middle-income earners will receive an extra $420 back on tax returns. • Low and middle tax offset remains for another year so some may receive up to $1500 on tax returns. Renewables: Nothing New • No new direct funding for renewable energy projects. • Just under $250 million invested over 5 years to sup port low emissions technologies Women: Finally Getting Recognition • Combined Parental Leave Pay so parents can split leave in any form. • Single parents (81% women) may access 20 weeks of leave. • Income test for Parental Leave Pay to include a house hold income threshold of $35 thousand per year. • Listing of Trodelvy (medication to treat a rare form of breast cancer) on Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. • $58 million next 4 years to help women with endo metriosis. • $181 million program for genetic testing for conditions for couples planning pregnancy. • $1.3 billion over next 6 years for measures and pro grams in the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children. • $54.6 million over next 5 years towards the ‘Keeping Women Safe in their Homes’ program (technology to prevent tracking by abusive partners).
NATIONAL NEWS 13 Aged Care: Not Aging Well • No increase to aged care workers’ pay.
• $665.9 million over next 4 years for addi tional 16 500 places for Afghan nationals (total >30000). Ukrainians allowed temporary humanitar ian visas to stay in Australia for up to 3 years. $9.2 million for existing youth support services.
• $340 million to place pharmacy services in residential aged care homes to improve medication management in facilities.
over 5 years for manage ment and protection of Commonwealth National parks. Indigenous Rangers: Increased Workforce • $636.4
• Wages not to grow until later this year (earliest) due to high inflation (4.25%).
for an extra 2000 ranger jobs by 2028 in regional and remote parts of the country. Foreign Aid: Small Increase • Ending the freeze on indexation of fund ing, so it will increase by 2.5% in the coming year. • More than $460 million in temporary and targeted measures (e.g. Vaccine delivery to Pacific). • Brings to a total of $4.549 billion per year.
Refugees: A New Place To Call Home
• $49.5 million to subsidise 15 000 voca tional education and training places for those already in, or looking to enter, the aged care workforce.
ers, and some self-funded retirees, will receive a one-off $250 payment. • This will go to approximately 6 million people. ENVIRONMENT: LITTLE CHANGES • $100 million over 3 years to support com munity-driven action to restore the envi ronment. • $20.3 million over next 3 years to plant trees to mark Queen’s platinum jubilee. • $53
• $1 million over 5 years to create a Human Rights Advocacy Program.
• Pensioners, carers, veterans, job seek ers, other eligible concession cardhold million million million
• $2 billion for a ‘Regional Accelerator Program’, which translates to a combi nation of existing schemes designed to improve skills, education, exports, and supply chains.
over 5 years for koala conser vation and protection. • $26.8
Regional Australia: Bob the Builder
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• $800 million to improve mobile phone coverage in the outback. wages: negative stonks
• $7.1 billion over 11 years for a new ‘Ener gy Security and Regional Development Plan’, which translates to co-investments to upgrade ports and roads, build dams and logistic hubs.
Welfare Recipients: Short Term $$$
• $250 million to find new and innovative ways to make recycling more efficient.
• $9.9 billion for Australian Signals Direc torate (ASD) over next 10 years to boost cybersecurity and intelligence capabili ties.
• REDSPICE (Resilience, Effects, De fence, Space, Intelligence, Cyber, and Enablers) package will provide more than 1900 jobs at ASD. Recycling: Plastic Waste Begone
• Mental health funding may help young people.
Farmers: Net-Zero Goals
Draught Beer Retailers: Sorry, Boys
• 10 partially-Medicare subsidised visits to a psychologist.
14 First Home Buyers: Will Housing Prices Ever Go Down? • $8.6 million over the next 4 years. • People only need a 5% deposit to buy a house with no lender’s mortgage insur ance (LMI) in the extended First Home Buyers Scheme. • 10000 places increased to 35000 places per year. • Introducing a Regional Housing Scheme with 10000 places per year starting from 1 October for first home buyers or peo ple who haven’t owned property in the last 5 years. • Extends to Family Home Guarantee scheme aimed at helping single parents buy a first home or to re-enter the prop erty market so eligible people only need a 2% deposit to buy a house and no LMI. Apprentices: For The “Prioritised” • New Australian Apprenticeships Incen tive Scheme will offer 10% wage subsi dies for first- and second-year appren tices, and 5% for third-year apprentices on a list of “priority occupations”. • Those who work in “non-priority” occu pations will receive a one-off payment of $3500. • Those who work in “priority” occupa tions will receive $5000 direct cash pay ments over the first 2 years. • From July 2024: Wage subsidies re placed with $4000 hiring incentive for employers and $3000 for apprentices on “priority” list. Mental Health: Creating a “Healthy” Country? • $500 million over next 5 years for next stage of National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan.
• No relief in this budget Cyber-Spyers: Alexa Play The Spy Music
• Includes $60 million to better fund tech nology to recycle soft plastics.
Young People: No Changes (Unfortunately)
• No changes in budget for students at university/TAFE.
• First home buyers scheme may help some young people.
• Existing initiatives to streamline exports and protect Australian agriculture from biosecurity risks.
NATIONAL NEWS
• $100 million over 4 years for tax break for farmers who make money selling carbon credits.
Tax Evaders: You Win Some, You Lose Lots
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• $1 billion to improve water quality, reef management, and research.
• Under $600 million over next 3 years to ATO to target these groups.
• Government taskforce to target tax evaders by multinational corporations, large public and private groups, trusts, and wealthy individuals.
• The above is forecasted to earn the government $2.1 billion revenue from tax over next 4 years. by Olivia Chan
Consequently, the ‘Safety. Respect. Equity.’ campaign is striving for the following implementations the government has yet to effec tively address:
REFORMGOVERNMENT
1. 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave (as opposed to the cur rent 5 days); 2. Full implementation of the National Plan for First Nations Women and Girls; 3. Effective employment programs for women with disability; 4. Stronger and consistent child sexual assault laws; 5. Legislation to address the gender pay gap; 6. Free, accessible, and quality early childhood education and care; 7. Expansion of paid parental leave; and 8. Consent education in schools, universities, and workplaces.
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The Morrison government’s response introduced the ‘Roadmap for Respect: Preventing and Addressing Sexual Harassment in Aus tralian Workplaces’ (‘Roadmap for Respect’) in April last year. This involved legislative and regulatory reform including rights and obligations for employees and employers and improved access to consistent information by workers and employers. The government also introduced preventative measures involving the provision of education and training across many sectors, support for targeted research and evidence development on prevention strategies, as well as improving data collection and evidence gathering methods.
NATIONAL NEWS
They’re calling for the implementation of national policies to pro tect women and children from violence, harassment, and discrim
CALLING FOR Prominent women in Australia, including Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins, have formed an alliance named ‘Safety. Respect. Equity.’
Thisination.serves as a reaction to the Morrison government’s minimal re sponse to the Respect@Work 2020 Inquiry Report, which involved comprehensive recommendations regarding the prevention and ad dressing of sexual harassment. The Report outlined 55 recommen dations for government, businesses, and communities to consider to better protect women in the workplace. Consequently, the group intends to push the Morrison government to implement the report’s central recommendations.
However, the Morrison government voted against legislative amendments which would impose a positive duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent workplace sexual harassment, and to confer the Australian Human Rights Commission new powers to investigate systemic unlawful discrimination. They also voted against the insertion of a provision for the express prohibition of sexual harassment in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), and the intro duction of an efficient complaints process in the same Act.
NATIONAL NEWS 17
2. Better access to justice for workers through a quick, easy new complaint process in our workplace laws; and
3. Stronger powers for the Sex Discrimination Commis sioner, including the power to investigate industries and sectors which are rife with sexual harassment, such as retail and hospitality.
On a local level, the ‘Power to Prevent Coalition’ presses that the Morrison government must act before the federal election (announced for 21 May 2022). The coalition joins over 60 groups and individuals across Australia, involving fam ily violence support services, legal aid centres, academics, and unions. They highlighted eight legislative reforms that must be passed for safe and gender-equal workplaces. Like ‘Safety. Re spect. Equity.’, they emphasised the Respect@ Work recommendations that the government has yet to act on. “This report sets out a clear pathway forward. We call on the government to implement the recommendations in full,” said the President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), Michele O’Neil, also a member of the coalition. In particular, she highlights the following recom mendations: Furthermore, on the government’s failure to confer investigative powers to the Australian Human Rights Com mission, Aimee Cooper, Victoria Legal Aid’s Equality Law Program Manager, commented that, “Human Rights Com missions play a key role in enforcing discrimination and sexual harassment laws and need stronger powers to in vestigate and sanction organisations and industries where employers are failing to prevent sexual harassment and gender Accordingly,inequality”.theFederal Minister for Women, Marise Payne, stated in March this year, that the government had implemented or fully funded 42/55 recommendations and that “work is underway on all remaining recommen dations”. Whether the Roadmap is ef fective shall continue to be examined. by Olivia Chan
1. Clearer work health and safety rules to make sure that employers fulfil their duty to ensure safe, healthy and respectful workplaces for all;
In light of the above evidence, the prosecution attempted to estab lish that Rolfe has a tendency to “use excessive force on a male” and to “make a false statement… seeking to justify that use exces sive use of force”.
ZACHARY ROLFE ACQUITTED OVER DEATH OF KUMANYI WALKER
On 11 March 2022, Northern Territory police officer Zachary Rolfe was found not guilty of all charges in relation to the death of Kumyani Walker. Rolfe was charged with mur der, manslaughter and engag ing in a violent act causing death when he fatally shot 19-year-old Mr Walker. He was acquitted of all charges. Rolfe had shot Mr Walker three times in an altercation with police in 2019. The defence had argued self-defence in Rolfe’s use of force for the two additional shots. The pros ecution maintained that the additional two shots had been an excessive use of force. The proceedings lasted five weeks and included testimonies of over 40 witnesses.
The prosecution submitted into evidence that Rolfe has been put on trial in December 2021 for four charges of excessive use of force. Regarding the first of these charges, the Court found that Rolfe “lacks credibility” in his testimony, where it was found he deliberately assaulted Malcolm Ryder, an Aboriginal man, and lied about his evidence to court.
The second charge pertained to a chase with a 17-year-old boy. The prosecution maintained that the boy gave up chase, “stopped running and placed himself on the ground”. The prosecution held that Rolfe had then repeatedly slammed the boy’s head against a rock. Rolfe claimed that the boy must have injured himself when he placed himself on the floor.
