WEEKLY NEWS

Freshers must learn about consent before Toga Night for the first time

Sammy Carter (she/her)

Before the partying, drinking, and one-night stands begin, freshers must learn about consent at Massey halls. Students were not allowed to attend the Toga Night, one of the biggest O-Week events, without attending the consent education event.

The “Don’t Guess the Yes” sexual violence campaign spoke to Massey students in both Wellington and Palmerston North last week, and will be speaking in Auckland on the 28th of Feb.

Ellyn Rose Smith Whatley, Massey rainbow and takatāpui wellbeing adviser, said, “This event is the first of its kind, its more in-depth, more formal and not just internally run.”

In previous years, Massey Halls only held sex quizzes throughout the year, but no educational events.

Whatley said most students don’t learn consent in high school, so it’s important to teach them straight out of the gate.

“Consent, safe sex and partying do go hand-tin hand with O-Week.” Massey will continue to hold consent education before O-Week from now on, said Whatley.

“At a certain point in time, these presentations won’t be needed because everyone will know.” student said, “There’s more of chance of something happening in the week of partying, so we are learning before the partying starts.”

Speaking to the crowd of students, Whatley used one of her own experiences from two weeks ago to show the importance of intervening in a suspicious situation.

She said, as her and her partner were walking home, they saw a barely conscious girl at a bus stop with a man who was not nearly as drunk.

Wiremu Johnston, first year screen arts student, said the campaign taught him more about how to intervene in a situation that doesn’t look right. “If it’s a gut feeling, act on it, you can feel bad about it later.”

He said consent is when both

One look at each other and Whatley’s partner quietly called the ambulance while she distracted the man by chatting. When the ambulance arrived the man quickly ran away and the woman was safe.

Eli Armstrong, fresher fashion parties are 100% okay with what’s going to happen.

“You don’t wanna put yourself in a situation where you’re gonna hurt someone.”

Tegan Jaggard (she/her)

Cyclone Gabrielle made its way off the East Coast after battering the North Island. Both Auckland and Hawkes Bay faced serious flooding and power outages. Outages in Hawkes Bay led to scarce communication in and out of the region and left those with loved ones stuck in Hawkes Bay panicked.

Roommates Cynthia Fan and Katelynne Tawhara moved to Albany from Napier to attend the Massey campus, leaving many friends and family behind. Neither were terribly impacted by the initial floods or the cyclone as they live on a hill. This left them with a skewed view of how bad things could get.

“Before we knew how bad the rain was going to get, it was the perfect temperature to frolic around,” Fan said, describing the beginning of the cyclone. Fan went on to say that she felt like the rain was going to “flatten” her with how heavy it felt while picking up a friend at the airport. Fan also said that the heavy rain “sounded like a train” on the roof of their apartment building.

“My sports hall has to be completely rebuilt. The flood waters were up to six feet in the building. My friends that work there lost their jobs,” Fan said. Their experience in Auckland, however, did not prepare them for what was to come for their families in Hawkes Bay.

Neither of them had heard from their families except to say that they had been evacuated and were safe.

“I would hear nothing for two days and then my brother would send through some photos. All I could think was ‘holy shit’,” Fan said. Tawhara said, “My mum posted on Facebook about not being able to find gas or milk. She texted me to say they might only have two days of supplies left. I was pretty worried for them. I was thinking ‘do I have to send them something?”

Tawhara expressed concern for how long the power outages were forecast to last. “How are they going to cook? How are they going to shower?”

Both Fan and Tawhara also were concerned for friends that were yet to be accounted for. “I’m sure she just doesn’t have data but I’m still really worried,” Tawhara said.

As for students who were trapped in the region, some were unsure when they would be able to return to their respective campuses. Not only because of road closures but because of the outages that left people unable to get petrol. A medical student, who asked to not be named, was forced to fly to Auckland on the first flight out with none of her belongings because she was not allowed to miss any classes.

Some students in Eskdale left, unsure how they could continue their studies, as they had lost everything to the floodwaters in the middle of the night.

Hundreds of pool toys recycled by Mum transforming Wellington’s waste

Sammy Carter (she/her)

A mum of four is recycling inflatable pool toys and air mattresses from Wellington so her kids can grow up in a greener world.

Massey fashion graduate Ali Traynor has collected over 200 inflatable pool toys and air mattresses this summer alone, so that instead of going to waste they will be recycled into water resistant bags.

Traynor said, “once I had children, you realise how wasteful all the plastic toys that don’t last are, the stuff they grow out of and break… things aren’t built to last anymore.”

Traynor’s daughters were gifted an inflatable unicorn sprinkler for Christmas three years ago that quickly broke. As her daughters needed swimming bags, she had the genius idea to use the sprinkler fabric to make them. Other parents and her kids’ teachers loved the bags, so

Traynor took to Facebook to find old pool toys and air mattresses to recycle.

