Massive Magazine Issue 18 2021

MASSIVE

ISSUE 18

AUGUST 16/2021

Bill Massey was a racist prick.

It’s time for the University to acknowledge it.

The Massey Memorial at Point Halswell, Wellington, commemorating William Massey. Photo by Callum Parsons

Editorial

THERE ARE BETTER NAMES FOR MASSEY UNIVERSITY

In one of our features this week, we tackle the big subject of Massey’s name. To be clear, William Massey, our university namesake, was a racist. The question is: should we change the name? Here at Massive, we think yes, but at the very least, a discussion is needed. In order to help the Uni out a bit, we’ve come up with a list of possible names that we’d love to nab the top dog spot. Don’t say we never helped anyone! In no particular order, enjoy our finalists.

1. Horse Girl College: Let’s face it: Massey is a breeding ground for horse girls. We’re surrounded by them! This is their safe space, and let’s do what we can to uplift them in this cold, harsh world that’s designed to bring them down.

2. Horn Me Gently, Ram: Our mascot is a ram, need I say any more? This title pays homage to our sheepish roots, whilst adding a sultry little twist. Sex sells, baby.

3. Auckland University’s Rejects: Simple. Elegant. To the point.

4. Gumboots & Gear: Ah, the two pillars of our institution. Country and city life, as it were. Our history and our future. Combined, as one.

5. The Wiggles: We have four different campuses. There are four different wiggles. Follow my logic?

Flawless. (Distance kids are the Purple Wiggle. I don’t know how to explain this. I just know it.)

6. Jan Thomas University: She’s our Vice-Chancellor, she plays beer pong and swears in interviews.

So why not? Jan is a GC and deserves some love.

7. Finger Lickin’ Good: Whilst this name may already be copyrighted, I’m sure Massey has enough money to compete with the global culinary superpower (considering how much they’re charging for a weekly Zoom lecture, they better have). We have a goddamn chicken wing statue, for fucks sake. Let’s put some respect on it.

8. The Stream Site is Down Again: I love this name. It saves time and money from the University having to inform us, yet again, that the Stream site is down. Comms team, you can thank us later.

9. Dumplings: I just really like dumplings, okay? So yummy. Plus, the name is cute. If I had a cat, this is what I would name a cat.

10. The University: Kind of meta. Reminds me of “The Bar” in Gone Girl. Plus, it would save money if we just chop all our signs in half. Yes, this will do nicely.

11. Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa: The Māori name gifted to the University in 1997, ‘ki Pūrehuroa’ references the endless line of stars in the Milky Way, whilst ‘Te Kunenga’ references the notion of inception. Despite the alluring charm of “Dumplings”, this one is the clear winner. We love this name, and quite frankly, we’d love to see this become the official name of our little university.

X Caroline

Table of Contents 06 10 16 16 20 22 26 28 31 32 33 34 35 37 38

News Bill Massey was a Racist Prick Ward 21 Zariah May Centrefold Stop Misnaming our Whenua Opinion: Climate Change Policy It’s a Bloody Shame Culinarylingus Sexcapades Poem Snaps Execs’ Column Horoscopes Puzzles

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EDITOR Caroline Moratti

PHOTOGRAPHER Callum Parsons

SUB EDITOR Jamie Mactaggart

ILLUSTRATORS Tallulah Farrar, Sara Moana

NEWS EDITOR James Pocock STAFF WRITERS Cameron Taylor, Elena McIntyreReet, Ari Prakash, Mason Tangatatai, Michael Freeman DESIGNER Micah Davis-Rae

Got a letter to the Editor? Email editor@massivemagazine.org.nz to rant, flirt, complain, whatever x

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The views, beliefs and opinions reflected in the pages of Massive

do not necessarily represent those of Massey University, its staff, ASA, MUSA, MAWSA, M@D or the Massive Editor. MAWSA is an independent organisation that publishes Massive.

Send any queries or complaints directly to Massive at editor@ massivemagazine.org.nz.

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MASSIVE NEWS

UniQ excluded from MUSAF merger discussion UniWho? Says student execs JAMES POCOCK

NATIONAL NEWS

LGBTQIA+ groups at Massey were not invited to MUSAF’s discussions about a potential organizational merge and restructure.

MUSAF has stated it aims to better represent a variety of student groups with its restructure proposal, one of which was LGBTQIA+ students.

A hui discussing the proposal was held between Massey’s four general student associations, three Māori student associations and two Pasifika student associations in Palmerston North on July 31.

A UniQ Palmerston North spokesperson said that the UniQ groups were not invited to this or any other discussions.

“Massey Albany Pasifika Students’ Association noticed this and reached out to us through Albany UniQ and asked us if we wanted to be involved in the meeting. We said, ‘yes we’d

like to be there’,” they said.

They said MAPSA tried to get the information about the meeting for them but got no response from MUSAF before the meeting took place. “Our UniQ email has been passed on to MUSAF so they can reach out to contact us to discuss things if they’d like to, but we’ve heard nothing from them yet.”

Massey Albany UniQ told Massive that they were only recently affiliated and they understand that it would have been out of the ordinary for MUSAF to engage with them prior to affiliation.

“We’re grateful that MAPSA took the time and initiative to reach out to us and to give space for our voice about how we’d like to be represented,” they said.

They were disappointed that their attendance at the hui was not facilitated, but are hopeful that MUSAF will work to include them in future discussions.

MAWSA President Tessa Guest said that while they haven’t formally been involved in discussions yet, MUSAF aim to have them soon. She said while they would have preferred the presence of rainbow representatives at the Palmerston NEWS

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North hui, but a short timeframe made that impossible.

“Our priority in getting this structure right was our obligations to Te Tiriti, and that meant involving our Māori association representatives (as well as recognising Pasifika people’s unique place in our country and involving them),” Tessa said.

She said they also wanted to ensure all UniQ voices were represented rather than just one at the last minute. “We appreciate the connections and work of MUPSA to include rainbow voice, and we regret that they weren’t able to be included at the time.”

She said MUSAF will prioritise conversations with the rainbow community to understand how they would like their voice included in the future.

Delay in sanitary bin rollout Well this is rubbish news JAMES POCOCK

NATIONAL NEWS

However, she said efforts to distribute free period products and to get sanitary bins in all bathrooms are still being made and more information will be coming soon.

“The attempts to get free sanitary disposal units in all bathrooms is something I have not forgotten. MAWSA is following in the footsteps of ASA in terms of this project. I have recently emailed Michaela, the VP of ASA, to follow up on a proposal she wrote last semester on this trial.”

According to Elizabeth, the project will likely continue into next year with support from both Massey and MAWSA. “Due to the structure of the rest of the year, this looks like this is going to be a project that will continue next year, either through the next VP or the Welfare and Equity Committee.

Operations are pretty slow to action but are very clear that they want to support this.”

Two new roles created to fulfil general manager duties After the drought comes the rain JAMES POCOCK

NATIONAL NEWS

A new staff member has been hired by MAWSA to fill the newly created role of an impartial general manager for all four student associations through MUSAF. Trudy Englebretson will serve as an unbiased director for the general associations single SLA, according to MAWSA President Tessa Guest.

Sanitary bins are still not available in every gender-neutral bathroom on Massey campuses, despite promises made by student associations earlier in the year.

At the Manawatū campus, MUSA President Fatima Imran said the sanitary bins are being discussed with the Massey Operations head. “There is talk going on about adding sanitary bins into male bathrooms for trans tauira,” she said.

According to ASA Vice President Michaela Futter, operational issues on Massey’s end has delayed both the sanitary bins and period product distribution in Albany.

“There has been some delay due to Massey staff resigning and taking holiday leave during the school holidays,” she said.

“Her role will also be to review each of the general associations’ services, in order to highlight variances and inequities between associations. She will also be looking at ways our associations’ services could be aligned in future,” Tessa said.

Tessa said that MUSAF was not in a state to hold an employee currently, which meant that MAWSA is Trudy’s official employer.

“This is only a temporary arrangement until MUSAF is able to act as employee. All parties are putting measures in place to ensure Trudy is unbiased in her decision-making,” she said.

MAWSA Vice President Elizabeth Hodgson said several factors, including lack of communication from staff, time and organisation have all slowed the pace of the period product project run at MAWSA’s end.

Three of the four general student associations’ general managers have departed so far this year without immediate replacements, with only ASA retaining theirs. MUSA and M@D had both stated at the time that they believed the roles would be no longer be necessary after the SLA negotiations, with both general managers taking voluntary redundancies. However, with any vote on the organisational merge postponed until next year, it seems associations are hurrying to fill in the gaps left by previous departures.

“After the success of our Flow Week in May, I regret to say that the project has sort of fallen off since Operations did not reply to me for a good month or so,” she said.

This new role has come not long after MUSA created its own new Head of Operations role. The position has been filled by Dean Hyde and is designed to oversee staff and

Similar difficulties have slowed the two projects for the Wellington campus too.

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operational concerns, according to MUSA President Fatima Imran.