The third incident, in September 2019 involved Rolfe running full force into an Indigenous man he was chasing, after he had slowed down, the force forcing the man into a barricade of a nearby Therestaurant.fourth charge involved Rolfe pushing a man into the wall of a building, after seeing the man threaten his partner.
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MISSED EVIDENCE Despite the duration of the proceedings, a recent arti cle released by the ABC has showcased that much of the pros ecution’s tendency evidence was barred from the jurors. Under section 97 of the Evidence (National Uniform Legislation) Act 1939 (NT), evidence pertain ing to a person’s character, rep utation, conduct or their tenden cies is inadmissible unless the court thinks that the evidence will have significant probative value. Probative value requires taking into consideration the extent to which the evidence supports the tendency and the extent to which the tendency makes more likely the facts making up the charged offence. TENDENCY EVIDENCE ACQUIRED
NATIONAL NEWS
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Is lander Social Justice Commis sioner, June Oscar called for guns not to be carried by police in Indigenous communities. “We have long held the solutions, and countless inquires and re ports have given us the way for ward. But…we fail to effectively implement them, and as a result we continue to see First Nations men, women and children dying in our so-called justice system. Enough is enough,” said Oscar. The Northern Territory Police Association has rejected the pro posal to ban guns. Human rights lawyer, Hannah McGlade has emphasised the need for greater law reforms and dialogue with Aboriginal leaders and activists. It has been recently been con firmed that a coronial inquest will investigate Mr Walker’s death in bySeptember.Jasmine Joyan
NATIONAL NEWS 19
CALLS AGAINST THE OVER-POLICING OF FIRST NATIONS PEOPLE
The death of Mr Walker and Rolfe’s acquittal are a reminder of the need for reform in policing of Indigenous people and communi ties. The 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custo dy had over 339 recommenda tions. Since then there has not been a meaningful or supported response to the recommendation according to legal experts and many First Nation communities. Rolfe was the first Northern Terri tory officer to be charged for the death of an Indigenous person since the publication of the report in 1991. As of December 2021, more than 500 people have died in custody since the recommen dations were originally made.
In considering tendency evi dence, the courts have generally had to balance the prejudice the evidence has against the defen dant in ensuring they are given a fair trial and allowed the pre sumption of innocence with the probative value of the evidence. However, there can be circum stances where evidence is of high enough probative value that it can be inconsistent with a defen dant’s innocence. However, Jus tice John Burns held that Rolfe’s previous charges did not have significant probative value.
I have always been a vora cious reader who demolish es a book in hours, chowing down on exciting plots, complex characters, and political and social intrigue like it is my last meal. For years, reading was what I did instead of playing with other kids at school, going out, or doing work. I sus pect that my introversion and lack of social life has created the ideal conditions for my reading habits. I recall being on a trip with some friends to Nepal. We were trekking the Annapurna circuit in 2015, and I was 14. “How many books have you ever read?” asked one “I’mgirl. not sure,” I replied… because I was unsure. “Guess… like a thousand? Wait, OMG, have you read a million?” she queried. “I’m not sure,” I repeated, and then I continued read Iing.did not stay in touch with any friends from that trip. I was too busy reading in seclusion and then thinking about what I was reading while walking to talk to them. I managed to knock off the Entire Game of Thrones series on that trip, which is something I remain proud of to this day. In 2018, I sort of just… stopped reading. I did not pick up a book unless it was for my school English classes, and even then, I just went on Schmoop and read their notes instead of the actual copy I had. I was dealing with a huge depressive period in my life and spent most of my spare time crying or eating. Then, in 2020, a little thing called COVID happened. Suddenly I had all the time in the world to read. But unfortunately, living through a pandemic is not condu cive to good mental health.
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I also realised that when I wasn’t reading, I had nothing; no hobbies that marked me out as unique or quirky. As a teenager, this realisation would have been devastating for me. But now, as an adult, I wondered if I should accept that I had somehow lost the love of reading I used to have. This may sound dramatic, but as a big overthinker, reading has always provided me with an escape from my life. I suspect I enjoy reading so much because I feel my life is so dull that I would rather jump into someone else’s and step into their skin for a day.
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2021,In I weakly attempted to make rereading a hobby. I reopened my untouched Goodreads ac count, and I was bombarded with the progress of my friends on the platform. So many new books had come out! I felt like I had missed out on so much and would never be able to catch up. I tried and failed to reig nite my passion for literature repeatedly. Picking up random books in my family’s Kindle library, I found I could not focus, and the entire time I tried to read, I was just watching the percentage at the bottom of the page, which tells you your progress.
Reading over what I have written, I will accept that I am melodra matic, but I believe Lorde and Lana Del Rey are the culprits for this, not my capricious mental health.
However, despite the background noise (university being online, crippling anxiety, being bad at netball, a pandemic, and a close friend dying), I found 2020 and 2021 were the happiest times of my life. I became fitter than ever because I had nothing to do, and I learned to be alone with myself and how to live with my brain. Then I discovered a genre called Afrofuturism , and I devoured it like a starv ing person. I read all of Octavia Butler’s works and found that this genre and other sci-fi novels gave me the new and exciting content I needed to relaunch myself into the literary world. It made me re alise how much was out there, and I now viewed reading books, not as some race where I had to get through them ASAP, but as a boundless journey where there was so much about the world for me to uncover and I had the rest of myself to do that.
So, I began 2022 with a goal in mind. I felt refreshed and revived by my sudden weird turnaround. I was going to do the Goodreads yearly reading challenge. For the uninitiated, this is a challenge I have wanted to do because it would make me feel accomplished and boost my self-esteem, where you read 52 books a year (about once a week). I charged ye olde trusty Kindle and then proceeded… not to Iread.failed the challenge in January, which was impressive because it usually takes me longer to give up on things. Luckily, I bounced back in February and read fever ishly. At the time, I was dogsitting in a nice house by myself (aside from the dog, of course), and it was the university holidays. I was happy and felt very young and successful, sunbathing by the pool and reading because I had so much free time. I felt like a lady of leisure; I wore linen sets and roleplayed being a real adult. It was good. Once university started, I realised I needed to up my game, so I started taking my Kindle to uni with me, and now I was cosplaying being the mysterious girl who sits in the cafe talking to no one, reading for hours. I also discovered that read ing right before bed helps me fall asleep. I just sort of pass out. That’s been great.
Note: I was raised in a Kindle family - as much as we all hate Jeff Bezos, it is important to note that Kindles and Amazon’s Audible App have made literature accessible to a much broader audience than if we still relied only on paperbacks today. As I write this, I am reading Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, a book that retails for $22 at Dymocks and $14 on Kindle. My pro tip is that if you choose to read classics or older books, they will often be available at a very low price. Virginia Woolf’s Orlando is $18 at Dymocks and just $3 on Kindle. If you read a lot, you will benefit from using Kindle because these prices add up when you are literally always reading. by Eleanor Taylor Bringing reading back into my life and incorporating as much or as little as I have time for each day has given me a peace ful little corner of the world I can recede into as long as I have my trusty Kindle. When life is very chaotic with a constant influx of bad news and international disasters, reading provides a space away from all that, where I can unwind. I think that everyone needs an activity like that in their lives.
I am thrilled to say that I am currently (at the end of March) up to reading my 18th book of the year. I have been reading and reading and reading. I have embraced this genre of book I saw someone refer to as She is Not Feeling Good, which is essen tially just literature chronicling the lives and psychological states of crazy ladies. I love this and relate to these characters a concerning amount. My favourite book this year has been Boy Parts by Eliza Clark, and I cannot believe it is her debut novel. I even want to buy a paperback (I only purchase paperbacks if a book is life-changing) to go through and annotate all the great lines in it.
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If you have read my previous challenges, you would know that I love to sleep and optimise sleep. I generally like efficiency and optimising all parts of my life to live with as much ease and organisation as possible. My psychiatrist says it’s my obses sive-compulsive disorder, but I think I am just a Gemini and in my hot girl season.
Onerelationships.ofthemain reasons Mamma Mia! has that slice of 70’s love and authen ticity is the role Björn Kristian Ulvaeus played in the film. As a member of the musical group ABBA, and co-composer/ co-producer of the film, Björn ensured that only perfection was placed into the renewal of his band’s original songs. Commenting about his time creating the film and working with Meryl Streep, Björn stated in an interview, “She gives those words a meaning that I never could have hoped for.” With the assistance of Benny Andersson (another member of ABBA) – there is no need to worry about the essence of the Swedish pop band we all love. Let’s have a little rewind...
An Ode MAMMATo MIA!
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REWINDCULTUREPOP
It’s July 2008 and the star-studded film version of the Mamma Mia! has just been released in Australian cinemas! Filled with an all-rounder Hollywood cast, a full soundtrack of ABBA hits, and the most luscious backdrop of Greece – it is simply impossible to hate on this movie.
Let’s dive right into the clear waters of UnlessKalokairi!you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade or so, it’s highly un likely you’re not familiar with the global success story that is Mamma Mia! The ultimate comfort film for teenage girls and their mothers all around the world. As Charlotte Northedge and Kira Co chrane from the Guardian have stated: “The musical about a single mother, her daughter, and three possible dads invit ed by the daughter to her wedding – has become a success beyond all compre Thehension.”filmfollows the young and spirited bride-to-be Sophie (Amanda Sey fried) on a journey to find her real father so he can give her away to her groom. The sunny atmo sphere of a beach holiday on a Greek island sounds like a dream summer destination. As director Catherine Johnson got to grips with the screenplay, the production team began consid ering who might be the right actors for the film version, especially for the main mother-figure role of Donna. In January 2007 it was announced that none other than Meryl Streep – one of the most fa mous and well-respected American ac tresses of the past three decades! – had signed on to play the lead role of Donna. When Streep was asked if she’d like to appear in the movie version, her reply was daring and definitely relieved the production team: “Are you kidding? I AM Mamma Mia!” With Meryl Streep on board, there were no issues in attracting a stellar cast for all the main characters. Soon after it was announced that Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgård would play the three possible dads. With Julie Wal ters and Christine Baranski as the parts of Donna’s friends and Amanda Seyfried landing the part as Sophie, Donna’s daughter – it was evident this movie was going to be an ode to mother-daughter
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One significant element of the film is the creation of the female gaze – its audience clearly made for women. The sexual liberation embedded into each character is executed to perfection, whilst also dis missing the Hollywood trope of sexualising young women. A clear example is the young female char acter, played by Amada Seyfried, wearing a onepiece swimsuit throughout the film –truly reflecting a young woman on the beach in Greece accompanied by her family and friends. As author Naomi Alderman says “‘You don’t have to be young and sweet and 17”. In fact, a notable feature in this film is the way the men are presented in a sexualised way. It was insightful to see the pan of male critics when looking at this film. It could just be a lack of expo sure towards the female gaze. Instead of the 20year old female character as Pierce Brosnan’s love interest, there is more of a father-daughter relation ship between them. When you know that’s not going to happen, you relax.