“Everyone seems to be getting on board with trying to reduce waste, every bit helps,” she said.

“You really want the world to last as long as it can for them in the best possible way, otherwise what are you leaving to your kids and grandkids? If we don’t sort it out now, it’s gonna be a real mess for them.”

Inflatable unicorns, watermelons, cup holders and balls are the most common pool toys that Traynor receives.

Traynor’s kids love to show off their mum’s creations. “My kids love it, all their friends have them,” she said.

Traynor’s idea bloomed into a small business called Lilla Bean. The business has grown the most over the last year and half since she started a website and began attending markets around Wellington.

“I’m doing the Newtown festival in a couple of weeks and I’m really excited, that’s gonna be a fun one.” After graduating with a fashion diploma from Massey in 2002, Traynor went on to be a pattern maker in Wellington before becoming a stay-at-home-mum. With her youngest kid about to start kindergarten, she’ll have even more time to create very soon.

“Cool as hell”: Interpreter breaks Sign Language stereotypes

Sammy Carter (she/her)

With bold style and sass, Rihanna’s Super Bowl interpreter is breaking barriers of what we expect Sign Language to look like.

American Sign Language interpreter Justina Miles went viral after performing at Rihanna’s Super Bowl show where she had all the moves and hit every beat. Holly Kennedy, freshly graduated sign language student, said, “We’re so used to seeing interpreters like we do in the COVID briefings or the Presidential inauguration in the US. They’re wearing formal plain dark clothing and they look like they’re scared of everything, so people come to expect that.”

She said Miles’ performance was “awesome, cool as hell, great to see it.”

“I think it’s way more fun because some deaf people still have some hearing and they can feel the vibration of the music.”

“It’s a language like any other language so it’s expressive or not as expressive as you want it to be, in the same way that you can speak in very plain monotone language or you can use a lot of similes and metaphor and intonation in your voice.”

Kennedy said the interpreter world has taken big steps in the last few years to have “young stylish interpreters” like Miles. “Her as an interpreter is a big deal as is.”

Kennedy said Sign Language teachers are encouraging students to “add flare” to their articulation.

“You do notice the differences in the way that different people will sign the same thing, just like having an accent or a lisp.”

“It would be a bit weird to do a Rihanna song really formally like the interpreters on the covid briefings, that would look strange.”

Kennedy is starring in a Fringe Festival show, Women Drink Hemlock, this March. The production fundraised for the show on the 9th of March to be New Zealand Sign Language interpreted.

Alice Mander, National Disabled Students Association founder, said, “People think that sign language is just like English translated but it’s in itself an entirely different language. It’s got its own culture, it’s got its own slang, humour, and comedy style and so you often do see these really moving performances.”

She felt more expressive styles of Sign Language help to include the Deaf community.

“I think we forget that Sign Language is one of our official languages in this country.” Mander felt the more people we encourage to learn Sign Language, the better.

Who are chaplains and what do we do…??

Chaplains offer humanity and connection for students and staff. Often it’s just a coffee, something to eat and a chat. We know life can get pretty messed up and stressy; lonely even. So we offer a place where you can land with that, talk things through or just have a laugh.

Historically, you’ll usually find chaplaincy in difficult places, like in hospitals, the military, schools, university...places where people need some support and encouragement. While you don’t need to be having a hard time, we won’t mind if you are.

Chaplains are people of faith, spiritual people, but you don’t have to be ‘religious’ to spend some time with us. We think life makes way more sense when you have some faith, but that’s not all we talk or care about, most of us are Uni graduates and have a life. We’re people who care and like to connect with others.

On each campus we have regular ‘chapel’ time. That’s a time to gather, read scripture, pray and discuss things. We’re independent from any church, but as individuals, usually involved with them.

So please drop in, meet some other students, have a hot drink, chat about the weather…flatting…art…study… music… the meaning of life...

An easy way to look us up is by searching ‘chaplains at Massey’ or a similar word search; we’re on the three campuses.

-Albany: at the lower level of the Business School.

-Manawatu: at The Centre/Te Waiora on Colombo Rd.

-Wellington: usually at the Well-Being Space, between the Pyramid and Tussock.

The world we live in is diverse and each of us is spiritually, emotionally and physically unique. The chaplaincy is here to listen and come alongside and encourage students at this stage of life, as well as offering spiritual support.

‘Imago Dei’ Or ‘Image of God’. We are all created in the image of God, no matter what our faith, gender, race, income, sexual orientation or role on this earth is, all of us reflect an image or imprint of God.

Albany Facebook: Spiritual Wellbeing Auckland Palmerston North Facebook: Spiritual Wellbeing Manawatu Wellington Instagram: masseychaplaincywellington