Independent student campaign group Students for a Democratic University said in a statement to Massive they believe MUSA’s new role is very similar to the axed general manager role.

“We’re a bit dubious about the new ‘Head of Operations’ position that’s been created at MUSA (sounds awfully like a General Manager position, doesn’t it?),” they said.

While they are stoked to see positive changes for the student associations like MUSAF working to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the delay in the wider governance merger to next year, they are still disappointed by a lack of communication and seemingly conflicting statements from MUSA.

Pōneke Collective continues fight for free public transport Tempted to enrol next year just for the free buses JAMES POCOCK

WELLINGTON NEWS

an impact now.

“The Council has seen us, and they found our presentation to be powerful. We are hopeful that they will vote to support our ask in theory. The next steps are for us to have a similar kōrero with the Minister of Transport, because they’ll be the ones to give this the green light or not.”

According to Greater Wellington Chair Daran Ponter, the Council has recently been trying to get the Government to extend a planned trial run in Auckland of half price public transport fares for Community Service Card holders to Wellington.

“We jumped on this opportunity to ask the Government to build quickly on its Auckland experience and work with us to instigate a similar trial here in Wellington,” Ponter said.

He said the Council is also in the process of starting a review of Metlink fares, part of which will investigate how to lessen the financial hurdles of public transport usage for vulnerable members of the community.

Engagement Officer leaves ASA Executive Another one bites the dust :(

The Pōneke Collective took its fight for transport equity directly to the Greater Wellington Regional Council earlier this month. The coalition includes MAWSA and other Wellington organisations who are aiming for more equitable access to public transport in Wellington.

The Collective attended the Council’s Transport Committee meeting on August 5 to make their case for a pilot of free public transport for Community Service Card holders and students in the Wellington region.

MAWSA President Tessa Guest said her and two fellow MAWSA executives, Khsuhboo and Elizabeth, attended the meeting as part of the Pōneke Collective to speak about the effects free public transport would have for Wellington students, accompanied by a video created by Elizabeth.

“We also showed a video with interviews of Community Service Card holders speaking to the effects it would have on their lives, who are the other target group in the campaign,” she said.

She said months of mahi has led to the Collective making

JAMES POCOCK

ALBANY NEWS

Albany Students’ Association’s Engagement Officer Fei Feng has officially resigned from her position.

The resignation was submitted and officially accepted at ASA’s Executive meeting on August 4.

According to Fei and ASA President Ben Austin, she resigned from the role for personal reasons.

“Fei has resigned for personal reasons and wanted to make sure that her last semester at Massey is achieved to a high academic quality,” Ben said.

Ben said there will be no by-election to fill the role.

“Since ASA nominations have just started for our general elections, there is not much point in running a by-election,” he said.

Fei is the second ASA Executive member to resign this year, after the departure of former Education Officer Mhairi Acheson in April.

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Massey has desexed over 2,000 cats Yes, this is real news CAROLINE MORATTI

MANAWATŪ NEWS

Science School and Palmerston North’s SPCA. Students volunteer their time, with sponsors also donating drugs and equipment to the clinic. Dr Robert Sawicki, Veterinary School lecturer, told Stuff that cats were perfect for student operations, considering the simplicity of the surgery. “It’s giving them experience. It’s putting them out of their comfort zones.”

A male cat neuter can be done in under two minutes, whilst a female cat spray is generally between 15-20 minutes.

Let’s go for a nice middle 17.5 minutes.

Massey’s desexing clinic in Manawatū has recently celebrated a major milestone in desexing 2,000 cats. The weekend sessions, held at the Massey Veterinary Teaching Hospital, began in 2017 by Veterinary lecturer Carolyn Gates in a partnership between Massey’s Veterinary

Let’s guess that the desexing clinic has done around 60:40 female to male cat ratio (idk, I just feel like people are more likely to get female cats desexed?? That’s just a wild vibe guess by me). If so, that’s 22,600 minutes. 376.6 hours.

15.69 days. 2.24 weeks. Of just desexing cats. Nothing else.

No eating, no sleeping. Just back-to-back cats. Imagine.

A desexing is $25 for females and $15 for males, offered to Community Service Card holders and Massey students. If you don’t know what to get your mate for Christmas, look no further!

OPINION: GET WITH THE TIMES MASSEY, GIVE US STUDY CENTRES Massey needs better study centres. Or fuck, a study centre at all. A place to do work outside of the confines of a university library. Libraries are awkward and rigid, languishing with questions such as: can I eat in here? Can I talk in here? Where can I grab a coffee? Other current study options include staying at home (great for watching TikTok for five hours, terrible for anything else) or a cafe (expensive, still expected to leave after an hour, asking for a WiFi password makes me want to wither up and die). But a study centre…well let me tell you a story, folks.

I studied at Otago University and, deep in the throes of beer bottles and bongs, lives a living, breathing legend: The Marsh Study Centre. The Marsh used to be an iconic scarfie bar before the University bought it up (which is an opinion piece for another day, oh boy) but my God, she’s a thing of beauty. Picture this: a cafe, a convenience store and study space all in one. Quiet study upstairs, social study downstairs. Beautiful windows overlooking gardens. The Marsh is a destination, a day affair. You can eat, chat with friends, do some work. There’s no pressure to buy anything, but you can if you want to. Simply, it is the Eden of tertiary life. The Marsh also isn’t right in the campus, rather it’s in a suburb where students actually live. You don’t have to make the horrendous trek into uni, the Marsh is close and convenient to cater to your every desire.

Think about it: study centres make perfect sense, especially since Massey likes to position their campuses in weird, faroff spaces away from where students actually live. Yes, we

(PLZ)

get it, you were once a chicken farm! Great, but now you’re a university, okay? If you live in Auckland city, you wouldn’t have to commute for an hour to Albany, you can just spend a day in a study centre. Same goes for Wellington, or Manawatū.

Distance students can study outside of their house! Seize the motherfucking day, socialise, procrastinate, I don’t care.

Study spaces are cheap because they don’t need to be big.

They don’t need to be built on often-expensive university land. Just buy some random houses in the suburbs and deck it out with some tables and chairs, maybe sofas if you’re really feeling fancy (but it’s Massey, so probably not).

Have a study space out in Dunedin! In Christchurch! Christ, even go to Invercargill if you want.

Now, more than ever, in an age of digital learning, the need to actually go into campus is diminishing. Thanks to Digital Plus (which no-one was actually consulted on, cheers Massey), more and more classes are becoming, well, digital.

This doesn’t mean that students actually want to be stuck at home though, apart from when it’s really delightfully rainy.

Let students study in nice settings, close to home or, at the very least, close to better food options than whatever shit they’re serving on campus. Let students make friends or write an essay whilst dramatically sipping coffee and staring outside of a window. Let students be students.

In the meantime, if you’re ever in Dunedin, check out the Marsh. Check out the dream. That could be us, Massey, but you playin’.

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WILLIAM MASSEY WAS A RACIST words by

Caroline Moratti

In 2016 racist comments by the University’s namesake were unearthed. Lecturers and students called for a discussion around a name change. Massey promised the matter would be raised formally.

This never happened.

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ames have never been more important. When you look, debates around names are everywhere.

National has been calling for a referendum on whether New Zealand should even be referred to as Aotearoa, with MP Stuart Smith saying the name Aotearoa should be banned from all official documents. In 2019, Victoria University tried to unsuccessfully change to the University of Wellington, only to drop the move after widespread backlash from students and government officials (although that hasn’t stopped them from buying a $69,000 sign, sneaky). The Crusaders rugby team, after announcing a comprehensive review of their name and branding following the Christchurch shootings, doubled back to only changing their logo. The decision was met with strong criticism.

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when he unearthed a series of racist remarks made by William Massey.

The comments spanned over 11 years, almost the full extent of his political career.

In 1910, Massey remarked in a parliamentary debate: “I am not a lover or admirer of the Chinese race, and I am glad to know that the number of Chinese in this country is not increasing. I say I am not an admirer of the Chinese.” He went on to say, “But if it turned out that the number of Chinese did increase in this country, I should be one of the very first to insist on very drastic legislation to prevent them coming here in any numbers, and I am glad such is not the case.”

In 1920, again in a parliamentary debate, he said “... this Dominion shall be what is often called a ‘white’ New Zealand, and that the people who come

environment of Nauru, once, but never again, known as Pleasant Island” according to research by Massey sociologist, Matt Wynyard.

Nauru was rich in a particular fertiliser, phosphate, which Massey lobbied throughout the war for a share of this valuable resource. After the conclusion of the First World War, Nauru was “carved up” between Australia, New Zealand and Britain, giving them exclusive entitlement to the mineral, alongside the right to purchase phosphate at cost price, rather than market rate. For decades after, “Nauru was systematically plundered of guano and rock phosphate without regard to the indigenous people or indeed the Nauruan environment,” Wynyard writes. The economic, social and environmental impacts were unspeakable. The interior of the island was “ripped out” according to M.