The ‘Slipping Through My Fingers’ scene is the pinnacle moment of the film that really resonates with the moth er-daughter trope. It is definitely the moment that pinches the heartstrings of my mother and I, trying to grasp all the time we will never have again. The intimacy and raw rela tionship with Donna (Meryl Streep) and Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) in the reflection of the mirror is showcased with such an immense longing and regret. Definitely a moment that mothers and daughters all around the world can con nect with. So here is my ode to Mamma Mia!, a transformative, wacky, comfort film. It does everything right for me! Everytime I have that particular twinkle in my eye, everyone around me goes… “she watched it… again?”. The gorgeous all-rounder Hollywood cast, a full ABBA soundtrack, and the aesthetic backdrop of Greece creates such an immense longing and ping of hope – that in the future that will be a summer of mine. It pings all of my heartstrings and has me belting the lyrics from start to finish. The feel-good jukebox musical leaves my heart warm and my smile beaming – who just doesn’t love drunkenly singing ABBA songs with your close family and friends on a Greek island? by Lauren Knezevic
REGULARS 26 It’s a film of hope, the possibil ities of a good life as a woman – instead of a picture perfect expectation of escapism and fantasy. The silly storyline and dialogue just add to the heart of the film – appealing to the true female gaze. So how does this jukebox musi cal relate to the issue; M is for ThereMother?is more than meets the eye with this film. When truly dissecting it, as a film studies student inevitably does… every time I see this movie, there is something new to uncover. A recent discovery of mine is the true essence of that moth er-daughter relationship. The exploration of single moth ers’ relationships with their only daughter is such a niche and gorgeous trope. Mamma Mia! perfectly encapsulates the mid dle-class relationship where the daughter is the pinnacle of the mother’s achievements. It was done in such a way that it became the inner core of the movie - without taking away its colourful and kindred nature. Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture And save it from the funny tricks of time Slipping through my fingers.
‘Mother’ is not just a societal role, it can be a spir itual state of being — to nurture, care, and create. Mother goddesses come in a variety of forms, in cluding goddesses who give birth to other gods, archetypal mother figures, and those who help bring humanity into existence. By looking at moth er goddesses, we can think about what it means to embody motherhood. Note: a lot of mythological stories are born from contexts different to our own, using meanings we may not directly understand. Some of the themes and symbols these goddesses relate to may not make sense to us but made sense to the cultures from which they were born.
ILLUSTRATEDFourMotherGoddessesandTheirStories
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WICCAN TRIPLE GODDESS During the neo-pagan re vival of the 1960s and 70s, a feminist take on ancient pre-Christian European spir ituality emerged in the form of Wicca. At its core, Wicca has spiritual reverence for nature, magical practice, and worship of a goddess. Wicca is not an institutionalised religion, so its practice is as varied and eclectic as the adherents themselves. However, many Wiccans incorporate the triple goddess to their practice. The triple goddess con sists of three archetypal figures: maiden, mother, and crone. The threefold nature of the goddess reflects the human cycle of birth, maturation, and death. Each stage of this journey brings its own gifts. In our youth we see the world through fresh eyes and explore the world for the first time. In adulthood, we have the resources to give back to others and build our familial networks. In old age, we have the collected wisdom of all our years and can enjoy those familial networks we built earlier on. The triple goddess can teach us respect for ourselves and others throughout all our life stag es. GAIA The following information comes from Hesiod’s Theogony. In this poem, which is the earliest known account of core Greek myths, Gaia is the defied personification of the Earth itself. As such, she is often depicted as the head and torso of a woman emerging from the earth. She is one of the primordial gods of the Greek pantheon, there at the genesis of the world. The universe before cre ation in Greek mythology was called ‘Chaos,’ a dis ordered nothingness. Gaia was the first God to emerge from Chaos. She created the sky, mountains, and sea. She gave birth to a variety of char acters in Greek mythology, but what is most notable is how she conceived them. In Hesiod’s poem, Gaia contrives to have her son, Chronos, castrate her husband Ouranos in re venge for mistreatment of some of their children. The blood from the injury falls to the earth, and, as Gaia is the earth itself, she uses the blood to give birth to the Furies — goddesses of vengeance. Symbolism much?! Even though Gaia and her sto ries are mythical, knowing them serves as a useful reminder to be considerate of what we put on the earth. Our earth and atmosphere are the source of all known life. If we’re not careful about what we put onto the earth, it may send back haunting consequences.
CYBELE Phrygia was an ancient district of the Anatolian subcontinent existing between the 12th and 7th centuries BCE. Cybele was a prominent mother goddess figure in the Phrygian panthe on. She ruled over the wilderness, was a heal er, promoted fertility, and protected people in times of war. Her power over nature is symbol ised by the lions that often accompany her in Asimagery.anature and creation goddess, she is linked to cycles of birth and decay mirrored by the seasons in the natural world. We see this link in the myth of Cybele and Attis, which details the emergence of Attis as a vegetation God. This story takes many forms, but in Ovid’s ac count, Attis was a shep herd Cybele fell in love with. She brought him into her clergy on the condition he preserved his chastity. He agreed but broke his word by sleeping with a nymph. In a state of frenzied fury, she threw him into a river. Attis castrated himself in his own fit of rage and began to make attempts on his life. To prevent him killing him self, Cybele turned him into a fir tree. There are many strong and violent emotions at play in this myth, but it should remind us about how powerful emotions can be transformed into something new. In this myth, the decay of anguish and anger was turned into a new chance, an opportunity to regenerate as some thing new.
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Ninhursag is one of the in carnations of the mother goddess archetype in the Sumerian pantheon. She was valued for her connec tion to transformation, na ture, pregnancy, and child birth. In her earlier forms, she was also called Kishar, which directly translates to ‘mother earth’, suggest ing she played a significant mythological role in the creation of the world. In artistic representation, she is depicted symbolically as a deer, often alongside an eagle which symbolises her son, Ninurta. Like other god desses on this list, her myths foreground creation as a transformative experience.
One myth describes how, after the gods’ task of creat ing the world was complete, Ninhursag and Enki (the god of wisdom) fall in love and Ninhursag becomes preg nant.iv Ninhursag leaves Enki with their daughter, Ninsar, when she must re turn to her duties. In Ninhur sag’s absence, Enki misses Ninhursag greatly and be comes deluded with grief. He mistakes his daughter for Ninhursag and entices her into having sex with him. Enki abandons his daughter when he realizes she’s not his beloved Ninhursag. He does the same to Ninsar’s daughter, Ninkurra, and al most does the same to Uttu, his daughter with Ninkurra. Instead of having his child, the distressed Uttu calls on Ninhursag for help. Ninhur sag instructs Uttu to take Enki’s semen and put it in the dirt of Dilmun (the Edentype Paradise of Sumerian mythology). The semen be comes eight plants, which Enki and his advisor eat as they’re delicious. Ninhursag becomes enraged and curs es him to die. But when she sees him sick and dying, she draws his illness and pain into her body. Each time she takes on his pain, she gives birth to a new deity. Artwork by Thalia Took NINHURSAG by Isabella Trope
TW: THIS ARTICLE DISCUSSES MEDICAL TRAUMA.
THE CRUNCHY MUM MOVEMENTS
TIKTOK DOING ITS THANG
There I was, minding my own business on the Tiktok explore page, be ing hand-fed tantalizing tidbits of information about other people’s lives when I came across #CrunchyMom. The first post under this hashtag I saw was from a user named @LifeofFern. In the video, a 10-monthold named Fern was eating rocks and soil from a creek. This was very strange, and I absolutely fell down a rabbit hole discovering that this account was populated with videos of Fern eating leaves and rocks, being a vegan baby and also co-sleeping with his mother, Alice. This entertained me for a few minutes and then I got bored and returned to the explore page. Alice and Fern are now infamous on Tiktok. It is amazing to me that a baby can be famous, but Fern has done it. What I did not know was that Alice would go viral and that thousands of people would duet her videos calling her a “crunchy child abuser”, someone who must hate her son. Alice does not adhere to conventional parenting wisdom. She co-sleeps with Fern and doesn’t follow a regular sleeping pattern with him, she does not vaccinate him, and she is a free birther. This just means she believes in homebirths (Alice gave birth to Fern on a toilet) and is an ti-medicine, because doctors lie to women. The thing is, Alice is not alone. She is a #CrunchyMom and just one of many women online sharing their journeys as anti-establishment (normally stay at home) mothers. I want to explore why this movement has taken off, and what it means for women in the 21st century.
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Eleanor Taylor, Grape shot’s resident child less crunchy mom explores the rapidmovementbizarrewhosegrowthhasbeenfacilitatedbyTiktok.
I DON’T GET IT
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Luckily, Anna, who wrote Why I’m a Proud Scrunchie Mom has some extra information. The opposite of a Crunchy Mom is the “Silky Mom”. She is described as follows; Mothers in the middle are called “Scrunchie Moms”m which has recently become a new trend on Tiktok, a response to Crunchy Moms which reveals that it’s possible to be earthy and granola munching AND scien tific. The other term I see used for these mothers is Crispy.
“A silky mom is a mom who gives birth in the sterile hospital environ ment, uses disposable diapers and may breastfeed but also bottle feeds and maybe formula feeds too. She buys baby food from the store, uses a stroller rather than a baby-wearing device, vaccinates her kiddos and banishes them to a crib where they may even be left to cry it out until they finally give up and fall asleep.”
What Maketh the Mom “Crunchy”?
The best definition I could find for Crunchy Mom was from an article called Why I’m a Proud Scrunchie Mom which I found on The House and Homestead website where the author lays out the parameters for crunchy parenting as follows: Why are these women called “crunchy”? I actu ally made a guess that it was because granola crunches and granola has natural organic con notations. But through some googling, I also discovered that “granola” is slang for “hippy”.
