CATALYST: 'SURREAL', Issue 1, Volume 73 by Catalyst Magazine

surreal

issue 1

Contents

Presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s letter

Editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s letter

News recap

A time-table to bring you back to reality

Moving Forward through Grief

That, which we are not

Ballot box

Surreal History

Nowhere to Run

The Holy Grail - Miracles in Sport

The Immortality Puzzle

Surreal Party

Are you sure?

The Unnamed Feeling

UFO Hunters

Hottest 100

Dorsal Fins are turning Melbourne into one big party

Same, but different

Kooza review

Moment of (near) death

59 3

President’s Address Abena Dove

I’m Abena Dove, I’m 22, I study Psychology, I sing, I enjoy a cheeky passion pop and for 2017 I am the President of your student union, RUSU.

RUSU offers a large number of free events on campus, including weekly free breakfasts & free beer and BBQS (on every campus). We have a huge LEAD accredited volunteer program, a free food bank, Student Rights Representation, Compass Drop in centre, conversational English classes, free yoga, lots of parties and even this magazine. We’ve got a very exciting year planned for you, a RUSH Week tournament in Week 4, Life Hack Week, boats cruises, pub crawls, end of exams parties, trivia nights and much much more.

University isn’t just about getting an education— it’s an experience, so make the most of it. You know the University experience you see in movies and TV show’sall the fun, the teamwork, the wild stories, parties, student clubs, late nights and the amazing group of lifelong friends you make? In my view the only real way you get that experience is by getting involved the Student Union.

If there is one thing I’d like you to remember, it’s that RUSU is here for you! We are your voice, your support network, and your life on campus. If times ever get tough at university, you need advice, or you just want to have some fun on campus, join us!

The Student Union is a place where you can find your niche on campus, find out what you love outside of the classroom, hone in on your interests and grow as a person. We have over 100 student clubs that range from fantasy gaming, beer brewers, electric racing to political and debate clubs. Find yours! Our Student Union Council is made up of 25 students who are annually elected by and from the students of RMIT to represent, support, and advocate for you. Although funded in part by the university, we operate independent of RMIT. This separation allows us to be critical of the university, to hold their administration accountable, work to improve the university rules and policies and to ensure the students of RMIT receive a fair shake of the sauce bottle.

Membership is only $10 for the year. You’ll get heaps of benefits including discounted or free entry to our events, tonnes of giveaways, a fortnightly newsletter, and the ability to stand for election yourself. So what are you waiting for? Visit our information counter on your campus or go to www.rusu.rmit.edu.au and join today! Also make sure you check us out on Facebook! I hope to see you around, Abena Dove President RMIT University Student Union 4

Editor’s Letter Claudia Long Maggie Coggan-Gartlan Anthony Furci

Welcome to the first issue of Catalyst for 2017! We’re thrilled to be sharing the work of RMIT’s best with you within these pages, and after summer break we’re ready to get back into the swing of things. But it feels a bit strange doesn’t it? Being back at uni, or perhaps, arriving here for the first time? Welcome to the SURREAL issue, where backwards is forwards, shadows loom large, and everything is not quite as it seems. This issue is all about when things feel a little - or a lot - out of place. When you sense someone watching over your shoulder, on your trail or maybe unexpectedly absent altogether. What you hold in your hot little hands (and we know they’re hot because summer in this country is hellish) is celebration of the strange, sinister and suspicious. Welcome to the upside down! (a.k.a RMIT University), Claudia, Maggie and Anthony

NEWS RECAP Claudia Long Maggie Coggan-Gartlan Anthony Furci

Welcome to 2017! If you’re a returning student, you’re probably wondering why all the construction isn’t done yet.

the right Uni, and existing students are tagging their mates from other Universities telling them they’ve got to transfer here.

If you’re a new student, welcome to RMIT! You’re probably wondering why your new University looks like it’s half-built.

We decided to post the video from the brand new RMIT Students Facebook Page rather than from RMIT University’s existing page (which has over 160,000 fans) so it’s remarkable that it’s been able to gain so much reach without the page having a large fanbase to start with. It’s been RMIT’s most successful post online - ever - and I think that says so much about how passionate and accepting our current generation of students are. Or maybe they just love safety?

Want us to fill in the gaps? Read on! New Academic Street (NAS) The construction along Bowen Street will be starting to disappear over the next few months, as the New Academic Street nears completion.

Why exactly did the University choose to have drag queens star in the video? How did this idea come about? When we were planning the video, Midsumma Festival (Victoria’s premier LGBTIQ+ arts and culture festival) was just about to kick off, so I probably had drag on the brain! They weren’t in the original script, but I knew they’d stand out and really take the humour to the next level - especially at live events. You can look forward to saying hello to Polly and Philmah at Orientation, and a few other start of semester events around the city!

Many students and staff members will be all too familiar with these works, as they commenced in mid-2015. The goal of the project has been to “transform the heart of the City Campus” by providing it with new, modern spaces, including a Media Precinct, an update to the Swanston Library, and a never-before-seen-atRMIT Retail Precinct. For as long as the works continue, though, safety around the campus will be paramount. As a result, RMIT has created a safety video - starring two drag queens - to promote this message. You may have seen it on the RMIT Students Facebook page, or within RMIT StalkerSpace.

This representation isn’t something that we’ve seen from many other universities in the past - should we expect to see more of this from RMIT? A lot of the comments on the video mentioned that many other Universities would never do this sort of thing - and I think that’s right. RMIT is cutting edge. You can see that by walking through any one of our campuses.

We spoke to RMIT’s Senior Projects Officer, Rhys Cranney, for some insight into the clip.

RMIT has a strong commitment to building a culture of inclusion and diversity - it’s one of our key values as outlined in our strategic plan. This forms the basis of our Diversity and Inclusion Framework which sits above a number of detailed action plans to ensure everyone feels like they belong here no matter their culture, language, gender, sexuality, socio-economic status or disability.

How did the idea for this video come about? RMIT’s currently undertaking a massive building redevelopment - the New Academic Street. It’s one of the largest and most complicated building projects in Melbourne, and pedestrian access is changing a lot at the moment as we open up newly-completed areas. We had to do something to make sure students were aware of the project impacts, and how to avoid hazards around the construction works.

You can certainly expect RMIT to continue being a champion of diversity. Will we get Polly and Philmah back for another video? Given the response to the first one, maybe we’ll have to!

Airlines like Qantas do “safety videos” really well. They’re slick, creative, and they capture your attention. I came up with a few concepts, but the team agreed that emulating the classic airline safety briefing would best convey the messages in a clear and entertaining way.

With all going to plan, the NAS will be completed by mid-2017 - meaning your University won’t look like a construction site for too much longer!

How do you feel it’s been received - by both staff and students - so far? It’s been received phenomenally well. We have received amazing feedback from RMIT staff and members of the LGBTIQ+ community, and students have been really positive about it too. Incoming students are saying that they now feel confident they’ve chosen

For more info about the new precinct, head to nas. rmit.edu.au. To see the safety video, head to the RMIT Students Facebook page.

A timetable to bring you back to reality Maggie Coggan-Gartlan

The first few days back at uni can be a terrifying and surreal experience. Luckily for you, we here at Catalyst have got ya covered, and we’ve devised a weekly timetable to get you through. But why are there two you may ask? Well, there are two types of students preparing for the academic year. The Newbies Excited and somewhat naïve, eagerly awaiting their first day, ready to sink their teeth into ~Uni life~ and all it has to offer. The Returners Sleepily emerging from their 3-month holiday comas - sunburnt and possibly still recovering from a stomach bug picked up on their South East Asia ‘I’m finding myself Mum GEEZ’ trip over the summer. Find the one that applies to you - but please don’t throw out your actual timetable - and hopefully this makes a difference.

The Newbies MONDAY Open Days

O’Week can be a trying time for new students. There’s a lot of unfamiliar faces and loud noises, plus the chance you will be so overwhelmed you black out and sign up for several clubs without realizing (guilty), but it’s still something you should do. Who knows, you might find that lifelong group of friends just like the brochures say you will. There is also SO MUCH free food at these events, which is always a pretty little bonus.

TUESDAY First Lecture

Your heart is racing, your palms are sweaty, this is the 5th wrong lecture theatre you have burst in on and you are starting to doubt if you are in the right University anymore. Sound like fresh hell? With a little bit of pre-planning, this entire scenario is avoidable. Download a map, even explore the campus before classes start. Do whatever you need so that you own those harshly-lit hallways, and can calmly make your way into class on time and free of sweaty nerves.

WEDNESDAY Coffee Stop

Now you’ve been to your first class, it’s time to get down to business. Finding a quality yet economical coffee joint is the only way to ensure success at university. These guys are going to be there for good times and the bad. They aren’t going to ask unnecessary questions when you come, shaking and crying for your 5th coffee in an hour, they just hand over the goods with a sympathetic smile, and maybe even pretty latte art.

THURSDAY Time Out

Sometimes you just need a break. It’s not a sign of weakness, merely a chance to reboot so you can get straight back into it. Amongst the chaos of Melbourne’s CBD and perpetual construction on campus, there are a quite a few little nooks you can hide out in for a while. Once you get the hang of uni of course, you can use them for their designed purpose of studying, but one thing at a time soldier.

FRIDAY Utensil Ready

If you are reading this on the way to the bookstore, stop what you are doing. The amount of money you spend on textbooks etc. will probably make you want to weep into the arms of a stranger in your first semester. While we are not telling you to skip the book buying process all together (we don’t want to be accountable for your failure), be savvy, ask around, and investigate your options that don’t include taking out a small loan to buy all your books.

The Returners MONDAY Open Days

One word; Don’t. If you break your leg, are you going to try and run a marathon as soon as you get out of your cast? Going into Uni during O’Week is kind of like that as a returning student. You have to gradually build up your strength, because I can guarantee that if the only thing you’ve done for the last three months is binge watch Netflix in between going to the beach, then the harsh sights, sounds and smells of this is not what you want or need.