In 1921, Massey wrote in the Evening Post, “New Zealanders are probably the purest Anglo-Saxon population in the British Empire. Nature intended New Zealand to be a white man’s country, and it must be kept as such.”

Massey, however, has tended to sneak under the radar without discussing the elephant in the room: our racist namesake. To be more specific: our white supremacist namesake. Yeah.

Let’s get into it.

Massey’s racist comments: For context, William Massey was a former Prime Minister, serving from 1912 until his death in 1925. He was the founding leader of the Reform Party, notably known for his antagonism to unionized labour and his support for the farming industry. The latter being why Massey University, formerly a small agricultural college, was named after him.

In 2016, lecturer Dr Steven Elers (yes, the same one who has written opinions pieces for NZ Herald deemed transphobic and homophobic. We never said this wasn’t going to be messy) was conducting PhD research on how Māori were represented in media,

here should, as far as it is possible for us to provide for it, be of the same way of thinking from the British Empire point of view” and, “Clearly, we want to keep the race as pure in this Dominion as it is possible to keep it.” In this year, The Immigration Restriction Amendment Act was passed, aimed to further limit Asian immigration by requiring all potential migrants not of British or Irish parentage to apply in writing for a permit to enter New Zealand. Massey himself was born in Ireland, convenient right?

Nazzal, leaving over 80% of the island land mass uninhabitable and unusable.

Meanwhile, New Zealand enjoyed a post-war boom of prosperity from phosphate’s agricultural benefits.

Massey’s racism wasn’t limited to the Asian population. In 1921, Massey wrote in the Evening Post, “New Zealanders are probably the purest Anglo-Saxon population in the British Empire. Nature intended New Zealand to be a white man’s country, and it must be kept as such. The strain of Polynesian will be no detriment.”

Although perhaps coming as no great surprise given Massey’s political acts, Elers published his findings around Massey’s statements in 2016. The comments were covered in national news outlets such as Stuff, RNZ, Vice and of course, Massive. Various opinion pieces were published, mostly pushing against the call for a name change debate. Alan Duff wrote in the New Zealand Herald that it’s “not for us to retry past crimes” whilst Waikato Times’ Richard Swainson stated that “we have business recasting history with our values”. Jonathan Tracy, a Classical Studies lecturer at Massey, even wrote an opinion piece for Stuff entitled “Why we honour flawed heroes”.

William Massey was also behind the “utter devastation of the natural

Elers told Massive at the time that the statements express a clear ideological

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viewpoint, saying “these are clearly ideological in the sense that they put out white supremacist beliefs. When you are talking about racial purity and keeping New Zealand white, people are trying to deny it, but you can’t deny it.

These comments stand for themselves and they’re not off the cuff either. They were in either crafted messages to the media or they were said in parliament, multiple times.” Whilst he wasn’t optimistic that a name change would occur, he thought that the University should undertake a debate on the issue.

So, what did Massey University do? And what do they think now?

During this media uproar, university spokesman James Gardiner stated the institution doesn’t “form views on the opinions of academics”, but noted that matter would be raised formally with the university’s management. The trouble is, this never happened. After an OIA request made by Massive this year, a spokesperson confirmed that the matter “was not formally raised with University management or the University Council”. They also noted that “there is no current consideration of moving away from our existing name”.

Elers claims that Massey didn’t approach him in regards to his findings, apart from the University’s Assistant Vice-Chancellor, Dr Selwyn Katene, who loved the research and offered to set up a meeting between Elers and the Vice-Chancellor at the time, Steve Maharey. Allegedly, Katene then went back to Elers, claiming that Maharey didn’t want to speak with him, stating that it was “bad publicity” for the University.

In response to this specific incident, the Massey comms team gave us this nice little quote from Vice-Chancellor, Jan Thomas, who says: “I value and support our staff and students’ right to speak on important matters, regardless of the potential impact on university reputation. I can’t comment on any past occurrences but we do strongly value free speech and academic freedom.”

Massive had the recent opportunity to sit down with Jan Thomas to chat about the issue. Thomas wasn’t VC at the time the comments were made public

in 2016, but admits she was shocked by them. “That preceded me, and I’m not sure what happened or where that went, to be perfectly honest, I don’t know.

And it’s not been raised formally with me at all, in my four years, other than right now,” she says.

Claiming to be “ambivalent” about the debate, Thomas notes, “I can really appreciate where that’s coming from, but I’m also really focused on making this university a really good one, and I’m just nervous that these sorts of processes can be intensely time consuming, when I feel like we have a hell of a lot of other stuff to get on with.” She confesses that the matter hasn’t been “on my radar” until Massive’s recent OIA. Thomas points to the recent renaming debacle at Victoria University, calling it a “a shitstorm, putting it frankly”. She notes, “They’ve wasted so much time and money on that, and I kind of go ‘woooaah’, why would I bother when I have other things to focus on?” This theme continues with Thomas, who mentions that any discussion would be a “distraction” for her, when “it’s what

we do rather than what we’re named that matters, and I’ve got a real sense of urgency about the work that we’re doing, and I really want to focus on that.”

Massey does have a Māori name, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa, gifted to the University in 1997 by revered Māori academic Kahu Stirling, which Massey is “increasingly using” according to a university spokesperson. Te ‘Pūrehuroa’ references the endless line of stars in the Milky Way, whilst ‘Te Kunenga’ references the notion of inception. Combining the two suggests “from inception to infinity” as a nod to learning without barriers or limits.

Quite simply, it’s a beautiful name.

Thomas says the University is “pushing” Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa in everything they do, adding that it matches in with their Te Tiriti ambitions and “captures ‘us’ better as a university and our ambition for our students”.

“People get nervous about it because they can’t pronounce it, but I just think ‘well just practice the damn thing’!

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I don’t think that’s an excuse,” she laughs. Thomas admits that “it may end up that we [are] using that only in a lot of things” but an official name change would be a “very big step”. If a decision were to be made, it would be one made by University Council and the Government.

But it’s been five years since the comments have been unearthed, and with Massey failing to fulfil their promise of a discussion around the issue, what do students think now?

known university name”. They’re fearful that a name change could make Massey sound like a “college within New Zealand” rather than “a global education institution”.

A representative from Massey Albany Pasifika Students Association (MAPSA) says, from their understanding, “this

Former student Hineana Tihore thinks it’s “equally important” to address the culture of the institution as it is the

“We would be over the moon if the University opened this up for talanoa (discussion) with students and staff. We are committed to providing a safe space for Pasifika students to feel at home, to build connections and to reach their goals while at University. This is yet another example of how our institutions are enmeshed in colonialism, racism and capitalist extraction.”

The Vice-Chancellor suggests that student representation on council and academic boards is “an entirely appropriate way to bring up those topics of concern” and for the University to gather a sense of what students want.

“I don’t shy away from a discussion but I just haven’t heard it from really anybody and I know it wouldn’t be an easy discussion for the University, and I feel like I’ve got bigger fish to fry at the moment than that particular one.

But if there was a strong voice from the University for us to engage with this, I’d be happy to engage with it,” she summarises. “You know, if you students got 15 thousand signatures on a petition, you have to listen to that.

You really have to listen to that, it’s important. So, go nuts.”

What do students think?

In 2016, when the issue arose, Massive asked incoming and hopeful presidential candidates their thoughts on the debate.

Incoming MAWSA President Adam Logan Cairns, who served in 2017, was against changing the name, and stated that “like New Zealand, Massey University has changed so much for the better since that time”. Students asked were in “two minds” about the issue, sympathising with those pushing for a change, but also acknowledging that Massey itself is not inherently a racist organisation.

issue comes up every couple of years or so which speaks volumes about our university”. They say, “I guess from our perspective as Pasifika students, there should be some coverage of the harm William Massey caused in the Pacific specifically Nauru.”

“We’d be over the moon if the University opened this up for talanoa (discussion) with students and staff. As a club, we are committed to providing a safe space for Pasifika students to feel at home, to build connections and to reach their goals while at university. This is yet another example of how our institutions are enmeshed in colonialism, racism and capitalist extraction,” they summarise.

Tessa Guest, MAWSA President, says she thinks that the University should drop ‘Massey’ and keep Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa. “Massey was a racist man from 1900s, and Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa has a beautiful symbolic translation about the journey of learning.

Why wouldn’t we adopt the latter?

From my conversations with university staff, the te reo name is already being used frequently. It’d totally be doable to transition.”

A representative from Massey University Auckland Chinese Student Association (MUACSA) says they personally don’t want to change the name as it’s an “international well-

name. “There are too many instances of slapping Māori names on things expecting them to somehow be better for us as Māori and for us as a nation, but they’re not because it’s only the name that changes. The fundamental issues are left unaddressed,” she says. Hineana also notes that, in her opinion, “We should always have discussions about confronting issues to find resolutions, cancel culture doesn’t really solve anything. We’re in an academic institute and should always look to engage in discussion about issues rather than pretend they’re not happening.”