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“The definition of a “crunchy mom” is a mom who practices natural parenting or, as defined by one website, a “neo-hippie.” So basically if you are a crunchy mom, you typically give birth at home (or in a meadow or river or something), cloth-diaper your babes, prepare all your own organic baby foods, co-sleep, breastfeed exclusively (no bottles or formula), believe in baby-led weaning and are anti-vaccinations.”
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A big part of the “Crunchy” phi losophy is that medicine ignores women and their concerns for the sake of efficiency. Wom en such as Alice have experi enced trauma in medical set tings which has forced them to re-evaluate their understand ing of the medical system. For example, Alice (the mother of Fern) claims the death of her first child was due to medical interventions to which she did not give informed con sent. And she is not the only person to experience medi cal trauma from giving birth. Unfortunately, in medical contexts, the overriding of consent has been nor malised. This can be seen in episiotomies in Aus tralia. Baby Center says “An episiotomy is a small cut made in the skin and muscle from the entrance of the vagina towards the back passage. This area is called your perine um”. They also note that episiotomies should sary, generally if a baby is distressed and the birthing process needs to be sped up. In Australia, 16% of women have episioto mies, and in private hospitals sometimes it can be up to 26%. In the 1980s, up to 90% of women had this procedure completed. Through my own conversations with the women around me, I have heard the same story multiple times and it goes like this… “I was in labor and so focused on giving birth that I did not even know the doctor had completed an episiotomy until I felt stitches afterwards”. This is a surgery be ing completed on someone who has not consented. Take a moment to consider the significance of that. One Queensland study found that 35% of women were giv en episiotomies without being informed. That medical professionals can routinely violate an individual’s bodily autonomy when they are at their most vulnerable is Indisgusting.anarticle from the Sydney Morning Her ald, some women experience Post Trau matic Stress Disorder due to their “[l]ack of adequate consent and understanding about birth-related procedures”. In one ac count, a nurse recalls an incident where a woman in labour was sedated because she objected to her doctor’s actions. She goes on to say, “I’ve witnessed some births that haunt me.”
Once you begin consuming information from fringe sourc es, social media and search engine algorithms will pro vide you with information from even more fringe sources, facilitating your radicalisation. That’s how someone can begin with “women should be allowed to reject to sur geries” and then end up in a weird spot where they think microwaves and deodorants cause cancer and that “the fluoride in the water is part of a massive doping scheme by the government”. Conclusion It is objectively funny that some people think allowing their kids to eat rocks will make them genius babies with super immune systems. But I also think we need to acknowledge the tragic realities that women contend with, especially regarding medicine. #CrunchyMoms do not exist in a vacuum; they have been created by a misogynistic society that has refused to hear their concerns. The more medical institutions marginalise women and their valid worries sur rounding healthcare and childbirth, the more women will unnecessarily suffer and the more likely women will be vulnerable to harmful misinformation. by Eleanor Taylor
There are absolutely scenarios when women are in danger and procedures are essential. In one account, the reason provided for an episiotomy is that the mother was “tak ing too long”. Other examples of women being ignored include the standardisation of giving birth on your back which is done for the convenience of medical caregivers rather than for the comfort of the mother. Alternative po sitions make birth less painful and in some cases reduce complications (which in turn reduces medical interven tions). One factor of this is the use of epidurals which pre vent women from moving so they cannot switch positions. This again increases the reliance on doctors and nurses.
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In this context, and having experienced this, how would you be able to continue trusting the medical/scientific communities? Crunchy Moms are onto something when they discuss in formed consent and its absence in the birthing process. I have sympathy for women like Alice who have been failed by the institutions they were raised to trust. And I feel sympathy for them when the internet cyberbullies the shit out of them for it. Yes, the Crunchy Mom vaccine mis information is atrocious and upsetting, but abusing some one on the internet will not make them agree with you.
However, in Pyrmont (don’t ask me why), it just Thereworks.are definite ly drawbacks to this neighbourhood. The footpaths often smell of piss, and I’m pretty sure there are regular drug deals taking place at the underpass across from my apartment. Howev er, these features don’t bother as much as they did six months ago. Is this the test for whether someone is an official
YOUPYRMONTAREHERE
Prior to colonisation, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation lived in Pirrama, known today as Pyrmont. While many indigenous sites were destroyed by the devel opment of quarries and factories, researchers understand that the land was carefully managed, and the Eora people re lied heavily on the abun dant fish and seafood available in the harbour. The Eora people lived in Pirrama up until the 1870s, when they were displaced by European colonisers. By this time, due to the introduction of colonists’ livestock and windmill traffic, the previously well-man aged soil became com pacted, turning Pirrama into a swamp. While Pir rama was later renamed to Pyrmont, remnants of its indigenous roots re main, such as the nam ing of Pirrama Park and Pirrama Road. Over time, Pyrmont be came home to a work ing-class community. There were many quar ries in the area due to the high quality sand stone, which was used in the construction of Sydney’s most significant buildings. CSR Pty Ltd opened a major sug The station was driven by steam, and was re sponsible for powering Sydney’s first electric street lights. At its peak, Pyrmont was home to around 30 000 workers and their families. How ever, after World War II, many industries closed down, leading to its resi dents moving to the sub urbs. By 1978, Pyrmont was considered a slum with a population of only 1 800. In the 1990s, the government initiated the Better Cities Program, whose mission was to facilitate the urban re newal and development of Pyrmont. Through the investment in public infrastructure, Pyrmont once again became an attractive suburb to live west of Sydney’s central business district. I am one of the 12 000 people that call Pyrmont home.
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Nouveau Pyrmontian, Amelia unpacks some of the history of Pyrmont and provides a glimpse into life in the Darling Harbour region.
I moved to Pyrmont in July 2020, right before Sydney entered another lockdown. Instead of familiarising myself with Pyrmont’s bar and restaurant scene, I dis covered Pyrmont on foot through my daily walks to escape the boredom of lockdown. I grew up in Chatswood, which borders Lane Cove National Park, and was used to having a nearby wilderness that offered an easy escape from everyday life. It was definitely a difficult transition to move from having the wilderness at my doorstep to living have begun to appre ciate its eclectic mix ture of historical and modern developments. For example, Pyrmont Power Station’s façade remains, and sits on the west side of the Star Casino. Across from it rests the site of Syd ney’s first presbyterian church, neighboured by small historical cottag es. A walk five minutes east and you hit the wa ter – with views across Darling Harbour to the bustling central busi ness district. I love liv ing in a suburb where, in as little as ten minutes, there is such a wide va riety of architecture and history to appreciate. On the face of it, such contrasting features may not work together.
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This issue is all about Mums and is a homage to them. But, I’m going to change ‘M is for Mom’ to ‘M is for Matriarch’, because, without my matri archs, I wouldn’t be the strong and proud Gami laraay woman I am today. I wouldn’t be walking this planet, or maybe I should say I wouldn’t be walking on Aboriginal land as a proud Aborig inal woman without their continuous fight and commitment. I’m writing to pay homage to the reason behind my presence in this world. I’m not just speaking about my physical presence; I’m also speaking of my spiritual presence, particularly my connection to Coun try and culture. Physically, my pres ence in this world involves activism, fighting for change, learning and helping others. My spiritual pres ence involves my connectedness to culture, Country and ancestors. As I said before, the reason for my pres ence in this world is my matriarchs. To pay homage, I will take you on a journey of truth-telling; a truth-tell ing that involves and sheds light on the dark version of our nation’s his tory. The version that the settler-co lonial Government wants to hide, dismiss, and whitewash. So, here is the story of one of my matriarchs. The story of my great-great Grand mother is one of strength, resilience, and hardships. She was born on 3 June 1897 in Ashford to two Aborig inal parents who had many children, some of whom were taken away. She grew up during a time of assimilation, dispossession, segregation and extreme violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. She was forced to live on Pindari Station. Established in 1893, Pindari Station was an area where Aboriginal people were forced to live. It was a 23-acre area along Pindari Creek, between Wellingrove and Nullamanna. Whilst living there, my greatgreat Grandmother was forced to work for a family as a servant, but the station manager controlled and kept her income.
‘MATRIARCH’‘M’ISFOR...
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Couldn’t care less ‘bout the monarch Ima set fire to the kingdom I’m coming for them All hail to blak matriarchs Barkaa (Malyangapa and Barkindji artist), Blak Matriarchy
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following article contains information about people who have died TW:. This article mentions sexual and physical abuse against Aboriginal women in paragraph 5.
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Elsie Burrage speaks of the station as a pleasant and civil place to live. However, she is viewing the station through the lens of her white settler privilege, the same lens that all colonisers looked through whilst they stole our land, children, and culture, and tried to assimilate us into their ‘civilised’ white settler society. I would also argue that this white settler lens of privilege and sense of superiori ty remains present within contemporary so-called ‘Australia’. This is clearly evi dent with the contemporary settler-co lonial Government continuing the strate gic and active elimination of Indigenous people. It may not be the same as it was throughout the Frontier Wars with the massacres, assimilation, and disposses sion. Still, the Government continues to strategically eliminate Indigenous people through the extreme limitations of Native Title, allowing the destruction of sacred sites, police brutality and deaths in cus tody, the continuing forced removal of our children, and systematic and insti tutional racism that is deeply embedded within our society.
The wife of the station manager/teach er, Elsie Burrage, wrote letters during her time at the station. She speaks of her previous worries of being lonely but celebrates that she receives visits from the other non-Indigenous people at the station. She further reflects that “the Blacks’ houses are in the hollow about ¼ mile off. They are not at all repulsive. I thought they would be”.
In a later letter, she describes at tending a dance at the station where she speaks of my great-great Grand mother, saying, “One girl had on an evening dress, looked like art muslin. It was bright scarlet, such a pretty shade and trimmed with silver trimming. She happened to be home as the people she was working for had gone for a holiday. She’s about 18, but the girls all have gone to go away to work when they are 14”.