TUESDAY Fix that timetable

If you stuffed up your meticulous timetable plan like most people do, and now have to come into University every day instead of just two like you’d planned out, get to work. Obviously try the ‘I’m so distressed’ email to your course coordinator, but if that doesn’t do the trick, find out who might have one of your desired time slots and offer whatever you can (your left kidney is not out of the picture) to get your hands on it.

WEDNESDAY Sleeping through the first class of the year

It’s going to happen. It’s going to take a while to get back in the groove of things, so accept it, embrace it and try not to keep doing it for the rest of the semester.

THURSDAY Sussing out your group project dream team

You may think nothing much happens in the first couple of weeks of class, except playing a weird ice breaker game in a tutorial. This is where you are so wrong. Now is the prime time to pick out your dream team for that inevitable group assignment in a couple of weeks time. Take notes and start making a short list of strong candidates, because I tell you what, there is nothing more surreal than realizing you have to do the work of three people in one night, all because your group members have decided to take a sabbatical to join an Ashram in the south of India. 9

Moving Forward Through Grief Alisi Falevai Illustrations by Deanca Mihardja

No one tells you what it’s like to have a loved one die.

Driving alone one night a few months later, it hit me. A wave of grief. I sobbed over the steering wheel, trying hard to keep my eyes clear and on the road. Somehow, I made it home safely, and collapsed into bed. That wave of grief crashed and dissolved, but it dawned on me that it wasn’t the last time I’d feel like that.

Halfway through my gap year, I decided I wasn’t going back to study. The allure of perpetual recreation and having enough money outweighed the idea of coursework and exams twice a year. I didn’t think I could do it, so why would I try? Originally, I’d put off uni for a year because my mother was sick. Lung cancer. Two to three years in, it had already taken one lung, and much of her independence. “Just in case,” I decided, “I don’t want to have study commitments in case it happens.”

The lowest moments were the ones from which I grew the most. Crying in my room, I desperately wanted something to prove that I wasn’t alone. Anything to say she was still there. I sifted through every cliché, but no butterflies landed eerily on my shoulder. Instead, there was guilt. Tiny reminders every day that I hadn’t done enough. That I should have told her that I’d move heaven and earth to have her healthy. That I hadn’t shown her how to use the DVD player. That, at 4am when we received the phone call to say she’d died, I should have been there with her. But feeling guilty brought nothing back. Eventually, it led me to one place: there was no ‘should’ or ‘shouldn’t’. There is what has happened, and a million things that could have happened instead, but didn’t.

I didn’t expect her to die. My brother, father and I were sitting in the hospital room, waiting to see what would happen next. This was the first time I’d ever experienced something like this, I didn’t know what to do. No one really tells you how to act. I looked across at my brother and father, sitting forward in their chairs, staring at my mother’s body. “It’s just us,” I thought. “You only have each other,” Mum would remind my brother and I when we fought. I was so sold on the idea that my mother would always be there. Like, yeah sure, she’d probably die one day, but not before I’d moved out and shown her the life I could build for myself. Not before she met the love of my life and maybe our kids. Not before I was ready. But here we were.

All my decisions began to have the underlying murmur of, “if not now, when?”. I realised that I couldn’t keep waiting to live my life. I was terrified to feel grief and loss, but it pushed me to want to do things I’d been too scared to attempt before. I said “I love you,” to my boyfriend as he climbed out of my car after we’d had a huge fight. I was honest and open with my family, rather than closing myself off in an effort to maintain appearances. I started to try to move forward, even when it hurt to feel like I was leaving something behind.

I just wanted for things to go back to normal. At 22, I was trying to maintain some sort of independence when suddenly, the person I’d depended on most was gone. The week after her funeral, I went back to work and everything felt normal. I felt okay.

What else was there to lose, except the people I loved?

I would joke about her at parties. I’d take a drag on a cigarette, and when someone told me I’d get cancer, I’d laugh and say, “It runs in the family!” People would look at me, aghast. On one occasion, I made a guy cry because I was so nonchalant about the whole thing.

I finished my degree in 2016 and picked up my graduation certificate from my dad’s house, where it had been delivered. He’d left the envelope next to a framed photo of mum, from their wedding day. She smiled at me through the glass, and I smiled back.

If you’ve ever lost a loved one, you may have heard the following sentence a hundred times over: “Everyone grieves differently.” I figured I’d already grieved. I thought crying for a week and missing her every day was grieving, but it turns out that holding it together is vastly different to being okay. 11

That, Which We Are Not Alejandra Olavarria @a.olavarria

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Ballot Box Liam Straughan

@LiamStraughan5

Declan Williams Illustration by Ying Wang

old’ attitude of increased power and trust being granted to institutions of governance and objective information sharing don’t hold water anymore. I’m happy to say that they don’t. (CNN & Buzzfeed’s recent smackdown, anyone?)

Welcome to the Ballot Box, where two student politicians step out of Caucus and pick up their pens, providing insight into a topical issue from opposite sides of the political spectrum. This month, we take a look at one of the more surreal events of 2016. Trump.

Labor: Declan Williams Donald Trump’s rise has the dangerous effect of not necessarily portraying the rise of hatred, but rather, in a far worse regard – the legitimization of hatred. I, as a young Australian, have many concerns for this legitimized hatred; socially, economically and politically. Despite not being physically within the borders of the USA, it is evident that through America’s position as a cultural and economic leader,Trump’s vilification extends to our shores.

Liberal: Liam Straughan Red caps. Light rain. Green grass. Marble façade. A lone, but polarizing figure stands at the precipice of power amongst the grey and the wearied, and a crowd of foes past. Combined, these things painted a picture of a striking force of renewal and endless enthusiasm amongst the masses, confined within a single ceremony. A single place of power, freedom and indeed triumph, on Friday, January 20, 2016.

Economically, we’ve already seen that President Trump’s policies and attitudes are letting the bears loose upon the ASX. Trump’s tweets have buried billions in shareholder capital and put a stressed scenario for workers under further strain. Considering the interconnectivity of markets, we are now tasked with trade concerns, falling business confidence and an ‘uncertain future’ – a term that all young Australians continue to toil with.

The words uttered forth “…so help me God,” may accurately describe the feelings of some who stood, and continue to stand, against an inevitable upending of politics as we know it. Such opposition to this brand of ‘Change’, distinct from that espoused 9 years ago by Barack Obama, represents an ideal of attempting to forsake tradition, and maintain a path that some on the other side of the fence have argued as being for the worse of a unique and distinctive country.

Culturally, as a young Australian, I have grown up enjoying the shared benefit that comes with a community built upon diversity and inclusion. Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ policy entails a direction of disunity and hatred. It is evident that Australia has picked up some of the cultural nuances of the USA through our long tie with the country. It is undoubtedly difficult for young Australians who have grown up watching The Simpsons, eating McDonalds and listening to Beyonce, to now watch the country that created these icons take such a discouraging position to their religion, race or culture.

This has been, for a considerable period, say, over the past decade, countered by political leaders by planning for the short term instead of ahead of time. Spending the economy out of strife and expanding government regulation and power. Ending the ‘bad wars’ and intervening in others, as well as attempting to rub it in to some that the ‘culture wars’ have long since been won in the name of such “progressive” ideals. Just watch Season 19-20 of South Park and tell me you don’t agree with this assessment!

Politically, this encourages the likes of One Nation and it gives solace to those who wish to place their vote in favour of a country guided by a sense of selfish hyper-individualism and a disposal of support mechanisms for the vulnerable – which states to us young Australians that bigotry may very well be perceived as a politically legitimate position as opposed to a harmful belief.

Why President Donald J. Trump has achieved what he has, from initially being labelled by both prominent and ordinary folks alike as someone to be ridiculed and dismissed as merely a protest candidate to becoming President of the United States, stems from the following: disenfranchisement in the economic reality of a shrinking middle class and uncertainty about all that is purportedly good per the worldview of career politicians and their followers. A.k.a “progressives”.

Young Australians are tasked with the future, and boy, do we have our work cut out for us. Despite this world of uncertainty, we young Australians are determined, gutsy and fighting to make a difference. I can say with absolute certainty: We will meet this challenge.

What we have all witnessed has been, as Michael Moore of all people I have chosen to quote has said, “the biggest fuck you ever recorded in human history.” It was aimed at ensuring the ‘same old same 17

Surreal History Jessica Clark Illustration by Brandon Sullivan

The Surrealist philosophy, and its legacy, stems from this definition. With the movement’s key aim being the freeing of thought (and, in turn, art) from the binds of reality–their intention, to re-enliven existence and make-sense of the world and its increasing ambiguities, seemed possible. Led by Breton and his contemporaries, the Surrealists shaped a new, unrestrained outlet for expression, using the subconscious to uncover a new way of seeing things. Central to this new artistic philosophy was Freud, who laid the groundwork for the Surrealists interest in what I call the ‘inbetween’–the state between consciousness and unconsciousness. The Surrealists believed that by experiencing and/or inducing this state (the ‘in-between’), that an ‘absolute reality could be reached, one where the ‘seemingly contradictory states of dream and reality meet’.3 A Surreality.

This is not an article. This is a new mode of expression. A new fuel for creativity. An escape. A superior reality where the irrational, strange and mysterious rule over reason. The Surrealists were a group of artists and writers who sought revolution in the increasingly uncertain and unstable world suffering the aftermath of WWI. Andre Breton, a French poet and writer allied with Dada1 found something more in the writings of an obscure psychologist by the name of Sigmund Freud. As a nurse who witnessed firsthand the trauma and torment of the war, Breton found vision and hope in the writings of Freud particularly his 1899 publication, The Interpretation of Dreams.

The art that grew out of Breton’s Manifesto revolutionised creativity and art as we know it today. As artists embraced the optimism and opportunity Surrealism offered, an eclectic array of hyper-realistic and abstract imagery ensued—an inevitability, when working with the unconscious mind. As outcomes of the in-between, Surrealist works were inherently spontaneous, typically depicting eccentric juxtapositions that take form as a kind of visual poetry.