Ben Austin, ASA President, says he personally believes that Massey is currently “disconnected from the original political beliefs” and adds “many students don’t know the history of where Massey’s name came from and that is something that I am happy to support Massive in teaching... Looking at America where Duke University renamed one of their halls that was named after a white supremacist is a good starting point for a larger conversation within Massey.” Ben thinks that the decision is ultimately up to students and faculty to decide on whether they want a name change and “whether William Massey reflects us as a university today”.

Massive reached out to for comments

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from M@D, MUSA, Manawatahi, Te Waka o Ngā Akonga, Kōkiri Ngātahi, MUPSA and MUTSA but did not receive a comment in time for print.

figures of our country are responsible for installing and perpetuating xenophobic ideology. These include, amongst many others:

The Big Question

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John Duthie: Former MP, Founder of The Dominion Newspaper and Mayor of Wellington.

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Richard Seddon: Former Prime Minister.

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Richard McCallum: Former MP and Mayor of Blenheim.

•

Christopher William Richmond: Former MP and Supreme Court Judge.

Massey prides itself on becoming Te Tiriti-led, and is an institution that boasts a diverse domestic and international student community. William Massey’s statements are a direct contradiction, if not spitting in the face, of these values.

A name change is, of course, a complex issue. Implementing one could simply be a costly, superficial act of virtue signalling, without properly tackling the systemic racism that lies within our tertiary system. The cost and time spent could be used to tackle more pressing issues by Massey. On the other hand, a name change could be the first, much needed step in acknowledging and addressing deep-set cultural issues.

Maybe the biggest “fuck you” to a white supremacist is to turn their legacy into something inclusive and diverse, in the face of their exclusion. But, I’m not sure about that. Not when there’s so many more beautiful names; names that can be used to honour someone or something, rather than persevering in spite of.

Is a name change expensive and complicated? Yes. But that’s often the cost of dismantling bigoted frameworks. Houses built upon rocky foundations, as it were. Fixing systemic issues isn’t a cheap, easy solution. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing. Whilst the move could be countered as virtue signalling, perhaps it’s good to signal that Massey, as an institution, is working towards addressing these its historic issues alongside present-day ones. Make no mistake, colonial racism is still a pressing issue in New Zealand, not a notion left behind in William Massey’s era.

Figures such as these held immense power and shaped the very fabric of the institutions that we live by today. Simply put, by scrutinising buildings and statues upon which these names still stand, these debates make room for much discussion around the systemic mark still left by these men and their policies.

You might read this article and think that a name change is necessary, or you might think that there’s more important systemic issues to be fixing with the time and money needed.

Regardless, it’s clear that some sort of discussion is needed.

The fact that Massey robbed us of that opportunity in 2016 sucks. Because let’s all be clear of what they did: they pushed the issue under the carpet. They gave some bullshit PR quotes and did nothing. Let’s not let them get away with it in 2021.

Let’s go to the fucking Red Table.

“Massey cannot be Te Tiriti-led if it doesn’t address this issue.”

As Elers says,

Even if the University is against a name change, some acknowledgement of Massey’s politics would go a long way.

All Massey says in their website bio is: “Massey is named after former Prime Minister William Ferguson Massey. He announced the establishment of an agricultural college in the North Island as a priority in his inaugural speech in 1912.”

Arming students with all the information, as well as the chance for a debate, well, isn’t that what universities are all about?

Elers tells Massive, “My whole approach then was just to put [the research] out and then have it as a means to have a discussion and dialogue. You might not end up changing the name, but at least we could talk about it and say, you can’t deny the history of it.” He thinks the best way forward would be for the university to have a symposium or conference “where people would talk about it and acknowledge it”. He says, “Massey could flip it to their advantage, to get positive attention over something that’s negative. By owning it, saying ‘hey this is our past’ or they could even do a campaign, kind of like the flag thing: should we change our name or not?

And I reckon that would be a positive thing.”

When re-examining the past, let’s not forget that William Massey wasn’t the only racist politician. Many notable

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E TO BE IN A W H A T I T ’ S OLNI KN O R T H A C U T E PALMERST IENT WARD INPAT

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CW: SUICIDE, MENTAL ILLNESS

“Y

ou will come under the Mental Health Act. I will read you your rights, and then we’ll get you along to Ward 21.”

I was sat in a small room, crashing back to earth after a suicide attempt, nervous and exhausted and cold. I could barely take in any information of what I was hearing – I still don’t know what my rights were, even though they were being read out in plain English in front of me. Then someone, whose name I don’t remember and whose face only vaguely, stood up and I followed.

After being led through the maze of corridors and hallways in Palmerston North’s hospital, I was eventually sat down in a square room on a soft orange chair. I don’t remember there being any windows. One wall had wallpaper depicting a natural, forest setting. It was clear someone had tried to rip some of it off.

Someone came into the room with a very wide I’m-here-to-help-you smile.

It was so obviously acted and forced I almost laughed. He asked to take a few of my belongings – my wallet, my phone, my belt and shoes. I was left with just the soft clothes on my body.

“So you won’t try and hurt yourself with any of it. We’ll give them back when you leave.”

The first time I was left alone was when I got into my room, in the high needs unit. The ‘sheets’ were soft fabrics that you couldn’t really fold or twist. There were no shelves – just one solitary indentation in the wall.

This room did have an en suite, of sorts. At this time, it was quite late and I needed to use the toilet. There was a lock on the door, but it was munted, perhaps slammed on the doorframe a few too many times.

“This door doesn’t lock,” I said to the smiley man.

“Yeah, it doesn’t really do that.”

Right.

WORDS BY ANON

I managed to do my business and then go to bed. While I was there, the smiley man came back with some other lady I hadn’t seen before, and haven’t seen since. She put a pill in my left hand and a cup of water in my right. The drug had some long name I couldn’t remember. I sat there, remembering my mother telling me not to take drugs from strangers before Rhythm and Vines.

“It will help you sleep.”

I didn’t realise you could be diagnosed with insomnia that quickly.

When I think of my four-day stay in Ward 21, I don’t think of the suicidal emotions that led me there. I don’t remember the blank, medication-induced stare of the other patients. I just remember how fucking bored I was. There was absolutely nothing to do.

Thankfully, the nurses are aware of this. I was provided with three photocopied crosswords. Nice. Sucking at crosswords finally had a use, because all three of them needed to keep me occupied for up to a week.

ILLUSTRATION BY TALLULAH FARRAR

from an acute mental health ward, they’d need a close relative to be present at the discharge meeting to ensure that person has a support system outside of the ward.

The nurses impressed on me that I really should contact my mother, that she would be worried for my safety, and that my relationship with her can’t really be all that bad. I said, “Maybe.

I don’t know.” I wanted to say, “Get fucked.”

What I wasn’t told, what I should have been told, was that I could have literally anyone at this discharge meeting as long as they said all the right things, like “I’ll check in with him once in a while”. I didn’t learn this until day three in the ward. It would have saved everyone a lot of time.

I managed to rope in a friend, who was an absolute top cunt and took time out of his day to come to the hospital for me. He said things like “I’m confident he’ll be safe”. We were out of there in half an hour. Josh, if you’re reading this, you’re a top cunt.

The high needs unit, where I spent my first day, had a TV eternally set to Channel 1. Seven Sharp isn’t that bad, but not really my cup of tea. But after struggling with 13 down (beautiful, sleek [7]) for ages, it was a godsend.

For half an hour.

And if you know a Josh, tell him he’s a top cunt.

In the general inpatient ward, there is an Xbox One. There were four games to choose from. You had to book a halfhour session with it, and generally that day and the next would be fully booked out. I had a glorious 30 minutes with FIFA 16.

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental illness, reach out to the following places:

I won’t talk much about the hospital food – partially because it’s better than my own cooking and I’m jealous. Margarine on toast goes well with antipsychotics.

Tell everyone they’re top cunts.

If I felt like a top cunt, I might not have ended up in Ward 21.

Lifeline – 0800 543 354 (0800 LIFELINE) or free text 4357 (HELP).

Suicide Crisis Helpline – 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO).

Healthline – 0800 611 116 Samaritans – 0800 726 666

In the words of my favourite step sister, “I hope mum and dad don’t find out.”

My parents live out of town, and I had managed to hide my stay in Ward 21 from them the whole time I was there.

Generally, when someone is discharged FEATURES

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INTERVIEW BY CAROLINE MORATTI

ZARIAH MAY TACKLES THE STUFF OF NIGHTMARES. HER WORK - VIBRANT BLACK AND WHITE SKETCHES - SHOWCASES A DRIPPING, DYSTOPIAN PLAY ON OUR SACRED FANTASIES. IT’S VIVIDLY BEAUTIFUL, ALBEIT UNSETTLING. THERE’S SKULLS, SERPENTS AND STONE FRUIT GALORE. EVERYTHING IS DECAYING, YET LIFE GROWS FROM THESE RUINS. HER WORK BEGS THE QUESTION: WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT? WHERE WILL WE GO FROM HERE?