It’s important to make obvious that whilst Elsie Burrage reflected upon her worries of loneliness and living with “the Blacks”, my great-great Grandmother was forced to live in a hollow and work as an enslaved person for a white family. We do not know what else happened to Annie and her sisters while living at the station and working. Still, it is essential to shed light on the truth that other Aborig inal women throughout this country were forced to work as domestic servants where they suffered both sexual and phys ical abuse and were forced to live and work under horrific and inhu mane conditions. What I do know is that whilst living at the station and working, my great-great Grandmother’s brothers came and broke her and her sisters out of the station and took them to Moree. The brothers then had to change their last names as police hunted them for their ‘crime’. She later married a Swedish man and lived in Moree, where they raised their children. These children would later face the threat of their own children being stolen. If it weren’t for my great Grandmother hiding her children and protecting them, my Pop would have been taken. Although my great Grand mother protected my Pop and his siblings from being taken, they were still forced to face extreme racism and attend a school on the Moree mission where they received inadequate education. She also couldn’t protect herself from the health inequalities and disadvantages that Aboriginal people face as she passed away in her forties. This is only a brief story of my great-great Grandmother and a men tion of my great Grandmother. These women are only two of my ma triarchs who have paved the way for me and are the reason for my presence in this world. I thank my matriarchs for being the reason for my presence in this world and for everything I do. by Allastassia Carter
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Last Sep tember, I sat with my mum as we lightly amused ourselves over some gin and tonic. My sister and her boyfriend had just bought a dog that was unusually large for a pup. Due to his size they had spent the better part of the week scaveng ing for appropriately sized training gear. It was fascinating, the lengths they went to for something as trivial as a harness, and in the humour of it all I commented how the pup was their first child. ‘They’re nesting’, my mum replied in a straight forward tone that surprised me. Up until that very moment, I’d honestly nev er made that connection. Not seriously at least. Since they were still young and they had not been dating that long (surely) and a myriad of excuses. But those words have been seared into my head. They’re nesting. A few weeks after the conversation with my mum I was taken aback again at a friend’s birthday picnic. It was a warm spring day in October, as Sydney emerged out of our second lockdown. We sat harbourside on bright tartan blankets, as small talk gradu ated to mingling. Soon the topic of every one’s future plans began swirling around. ‘I want to have my first kid at 26’, said an acquain tance, ‘28 at the latest’. I almost did a spit take with my cider to the news. But we are still so young and you have not even been dating that long and… I was 23, and still had not been in a serious relationship before. But here was someone ready to settle Indown.that moment I became keenly aware that most people present were coupled up and had been for years. But not me, not I, not now. They’re nesting. Sometime over the summer, my mum beckoned me into her room to show me something. She was enthusiastically par ticipating in a late spring cleaning of her wardrobe. She handed me a box of enve lopes filled with photographs of our fam ily in Europe. Images of my grandparents when they were still middle aged stand ing proudly next to a 1970s buggy. Or the younger versions of my mother’s siblings posing on ruins in vast green fields. But from of all the envelopes, I was drawn to a specific one.
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Faded into a strange yellow, the envelope contained tender images of a trip my mum had taken to Greece. She would’ve been in her early 20s and had gone with a gang of university friends. They were sweet and gen tle depictions of youthful friendships. Of days lazing on armchairs, drinking beers on a roof top bar, of pale women laid out on pebbled beaches overlooking the Aegean. I stared at the photos intensely and saw my mum in such an unrecognisable attitude. I had a hard time grappling with who the person was. Like ev eryone has pondered at least once, I became keenly aware about how my presence had changed her. How being a mother had changed her. The clock had just ticked over to November 1st as I sat in a friend’s Surry Hills share house, unconvincingly pleading to a separate sober friend to drive me home. We had known each other since high school, which is how the other two present had met. We were a quartet, two guys, two woman. Two straights had since coupled while us two queers remain single. The couple sat next to each other on the sofa, as I haggled over a free ride and the host was dancing like Stevie Nicks to an EDM rendition of a traditional Hebrew song. After the music was turned down and some combination of segue conversations I do not remember, we arrived at the subject of baby names. The couple, of course, had a list. A thorough list, which we debated the pros and cons of. There was a mention of marriage as the two cuddled up next to one another. They’re nesting, I thought to myself but this time with less urgency or dread. I was accepting a new normal. It was a late February night when my phone buzzed with a notification from ‘the girls’ group chat. ‘Guess who in our year is now pregnant.’
A few weeks ago I found myself again in the living room of my friends’ shared house. This time loudly ex plaining what I like to call the Marly & Me effect. The phenomena of straight couples adopting a dog as both a sur rogate baby but also as a pre-propos al proposal. A way to broadcast to the world ‘We want to get married and start a family’. I was with the same group as before, minus my high school friend. Both listened to me rattle on, one sat on the sofa eyebrows cocked, the other descended the stair fiddling with her dress’ strap. ‘Does this have anything to do with your sister?’ My sofa sat friend asked and partially yes. In January, my sister’s boyfriend had become her fiancé and I genuinely couldn’t be happier for them. But they are only the most recent example of a trend if I look back I began noticing in 2009. ‘I just think if you want to get married and have kids, don’t bring a dog into it’,I said to no one in particular. My friends shared a curious glance, and the one still fiddling with her dress re plied, ‘Well dogs are a much more of a commitment than a family, you can’t share custody of a dog’. I changed the topic and we left soon after for cocktails. by Nial Herron You could imag ine the collective gasps through the phone. Within mo ments this expectant mother’s Ins tagram was stampeded by a group of five women who had vaguely known her in high school, and their gay male friend just trying to feel included. Collectively we perused through her page like pretentious art critics with pursed lips, analysing her photos. At one time we would be congratulating her, sending handwritten let ters or maybe even banal ‘Congrats!’ Facebook mes sages. Instead, we flicked through the self-published cat alogue of this woman’s last few years, tracing a line from the first time she posted her current partner, to the day old announcement. There was a sense, I was seeing her final years as a free woman. Witnessing the countdown till the day her life would change. Her nesting period was over, she’d ac cepted her new normal. She’d nested.
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I often think about that girl in the photographs. The one on the Greek holiday relaxing on the beach, her film camera pointed at her smiling friends. I wonder what she thought. Had she always planned on having children? Did she always want her first child at 30 or had her timeline been pushed back? Was she worried she would not be good enough of a mother? Is she happy with where she ended up? Or am I just project ing?Iharbour
all these fears for the future, but I am also totally absolved of them. I can never bear children and as a gay man I have made peace with the idea of being the fun uncle. But I look at my friends, at their partners and my sister, and wonder the burden they may carry. The personal, societal or structural pressures they must be under, to make a choice. To make the choice. And not decide too late.
The ‘Zoom’ profiles of seven pregnant women clutter my laptop screen like the Brady Bunch. This little social group, from the Inner West of Sydney, could not be more diverse. Some cup mugs in their hands while others scroll through their phones –Natalie*, a woman in her first trimester, unmutes and asks the group about their birthing plans. If there was no pandemic, the answers may have been more unexpected. But as Covid-19 continues to scorch the nation, many of the women in the group lean towards a homebirth. Please note that all names in this article have been changed for privacy.
The history of birth goes a long way back of course, to the very beginning you could say. The history of a woman’s choice for how she wishes to give birth has changed throughout the ages and been influenced too. In the 17th century, a special reclining bed for childbearing women was de signed. The bed was in no way created for the comfort of women. Instead, it provided physicians a convenient way to deliver a baby. French doctor, François Mariceau, claimed in his book that wom en birthing on their hands and knees, kneeling, or standing made the job for physicians harder. And since then, lying down on backs has become one of the most popular positions for childbirth. However, the trend was mostly rooted in Western ideologies like England, the US, and Australia. In Western Africa, the most common practice in history involved squatting or sitting on a birth stool. In China, women gave birth ver tically. “ A doula, in my own bed, in a position of my lovepeoplewithchoice,thewhomethemost.
The Power of CHOICE
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‘Power’ was a common theme discussed within the social group. Howev er, the conversation did not only revolve around being in control during birth. Despite the meet ing happening in a virtual space, ‘power’ was a feel ing that resonated through the room. Jane*, who led the session, explained that everyone in the group supported each other’s decisions to choose their own journey into moth erhood. She went on to clarify that previously, she experienced judgement from other mothers about her own decisions about her body. Jane started this group through reaching out to mutual friends as she wanted a place where she could openly discuss her wins, qualms, and queries without feeling “Everyoneisolated. experiences things differently. Every one experiences birth dif Asferently.”thegroup wraps up, the women discuss wheth er the new The Batman is age appropriate for a ten-year-old. I expected a heated debate to ensue. But the ‘you do you’ fashion of the group remains. “All mothers experience motherhood differently,” chuckles Jane, as she ends the meeting. by Ashleigh Ho
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The pandemic is not the only reason why women are choosing to give birth at home. Losing the freedom of choosing how one gives birth is something that many women fear, and is why those in the social group were turned off by the idea of giving birth in a hospital environ ment. I spoke to a midwife, Anna*; she recounted to me an encounter she had at the train station after a long shift. “I think my biggest fear of giving birth at the hospital is that I won’t get to stand up or move around. I’ll be confined to a bed,” a woman nearby Anna said. But this is not the case anymore, and Anna could not help but correct her. According to Anna, the way in which maternity wards operate has changed dramatically in the last decade. In the past, the norm involved the woman coming in, being sent to a room to lie in a white-dressed cot and then, once the time to give birth got closer, have an epidural administered. But now, wom en can customise their birth plans in a way that works for them. That means, choosing things like a position that is most comfortable for them, who is in the room, what they wear, and what kind of pain relief they are given. Birth is a feminist issue. Despite these ground-breaking changes, birth is still not always a positive experience. Many women report that they felt abused and violated at a time when they were most vulnerable. They felt objectified and made to feel like an incubator. “ I want to have controlpowerthetowhathappenstomybodywhenIgivebirth.Ifeellikethat’sthebareminimum.