After meeting with Freud in 1921, Breton’s predispositions with Dada seemed moot. The overtly politicized art of protest, anger and everything ‘anti’ didn’t seem enough; there had to be more to life. The art world needed something more, and so did the people; a better and brighter future for art, beyond our ‘circumscribed reality’ as described by Breton. In 1924, Breton published the Surrealist Manifesto, officially founding the movement with a group of like-minded artists and writers. In it, he defines Surrealism as:

Today the Surrealist philosophy still lingers. The movement’s legacy is still evident in the art of today. We have all encountered Surrealist imagery at some point – melting clocks anyone? A hyperrealistic landscape, collage or abstract? Or art that calls into question the very purpose of art itself? In the globalised and technologically fuelled world in which we live, Surrealist tendencies are resurfacing; providing an expressive outlet for artists to inquire art’s purpose in our curious world of social and political transformation.

“Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express—verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other manner— the actual functioning of thought. Dictated by the thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern.”2

Brandon Sullivan, a contemporary painter, illustrator and designer, embraces Surrealism. He informs his work with the Surrealist philosophy of chance. Sullivan’s work typically features mindbending compositions and irrational juxtapositions that collectively morph into incomprehensible scenarios and landscapes—evocative of the most famous Surrealist, Salvador Dali. In The Joy of Manipulating Reality, 2016—a large-scale monochrome mural created by Sullivan–Surrealist spontaneity, automatism and metamorphosis are evident, in his aim to render the unconscious. The obscure creatures and dream-like landscapes that result from Sullivan’s process take form as poignant societal reminders, emphasising the conflicting nature of our contemporary world distorted, and duplicitous.

well known and recognisable movements in art history. With Breton’s optimistic Manifesto and Freud in hand, the Surrealist artists of the early 20th century created an escape fuelled by creativity and the cultivation of imagination—an escape still prevalent today.

Dada or Dadaism was a 20th century art

movement fuelled by politics. The Dadaists aimed to destroy traditional values and create a new art, an anti-art. Charles Harrison, and Paul Woods, eds, Art in Theory 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas. Blackwell Publishing, USA, 2003,

Surrealism changed the course of art history, planting the seeds of inspiration for future avantgardes to flourish. With a new-found hope in their exploration of the sub-conscious, the Surrealists used their art to capture the essence of the inbetween–morphing dreams with reality in the hope of social understanding and revelation. It is this artistic legacy of inspiration and mysterious imagery that makes Surrealism one of the most

p.222-223. 2

Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern

Art, Centre Pompidou, Surrealism: The Poetry of Dreams, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, 2011, p.17. 3

Andre Breton, ‘Manifesto of Surrealism’,

1999, https://tcf.ua.edu/Classes/Jbutler/ T340/SurManifesto/ManifestoOfSurrealism. htm, Viewed 3 February, 2017.

Nowhere to Run Lisa Divissi @lisadivissi

frantically in the corner of her eye. Dismay and outrage sizzled on his face. Realising with a fright that the grass was meant for scholars and fellows only, she jumped back onto the gravel path – but the fish was gone.

Do the myths surrounding women’s safety in public spaces, particularly at night time, have a cumulative effect in limiting their freedom? Virginia Woolf (or perhaps call her Mrs. Seton, Beton or whatever you like really—she says it doesn’t matter) was sitting at the banks of a river, watching the world go by. It was autumn. The bushes had turned golden brown and red as if burnt by fire. The languid branches of the willows hung loose around their shoulders, moping in the breeze as if to say, “Why won’t they text me back?”

* The first time I decided to go running at night was at 11.30pm on a weekday. I was trying to give myself time away from a script – why did the dialogue jar like that? I knew how I wanted it to sound, why couldn’t I get there? Best to let it rest, I thought. Let it breathe and percolate, at least until tomorrow.

Suddenly, like one of the tiny fish darting around at her feet, an idea swam up to meet her. Don’t panic, she might have thought, stay calm. Let’s see where it goes… It zipped about a little more, weaving in and out among the weeds, hither and thither, until suddenly she was upright, patting around in her coat for a pen to catch that thought, quickly, quickly!

Instead, I spent the evening staring at various stains on the ceiling and lazily thumbing through a booklet featuring an interview with legendary filmmaker Spike Jonze. Halfway through, he began talking about the exact thing I was trying to do – create conditions where ideas could come to the fore.

“Yes!” She might have said, scribbling it all down, “I’ve got it!”

“I spent a lot more time outside, I guess, in parking lots skating at three in the morning,” he said.

And she was off: before she knew it, Mrs. Seton, Beton or Woolf was marching across a grass plot, propelled forward by the power of her thoughts. But they were interrupted by a little man waving

It was as if Woolf’s fish had darted through a wormhole and met me in this new dimension (isn’t 20

that what the film The Hours was about?). Before I knew it I was on my feet, running shoes on, one arm in a jacket, all the while mentally cradling that little fish in a small bag of water, like the ones you get at the pet shop. It was thus that I found myself walking with extreme rapidity to the front door. Then came a voice.

spaces are an area in which people, “particularly females”, are fair game for killers and rapists: if you are a woman walking into a park, expect to be assaulted and murdered. Women who die in these horrific circumstances are held up as a warning to others of what could happen to them. Their names have become the face of these Greek tragedy-style narratives: Masa Vukotic, Jill Meagher.

“Well, you’re a little dressed up for midnight on a Tuesday.” Please excuse my housemate – he is a burly American, raised on a naval base in Guam. He speaks in odd clichés and can’t help but sound like the dad from 7th Heaven.

We all know the story. It’s why we say “stay safe” and “text me when you get home” before leaving the bar. We share techniques and tips that give the best chance of withstanding a random attack. Don’t wear earphones, so you can hear him approach from behind. Don’t wear a ponytail, because it’s easy for the killer to grab.

“I’m going for a run,” I said absent-mindedly, frantically looking around for my keys. “Isn’t it a little late to be going for a run?”

“Someone told me ‘Don’t wear loud shoes at night because people can hear you walk’,” said my friend Jas.

“Well,” I said, still holding on to that slippery fish, “Yeah, but who cares?”

“And I’ve been told that having a lit cigarette is a deterrent because people can see the red end!”

“Okaaaay, well stay safe. Do you want me to stay up for when you get back?” “Oh my god Zach, I’m going to be fine.” – Shit, shit. What was that last thing I was thinking about?

We laughed, not only at the nonsense of such advice, but also because we actually follow it. Who hasn’t held their keys between their knuckles on a walk home in the dark?

“Okey dokey,” he said, before drinking custard straight from a carton.

I opened the front door and had one foot outside when Zach’s voice interrupted once more.

“The ‘paradox of fear’ is the criminology term that talks about how women disproportionately fear crime happening to them in public spaces,” explains Lauren Rosewarne, Senior Lecturer in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne.

“Hey Lisa!” “WHAT?” “Just kidding,” he chuckled, “You always get so riled up.”

“In reality, women are far more likely to be the victim of crime that happens in the home, for example domestic violence or rape from a loved one.”

Fucking Zach. I shut the front door behind me. The fish was gone. *

But crimes committed against women by an unknown attacker, particularly in a public place, are much less common than is thought. According to Facebook group Destroy the Joint’s Counting Dead Women study, 71 women were killed in Australia in 2016. Of the women killed, 50 murder charges were made against people known to the victim – partners, neighbours, relatives and friends. Only eight of the deaths were at the hands of a stranger.1

“I suggest to people, particularly females, that they should not be alone in parks,” Detective Inspector Mick Hughes said on ABC’s Radio National in 2015. “I’m sorry to say that’s the case.” These remarks were made during the investigation following the murder of 17-year-old schoolgirl Masa Vukotic, who was stabbed to death by a random attacker during an afternoon walk.

I had trouble processing the absurdity of these findings. I asked Lauren if this means that I’m safer

The rationale of this statement assumes public 21

out on the streets than in my own home.

Perhaps that is why a young Spike Jonze decided the dead of night was the best time to go skating. No distractions, only space to process.

“Statistically, yes,” she replies. “But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do things that make you feel safe as an individual. If running at night makes you feel paranoid, I’m not sure it’s a good idea. That said, nor should you adjust your daily routine based on fear that isn’t supported by statistics.”

My thoughts turn back to Woolf:

Despite the scaremongering and moments of paranoia, the solitary nature of running at night can feel more freeing than running by the light of day.

This was the turf; there was the path. Only the Fellows and Scholars are allowed here; the gravel is the place for me.

Ultimately, I don’t want to be frightened back inside, watching through the window as Spike skates freely towards the 7-11 without so much as a care.

If the narrative doesn’t change, I will remain here locked in a room of one’s own.

“I could run around in the city, or around during the day, but people leer at you,” says Rani, who runs five nights a week. “They’ll look at me run, at my butt in my tights and I just feel so distracted by it. Not just men, it’s people in general. They look at you and make a judgement, and I don’t like feeling aware of myself like that.

The relationship to the killer in the

remaining 12 deaths were unclear – either not yet reported or I was unable to find more information through news searches.

“I like the streets being clear of people. In the day you’re dodging people getting off trams or grocery shopping, or kids getting picked up from school. It’s my time away from everyone.” I agree. Not only that, but in the dark one’s senses are heightened. It’s easier to let go of the mindless babble inside my head when the smell of grass and trees is strong. All there is to occupy my attention is the sound of rustling branches and far off traffic, sitting behind the pitter-patter of my own two feet. “I feel like I’m invisible,” says Rani. “Not in a broody way, it’s just that no one bothers me, no one smiles at me and I don’t have to smile at anyone. If no one is looking at me, then I can just run.” She pauses, tongue in cheek. “…And obviously think about how I’m going to get away from the guy walking towards me if he attacks,” she says, and I give a knowing laugh. I get spooked by shadows too. “But even then, that’s not most of the time. Most of the time I can just daydream or think about nothing.” 22

The Holy Grail Miracles in Sport Dan Batten

@battenball96

â&#x20AC;&#x153;There was a sense of magic in the air, as the hopeful Bulldogs fans flooded past me, hoping that they could break one of the biggest premiership droughts in AFL history.â&#x20AC;?