MASSIVE GOT THE OPPORTUNITY TO TALK WITH THE RISING ARTIST ABOUT EVERYTHING FROM ART NOUVEAU TO ALCHEMY. HER WORK IS FEATURED IN OUR LATEST CENTREFOLD, GO CHECK IT OUT. CULTURE

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How long have you been making art? What got you started on your journey?

I’ve been creating since the

idea sometimes. I’d like to recreate a few of my pieces in colour

womb; it has always been

in the future.

something

that

I’ve

always

There’s a heavy sense of surrealism in your work, do you

gravitated to, my happy place,

identify with this movement at all?

where I can let my mind process something or let it wander.

Oh yes! To be able to successfully activate the subconscious mind and change or enhance a perspective through imagery

You went to Massey from

is goals!

2012- 2015, what was Massey like at that time? Do you have

Similarly, there’s a lot of typical horror motifs in your

any fond memories of your

sketches. Can you explain this choice?

university years?

I have a massive obsession with late 80s/early 90s B-grade Yes! I started my degree right

horror and sci-fi films, how the FX is depicted in the characters that are created when the design building opened, it was so exciting are a constant source of inspiration. to have a fresh space to create in! My degree was also quite new at the time, I studied Visual Which artists inspire you?

Communication Design majoring in Graphic Design.

It’s crazy how much this degree has changed since then, there are so many more options now!

How would you describe your artistic style?

I take a lot of reference from early scientific depictions of anatomy, alchemy, mythology, 70s science fiction and art nouveau, I love how the illustrations are mostly simplistic in structure but also very detailed and beautiful.

HR Giger, MC Esher, Francis Bacon, Egon Schiele, Philippe Caza...to name a couple tehe.

You tend to make a lot of gig posters. How do you try to convey music and sounds through illustration? What’s been your favourite gig poster to create?

I am a fan of many a genre of music, and I listen to it as I draw, I feel like it adds a subconscious layer to the piece I’m creating at the time. Also, successfully creating visualisations that depict how the music moves me or others is a challenging treat.

I recently created a poster for a gig including the band ‘Swallow the Rat (auk)’ and as soon as I heard the name, floods of imagery came to me - I also had a long

From this, I guess what comes out of me is a working week so the rat on the wheel resonated. Ha. juxtaposition of all these elements that could be read as surrealist in nature.

What emotions are you hoping to conjure up for the viewer when you draw?

What are you working on at the moment? Any big plans?

I’m wanting to exhibit at some point soon (fingers crossed) so I’ve

I try to make art that provokes both thought and been doing some larger more timeemotion drawing ideas and connections together, I consuming pieces wee! I also am hope that someone can resonate with a piece and doing a market in Nelson soon with the Zappekin art collective! woo! find their own reason as to why they relate to it.

A lot of your work is in black and white, drawn in If readers wanted to follow your pencil. What draws you to the medium of sketch? work, how can they do so?

I enjoy the tactile nature of sketch, I have many Check out @zarh.t, thank you!! fleeting ideas and it’s a quick way to convey them initially, then come back to it another time when the

Any shoutouts you want to make?

idea has grown some more. I enjoy working with Love you mom - ha full circle! colour but I find that it can take away from the raw CULTURE

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Artist: Zariah May

MASSIVE

MING OUR WH A N S I M E NUA P O T S

WORDS BY MASON TANGATATAI ILLUSTRATION BY SARA MOANA

T

he recent uproar and rejection of the name Aotearoa has caused a divide between parts of our country. Select groups are choosing to ignore the reo name and its importance, instead sticking to the outdated “this is New Zealand and New Zealand only” mentality. This damaging mindset is wilful ignorance, not accidental disrespect. For this reason, we must encourage change around our country’s correct use of te reo Māori.

But what isn’t always wilful ignorance and is usually a lack of knowledge, is the misuse of place names. Over our country’s history, our city and suburb names have been changed, transliterated and bastardised to please the tongues of our successors. This isn’t by mistake, it’s by design.

To shed light on the importance of learning and using our correct place names, I spoke with Te Whānaganui a Tara City Council representative and champion for Te Ao Māori, Tamatha Paul.

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T

amariki of Aotearoa have grown up listening to versions of our country’s origin story. One version reads that the first traveller to sight the whenua we now call New Zealand was the wife of the great navigator Kupe.

While leaning forward into the waka, urging it forward across the moana she shouted, “He ao, He ao!” or “cloud, cloud!”

While approaching the clouds the voyagers yelled in happiness: “Aotea! Aotea!” The white cloud. And thus, the whenua was named Aotearoa, the land of the long white cloud.

For Tamatha Paul, these stories that provide context to our place names are irreplaceable.

“Māori names are so intuitive, they often give us clues about the natural environments, the species that flourished, and lessons learned over hundreds and thousands of years.”

“Names like Ngaio give us information on the trees that once inhabited the area. This knowledge can be used to contribute towards preserving our natural ecosystems.”

“There’s a multitude of examples across Aotearoa where these names are being bastardised. When this happens our names quickly lose their meaning, but when said correctly they tell their own unique and rich story.”

The Pākehā renaming of places has been common practice since Dutch explorer Abel Tasman “first sighted” our country in 1642.

English names were handed out to many places on his voyage around Aotearoa decades later, while early surveyors took an axe to further scores of place names after Te Tiriti’s signing in 1840.

Most of these new names honoured early settlers, explorers, church leaders and government officials, stripping the whenua of its history.

Ironically, many of these Pākehā were celebrated for their roles in subjugating Māori and their culture.

Places like Kaharore (Karori) and Pito One (Petone) are all place names that were (and still are) corrupted. What once meant ‘the ridge for snaring birds’ and ‘end of the sand beach’ now are skewed to have no meaning whatsoever.

Boulcott Street was once a stream trickling down from the dense bush hills; the place it joined Manners and Willis Streets was called Waikoukou, or the pool where forest birds bathed.

Mount Victoria, the famous lookout, held a pair of names which related to its windswept nature; Matairangi, or “gazing towards heaven” and Tangi Te Keo, “cry of the wind”.

“We are stripping these places of their meaning and their mana when we wilfully shorten or mispronounce these names,” Paul continues.

“Do we pat ourselves on the back for saying Petone and Karori when they aren’t the real Māori names?”

“It’s especially painful when it’s other Māori who are doing this. If we can’t respect our place names it will be tough to convince the Pākehā who are holding onto their white defensiveness.”

But rather than just telling people how to say Māori words, Paul voiced the importance of providing the story behind them.

“No one listens when you tell them what to do, so rather than just proclaiming, ‘say it like this’, we can give the whakapapa behind [these words] so people understand why it is important to get it right.”

“Once they know the stories of the land they stand upon, they will be more likely to use the correct name. “ “That’s on them if they want to keep calling their city the name of some old white British man who’s never stepped foot on our shores!”

She says many Kiwis of European heritage don’t often grasp the huge impact that the misnaming of indigenous places has on Māori.

“To those who are purposefully ignoring our names - they are a mixture of ignorant and afraid of change.”

The ignorant and afraid seem to be deeply uncomfortable with our colonial past.

“These people realise wrong was done on this land. I guess by moving towards the true meaning of our places, they feel as if they will have to address the wrongdoings.”

“It’s an accumulation of theft, and that should be confronting.”

As a country we continue to delight in historical cleansing by denying Māori their own history on their own whenua. This speaks volumes about a country still married to colonisation,

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still married to its own wrongdoings and ironically, still married to poor grammar and poor pronunciation.

Paul encourages everyone to make a change by simply learning the correct place names and pronunciation.

“Do research on where you’re from, learn the stories of the land’s past, and then you will understand why it’s important to say our place names correctly.”

We name places to recount history, identity, and a sense of belonging. Māori place names deserve to be respected as pinpoints that ground us to our whenua, whakapapa, and history - or our common identity.

For all Massey students out there, who don’t know much about the land our campuses lie on, I’ve created a reference so we use the correct names of the places we call home.

WELLINGTON / T E W H Ā N G A N U I A TA R A Wellingtonians, you progressive bunch. Our people, businesses, and council (sorry Tamatha) have adopted Pōneke as the idolised Māori name of this city.

Pōneke, while a Māori word, is a phonetic transliteration of Port Nicholson. John Nicholson was a Sydney Harbour master, so literally nothing to do with Wellington.

“THAT’S ON THEM IF THEY WANT TO KEEP CALLING THEIR CITY THE NAME OF SOME OLD WHITE BRITISH MAN WHO’S NEVER STEPPED FOOT ON OUR SHORES.”

beautiful (by any stretch of the imagination), this is a much better representation than the current namesake.

Lord Palmerston, whom P Norty is named after, ruled Great Britain to the height of its imperial power. So rich and white he had two towns named after him, and that’s just in New Zealand!

ALBANY / ŌKAHUKURA

Te Whānganui a Tara mihis to Tara, the rangatira who first ventured down to the whenua where our city now lies, settling on the shorefront.

This one doesn’t take too much explaining. Albany just sounds shit.