The 6 month old calico, Lay la, was coming home with us. We changed her name when we adopted her to ‘Toula’like Toula from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, because I’m a good Greek girl. How ever, when we brought her home, Toula just did not seem right. Mum suggested She‘Loula’.has been my lovely Loula lady ever since. Being fourteen at the time, I did not realise the importance of the name Loula. Loula was my Mum’s mum who died when Mum was just ten years old. My Loula in my eyes was the embodiment of a woman; she was my woman. I would like to think that Mum’s Loula would be proud of the three women that honour her mem Asory.my mother has raised me to be a strong independent woman, that is how I have raised my cat daughter Lou la. I give her space to explore the garden and turn her white tummy up to the sky to be warmed by the sun. She is very talkative and we often have conversations before her dinner. She will meow at the front door until she is let
CAT DAUGHTER
We drove out of the Yagoo na RSPCA empty handed. I was devastated. I had fallen in love with a little ginger kit ten but Mum wouldn’t let us adopt him because he had the cat flu and “we are not adopting a sick cat.” I re member crying angry tears, almost giving up completely on the idea of having a cat of my own. Mum, however, was not giving up. We were heading over to the Rouse Hill RSPCA to try our luck again. On our way there, the car in front of us had stickers of cats and cat paws all up the back window. Mum excitedly pointed, “Look, it’s a sign.” When we got to the next RSPCA, I was immediately intrigued by the ball of black, orange, and white fur curled up in the corner of her cage. When I pushed my face up close to the bars, she simply got up, stretched, and turned her back to me. Mum ushered me along to look at some of the other cats. I sat in a small room with three more mature cats. They walked all over my lap and dug their claws into my thighs. None of them were the one. When the aloof calico was brought out for me to meet, I held her tight in my arms, supporting her back legs and bottom. She placed her two front paws crossed over one another on my shoulder. She was poised and elegant and she had to be mine.
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After some time of worrying, a quiet meow would slip under the front door, and I would rush over to let her in and get her ready for bed. Loula would rub against my legs as a thank you. My cat is the love of my life and I am hers. I am able to bury my whole face in her tummy, and kiss her all over with little to no protest - just the occasional little squeak with every kiss. I do know when I’m giving her too much love, because she’ll give me a loud meow with this tone, as if to say, “Okay Mum, that’s
owswithTheenough.”mother-daughterrelationshipisalwaysacomplexoneandthatisnodifferenttotheoneLoulaandIshare.Ihavebeenwokenupinthemiddleofthenightincessantmebyhertobefed a midnight snack. I have been heartbroken when she does not want to spend time with me. I have been pleas antly surprised when she hops up on the couch next to me, curls up by my side. My mum brought us together and if it was not for her always wanting the best for me, Loula and I might never have happened. by Anthea Wilson
I“LOULA!”“Miss“Lou“Loooouuuula.”“Loula.”lunatic.Lous.”Loula.”wouldcomeback inside defeated and com plain to Mum. “Honestly, does she know how late it is? I have been calling and calling.”
FEATURES 45 “Meow meow meow.” “Coming Loula.”
“How“Meow.”was your day honey?” My“Meow.”favourite thing to do is meow back to her and talk in meows for a while. Just like any mother, I worry about my girl if she goes out at night for too long. There have been many times where I have stood on the front porch of our home and called her name, wonder ing where on Earth she is. She is usu ally really good - sometimes all it takes is a few pspspspsps for her to come running back to me. Other nights, I am out in the drive way yelling her name like a
MUM OF PUPS How Adopting Dogs Changed My Life
Flash-forward to the start of 2022, I went from not even wanting one dog, to wanting two – a little brother for Dexter. So came Simba, the newest addition to our family. My little half Japanese Spitz and half Po meranian prince, who recently turned one.
If I am being totally honest, I did not think I had a maternal bone in my body until two years ago, when this little guy unexpected ly came into my life. Meet Dexter – a half Maltese Shih Tzu and half Poodle dreamboat that completely melted my heart. The craziest part is, I did not even want him at first. Long story short, in 2019, my brother brought him to our mum’s place when he was just ten weeks old. A few months down the track, his life got pretty hectic. Suddenly, Dexter was at my doorstep. I was annoyed. My life was pretty hectic, too, and I had no idea how to take care of a pup. At the time, I was barely even managing to take care of myself. Little did I know, what felt like an unwanted respon sibility would turn into one of the greatest love stories of my life. From our first day together as Mum and Pup, I was surprisingly hooked. Sure, there were moments I didn’t appreciate. Like when the shoelaces on my Vans dis appeared, or that one time he peed on my treadmill... but no matter what, I loved him. He became my son, and after all, he still is.
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up, I always felt a little strange compared to my friends. If someone told my younger self that one day, I would be a proud dog mum, I honestly would not have believed them. I never saw myself having kids, and I was not too keen on pets either. Before Dexter, I could not recall a single time I gushed at the sight of a cute puppy walking down the street, or melted over a picture of a newborn baby. As some peo ple would say, I was “missing the mum gene”. Now, my feelings have changed. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to imply that raising dogs is synonymous with raising children. That being said, being responsible for these two incredible crea tures has unleashed a side of me that I did not even know existed – a side that is more patient, more self less, more affectionate, more... dare I say... maternal. As for what the future holds, I can still declare with con fidence that there are no babies on the horizon... but more byAbsolutely.dogs?AmyDavidson
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Unlike Dexter, who was adopted from one loving home into another, Simba was a bit of a rescue mission. He was being treated, let’s just say, not-so-nicely at his former home. This broke my heart, because he was genuinely the sweetest, most loving pooch ever. It took a little adjusting, but he and Dexter are now the best of Growingfriends.
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PARENTING THE WESTERN WAY
There is a formidable, solid image of the Western fami ly. Little children dream of it residing in their sprawling, multi-storeyed dollhouses: a married couple and 2 to 4 Therechildren.is a lot of room in the dollhouse for a variety of movements, perhaps the mother and father smoosh faces in the master bedroom, and the tallest child raids the fridge in the kitchen. On and on like this, there are always more rooms than people. More space than needed. The mother is in front of the television and the toddler is in the attic and the father is in the bathroom and the tallest child is in the laundry. And in between, exists the vacant yet junk filled rooms with dust as the only residence. So much empty space and distance between lives. What a Thedream.structure of the nuclear family is fostered as a goal of Western parenting, propelled by the middle to upper-class economy. In this proverbial dollhouse, there is a lot of empty space, but it is there to remain empty: it cannot be filled by smoking uncles or wisecrack grandmothers or rattling cousins. Perhaps a dog will do, if not in a room then at least on the carpet Westernyard. parents strive to iso late their children in the name of independence and authen ticity. They pride themselves in letting their kids revel in their own sense of control, offer freedom in the form of late – or even nonexistent! – curfews and customised meals. In many ways, the kids are treated as adults. Of course, independence is an invaluable skill to impart to your child – but when does a child’s independence be come a corruption of child Inhood?thecommunity I grew up in on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, my teenage friends were initially granted notes and coins of money from their parents for a school lunch or Saturday mall trip until, gradually, they all got part-time jobs. Once the parents in my community saw their fourteen-year-old children blitzing milkshakes at the local cafe, that was it for them – job done! Par enthood: achieved. No more handouts, no more pockets of rattling coins. The kids soared into the workplace and valiantly an nounced they were saving for a car. They paid for their own school lunches and Saturday mall trips, their own haircuts and school uniforms. They eventually bought their cars and drove themselves from one suburb to the next, rush ing against the wind with their profound freedom. When seventeen became eighteen, a couple of kids in my class even had to begin paying rent to their parents for living in their house. A hundred bucks a week for sleeping in your childhood bedroom. The nu clear heirloom was inevitably passed on: the shame of be ing associated with your own parents.
While I cannot begin to imagine the responsi bilities, burdens, and joys of parenting, I can not help but think that parenting a child into independence can quickly become parenting them into isolation. With a Latin American father, I grew up with different family values to my predominantly Western community. Unlike my friends, I was not trained to reach independence. I was taught to prioritise family time; family – the collective – is every day life. Many families in Latin America live in their extend ed, interconnected forms, all living under the same roof or on the same street. Children are not expected to go to sleep before the adults – family time in the evening is critical. I have a memory, which often bewilders me with concern for my twelve-year-old self, of my family taking my sister and me to a bar in São Paulo around midnight. This would almost be impossible in Sydney, as nighttime is reserved for independent, free adult time. In Brazil, there is no such distinction: nighttime is for a reunion after a day of work, for every one. While this Latin American value of family is often labelled as “loyalty,” it can much more simply be described as “connection.”
In Western families, the extended family is an accessory at worst, a holiday at best. For the lucky few, the extended family is a next-door neighbour. The nuclear family is a private, convenient space that disqualifies the respon sibility of familial obligation. What capitalism has so fabulously advertised as the nuclear family is, if we take a step back to see the big ger picture, actually a fragmented family. It is unsupported by the web of generations that many families in Latin America and elsewhere proudly lean on. In retaliation to capitalism’s insistence on hy per-individualism and its perpetuation of hus tle culture and productivity, we as a society need to allow Western parents to feel a sense of pride in building a supportive web of peo ple around them. We should not be obliged to live harmoniously with our blood rel atives – lineage is often an archaic and colonial ideology, especially in the way of pedigree and politi cal inter-marriage – but there are certainly people we can choose to be in our family, to re-centralise the idea of connection and collective in our The structure of West ern parenting is almost always not a design of the parents them selves, but a financial, cultural, and social ideal. The architecture of Western parenting – the dollhouse – does not have to be demol ished, just simply re-purposed. Fill the rooms with multiple barbie dolls. Keep the doors open at night. If we consider an atom, it is incomplete if it is to be only represented by its nucleus. Us atoms need our electrons, our relatives, our Itpeople.iswhat gives us electricity, magnetism, Itchemistry.iswhatbrings us to life. by Bruna Gomes
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Parenting in East Asia is not only about how parents raise their children but also about the expectation of returning the favour. In different regions and soci
PARENTING THE EAST ASIAN WAY
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A life cycle in taking care of each other through generation. Parents raise their children in order to let their children take care of them when they are older and even in the afterlife. In traditional Vietnamese society, Confu cianism deeply influenced family relation ships. It has been rooted in Vietnamese society with other Chinese ideologies since the beginning of establishment of the coun
Confucianism blended into daily life and formed the traditional connection in ma jorities of Vietnamese families based on its original description about relationships between husband-wife and father-son with “loyalty”, “patriarchy”, and “filial piety”. This belief system had grown deep into Vietnam throughout history until modern revolutions exposed and swiftly changed the Vietnamese antiquated belief, culture,
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AN ANTIQUATED BELIEF Parenting in Confucianism is not only about building up order in the family relationship but also about the responsibility of everyone in the family. Although influ enced by Confucianism, many archaic customs and beliefs of Confucianism were subdued by modern society due to the concern of Thehumanity.patriarchal system in Confucianism is one of the most criticised in modern Vietnam society. It constructed the order in the family for all mem bers to fulfil their duty for the family but created an unfairness and stressful relationships in mod ern families. In this system, the head man of the family has the power to make all decisions and expects oth er family members, especially children, to obey anything they decide. It places immense pres sure on the man to be successful in being able to support their family. Meanwhile, it also puts the woman into carrying an enormous burden of all the housework and other responsibilities in raising their children, but their contributions are always not recognised and disregarded. The children have to obediently praise their parents as the ultimate truth. In this kind of relationship, docility becomes a toxic trait.