Sport has the uncanny knack of bringing out a variety of emotions.

This was last October, when the working class club broke a 62-year drought in the most inspiring and unlikely of circumstances. Since the current finals system had been instated (consisting of eight teams with the top four receiving a second chance) no side outside the top four had ever managed to win the premiership. The Bulldogs finished seventh.

For some, it may merely be a pastime or even a distraction—but for others, it means so much more. An entire weekend—perhaps an entire year—rests on their team, favourite player, or they themselves achieving glory in their sport of choice. Perhaps the greatest thing about sport, is that anything is possible. This is a cliché, yes, but nothing in sport is written in stone—proven eloquently by the Australian Open this year, with the two favourites Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray being knocked out before the quarterfinals.

They faced three tough opponents before reaching their unlikely Grand Final—playing West Coast in Perth, Hawthorn, and GWS in Sydney—and in none of these matches were they perceived by the public as ‘favourites’. As they won these games week by week, they soon became the favourite for fans without a team to support in finals (including myself, but this is a common occurrence for me considering I barrack for Richmond).

It is unfathomable that the two who played off in the final at Rod Laver Arena last year were knocked out so early, just 12 months later. But this is the reality of sport; it is unpredictable, and when the impossible ‘holy grail’ is achieved, the feeling for the supporters is surreal.

The growing supporter base dared to dream; could they really do it? Each win in the finals series was a little miracle in itself for Bulldogs fans. Their penultimate nailbiting victory against the Giants was a brilliant match, and even to the neutral viewer the feeling was surreal. They had made it, against all odds.

For loyal supporters who have been starved of success for years, decades, or even lifetimes, this feeling of achieving greatness is even more euphoric. It has a dream-like quality, especially when this triumph seems to be ‘against the odds’. 2016 served as a year where the impossible happened more often than not, and a year where some of the longest sporting droughts were broken. The Western Bulldogs in the AFL, the Cronulla Sharks in the NRL, Leicester City in the EPL, and perhaps the longest drought of them all, the Chicago Cubs in the MLB.

I worked at the MCG as a footy record salesman on Grand Final Day. Beginning at 8am, I noticed the familiar buzz and energy about the colosseum. Having worked AFL Grand Final day for the past five years, I was used to this kind of atmosphere, but I distinctly remember it feeling just that little bit different. Just a little bit more special. There was a sense of magic in the air, as the hopeful Bulldogs fans flooded past me, hoping that they could break one of the biggest premiership droughts in AFL history.

In our great city though, the AFL Grand Final was of the most significance. The Western Bulldogs had not tasted premiership victory since 1954— two years before television transmission began in Australia. This flag in 1954 rendered even greater significance due to the fact that it was the Bulldogs’ sole premiership.

A Bulldogs diehard by the name of Matthew Donald was at the ground that day. His entire family bleed red, white and blue. 26

“I felt the weirdest mixture of nerves and confidence that you could concoct… oddly enough, I managed to get a fair amount of sleep the night before.”

Imaginations were captivated once again when super-coach Luke Beveridge invited injured veteran Bob Murphy to the stand to take his premiership medal—fitting, considering the two are arguably the most loved figures in the West.

The same magical, phantasmagorical feeling that was emitted pre-match was in full force as the final siren bellowed throughout the MCG, signalling that the Western Bulldogs had defeated the Sydney Swans to claim their second AFL flag. For all Bulldogs fans under the age of 62, this was a firstin-a-generation feat. And they had done it. Finally.

These feelings of disbelief and happiness were reverberated by fans across the entire competition—well, except Sydney—and similar emotions were evoked for the aforementioned sporting miracles. “It still doesn’t feel real. I reckon it’s pretty close to the impossible premiership, but that only adds to the magic of it all. Nothing like this triumph will ever happen again, certainly not in our lifetimes, and to think that the Bulldogs and only the Bulldogs achieved it is something very special.”

“It was the first time in my life that what was happening on-field had become secondary to what was going on in the crowd. After sticking with the club so, so long without success - my dad was two months old when we won in ’54 and my uncle, who I was with at the game, wasn’t even around in ’61 (the Bulldogs made the Grand Final this year, but lost)—we were finally on top of the pile.” Such was the excitement of one Bulldogs fan during the last quarter that he suffered a heart attack, thankfully making a full recovery in hospital days later.

Contribute to Catalyst Keen to get involved? Of course you are! Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plenty of ways to contribute to Catalyst in 2017 whether it be in our magazine, podcast or online. Get in touch at rmitcatalyst@gmail.com to get started!

The Immortality Puzzle Stephen Smit

@StephenSmit92

Ever dreamt of living forever? Well, you’re not alone.

that they lived longer and healthier lives.

It’s been one of the big dreams of humanity since… well forever. There’s something enticing about denying biological inevitability, casting off the shackles of death.

“So what we need to do is figure out ways to tweak these genes to make them more active, and we might be able to delay all the diseases that we get as we age, and possibly even reverse aging entirely.”

Over centuries, a long line of kings, explorers, alchemists, and hawkers have searched for different ways to defeat death. But, what do all of these people have in common? None of them managed to find a way.

He has already identified two promising molecules that activate these genes. In lab experiments, mice that were the human equivalent of 60 were fed these molecules for a week. Researchers saw a noticeable improvement in their metabolism, equivalent to mice that were the human equivalent of 20 years old.

Fast-forward to the present, and ground-breaking research and experimentation could have the answer. Scientists from various fields around the world are putting together more pieces of the life extension puzzle, all aiming to solve it first. They estimate, within the next 30 years, that life extension will be a reality.

While we may be able to turn back our body clock, keeping our brain healthy at extreme old age poses a difficult obstacle. Brain cells don’t replicate in the same way as the cells in our body do, so keeping the brain functioning into extreme old age is going to be problematic. Once brain cells replicate, past experience is lost. In essence, we would lose our memories, and ourselves.

The knowledge to develop anti-aging treatments already exists. There are seven biochemical processes that cause accumulative damage to the body as we age. So, in theory, if these processes can be halted, they could even be reversed. Of course, the next logical step is to create a simple and accessible way of treating aging.

Professor Sinclair claims that, “what we need are medicines that will keep all of our body parts working at the same time. If we just fix a certain part of our body, the problem is that some other part will break down.”

Enter Australia’s own life extension guru, renowned Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, David Sinclair. Professor Sinclair has been working on medicine that switches our existing ‘longevity genes’ on. “We have seven of these longevity genes in our bodies, we call these the ‘sirtuins’.”

The endgame is to create a more potent version of these molecules, and to use them to create a pill that activates these longevity genes, thus keeping our minds and bodies equally sound. “I’m hopeful, one day in the not too distant future, there will be medicines to keep to us healthier and functioning at old age”.

“What we’ve learned, is that they seem to protect our body against diseases of aging,” he explains. Professor Sinclair conducted an experiment in which he placed extra copies of these genes into to yeast cells, lab worms, and fruit flies, and found

Though, there is one animal which could unlock the secret of cellular rejuvenation - the immortal jellyfish, found in Japanese and Mediterranean waters. This jellyfish has two distinct life stages; the larval ‘polyp’ stage, and the adult ‘medusa’ stage. 30

While other species of jellyfish die once they’ve reproduced, the immortal jellyfish has the ability to age in reverse - back to its larval form - when under environmental or physical stress. This process is known as ‘transdifferentiation’, where old cells transform into young cells. The goal for researchers is to discover how the jellyfish rejuvenates itself, and to apply this ‘immortal’ genome to humans.

How will the immortality puzzle be solved? Each field of research is individually promising, but it’s likely it will be a combination of all these components working together that will achieve true immortality. Right now, though, we can’t escape death. So why ignore it? Even as a geneticist, Professor Sinclair struggles with the very notion he is trying to cure. “Our instincts tell us to bury thoughts about our mortality, because otherwise we could not function. What I’m not good at is ignoring that fact,” he says.

Biological immortality won’t only be achieved by how we alter our body’s cellular structure, but also by what have inside our bodies. The robots of the future won’t just work in factories; they’ll also work in humans.

How does Professor Sinclair deal with his fear of mortality? His philosophy is simple; every day is precious.

We’ll have microscopic nanobots working in our bodies indefinitely, repairing damaged cells and organs, effectively eliminating diseases.

He has a simple focus - to make the most of his time, and to try and make the world a better place. In the Sinclair household, the theme is ‘carpe diem’.

Yet for all the advancements in technology, health, and anti-aging, humans will still be susceptible to death. For example, there would still be the same chance of us dying in a plane crash, or in a natural disaster.

“No one is allowed to waste a moment.”

Party time! Imagery by Taylor Bonin @TayBon

‘I don’t do drugs. I am drugs.’ Or so said Salvador Dali. Firstly, his savings account must have been better than ours and secondly, probably best to follow his advice because turns out he knew how to throw a sick dinner party. In the following pages you’ll find games, recipes and everything else you’ll need to throw a party this weekend, Salvador style...

Game Time Jessica Clark

Exquisite Corpse

For the Surrealists, everything came down to imagination. To harness the power and potential of their minds, and spark creativity, the pioneers of the movement devised artistic, literary and poetic games to spur their imagination and unlock the power and potential they believed lay dormant in the subconscious mind.

Invented by Andre Breton in the 1920s, this is probably the most well-known of the Surrealist games. Best played with three, the Surrealists used this game to come up with new ideas, creatures and juxtapositions.

The key figures of the movement—Andre Breton, Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Joan Miro, Rene Magritte—all used these games as a starting point for new works of art.

You will need: • 3 players • A3 paper • Pencils or pens

The games they invented are still used today by artists and writers; to spark ideas for new projects, as a creative therapy, and even at parties! Will you dare unlock the unknown?