Although Pōneke is a Māori word, it doesn’t hold any Māori relevance or meaning. While many people use it because they want to seem supportive, it’s obvious that they just can’t be bothered spelling out the longer and harder to pronounce Te Whānganui a Tara :--)

But no, someone decided Albany, referring to a fruit growing district in Australia, was a better fit.

PA L M E R S T O N N O RT H /

Ōkahukura on the other hand - what a breath of fresh air! This means the place of rainbows or butterflies.

That’s your loss, Albany.

What we can do as students is continue to educate those around us to use the correct place names out of respect and acknowledgement. Be the difference - people will soon follow!

T E PA PA I O E A “How beautiful it is” or “Te Papaioea”, were the words first spoken when the picturesque forest was discovered in Manawatū-Whanganui. This became the name of the city.

“Whaiwhia te kete mātauranga.”

Fill the basket of knowledge.

While I wouldn’t exactly describe Palmy as FEATURES

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Opinion: Change Needs to

Climate Policy Shift

WORDS BY MICHAEL FREEMAN

Cling not to what is unattainable, strive towards what is.

Climate change is a difficult issue for people to relate to, and it is even harder for our politicians to make effective policy to combat it. People like there to be a single ‘gotcha’ moment to define their beliefs on a subject, but climate change is a slow, invisible, creeping problem. Only recently there have been large scale natural disasters which have been reported as the effects of climate change. These are the massive bush fires, extreme heatwaves, and frequent tropical storms which have killed numerous people and caused untold amounts of damage across the globe. And there have been protests. And summits. And policy goals. And even some laws. But it isn’t enough, the damage has been done and cannot be undone. Reducing the amount of emissions still means that the greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere will go up, just more slowly. Net carbon zero is the ultimate goal and would stop the concentration going up, but even optimistic estimates put that at 30 years away, with the human race pumping out carbon right up until the line. And even when we get there, the amount of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere dictates how much the temperature will rise, not how much we are emitting. New Zealand needs a new approach to ensure we weather the coming storm.

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Not to be all doom and gloom, however. Striving for a greener society is the best thing we can do for this planet, and the small investments we put in now will pay off hundredfold for the generations in the future.

But we cannot just plan for the future, the planet is going to change dramatically in our lifetimes and we need to mitigate the effects. And the effects are catastrophic, even in the best of cases.

A 1.5°C rise in temperature is all but guaranteed by 2050 if the current global emissions goals are met, but what actually happens if the temperature rises by this amount? Rising temperatures will lead to more droughts, heatwaves, and hotter summers. Droughts lead to crop failures, which leads to famine, and the effects of a heatwave can be seen with the recent deaths in the north east of the United States. Stronger storms are created by hotter oceans, which will batter our coast which is already struggling with the rising sea levels caused by melting ice. Oceans will be acidified, destroying the already at-risk marine environments which we take for granted, and less fish to catch leads to, you guessed it, more famine. Forests will burn, people will die, and life will never be the same again.

the damage we can cause. Therefore, New Zealand needs to make some selfish decisions, deviating slightly from the global effort to stop climate change and diverting some of our resources to dealing with what is inevitably to come. Studies into the effects of a changing climate on our native plants and animals, including those in the sea, need to occur and if the results show a negative effect, then solutions need to be found. Rising sea levels need to be taken into account when planning new infrastructure projects, and current studies into the effects it will have on our coastlines and cities need to be expanded. Evidencebased actions need to be taken when results of these are published. The effects this will have on our people, our society, and our economy need to be predicted and planned for so that we can continue to live with some comfort while we clean up the planet.

“A boxer in the ring must both protect his face and strike his enemy - our policy makers need to find the same balance.”

There has been discourse online, both from the media and from common people about climate doomism, people not wanting to deal with climate change because its already fucked, so who cares. That is not the argument presented here.

This problem of human creation is within our ability to fix, it will just take time and within this time we will feel the effects. A boxer in the ring must both protect his face and strike his enemy - our policy makers need to find the same balance. New Zealand is a small country, and us becoming carbon neutral will have little effect on GLOBAL warming. We are at the mercy of those bigger than us and must make decisions with this in mind. Large countries climate policies are often uncertain at best and with this in mind it is not hard to imagine that even the best-case scenario of our future climate might be woefully underestimating

Politicians and the media cling to the ideal of a world which will never be, one which they and their peers have burnt with little regard for future generations like us. And like a child after breaking one of their parent’s dishes, they are attempting futilely to fix their mistake, when no matter what they do the dish will never be the same again.

We need to let go of the idea that we can return to the world those before us enjoyed and focus on mitigating the effects of what cannot be undone. The New Zealand Government needs to realise our place in the world and make sensible decisions based upon the factors that are within our control, without relying on other nations to do the right thing. A data-driven and realistic climate change policy is needed, not just so we can fix the planet but so we can live on it while we do.

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It's A Shame THE BARRIERS TO PERIOD ACCESS On ave ra ge , a pe rs on w ill s pe n d a roun d te n ye a rs of th e ir life on t he ir p e riod . It ’s n ot f un , it ca n h u r t like a bitc h a n d yet p e riod p rod uc t s a re still conside re d a lux ur y in s om e pla c e s .

M

Menophobia - no, it’s not a phobia of men. Big words never have such a simple meaning, unfortunately.

It’s a fear of periods, which isn’t limited to men but even womxn, non-binary people, people with dysphoria. Anyone under the sun could fall victim to this phobia. It goes all the way back to Ancient Rome, a place we all know, and some of us love a little too much (I blame the sexy statues). Some wise guy, Pliny the Elder (or Pliny the Delusional) said that if menstrual blood touches the ground, it “turns new wine sour, crops touched by it become barren, grafts die, seed in gardens are dried up, the fruit of trees fall off…” Yes, there’s more to the quote.

It’s too long to include it all. But it mentions period blood rusting iron, killing bees and turning dogs rabid and venomous. That’s some straight up witchy shit right there.

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WORDS

BY

ARI

PRAKASH

esides confirming that Pliny could lie his mouth off, it shows that the fear of periods has lasted far longer than it should have. And it shows. Fear, embarrassment, and shame are often associated with periods. That leads to stigma about menstruation and less conversation about periods and period poverty, which is when a person doesn’t have access to proper menstruation products. Young people and those from poorer areas tend to fall through the cracks of period education. I remember one of my school’s was pretty skint, and instead of getting a health nurse to explain menstruation, they just got one of the teachers to do it. The whole experience was worse for her than it was for us (Miss, what’s a clit? Bless, she turned as white as a sanitary pad.) But many barriers make accessing period products difficult, from economic ones that lead to period poverty to the plain, good old-fashioned stigma against periods.

B

What is period poverty?

A joint study by the University of Auckland and Victoria University on high school students found that 12.5% of students missed out on menstrual items due to cost during their first period. Also, 7.5% of students had missed school because they couldn’t access menstrual products. In poorer areas, the figure rises to 20% of students who have a period. Among Māori students in particular, 19% of them had experienced period poverty throughout their life and around 16% had missed school because period products were unaffordable.

Would you rather: Free period products? Or no taxes on roller coasters?

After an “Access to Period Products” pilot program in the Waikato region, which provided period products to more than 3,000 school students, the New Zealand Government made the program available to all schools in 2021. The program, which covers primary, intermediate, secondary school and kura students across NZ, is expected to cost about $25 million over three years. Whilst the news comes as a huge step in the right direction, students are not the only ones that experience period poverty.

Those in tertiary education, or in any

ILLUSTRATIONS

BY

stage of life, are still struggling to afford basic sanitary necessities.

Perhaps we need to turn to Scotland, for advice, who passed the Period Products Bill in November 2020, making all period products free (I know!). Meanwhile England and Wales have free period products for both high school and university students.

But some countries are lagging when it comes to tackling period poverty. 30 out of the 50 states in America have a sales tax on menstrual products, meaning they’re classified as luxury items. As if periods are a choice and we can make our uteruses not shed their linings. A fun example is Colorado, which taxes tampons but not parts for private jets. South Carolina also taxes tampons but not amusement park rides. Ah yes, the necessities of life: jet parts and amusement parks, so you can fly in style and then bleed through your fucking pants on a roller coaster seat.

Bleeding Blue: Period Ignorance and Courtney Cox Being a Progressive Icon Besides economic barriers, there are social ones too. Stigma surrounding periods has been around for centuries. Pliny the Outrageous (it’s a new name for him) is one example of that, but others are more recent.

Even in this day and age, whenever I see period ads they feature women with shaved legs, living their best life.

There’s no bloating, no show of mood swings - the ugly side of periods is outta sight and outta mind. Period ads have a long history of contributing to menophobia and period stigma which can lead to social barriers regarding period products.

The first time the word ‘period’ was actually used in an ad was in 1985 when Courtney Cox did an ad for Tampax wearing a glorious work-out leotard (thanks, Courtney). It showed the evolution of period discourse from ‘that time of the month’ to ‘period’.