THE MOBERN FAMILY How I admire my mum is that she presents complete ly as a modern mother. Work ing a full-time job, taking care of children, doing most of the house work, and also cooking for everyone. Carrying all this responsibility, my mum and other Vietnamese women have created a great impact and more influences in building up the Vietnamese modern family. And, how I ad mire my father is about the way he willingly helps with all the houseworks and even cooking. That, is how my parents do parenting: being a modern example for their children to repudiate any outmodel beliefs. Only throughout the revolution in society and cul ture throughout the 20th century, new Vietnam ese generations have rejected many antiquated Confucianism beliefs and started to build up modern families. Through the development into a modern country, a new contemporary family in Vietnam has evolved into a mixture between tra dition and modernity. The responsibility has been shared more equivalent to the whole family, not only focused on any particular single member. It gives the family relationship more emphasis on growing with a natural bonding, rather than pure ly following an ancient belief. by Nam Do
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Now, when he is five years old and says he wants to die.
Every time his heart breaks mine breaks again.
Get him away!
Now, when he is three years old and bites and draws blood.
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I pushed him away, and that is what I see now.
Now, when he is two years old, and detests other children.
Now, when he is four years old and puts holes in the wall.
Next to Anthony, two women debate about seafood.
“True, yes, but would you feed your boys grey fish?”
Their names are Anastasia and Nadiya. Anastasia has a green thumb and Nadiya has a green card. Neither of the women had ever eaten two-minute noodles, and people are often surprised by this.
“The fake colour of salmon, though.”
Lola is standing at the left wall of the hall, looking out the vast window that stretches the length of the room. She stares at the black, galactic expanse of space beyond the window, and it makes her wonder if she turned off the light in her bedroom before she left her house two days ago. She waits to see a shooting star - none come. She waits to see an alien, or an asteroid. There is a shimmering speck and she is unsure if it’s a star or a satellite. Behind her, Shrishti is trying not to cry. She is an archaeologist and self-proclaimed helicopter parent, and, more recently, a widower. She doesn’t know what to do with her hands. She wants to make small talk with the woman staring out the window but she doesn’t know what to say about outer space. She’s unsure of the weather Onpatterns.theother side of the hall is a small huddle of women talking in hushed whispers among them selves. Kikuko is surprised by the pale, green colour of the hall. The titanium alloy walls are green and the aluminium floors are green and the thermal glass countertop of the bombastic conference table in the centre of it all is tinted green. “It makes me feel like I’m floating,” Kikuko whispers. She expected the hall to be white, sterile. She expected the stale, itchy air of air-con, but instead, she sucks in clean, stinging breaths. Kikuko, one of the few teens in the hall, has perfected her caramel slice recipe, down to the last grain of salt. Crystal, glaring at the green with a stink-eye, is a parttime receptionist and part-time vet. She performs both of her jobs at a toucan recovery centre. Rosa is a divorcée and only ever wears linen. She used to play volleyball, back in the day.
“It’s a good sign,” she says about the green. “Like, astrologically?” asks Charlie. Charlie is craving salsa and hasn’t waxed her legs since 2008.
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“Maybe fake fish? Like the tofu stuff.”
“Chemicals, too, all of it.”
There are women with blue hair and braided hair and wrapped hair and no hair. There are women with wide hips and narrow hips and metal hips. There are women with hangnails and women with acrylics. There are women with acne and women with wrinkles. “Welcome aboard the Mothership,” says a voice. It echoes above the thousands of heads. Every body is still. “The Patriarchy has fallen. Today, The Matriarchy begins. This is the inaugural summit of The Matriarchy. From here on out, mothers will run Earth.” A hum of murmuring sputters throughout the hall. Some women tap their feet and some wome cross their arms and some women tie up their hair into a ponytail. “But I thought Earth was already run by mothers?” A voice calls out into the hall. Everyone turns to face Nadiya. They blink at her. “Yeah,” a voice pipes up. It is Josefina, still standing at the entrance. “Mothers worked endlessly in The Patriarchy. What’s so new about The Matriarchy?”
The hall waits for the ominous voice to answer them. “Ha!” says Kikuko. “Siri is stumped!” The hall laughs. “Siri never worked a day in her life. What does she know? What does she know? Has her kid ever licked up their own nosebleed? Has her kid ever asked her if death is real? If Nanna went to heaven? If Daddy went to hell? Has her kid ever told her that they hate her? Has her kid ever come home from school with an obsession? Has her kid ever come home from school with an unopened lunchbox? Has her kid ever come home from school crying about the end of the world? Does Siri even know that her kid knows that the world might end? Answer us, Siri Hawk!”
CREATIVES
A few days ago, after Putin detonated his last bomb in Ukraine, the world went silent. International governments stayed quiet: no statements were made and no condolences were given and no rev olutions were announced. Treaties were not signed and leaders made no speeches. “Do you think they assassinated him?” Charlie whispers. “What,” spits Crystal, “and not gloat about it? If they killed him they would yell it from a skyscrap
The sound of a hawk cries throughout the hall. Everyone falls silent. In the silence, they look around at each other, wary. They wait for a bird to fly in and peck at them but no bird flies in. Not even a holographic one. It is just them.
The hall murmurs and whoops their agreement. There is clapping and applauding and rambling. There is chatter about washing machines and gym memberships and baby formula. There are remarks about cheap dinners and date nights and ear infections. There are hollers about nutritional yeast and long-distance phone calls and bedtime stories. The hall is thunderous with thousands of voices. The hall is suspended in space.
The hall is so loud, so cacophonous, that down below Earth, a suited man holding a thermos of hot coffee looks up into the sky, points at it, and says, “I think I can hear God.” by Bruna Gomes 55
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You may imagine that our orphanage was a sort of Eden – we had a healthy amount of sun light, our centre was always maintained. The air had a gorgeous pungency to it; we consid ered each other siblings. In fact, some of those children may well have been my siblings. To this day, I have no idea whether we were supervised by adults… I know that nowadays we’ve evolved to not need our parents, but something maternal in me still makes it seem like a preposterous idea to let hundreds of children go wild like that, in such a large establishment. Nevertheless, I look back on my childhood fondly. My mother knew I’d be happy there – it is perhaps why she laid me in that strange but safe place.
CREATIVES M IS FOR MAGGOT
I was born a pile of goo on that perfect, humid night, when the air was fragrant with those summer smells and the rest of the world had gone to sleep. I imagine my mother fulfilling her purpose, looking at the miracle of little me, then having to go hurriedly away, leaving me here alone. Where she came from, what she looked like – she knew I would never know. Though she herself must’ve known what she was doing, because my very first memory in this sort of orphanage was the sum of my upbringing. The dawn of my consciousness involved me scavenging with the other children through bin bags, having fun, carefree of time and society. I was never taught how to act like a lady, and although I grew up in this centre, privilege was what my childhood was comprised of. In the morning, we would get up and race to eat breakfast, though we never went hungry. During the daytime, we played as we wanted, tumbling over each other in a place free from swoop ing birds and violent people. Evening brought us another pile of food – and so this was our routine: we lived hour by hour, we grew fat, loved each other, loved ourselves.
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The urge for metamorphosis grew stron ger over time. I eventually succumbed, as a woman does: when I was a teen I stepped naked and fully into the light of day for the first time. Enveloped in the midday summer air, I saw real adults passing me, their own wings fully developed. A pregnant woman walked past, her wide eyes filled with joy, I assume, for what was to come. Bear in mind I was still a child, trying to find myself. I was alone, unmothered, un coddled, with nothing but my own outlook for myself to guide me. I travelled to hidden corners of buildings, trying to bring myself to the safest place possible. Reader, I even tually did find a place. A brick housing for myself: robust, private, again a safe space. I got to work. I shut myself up in my cocoon for many days and nights, silent always. In that home I had learned about the world, melted my out, no longer the fat child I grew up as. A few hours ago, I flew out past the ev er-symbolic mirror. I now have the bug-eyes so close they almost touch, and my face shines iridescent in the right lighting. I have grown those legs and hips and my body is healthy, a glimpse of my life-bringer’s body.
The men must know I’ve just come out of the cocoon, because they all want me, es pecially the older ones that grow desperate. I have many suitors that have promised me with healthy eggs, have vowed to take care of me and bring me food, stroke my hair. One lives lavish in a kitchen drawer, another has the most dashing scarlet eyes that look me up and down. Currently, I am on a date with the scar let-eyed one, as I think he has the better genes to provide me with healthier babies. We are visiting the place where I grew up, and it seems the bin is still running smoothly. This generation’s children are doing as I did, rolling around, eating whatever is thrown out: I still see no adults there to supervise them. He says he wants to elope with me to a new town, where he thinks the scenery is better and the place less crowded. We are sitting in each other’s company, overlooking that little orphanage of mine. He strokes my thorax, when suddenly he starts to climb on top of me.
Mother, mum, mummy, whatever I am sup posed to call you – thank you for providing
Though of course, in time, I eventually ma tured to dream of better places, new faces. I wondered what it would be like to have a face. While I slept, I envisioned wings sprouting out of me, being a beauty to men, having many children like I imagined my mother Reader,having.Itell you this again: I was never brought up as a Proper Lady should be; my mother was never there to teach me her ways. Even still in that absence, I relied on my Divine Femininity, trusted my instincts –do not all women have their natural whims?
CREATIVES
I was surprised at how relevant some themes were and the amount of depth in a movie targeted towards tweens. For a brief summary, the story follows the protagonist, Mei Lee, as she navigates her way through early adolescence whilst try ing to uphold the values and expectations of her moth er. When Mei suddenly learns about her family’s gift to turn into a Red panda, she
REPEAT OFFENDERS
REVIEW: TURNING RED
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herstrugglessamewhenoftheastofollowssituation.andcoursethisanxietyoverwhelmedbecomeswithabouthowwillaffecttheofherlifehercurrentThemovieMeicomingtermswithhergiftsheinterpretshoweldermembersherfamilyreactedfacedwiththechallenge.Meitobalancewhatmotherwantswithwhat she wants, leading to the ultimate showdown at the 4-Town boy band concert (featuring music writ ten by Billie Eilish and Finneas)
Turning Red addresses how choices made many years ago can still influence the present day.. Shi tells a bigger story than the one initially introduced to audiences and encourages the audience to experience Mei’s story from another angle, one that resonates with anyone with a complex family history.