How to play: 1. Fold the paper into 3 even sections. 2. Player 1 draws a design in the first section, extending their drawing slightly over the next fold. 3. Player 1 then folds their drawing under so it is concealed and then passes it to player 2. 4. The process is repeated until all players have contributed. 5. Open up the paper to reveal your Exquisite Corpse! Colour and add detail as you like.

Decalcomania

Wherever the brush takes you

This was a game used by artists like Oscar Dominguez and Max Ernst to create paintings of chance. They painted and printed tactile surfaces onto their canvas or paper to create abstract patterns that revealed, to them, the hidden language of the mind.

Many of the Surrealists used automatic writing, painting and drawing to begin their compositions. Artists like Miro and Dali used this game to free the mind by tapping into the area between the conscious and the unconscious.

You will need: • Paint (2-3 colours) • Cartridge paper • A plastic sleeve • Pens and pencils

You will need: • You • Butchers paper • Pencils or pens • A blindfold

How to play: 1. Squeeze colour swatches of paint directly onto the surface of the plastic sleeve—in lines, dots, any way you like. 2. Place the plastic (paint side down) onto the paper. 3. Use your fingers to spread and blend colours. 4. Peel the plastic away, set both aside to dry. 5. As it dries, hidden imagery and patterns will appear. Use pens and pencils to detail your new-found imagery.

How to play: 1. Lay a large sheet of paper over a table, set up your pencils, sit down and put on your blindfold. 2. Begin to draw anywhere on the paper—try not to think—relax and let it the creativity happen. (If you feel stuck, try a continuous line drawing and let the spontaneity flow). 3. Stop when you think you’ve finished and remove your blindfold. 4. Turn the paper around, look at the shapes, lines and patterns you have created. Can you see anything? 5. Add to your drawing by connecting lines and creating shapes. 6. You have created an artwork of your inner mind! Note: This game can also be reinterpreted using paint or text.

Surreal Party Food Claudia Long

@ClaudiaLongSays

Illustration by Megan McKenna @meg.mckenna

Toasted kale chips - Soylent green

Would Salvador Dali settle for Saladas? No, he would not. It’s not a party if there isn’t food. At least, not a party worth going to. Impress all your cats friends with party snacks that aren’t crackers or leftovers from the latest round of King’s Cup.

Ah yes, the snack for people that hate themselves. Bring out these bad boys (bland boys?) with a bit of dip and some olives, but be prepared for that one sanctimonious friend to tell you how they eat these, like, all the time before hearing about their new fitness regime for approximately 40 minutes of your life that you’ll never get back. Best served with a side of dread.

To make these “chips” you’ll need: • 1 bunch of Kale • 1 tablespoon of olive oil • Some salt 1. 2.

3. 4. 5.

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a non insulated cookie sheet with parchment paper. With a knife or kitchen shears carefully remove the leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry kale with a salad spinner. Drizzle kale with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning salt. Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 10 to 15 minutes. Cry, the tears will salt the chips so that they actually taste like something.

Upside down cake - Stranger things You couldn’t have missed this hit show from last year, even if you lived in the upside down. Bake this cake, and you’ll have a fairly tasty dessert as well as a tv reference that’s only slightly dated. We’ll be using pineapple for the fruit - although you can replace it with pretty much anything because it’s cheaper to get in a can than fresh fruit and those youth allowance dollars ain’t gonna get you anything fancy.

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 2. For the topping, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. Spread over the base and a quarter of the way up the sides of a 20-21cm round cake tin. Arrange pineapple rings on top, then place cherries in the centres of the rings. 3. Place the cake ingredients in a bowl along with 2 tbsp of the pineapple syrup and, using an electric whisk, beat to a soft consistency. Spoon into the tin on top of the pineapple and smooth it out so it’s level. 4. Bake for 35 mins and leave to stand for 5 mins. 5. Cut a slice and ponder what’s more frightening: a demi-gorgon or a bunch of 12 year olds being more successful than you’ll be at 50.

For the topping • 50g softened butter • 50g light soft brown sugar • 7 pineapple rings in syrup, drained and syrup • Glacé cherries For the cake • 100g softened butter • 100g golden caster sugar • 100g self-raising flour • 1 tsp baking powder • 1 tsp vanilla extract • 2 eggs For the atmosphere • A criminal amount of fairy lights

Salty dog cocktail - Un Chien Andalou If you really want to up your surrealist cred, mix up one of these drinks as a reference to Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali’s movie Un Chien Andalou a.k.a An Andalusian Dog. If you like ants, jaunty horn music and watching someone’s eye get cut open - as we all do - then chuck on the movie in the background on Youtube.

To make enough for two or for one bad day, you’ll need: • Coarse salt • Ice cubes • 1/2 cup vodka or gin • 3/4 cup fresh grapefruit juice 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Pour coarse salt onto small plate and moisten rims of 2 highball glasses. Tell everyone you’ve moistened them, just to keep the atmosphere extra weird. Gently dip rims into salt to coat lightly. Fill glasses with ice cubes and four 1/4 cup vodka over ice in each glass. Divide grapefruit juice between glasses and serve.

Noodle soup - Blade Runner

Place noodles in a heatproof bowl. Cover with boiling water. Stand for 3 minutes or until tender. Drain and separate noodles. 2. Heat peanut oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add ginger, garlic and half the chilli. Cook for 30 seconds. Add 2 cups stock. Cover. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add chicken. Cook for 5 minutes or until just cooked through. Transfer chicken to a chopping board. Slice crossways into strips. 3. Add remaining 4 cups stock, soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar to soup. Cover. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to the boil. Add green onion and bok choy. Cook for 1 minute or until leaves just wilt. 4. Divide noodles between bowls. Top with chicken. Ladle boiling broth into bowls. Top with shredded green onions and serve with remaining chilli on the side.

Do your friends enjoy furrowing their brows and looking moody in the rain? Then do we have the recipe for you! This is a pretty cost effective dish, so if you’re really into channeling that whole neo-noir thing every day of the week, then why not let this noodle soup help you live your dreams before giving up on them and dying inside a la Rick Deckard? It’s a shame your goals and aspirations won’t live, but then again, what does? To serve two, you’ll need: • 450g fresh thin hokkien noodles • 1 tablespoon peanut oil • 3cm piece ginger, peeled, finely chopped • 2 garlic cloves, crushed • 2 small red chillies, deseeded, finely chopped • 6 cups chicken stock • 500g chicken breast fillets, trimmed • 2 tablespoons light soy sauce • 1 teaspoon sesame oil • 3 teaspoons brown sugar • 4 green onions, thinly sliced diagonally • 1 bunch baby bok choy, chopped • Green onions, finely shredded, to serve

To complete the meal, chuck on the film’s Vangelis soundtrack and look moodily into the distance. If anyone asks, just say it’s a replicant thing.

Surreal Playlists Claudia Long

@ClaudiaLongSays

MUSIC:

You’ve got the food, you’ve got the games, now all you need to top off your surrealist celebration is a top notch selection of tunes, telly and movies. Best served with a side of dread.

There’s nothing easier than chucking on a playlist to give your party that surrealist atmosphere. This is so easy in fact, that if someone criticises your choice of music, just say it’s a Spotify suggested track. You’re in the clear!

FILMS: If you’re allergic to rom coms and know that just because it’s close to christmas that’s not an excuse to torture yourself with Love Actually (just kidding, that shit is a twisted masterpiece) then why not peruse these flicks:

–– Bad Things, Cults –– Debaser, Pixies –– I’m on Fire, Bat for Lashes –– Sometimes, My Bloody Valentine

–– Beetlejuice, Tim Burton (1988)

–– Mind Mischief, Tame Impala

–– Suspiria, Dario Argento (1977)

–– Kids, Kyle Dixon

–– 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick (1968)

–– Giant Tortoise, Pond

–– Solaris, Andrei Tarkovsky (1972)

–– Falling, Angelo Badalamenti

–– If you want to get fancy and match your food to your movie, then pick up a copy of Blade Runner (1982), Soylent Green (1973) or Un Chien Andalou (1929)

–– Time to Pretend, MGMT –– Lullaby (extended mix), The Cure –– Northern Downpour, Panic! At The Disco –– The Zephyr Song, Red Hot Chili Peppers

TELEVISION: Haven’t got a video shop near you? Not friends with a hipster that thinks it’s cool to own VCR tapes now? Never fear, you can find all these bad boys online at your favourite streaming service. HA! Just kidding, this is Australia you’ll have better luck finding a video shop than all of these on one streaming platform: –– Twin Peaks, David Lynch (1990) –– Stranger Things, The Duffer Brothers (2016) –– Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Monty Python duh (1969) –– Rage at 3am, ABC (The beginning of time)

Are you sure? Abby Alexander

It’s safe to say there’s a perception that most of us are straight, right? While this may not actually be the case, it’s usually what we are led to believe. So, you can probably see why I naturally assumed that I was heterosexual for nearly 18 years.

That was until May 2015. It was two months before my 18th birthday, when my new friend Carla asked over the phone if there was any chance I might not be as straight as I thought I was. At first I laughed, and told her of course I was not gay. She asked if I had ever had a boyfriend. I said no. She asked me if I wanted a boyfriend. I said no. She asked me if I wanted to kiss a boy. I said no.

Of course I was straight! Sure, I was unnaturally obsessed with Michelle Pfeiffer in Grease 2 when I was 10, Kylie Minogue when I was 8, and had absolutely no interest in One Direction or Justin Bieber. It was obviously just a #girlpower thing, and definitely not a ‘I kinda want to touch her boobs’ thing.

She reminded me that I was nearly 18 and that I should be wanting to kiss boys behind the bike sheds left, right and centre, and I said I wasn’t interested.

During my schooling years, I had no interest in dating. My week was jam-packed with dancing, a part time job and catching up with homework. I just didn’t have the time to date or be interested in boys.