The most memorable ad I saw was of a guy finding his partner’s sanitary pads and using them to live out his fantasy dreams by using them to create different costumes. He turned himself into a transformer, a rockstar and a superhero. The perfect clueless and cringey boyfriend. You only have to go into any corner of the internet

TALLULAH

FARRAR

to find that that many are still in the dark around very basic aspects of menstruation. Critic Te Arohi, Otago’s student magazine, even went around campus this year to ask male students if they can identify what a pad is and where it goes. Perhaps unsurprisingly, most people failed.

The Next Stage Countries like Scotland and New Zealand are paving the way to starting a conversation about periods and making period products more accessible. Private companies are also beginning to take steps towards period equity like the Warehouse Group, which includes stores like the Warehouse, Noel Leeming and Torpedo 7, which offers free period products to their staff. Also, in an effort to make period products more affordable, the Warehouse sells packs of 10 sanitary pads for $1.

Don’t worry, tampons will be added to the list too.

Products such as menstrual cups are also gaining attention in the mainstream market. They’re environmentally friendly but also an affordable alternative to having to buy periods/tampons each month. Sure, there’s still problems for access, such as having access to clean water in order to wash the cups, but the devices can go a long way to helping lower socioeconomic communities.

The lowering of economic barriers also means more nuanced discussions about periods other than ‘it sucks’ and ‘do you have a tampon/pad’.

But other countries like Lebanon are facing increased period poverty as the price of menstrual items rise by 50%. It’s also common for cashiers to conceal pads and tampons in black plastic bags because of the stigma. It shows there is unequal progress made in the world when it comes to period equity. It shows that discourse drives demand and that a period utopia is not likely to happen, but we can get a little closer to it.

These initiatives and conversations can foster inclusiveness in period products for nonbinary people, women and others who know the struggle of supporting a body that is often not supported by society.

FEATURES

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ORANGA TAUIRA

WE ARE HERE TO HELP Taking better care of yourself means increased energy levels and a healthier ability to achieve your study goals Discover your Massey student health centre. They provide a wide range of professional medical and counselling services, including nurse and doctor consultations, health advice, laboratory tests, referrals and injury management Clinics are open Monday to Friday, and cost less than other health centres You can enrol with your campus student health centre so it becomes your primary healthcare provider

Enrol now and get a free flu vaccine

WWW.MASSEY.AC.NZ STUDENT HEALTH CENTRES

STUDENT HEALTH CENTRES

STUDENT WELLBEING

CULINARYLINGUS

MOCHA FRAPPUCCINO L I Q U I D P O O P, S O L I D G O L D

Coffee is one of life’s small pleasures. Sometimes, thinking about my morning coffee is the only thing that gets me out of bed. I can drink any kind of coffee – shitty instant coffee, plunger coffee, $29 Starbuck’s coffee, pod coffee, or even Tussock’s coffee. When I’m feeling really down, though, nothing gets me going more than the idea of a sweet, icy, and super unhealthy frappé. Ohhh, yeah.

Then I remember that I’m a student living in Wellington and if I bought a frappé from somewhere I probably wouldn’t be able to pay the power bill that week.

No fear, though! Here is a frappé recipe that, mind you, will definitely be a lot more shit than if you bought it from literally anywhere, but should do the job using only what you’d already have at home (maybe). Even your annoying friend who says they don’t like coffee will be lapping this shit up!

The recipe is amenable to whatever you like! As you make it, you’ll find you might want a bit more milk or something. Follow your heart and listen to your tastebuds. If you can’t be fucked making syrup, make a sickly-sweet hot chocolate - adding that to the blend will do the job as well!

I N G R E D I E N T S ( 2 S E RV I N G S )

•

•

2 cups of coffee, however strong you like (instant, pod, plunge, whatever you have) 3-4 handfuls of ice cubes

METHOD

Chocolate Syrup 1. Put the water, sugar, cocoa, and salt into a pot on medium-low heat. Let it simmer, and stir every now and then until the sugar has dissolved. Once the sugar is dissolved, keep stirring on the heat until that shit is silky smooth. Take it off the heat and let it chill out a bit.

2. Once the mixture has cooled down a bit, add in your vanilla extract and stir until you’re happy and can smell the goodness.

3. You’ll have more syrup than is really necessary… but no judgments here if you want to use it all. Feel free to double the whole thing and make way more

•

1 ½ cup of milk (I will judge you if you choose almond milk)

For the syrup •

1/3 cup of water

than I told you to so you can stock up on syrup and make more frappés later!

Frappé 1. Preparation is key! Make sure you have ice in the freezer before you start, otherwise you will become very sad.

2. Make two cups of coffee as per usual. I like to make mine a bit stronger just because of how much sugar will go into the frappé. Let the coffee cool off. If you’re impatient, either stick it in the fridge or just yolo it and use it as is. It won’t ruin the frappé. I don’t think.

3. In a blender, put your ice cubes

•

1/3 cup of sugar

•

1/4 cup of cocoa powder

•

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

•

Pinch of salt in first (!!) and then add the milk, coffee, and chocolate syrup (start with less, babes. You can always add more but you can’t take it out once it’s in.)

4. Blend that shit up! You want the ice to go kind of slushy-like.

Frothy, foamy, all these adjectives are good. Don’t worry if there are some bubble-looking things. I’m pretty sure that won’t be soap.

5. Get a sexy, tall glass and serve you and your BFF a sweet treat! Some people might feel so inclined as to add some sort of décor, like whipped cream, chocolate, or a metal straw! I do not own any of those items, but I’m sure it would be yum.

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Sexcapades X-Rated Adventures of the Massey Underbelly Episode 18: The Spleen Fiend

Got a confession, a naughty tale, a sexy story? Email sexcapades@massivemagazine.org.nz to submit yours xoxox I was on exchange in America, using Grindr for the first time. I was really nervous, but agreed to meet up with a guy that night. We couldn’t go to a bar (fucking drinking age, am I right) so we met at his place for some drinks and things...progressed from there. At first, it was awesome. He was kissing my neck, whispering dirty things in my ear. His lips made it way down to my stomach, my cock hardening in response.

I waited, shirtless, for him to keep progressing down to my dick. But, instead, he lingered around my stomach. He just kept kissing it.

Then, it got weird quickly. He told me that he wanted to “fuck my ass until my organs came out” and really kept going, in graphic detail, about my intestines coming out. At this point he also had slipped a finger in my ass, so I was pretty distracted, but I’m sure he said the words “your dirty little kidney” and was moaning something about my spleen. Yeah. I KNOW.

Now, I’ve watched a lot of true crime documentaries in my time. And honestly, at that moment, I felt like a dumb bitch at the start of a horror movie about to get murdered. Like I wasn’t a main character, oh no. I was a slutty side character.

A bit terrified, I mumbled something about hearing my cellphone ringing (it obviously wasn’t), got up and grabbed it and proceeded to have a fake conversation with it. Not my best acting work, but in the moment it was the best I could do.

The guy was just looking on, watching me suspiciously. Yeah, like I was the weirdo.

“Oh no, it’s my mate. They’ve drunk too much and need help” I mumbled lamely. I was still doing my pants up when I was halfway out the door.

Basically, I got the fuck out of there. Kidneys intact and everything (can’t say the same about my liver).

I deleted my Grindr the account the next day, and just proceeded to spend the summer hooking up with people in my university hall. You know, the good ol’ fashioned way.

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*submit your poems or short stories to editor@massivemagazine.org.nz

Dundas Street The kitchen is coral here, The curtains always shut against marbled glass.

We pour jugs of water until our noses bleed and forget to turn the radio off. The sound will wake us At half past one When the neighbourhood is slouched like a wool jersey tied over a chair and Wind chimes cut the grass.

We argue about who will take out the rubbish, Scratching dried food on chopping boards with our nails Which screams like chalk. We miss the bins anyway — Perhaps next Thursday.

So we wait, with patchwork thumbs.

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SNIP, SNOP, SNAP SEND US YOUR SNAPS TO GET FEATURED IN NEXT WEEK’S EDITION @MASSIVE_MAG

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Exec Columns

MUSA: FATIMA IMRAN

MAWSA: TESSA GUEST

ASA: BEN AUSTIN

M@D: JAX WATT & JACALYN CLARE

Well kia ora, and happy week 6! We hope you’re drinking water, sleeping a bit and somewhat managing the deadlines. What with all the uni work going on, you might have missed our consultation about changes to the MUSAF structure.

We’d love to hear what you think, so please take the opportunity to have a look online! Or perhaps come along to one of our in person/Zoom sessions - we’ll run you through our ideas, answer any questions, and record any feedback you have. Check our socials to see when & where these are.

Over the mid-sem hols, we’ll collect all your feedback, and change our structure where needed to reflect these thoughts. And in other news, elections season is starting to warm up for these ol general associations! Fancy yourself a mover and a shaker? Get nominated! With love, Tessa, Fatima, Ben, Jacalyn & Jax.