Whilst Turning Red follows the story of Mei Lee’s acceptance of her gift, it also addresses her mother Ming’s rejection of the gift and how this affected her relationship with her own mother, Mei’s grandmother Wu. We are shown how Ming’s
With this issue being dedicated to motherhood and our connection with the motherland, what better movie to en capsulate this message than Pixar’s recent project Turning Red. Normally, I wouldn’t jump at the chance to write about a Disney movie, especially one that wasn’t released in cinemas, but after watching how director Domee Shi was able to bring this story to life and seeing the shifted discourse around this movie, I felt it warranted being discussed further.
Whilst Turning Red is targeted towards younger viewers, you don’t have to be in school to enjoy the thought provoking themes that the story incorporates. Mei Lee is a character that is easy to root for whilst still being flawed and a bit of a mess. Shi does a terrific job of telling a story that many can relate to, regardless of their age, gender or race. Mei and Ming’s journey of overcoming generational trauma is an inspiring tale of how although a family may be broken, it’s never too late to be fixed and be better for those who will follow. Despite its direct to streaming release, Turning Red is worth the watch. Available now on Disney+. by Jackson Robb
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REPEAT OFFENDERS own rebellion as a young woman left a fractured relationship between her and Wu that has continued throughout Mei’s life, as the audience grows to understand Ming’s need to have control over Mei. Throughout the film, this burden is immediately notice able from Mei, who shuts down when being addressed by her mother, to avoid any further conflict. This is important to anyone who has ever felt weighted by the expec tations of someone they care about, and the struggle between what you want vs what they want and expect. Despite this angle of the story, much of the discourse on social media about this film revolves around its links to generational trauma and the impact it has on all genera tions involved. Turning Red addresses the core of generational trauma within families, much like Disney’s recent work Encanto, which includes similar themes. We see Mei not only understand the trauma her family has encountered, both before and after the Red panda gift, but also how she accepts her family’s history in order to create stronger and more authentic relationships with her maternal lineage. An article from Vox expands upon this idea, stating intergenerational trauma “can manifest as learned behaviours in response to oppression, abuse, or other challenges that are then passed down through the family or community”, much like the Red panda gift. It becomes clear that the relationship between Mei and her mother has stemmed from her Ming’s desire to repress her past to create a better life for Mei, but as a result, has led to Mei resenting her mother for her overbearing nature, thereby creating a story that many families can resonate with. In addition to these important generational messages, Turning Red is filled with joyful anecdotes about growing up in the early 2000’s. With references to Tamagotchi and the cult-like following of boy bands, many people can feel represented by this movie and the characters within. Even the opening credits illustrate the awkward but fun de meanour of Mei as she dances and interacts with the title sequence. Many are quick to say Pixar is losing its edge, suggesting the films are no longer fun or represent the same energy as films such as Toy Story or Finding Nemo. However, this is merely an opposing view of how Pixar is evolving to tell stories that are more representative of different people’s experiences, as Mei’s Canadian Chinese heritage plays a vital role in both the humorous and more serious tones of the movie. It will be interesting to see how kids growing up in 2022 will respond to the plot devices in Turning Red and how it influences their relationship with their parents and the choices they make.
MATTHEW CONSTELLATIONOLZMANN’SROUTE (2022) 61
REPEAT OFFENDERS GRAPEY BOOK CLUB:
Olzmann writes in an elegiac style about three circles in the Venn diagram of themes that seem to preoccupy his thoughts: his country (America), his religious faith (or lack thereof), and his place in both of those spaces as an Asian- and Jewish-American author. The epistolary nature of these poems is interesting because Olzmann not only addresses others, but also himself, from varying perspectives, like a flying saucer and a North Carolinian traffic light.
Olzmann’s writing catches you unawares – when you think you’ll cry, you’ll actually be in fits of laughter, and simultaneously devastated. The title poem, “Constellation Route” (which opens part four of the collec tion) encapsulates the tone of this collection. The poem begins: “I spent at least five minutes looking for my glasses / when they were on my head.” He later writes: “In moments like these, I want to believe / in a cosmic plan, a higher power orchestrating it all, / that every blunder has a reason built inside it.” by Nikita Byrnes
It is difficult to review a poetry collection, because the impact of poetry is intangible and inarticulate. The power of my words is naught in comparison to the power of Matthew Olzmann’s new poetry collection published in January at the beginning of this year, Constellation Route. Constellation Route is Olzmann’s third poetry collection, after Contradictions in the De sign (2016) and Mezzanines (2013) which was selected for the Kundiman Poetry Prize. The poems in this collection are direct, literal, and subject-based, sometimes bordering on the absurd. Olzmann writes letters to Bruce Wayne, William Shatner, and a 52-hertz whale. But even while absurd, the poems are intellectually witty and emotionally insight ful. “Do whales believe in Providence?” he asks. Reading this, I thought of two questions in response: Does anyone truly believe in Providence or divinity? More than that, do whales actually centre their actions around belief systems?
In Constellation Route, Olzmann seems divinely obsessed with the United States Postal Service, drawing upon the extended metaphor of delivery routes throughout the collec tion. He writes odes to the USPS and draws upon its “Glossary of Postal Terms” as ep itaphs to individual poems. On a deeper level, Olzmann positions himself in flux, unable to decide whether he is the sender, receiver, or delivery-person of any given message. It’s both heart-warming and abjectly alarming that Olzmann, in his forties, is so incredi bly aware of his existence and yet unsure of what that means in this senseless world. Part of what I love about Olzmann’s writing is his ability to articulate the meaning we find in objects of incongruity but that we are not able to el oquently express. His poetry isn’t “instapoetry” and it doesn’t fall under the umbrella of the classical poetry that you only read in school. It fits in a category situated somewhere between literary fiction and escapist poetry.
LIBRA You’ve been feeling uptight and fearful lately. Have you tried drinking water, or maybe going for a walk?
By Harrison Fraser
SAGITTARIUS You need to get better at saying sorry to people you’ve hurt. That means apologising for all the excel spreadsheets you made for when your friendship group goes to dinner. Just split the bill.
ARIES Things are happening at a hectic pace for you. Slow down, get into crochet and live your cottage core fantasy. TAURUS Are you planning a trip? Is there somewhere you’ve always wanted to go but never found the time? Even if you make time, petrol costs too much so don’t bother.
GEMINI Giving main character energy like you’re Lexi from Euphoria, wan dering through life like it’s your own play. Queen you’re Cassie on the carousel.
CAPRICORN Take a deep breath and stop being so suspicious of everything. People aren’t out to get you and not everything is a conspiracy theory. Except Will Smith hitting Chris Rock, that looked staged. AQUARIUS Always rushing around, getting your little head all anxious. Why hurry to get home when all you do is eat and sleep sis?
PISCES This could be the start of your villain era. Find the courage to call out relatives for saying shit like “I don’t believe in pronouns”. Okay, how do you form coherent sentences?
CANCER It’s time to cleanse your life of toxic people. No more crying over men with dirty fingernails. LEO Embrace the weirder aspects of yourself. Anything to stop saying ‘uncut jaaammzzz’ like it’s your entire personality. VIRGO Budgeting is your main worry at the moment. Trying to not spend money is always good, but have you heard of emotional bankrupt cy? Something to think about Virgo.
SCORPIO You are feeling reliable at the moment. Keep up the good friend energy, it’s giving Lady Gaga and Liza Minelli at the Oscars.
HOROSCOPES
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EDITORIAL REVIEW BOARD
REPEAT
Allastassia Carter, Amanda O’Neill, Racquel Soares, Jarrod Currey, Anahera-Keita Chessum
EDITORIAL REVIEW BOARD
We would like to extend those respects to all First Nations people reading. Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.
Jaime Hendrie, Bruna Gomes, Bodie Murphy, Clara Kristanda, Ashleigh Ho, Lauren Knezevic, Jackson Robb, Isabella Trope, Anthea Wilson, Jasmine Joyan, Sruthi Sajeev, Nam Do, Nicholas Chang MARKETING & ADVERTISING
GRAPESHOT acknowledges the Wallumattagal clan, of the Darug nation as the traditional custodians of the land on which we work and meet. We acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceeded, no treaty was signed, and would like to pay our respects to Elders, past, present and emerging. We would like to extend those respects to all First Nations people reading. Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.
CREATIVES/FEATURES
GRAPESHOT acknowledges the Wallumattagal clan, of the Darug nation as the traditional custodians of the land on which we work and meet. We acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceeded, no treaty was signed, and would like to pay our respects to Elders, past, present and emerging.
Polina Bilinsky Mycak, Georgina Binns, Racquel Soares, Tahlia White, Rohini Banerjee, William Lawrence, Gypsy Bryant, Rebecca Ryan-Brown
Amelia Taylor, Allastassia Carter, Amy Davidson, Niall Heron, Emma Oldmeadow
Liz To, Stephanie Sutton, Lorenzo Meli EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF - Saliha Rehanaz
DEPUTY EDITOR - NIkita Byrnes EDITOR - Olivia Chan REGULARS EDITOR - Eleanor Taylor EDITOR - Rayna Bland OFFENDERS EDITOR - Harry Fraser CREATIVE PRODUCTION
PUBLISHER Mariella Herberstein COORDINATOR Melroy Rodrigues Liz To, Stephanie Sutton, Ella Scott Bruna Gomes, Clara Kristanda, Ashleigh Ho, Lauren Knezevic, Jackson Robb, Isabella Trope, Anthea Wilson, Jasmine Joyan, Sruthi Sajeev, Nam Do, Nicholas Chang
PUBLISHER Mariella Herberstein COORDINATOR Melroy Rodrigues
NEWS
EDITORIAL PRODUCTION
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Allastassia Carter, Amanda O’Neill, Racquel Soares, Jarrod Currey, Anahera-Keita Chessum
Unnati Tayal, Tess Marsden, Nicola Stewart, Angelo Andrew
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