“Why is that?” she asked. I listed all of the above reasons. It was then her turn to laugh then asked me if I was sure I wasn’t gay. What followed were potentially some of the weirdest and most surreal days of my life, as I slowly opened myself up to the possibility that while the majority of the population may be straight, I might not be part of that demographic.

Clearly this was why I had made it to 18 without kissing a boy. I didn’t have time to find one to kiss. I was so busy with other things that were more worthwhile, and I kept thinking that there was plenty of time for that in the future.

I thought about the weddings I had imagined—how I had carefully planned my dress, my bridesmaid’s dresses, the table settings, music, a flash mob—but not once had I planned for an imaginary husband.

My cousin is gay, but I definitely was not. Two gay cousins in one small family? Surely we had filled our quota, I thought. 42

“I tried really hard to want to kiss a boy, but even when I imagined locking lips with Zac Efron, I wasn’t that interested.”

to experience mental health issues, including depression and anxiety. These are statistics that will not change until we are more open to alternative sexualities and gender identities.

I called Carla back a few days later, freaking out big time. She listened to me on the other end of the phone, as I blurted out things like, “I have only thought about dresses for my bridesmaids”, “I don’t like chest hair” and “I don’t even want to kiss Zac Efron!”

Here is the thing that no one tells you about being gay—you don’t always know. And while being on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum is not fully accepted into our Aussie culture (#sayidodownunder #gaymarriage #pls), it’s not always easy to figure it out for yourself.

Carla was silent for a minute, then she said, “I really think you might be a lesbian.”

But banding together, supporting your queer friends, and making exploration okay makes it a little bit easier.

I started cry-laughing. Then I thought about the times it has crossed my mind that it would be pretty cool to kiss my girlfriends. I had always brushed it off—surely it’s normal to fantasise about kissing friends while you have all those pesky hormones running through your blood? Apparently it is, but not to the complete exclusion of the opposite sex. According to the Department of Human Services, 11 out of every 100 people in Australia identifies as being sexually or gender diverse. More than that, people who identify as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community are three times more likely 43

The Unnamed Feeling Megan McKenna @MegMckenna97

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response—or ASMR—is something of a modern phenomenon, a wonder that would never have been discovered without the joys of the Internet and its forums. It’s a sensation that not everybody experiences—an unorthodox, pleasurable tingling in various parts of the body. Those who have felt it claim it to be a sort of ‘brain orgasm’. Usually it will emerge in the scalp, and continue down through the neck, shoulders, arms, and legs.

Some even deck themselves out as full-blown characters—from Thor to Salvador Dali—and carry out a task relating to that character. In contrast to the instant gratification we’re used to online, each video is quite long, with the average ASMR clip running for half an hour. Some go for as long as 10 hours. At first glance, the videos exude a strong sense of intimacy, even to the point of flirtation - but that isn’t usually the objective. However, due to their intention of provoking euphoric sensation through soft whisperings, stimulating sounds and fantastical role plays, many outsiders have associated ASMR with sexual arousal. This is a common misconception; a study conducted by Swansea University showed that only 5% of ASMR consumers were reported to have used the videos for sexual stimulation. But with the steady growth of the community in the last few years, the demand for sexual ASMR has increased.

ASMR is thought to occur in response to various acoustic and visual stimuli. The most popular triggers include receiving personal attention, the sounds of whispering, tapping, or scratching, and the sight of people focusing deeply while completing a certain task. Despite the fact it’s relatively unknown in most circles, punching ‘ASMR’ into Google’s search bar will generate 18 million results. You’ll also find 6 million related YouTube videos. Each ASMR channel on YouTube has different ways of attempting to trigger their audience, with role-play being one of the most common. For example, they’ll put on a lab coat and stethoscope and act as a doctor giving you an exam, or they’ll make sure their hair looks stylish, whack on some bright lipstick, grab a pair of scissors and pretend to be the owner of a salon, giving you a trim.

Paul runs the YouTube channel Ephemeral Rift and says he’s felt ASMR his entire life. “It’s like goosebumps, but instead of that often uncomfortable shiver, it’s almost like a pleasant electric current running through your skin.” Once Paul was introduced to ASMR, he went from a viewer to a content creator in a matter of weeks. Today, Ephemeral Rift has nearly 300,000 subscribers 45

and over 100 million views. The videos are littered with comedy and theatrics. Whether he’s chatting about upcoming movies, doodling on a chalkboard or portraying an elf in Santa’s workshop, it’s clear that he puts a lot of effort into his works. “I enjoy the creative process, and I hope in turn that at least one person enjoys whatever it is I do.”

found 69% of the participants with depression reported a mood improvement, and there was a significant difference between chronic pain before versus during a session. Much like the effects of meditation, ASMR seems to have a positive impression on the mind and body, and while we’re yet to know all the scientific reasoning behind this curious phenomenon, the future’s looking bright. People are learning more about their bodies and brains, and triggering techniques are becoming more precise and elaborate.

No matter how many videos I’ve sat through however, I can’t understand how people enjoy immersing themselves in these strange, sensory scenarios. I’ve tried to watch, listen and feel any type of tingle, pleasure, or even just relax, but almost every ASMR video I’ve seen is so bizarre that it’s made me feel uncomfortable or frustrated. The slowness of their actions, the pointless tapping of inanimate objects, soft-spoken voices with their wet mouth sounds. It’s perplexing, it’s strange, and it irritates me. Perhaps it’s because I know that people are watching this and loving every second of it, and I cannot grasp that sensation for myself.

Perhaps, in the near future, we’ll be downloading tapping, crackling, and whispering records off iTunes, or playing intensive ASMR-themed games while geared up in virtual reality headsets. But for now, ASMR remains tucked away in a crook of the Internet, explored only by those with an interest in or a curiosity for - brain orgasms.

Paul agreed in saying that not everyone feels the effects of ASMR. “I personally think it may have to do with some people being more sensitive than others, meaning their nervous systems are more sensitive as well.”

If this surreal sensation seems too bizarre to comprehend, go online and see for yourself. It may just give you the tingles.

The field of ASMR is relatively new, and there has been little scientific study around the subject. Although the term Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response may sound like it’s from an old textbook, it was actually coined by an IT professional in 2010. Before then, enthusiasts called it ‘The Unnamed Feeling’. Some scientists even question whether ASMR is a tangible and measurable concept, despite the endless anecdotal accounts of the sensation. From the few studies that have been done, the effect ASMR has had on people has been overwhelmingly positive. Emma Barratt and Nick Davis conducted a survey in 2014 exploring to what degree ASMR could be used to ease symptoms of depression and chronic pain. They 46

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Exploring the Outer Fabric of Reality Rochelle Kirkham @RochelleKirkham

Ron Sullivan saw what he thought was a tractor split into two white disks on the 4th of April, 1966.

He says Victoria has had a lot of UFO activity over the years.

He was driving from Maryborough to Wycheproof after work in the early evening, along a flat country road. Tubes of light passed through the centre of the two white disks, and his car headlights began to flicker and bend towards the unidentified object.

“They appear everywhere,” he says. “If you look in every region, there are historically great UFO cases.” Ben says the Association was set up to provide the Victorian public with information about UFOs, but also to provide a platform for people to report their cases.

A counter-steer jerked Sullivan to the other side of the road after he was almost drawn towards it. From here he watched it join together and take off into the sky.

“‘UFO’ is a very broad term. It is very popular in society as being associated with an alien spacecraft.

Two days later, a man was killed after running his car off the road at the very same spot. It’s known as the Burkes Flat incident.

“But it doesn’t necessarily mean an alien spacecraft. It’s an unidentified object in the sky,” he says.

Ben Hurle says Ron Sullivan is not crazy. Ben is President of the Victorian UFO Association, a group that looks at UFO cases in Victoria.

The Victorian UFO Association website has over 600 members, and there are about 10 to 15 active team members who attend meetings and investigate cases.

He carried out a six month investigation into the Burkes Flat incident with his team, which involved his speaking to the primary witness and the best friend of the young man killed at the scene.

Ben says it’s essentially a research group. They attempt to investigate reports from a logical and serious perspective. 48

“We’re not fairy chasers,” he says.

and the natural environment.

“Just because someone says they have had an experience doesn’t necessarily mean we believe that they have had an experience. “There are other factors you have to take in. People may have psychosis, or may be drug influenced or it may be a straight up UFO encounter.”

“I think we should be doing a lot to find out what that is. It may not be as high priority as community housing, or health, but it’s still something coming from somewhere interacting with us here and it needs to be approached in as scientific a matter as possible.”

Ben says he too has had UFO encounters, and tells me of another prominent case.

Canadian UFO investigator Paul Shishis says intelligence comes and goes from our planet.

It was September 1980 in Rosedale when a farmer saw a UFO hovering over his field of cattle. They were running around crazed and wild. He watched it stop above the water tank, land on the ground, spin around and take off.

He says he has experienced over 600 UFO sightings throughout his lifetime. Let’s take a step to back to one of those encounters in 1977. Paul was working at a grocery store when a customer pointed out a strange object in the field, adjacent to the store. As Paul went out to investigate, across from him stood a single moulded, silver, pear-shaped craft, almost like a blimp.

Ben says the guy was sick for five days afterwards. All water was drained from the tank, the silt was spun up, and the cattle ran around for over a week completely dazed and disorientated. “You can see at different points in Victorian history something strange has been around,” he says. He describes investigating cases like these as meticulous work.

But it wasn’t a blimp, he says, because it was 30 or 40 feet tall with five lights. Some rotated without making a sound. He ran back to the store to get a witness when it began moving off at a slow pace, making a high pitched beeping sound.

“There are lots of phone calls and checking online, interviews and going to locations. UFO investigation doesn’t have any glamour attached to it. If it did, there would be more people doing it.

Paul’s friends and parents didn’t know what to make of the story, and he was ridiculed after sharing it. But it began a fascination which inspired extensive research.

“But we believe it’s necessary. You have got to look beyond how the world actually appears to be.”