OPENING HOURS: LUNCH 11:30AM - 3:00PM (MONDAY - SUNDAY) DINNER 5:00PM - 8:30PM (MONDAY - SATURDAY) @phomonz

62 Dixon St, Te Aro, 6011, Wellington

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RED BULL FLUGTAG 2021.

WIN $1,000 TO HELP BUILD YOUR WIIINGS. Want to represent your university at Red Bull Flugtag?

One student submission from each city will win $1,000 to go towards launching their flying machine at Aucklandʼs Wynyard Quarter on Saturday 27th November 2021.

APPLY NOW AT REDBULL.CO.NZ/FLUGTAG T&Cs apply.

Horoscopes LEO

VIRGO

It’s Leo szn baby! You love attention and now you might actually get some... just not from that beezy you’ve been grafting for the past three months. Time to let her go, champ.

Stop listening to everyone else’s problems and listen to your own! Your heart is trying to tell you something and you won’t be able to figure it out if you’re too busy looking after everyone else.

Self-care idea: Humble yourself.

Self-care idea: Candles on. Journal up.

LIBRA

SCORPIO

I know going out and getting on the piss is fun, but it might be time to chill out. Your friends are over the shitty roots you’re bringing home and want you to know your worth, bestie.

Oh Scorpio, you sexy, sexy thing. Keep doing what you’re doing, Miss Girl. You are sex on legs and good things are coming your way. Thank you for your generosity in the bedroom.

Self-care idea: Take some melatonin and get a good night’s rest.

Self-care idea: Steak and red wine from the most boujee place you know – you deserve it.

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

You know your hot and love to flaunt it. Keep the confidence up! But um, maybe don’t get so butt hurt every time you’re rejected? Modesty is a turn on, babes.

Bestie, you need to stop spending all your money on clothes and then stealing your flatmates’ food when you can’t afford to eat. We LOVE your style but let’s just focus on financial stability for now, yeah?

Self-care idea: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=5motuzyLXIkn

Self-care idea: Make a budget! Stick to it!

AQUARIUS

PISCES

You have massive dreams and goals for your future, which is nice, but it might be time to put your feet on the ground and start thinking realistically.

New York will wait for you.

Sorry to be that person, Pisces, but you’re not going to find The One by getting blackout and going to a shitty club. Time to expand your horizons, perhaps go Yo-Pro hunting at a nice bar on Fridays from 4-7pm (trust me).

Self-care idea: Painting and wine night!

Self-care idea: Delete Tinder, lol.

ARIES

TAURUS

Aries! Bestie! Settle down. We love how fiery you are but the drama must stop! Your flatties can’t keep crying in their room because you got mad that they started watching Love Island without you, it’s not healthy.

Don’t listen to the haters, Taurus, you are smart. However, it might actually be time to walk the talk and make a trip to the library? Idk, it couldn’t hurt.

Self-care idea: Download a mindfulness app. And use it.

Self-care idea: Get a head start on your assignments. Future you will be grateful.

GEMINI

CANCER

I hate to tell you this bestie, but both of your sugar daddies met at the same conference last Friday. Either drop one or tell them you’re not actually exclusive. Sugar daddies have feelings too.

Yes! Being in touch with your emotions is so good! You’ve come such a long way from your depressed emo phase.

Be warned though, the emo in you lingers. Make sure you’ve got the tools and support system to deal with a relapse.

Self-care idea: Get a long-distance sugar daddy!

Self-care idea: Rom-com and karaoke night! I know you love it.

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PUZZLE PAGE! WORD WHEEL

The target is to create as many words of 4 letters or more, using the letters once only and always including the letter in the middle of the wheel.

4-letter words: 22 5-letter words: 8

H L

6-letter words: 4 9-letter words: 1

U

D

O 08/08/2021

7 5 1 8

3

Sudoku - Easy

08/08/2021

08/08/2021

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78 4

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EASY

2

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66 4

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59 3

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every dream is a (bass ghost) 3nightmare 5 Children Synthetic Here Comes the Best Bit 2Carb 5 Carb on

2

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The Overflow French for Rabbits

8

Dead Bird Womb

HIT PICK

FE’S PICK

Keanu (Wyld Stallyn) DEB5000

Radiant Adelaide Cara

6

5

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2 4

31 6 64 8 2 91

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7

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28

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Home Again 4 shannengeorgiapetersen Mercury 8 8 Womb

9

HUMMUS’ PICK

4

Kete Aronui Mara TK

©2021 Sudoku.cool Sudoku Today ( https://sudoku.today )

Sudoku -

6

9

1 88 4

3

4

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53

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HARD

7 5 3 4 14TOP 106 RADIO 3CONTROL 99.4FM

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Printable Sudoku -

08/08/2021

1

5

MEDIUM

3 1

Printable Sudoku 08/08/2021 - Easy - 08/08/2021

Sudoku - Easiest 1

S

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Printable Sudoku08/08/2021 - Sudoku for kids - 08/08/2021

SUDOKUS

E

Sudoku Today ( https://sudoku.today )

4

2

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4 52 9 1

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54

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8

Bad Taste Apothecary 2

HAZEL’S PICK

8

3 41 5

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Lines Ayaluna

4

8

5

8

2

9

33

6

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52 5 3 5 10 8 84 1

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CLAIRVOYANCY PAPLOCO

7

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6

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©2021 Sudoku.cool

©2021 Sudoku

COLUMNS

Sudoku Today ( https://sudoku.today )

38

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1. A game you play with friends if you don’t want to be friends with them anymore (8) 4. First name of the 2021 MUSA president (6) 7. The opposite of can do (2, 3, 2) 8. A delicious nut that is well worth the minor inconvenience of cracking it open and dealing with all the little shells (9) 9. Objectively the best noodle type (5) 12. Band of the Gallagher brothers (5)

14. Someone who has dyed black hair, wears skinny jeans and listens to My Chemical Romance (3) 15. A form of execution used by pirates (4,3,5) 19. Bing alternative (6) 20. Rude (8) 22. A song which is a modified or new version of an original (5) 25. Place where wild animals are kept for public exhibition (3) 27. Lighthearted, comedic love story with a happy ending (3, 3) 28. Te Reo for Albany (9)

DOWN 1. Sexy eyebrow style. More people need to embrace them if you ask me (8) 2. Not transparent (6) 3. Anal sex is sometimes referred to as the Christian ‘______’ (8) 4. The subject of a sexual fetish (4) 5. Somebody with a juicy ass (5) 6. The theme of last week’s Massive (7) 10. A boy in the middle (7) 11. TVNZ on Demand alternative (7) 13. Big iPod (4)

16. A prize awarded for exceptional journalism (8) 17. Frida (5) 18. You just lost it (3, 4) 19. The depiction of particularly vivid and realistic acts of violence and brutality in visual media (4) 21. A person who has too much week at end of the money (4) 23. American version of a centimetre (4) 24. Slang for tattoo (3) 26. A serve that successfully lands in the service box and does not touch the receiving player’s racquet (3)

QUIZ

QUIZ ANSWERS: 1. B) 2. D) 3. C) 4.C) 5. D) 6. A) 7. C) 8. A) 9. C) 10. A)

B) André Masson C) Salvador Dali D) Joan Miró

1. What is the capital of Canada?

A) Toronto B) Ottawa C) Vancouver D) Montreal 2. What is the world’s bestselling stout beer?

A) Murphy’s B) Beamish C) Malpais Stout D) Guinness 3. How many of Henry VIII’s wives were called Catherine/ Katherine?

A) 1 B) 2 C) 3 D) 4 4. Which legendary surrealist artist is famous for painting melting clocks?

A) René Magritte

LAST ISSUE CROSSWORD ANSWERS: Across: 1. Loan Shark, 8. Elbow, 9. Amnesia, 10. Exam, 11.

5. Where in the New Zealand is Reporoa?

A) Central Otago B) Marlborough C) Northland D) Waikato 6. What is the collective noun for camels?

A) A Caravan B) A Sponge C) A Trek D) A Spray 7. Which re-recorded album is Taylor Swift set to release on the 19th November?

A) 1989 B) Taylor Swift C) Red D) Speak Now

iCarly, 12. Easy, 13. Earned, 14. Scab, 20. Beatlemania, 21. Ark, 24. Hubba Bubba, 26. Genie, 27. Football, 28.

8. Saying the name of what dried fruit used to be used to encourage people to smile before a photo in the 1800s, before the phrase “cheese?”

A) Prunes B) Raisins C) Dates D) Figs 9. In what year did The Beatles split up?

A) 1969 B) 1974 C) 1970 D) 1978 10. The Simpsons was the spinoff show of which American sketch series?

A) The Tracey Ullman Show B) Saturday Night Live C) The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour D) The Tim Conway Show

Gucci Down: 1. Lasagne, 2. Avenger, 3. Sausage Fest, 4. Scared, 5. Kesha, 6. Popeye, 7. Grammys, 15. Cherub,

16. Bean, 17. Uterus, 18. Hijab, 19.

Taonga, 22. Ghandi, 23. Milo, 25. Bing

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