He tried to forget about the experience after looking into it more deeply. Until he had another confronting sighting. And another 600 since.

After understanding a report, an investigator will check facts like the location, the weather at the time, the planes in flight, and the movement of the planets at the time of the encounter.

“Strange things started happening,” Paul says. Victorian UFO investigator Ben Hurle says it’s exciting to investigate reports of encounters with UFOs.

“There are a lot of pre-checks we can do to try to eliminate some of those potential natural explanations,” Ben says.

“You’re doing work not many other people do, and you feel like you’re on the cutting edge of reality.

He says there is no doubt we are being visited by something from somewhere else. “I’m not going to say that is an alien from another planet. But something is coming here and interacting with our planet, with us, the animals

“Most people are open minded in the 21st century. “Now, no one in their right mind can really say the potential for this stuff to exist isn’t there.” 49

Hottest 100 Review Ben Madden @benmaddentweets

Ah, the Hottest 100. The one day of the year that you can prove to your friends how much more musically knowledgeable you are than them by claiming that every band in there should have been replaced by *insert band with 2 songs and 700 Facebook likes here*. In years past, I’ve spent time with my friends glued to the radio, growing more and more annoyed that my favourite song wasn’t getting in. With the recent debate about changing the date of the Hottest 100 (New Year’s Day, anyone?), as well as my tastes changing, I can’t exactly say I was looking forward to the countdown. Did it exceed expectations?

I must admit, a lot of amazing Australian music came out this year. Cub Sport, Ceres, the aforementioned Avalanches all released wonderful albums (Ceres should have been in the Hottest 100 #travesty). But there’s always next year, I suppose. Although, nothing is as bad as last year. I never want to hear the song ‘Hoops’ again. All in all, this year was quite a disappointing year in the countdown, but in the end, Australia wins (I think). But seriously, change the damn date. And let the record show that whether or not you enjoy the DMA’s cover of Believe should be on some form of test, to say whether you should be allowed to vote. (Are they performing their next gig at Oakleigh RSL? I mean, seriously. I’ve heard better covers at Karaoke nights.) EDITOR’S NOTE: That cover is bloody fantastic.

Absolutely not. The thing about the Hottest 100 is it’s very easy to predict. Flume winning was almost as big a certainty as Dangerfield’s Brownlow last year (and probably paying the same at a TAB). There are a few certainties in life. Death, taxes, and Violent Soho getting half their album into the Hottest 100. However, that would be the case even if they got one song in, as the sound barely changes from song to song. That isn’t to say I was totally disappointed. The Avalanches are back, and hopefully it won’t be 16 years till they release music again, by which time I fully expect all music to be made by robots.

However, there is one good thing. This year may have been a disappointment, but it’s still not as bad as 2013’s countdown. 2/5 stars

There’s one major positive to come out of the Hottest 100 this year, though, and that is the top 3. While Amy Shark couldn’t take out the gong, it was positive that the top 3 songs all featured/were written by a female, especially for a countdown famously known for having more winners from St Kevin’s high school than from the entire female population. The Triple J demographic at least got that part right.

Dorsal Fins Turn Melbourne into One Big Party Jennifer Park @hijenpark Photography courtesy of Remote Control Records

Everyone dances at least once in their life. It’s a pure, unadulterated physical expression of that thing you feel inside when you hear the beginning chords of that tentative beat that makes you wanna run to the rave and yell, “God damn! This is my fucking song!”

of songs, and then, yeah, it was no ambition, no “this is going to be a band”, no goals really, other than to make some new music. Digital Zodiac is all about dance music that’s fun, but not mindless. Do you think there’s a resurgence of mindful pop songs in both mainstream and indie circles?

Sometimes words aren’t enough, and there’s a special power to music that can make you write your love letter with the swishing of your arms and legs.

Yeah, definitely. It’s good to have a bit of purpose with pop songs. We just try to make everything pretty fun. It’s hard not to, when you’re with a whole group of your friends. Hopefully it’s meaningful as well. You never can tell, I guess. I feel like a lot of people underestimate dance and pop music because they think that music that’s fun can’t be smart. I love Carly Rae Jepsen but so many people are skeptical.

Dorsal Fins make me wanna dance. They’re a ninepiece with faces from every corner in the scene (Eagle and the Worm, Saskwatch, GL), and a shining light of confetti cannon, party pop in Melbourne. When I call up Liam McGorry, one of the band’s founders, he tells me he’s had a painful day where he was stuck on the phone to Telstra for most of it. But even then, he generously asks about my day in his chipper, boyish accent.

What do you think about people who think that fun music can’t also be smart?

How and why did Dorsal Fins begin?

I grew up in the late ‘90s, early 2000s, listening to a lot of pop music, so it’s all pretty up and fun but also has a bit of a message. To me, I’m totally into that. But yeah, I think you’re right. Your Carly Raes and Justin Biebers—like even Bieber’s newest album, I think there’s some songs that are pretty amazing on there, that are meaningful as well. I was never previously a fan, but yeah, I totally agree with you.

It sort of started out of a need and a want to do something different. Most of us are playing in a couple of bands—Saskwatch and Eagle and the Worm—and we’re just a group of friends pretty much, we just wanted to work on some new stuff and head in a new direction. There was really no ambition or anything. We just booked a week of recording, worked up a couple 52

Do you prefer the dance tracks or the more subdued tracks on the album?

(Vorrath), and they just write really nice folk pop songs. In this case, it was a bit more of a funk latin jam.

I’d say a bit of both. It goes to have a bit of variety, and when you’re playing a live show, it’s great to call on both. There’s a lot of people in the band and it can get pretty full on, so it’s good to even it out with a few more down tracks.

Dorsal Fins definitely seems like one of the more collaborative bands in the scene. Not only are you guys collaborating with each other, but with a lot of guests as well. Was it something you wanted to experiment more with in Dorsal Fins?

Would you say you have a pretty relaxed approach to making the music of Dorsal Fins or are you more meticulous and serious in the process?

Yeah, definitely. With other bands, with Saskwatch, I write most of the songs myself and then bring it to the band, and after you do an album or two, you’re like, “aw, that’s cool…” and want to try something different. It’s great to work with my friends who are my favourite musicians, singers, and writers. It really makes everything a bit more interesting and exciting.

It’s probably one of the most relaxed processes going around [laughs]. We work on a few instrumentals as a band and maybe chip away at a few of the songs before going into the studio. It’s really kind of done as we go. I guess it’s based on collaboration between our friends—obviously we had a few guests as well on that album.

You guys are renowned for your energetic and loud performances. Is there anything in particular that makes a Dorsal Fins live show?

We just try to keep it interesting and exciting because we’ve all played in bands where you work on something for months, you get to the studio and you think, “I’m not sure if that’s good” or whatever. But it’s the way that we’ve been doing it, working as we go and keeping it really spontaneous. Obviously all the limitations of time and money really help to force you to make decisions. It’s great, it’s really exciting, the results aren’t always great, but it’s part of the process.

I guess the size of the band is the thing about the live show. But I’d say we just try and keep that spontaneous atmosphere pretty present. Have a bit of structure to the show but keeping it a little bit open. There are quite a few sections where it’s not really arranged or anything, open to where it can go. Because we’re friends and we play together often, you can make those decisions as you go. It’s probably the most fluid live band experience I’ve been a part of.

You guys are definitely one of the bigger bands in Melbourne. So, you’d say having a lot of people around actually helps the creative process?

Do you ever feel like you’re treated more like a live band than a band with the music to back it up? Treated more like an entertainer rather than a musician?

In saying that, there’s only myself, Ella (Thompson) and Jarrad (Brown) who work on the core of the song and once the core of the song is down, everyone sprinkles their own… flavour. It’s very much a collaborative process, but because we’ve been friends for so long, we have a bit of a working relationship and it’s just pretty fluid.

Yeah, I guess there is a little bit of that, but it’s a compliment to the live shows, which is great. But obviously you try and make the best album that you can, in the time that you can, with the resources you can. It used to worry us, back in the day, but as long as people are enjoying what you do, it doesn’t really matter, and as long as you’re having fun, it’s awesome.

You mentioned having guests on the album too. Who are some of your more favourite guests you guys have had?

Where do you hope the band goes in the future, in terms of direction and achievements as musicians? It’s hard to tell. With the difference between the first and second album, we wanted a bit more consideration in the flow of the album and not having every song sound like a different band. This time I think we got a bit closer. Hopefully, it’ll change again on the next one. The best part about it is we keep it pretty spontaneous, you don’t know where you’re going to end up, so it’s pretty exciting as well. I also just want to keep building on what we’ve managed to do with the live show this year. It’s quite a lot of people to cart around Australia. It’s hard to make it work, but it’s very rewarding as well.

With this album, we’ve got a few friends. The guys from Cub Sport playing on a song: those guys are absolute angels from Brisbane, incredibly nice, incredibly talented. We were touring with them with Saskwatch and managed to get them in town to do the song. Crepes, Tim Karmouche: he’s amazing, been a fan of his for years playing with Hollow Everdaze, and now he’s started a new band with Crepes. It’s great, so good, love his voice and his writing. And then the last guest was Joe Neptune which is actually one of Jarrad’s bands, a collaboration with his friend Nick 54

Same, but different: Philippe Parreno’s Thenabouts at ACMI Carrie Lu

It is difficult to define the work of Philippe Parreno. He deals with film, sound, installation and performance, weaving seamlessly between them by engaging the whole exhibition space as his medium.

This next work is called Marilyn. The film opens with a warmly-lit interior of a well-furnished hotel suite. The camera focuses, and defocuses, on certain items. The stack of magazines on the walnut coffee table. The desk lamp. The nib of a fountain pen moving across paper.

Finding myself with some free time in the city, I decide to see his exhibition at ACMI. Descending into the lower ground gallery, each turn of the staircase takes me further into the darkness. My eyes struggle to adjust, with other senses quickly sharpening to compensate.

The warm light disappears and heavy rain sets in. A tone of urgency emerges in the narration. The fountain pen begins to retrace itself – whole paragraphs replicated in the same cursive.

The stairs take me into the first part of the exhibition, an installation featuring fluorescent wall lights, casting an artificial moonlight onto a school of fish balloons sitting on the floor. One of the gallery attendants tells me that visitors are welcome to interact with the balloons, so I toss one up. It’s a lot lighter and rises much quicker than I expected. Inevitably, it swings around its peak, and gently floats back down.

Panning out slowly, we see that the pen is attached to a robotic arm, mindlessly tracing the florid cursive. Panning out further, the walls, ceiling, and floor end, revealing the room is contained within a set. Out further are the studio lights and a rain machine. The film’s slow buildup of strangeness is explained by something very familiar, yet it reveals everything that came before as a complete artifice.

But the fish balloons are not the stars of the show. At the end of the gallery space is a screen that fills the final wall of the exhibition. Walking towards it, the glow of the installation fades away, and again my senses are faced with navigating through the dark. The ground changes from a thin carpet to something padded and soft.

Video art demands your time. As well as this, Philippe Parreno’s immersive exhibitions demand your presence. Watching three films at Thenabouts can take up to an entire hour, but I think anyone would appreciate being able to lose track of time and place, and entering Parreno’s surreal and immersive landscape.

The gallery technician announces the next work. His announcement is highly reverbed, and contends with the atmospheric rumbling throughout the exhibition. The consistent clunk of the escalator continues upstairs.

4/5 stars

KOOZA Review Anthony Furci @AnthonyRFurci Photography Courtesy of Matt Beard, Cirque du Soleil

The first circus performance I ever saw was in the car park of a local shopping centre. It was one of those travelling circuses, and I was quite young, but I remember it clearly. There was something about it that I found so fascinating, but I’d never been able to explain what that ‘something’ was.

Highlights included the high wire performance, in which performers would ride a bike along a trapeze wire, all while pretending to struggle; and the ‘Skeleton Dance’, an exuberant homage to Day of the Dead celebrations. Early on, there was a contortion act. I’m constantly in awe of anyone who can bend so far backwards that their head pokes through their legs.

That was, until I saw Cirque du Soleil’s Kooza. The show’s season here in Melbourne began on the 20th of January, premiering to a capacity crowd under the Big Top at Flemington Racecourse.

The absolute standout, however, was the 1,600-pound Wheel of Death. With the only ‘safety’ precaution being the padded floor, it was by far the show’s riskiest stunt.

Leading up to the performance, I had no idea what to expect. I’d never seen a Cirque du Soleil show before, but its surreal tone was set from the moment we entered. Despite only being in the foyer, it felt as though we had transcended into another dimension. As we got into our seats, the pre-show shenanigans were underway. Here, we were introduced to the King and his two clowns. They would provide the comic relief throughout the show, entering at the perfect moments to reset the crowd. Always following the most intense stunts.

The two performers appeared to float in midair with ease, as they spun the giant double-wheeled contraption with their body weights. Raw human strength was on display here, at its finest. Words truly cannot do this act justice. This was so much more than just a circus performance. It felt like a full-fledged theatre production. The show was accompanied by a live band, boasting two vocalists. Each performance came with a unique soundtrack, emanating a combination of jazz, funk, and Bollywood sounds.

Through these characters, Kooza hits the balance between humour and acrobatics perfectly. Along with the lights, the shenanigans eventually began to fade, and the curtains, like giant wings, closed. The show was about to begin.

The band’s drummer even performed a solo in the middle of the stage, a testament to Kooza’s brilliant ability to capture the tight unity between music and performance.

A small, somewhat bumbling clown protagonist aptly known as The Innocent appears from the side of the stage. Covered in grey, he’s portrayed as a lost soul. He attempts to fly a kite, to no avail. He receives a mysterious, jack-in-the-box-type package, from which our second protagonist emerges. At first glance, I thought The Trickster was a mannequin.

Kooza is the essence of what a circus should be. It encapsulates both the joy and the awe of a live act, with incredible precision. By the end of the show The Innocent finds himself alone on stage once again, yet this time, he is able to fly his kite successfully.

That was before he exploded out of the box, of course. Painted in direct contrast to The Innocent, The Trickster takes both him and the audience under his wing. Through his arrival on stage, the world of Kooza begins. This also prompts The Innocent’s clothes to change from a dull grey to blue and orange, matching the colours of The Trickster’s eloquent outfit. I still have no idea how they did that.

Perhaps this is a metaphor for the enlightening, pilgrimage-type power of a Cirque du Soleil performance. After all, Kooza certainly enlightened me. It helped me to find that ‘something’ that I find so fascinating about the circus.

Guidance is a motif prevalent throughout the show, as The Innocent is taken on a pilgrimage of sorts through Kooza—a hidden world of magic and performance. In a sense, this is reflective of Cirque du Soleil, as they take each audience on a journey of wonder and discovery—night after night, show after show.

Maybe it’ll do the same for you. Kooza, by Cirque du Soleil, is showing in Melbourne until March 26. See www.cirquedusoleil.com/kooza for more information.

With the underlying Innocent/Trickster story arc, the show was split into performances of six and seven acts, with an intermission in between. 57

Moment of (Near) Death Kasia Kosidlo @kasiakosidlo

Death… a subject that makes most people uncomfortable. But hey, you’re clearly curious enough to start reading all about it.

world, the transition from life to death was illustrated as walking through a door”. Maybe this symbolism simply wasn’t dramatic enough for Hollywood and popular culture, which is bursting with special effectladen cliffhangers.

While what happens after death is a hot topic for the living, tackling the divide between life and death and everything in between remains less scrutinised. With an extensive binge-watching history of House and Grey’s Anatomy behind me, I think I’m more than qualified to explore the matter.

We all know how it goes: disorientating buzzing, a tunnel filled with bright light, a rush of emotions, life summarised in a flash and, finally, a choice to remain alive or to ‘cross’. This trope is consistent with what near-death experience survivors from around the world have reported for decades. Separation from the body, mystical beings or presences and extrasensory perception also make appearances in these accounts. The Greyson Scale, developed by psychiatrist Bruce Greyson, gauges the intensity of these experiences and neatly classifies them from 1 to 16. More often than not, survivors’ experiences are found at the intense end of the scale, and are viewed as an overwhelmingly positive, life-changing experience that alters their perspective on death.

Here we were, thinking that death was a 100% fatesealed kind of deal, when it actually takes place in a variety of ways and stages. Clinical death occurs when a person ceases breathing and their heart stops, but efforts to revive or extend a person’s systems - usually CPR, defibrillation or mechanical ventilation - can be performed, and when successful, result in life. This medical limbo is where near-death experiences are reported, and they happen with enough frequency and remarkable similarities to warrant fascination. Biological death is a permanent cessation of brain activity, where tragically… well, that’s it.

As for explaining what is behind this phenomenon, no foolproof theory has emerged. The speculation of an afterlife, or something entirely unknown, is intoxicating to some. It’s also completely unbelievable to many.

This process seems even harder to pin down when considering the strange, although scientifically justified, Lazarus sign spinal reflex that causes movement in patients diagnosed with brain death. Even in non-BD bodies, our skin cells will be alive and surviving for days after our demise. If you’re feeling uncertain about true death, you could always wait a little until the body begins decomposition…

Scientific theories have attempted to pinpoint the underlying cause of a near-death experience as the following: hallucinations, oxygen deprivation, a prior knowledge of the near-death scenario archetype or trauma’s strong effect on the brain.

It was this uncertainty that fueled a mass hysteria during the mid 18th century, leaving doctors and civilians fearful of the bizarre prospect of being buried alive. ‘Waiting mortuaries’ opened up, monitoring the dead in case they ever came back to life, but none ever did.

A report by Hadassah University from February 2017 investigated whether typical ‘life review’ characteristics present during near-death experiences also exist throughout the general healthy population. These encompass dissociation, memory recall and selfreflection symptoms, with researchers determining they “exist in the cognitive system and may be further expressed in extreme conditions of psychological and physiological stress.”

Going back even further in time, neurologist Birk Engmann’s book ‘Near-Death Experiences: Heavenly Insight or Human Illusion’, details that “in the ancient 59

Dr Tom Keeble, from the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health in Melbourne, discussed how during a traumatic experience, the brain is flooded with adrenaline which can dull our sensations of pain.

it increases at time of death and in near-death experiences, Strassman later stated, “it makes sense that endogenous [the body’s internal] DMT may play a role. The ethics and situational constraints of studying an area such as this are important to consider, and progress is - predictably - slow. More conclusive, varied and widespread studies, specific to the near-death experience and act of dying, are the only things that will show us the light at the end of the tunnel.

We know the brain can react in intelligent ways like this, but the near-death experience is described as something ‘more’ than a rush, as hyper-real and visionary. Similarities were drawn between this experience and the effects of illegal psychedelic drug, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), on volunteers as recorded in a 1990-1995 study by Dr Rick Strassman. DMT also naturally exists in the human body, and although it isn’t known whether production of

Contributors

Editors: Maggie Coggan-Gartlan Anthony Furci Claudia Long Creative Director: George Coltman Design Team: George Coltman Kit Tran Paige Linden Section Editors: Social media: Meg Mckenna

Written Contributors: Alisi Falevai Liam Straughan Declan Williams Jessica Clark Lisa Divissi Dan Batten Stephen Smit Abby Alexander Megan McKenna Rochelle Kirkham Ben Madden Jennifer Park Carrie Lu Kasia Kosidlo

Creative Writing: Morgan Thistlewaithe

Visual Contributors: Megan McKenna Deanca Mihardja Ying Wang Brandon Sullivan Taylor Bonin

Reviews: Ben Madden

Poster Image & Back Cover: Taylor Bonin

Events: Dharni Giri

Special Thanks To: Sydney Road Association - primary sponsor

Cataclysm EP: Natalie Pitcher

Cover Image: George Coltman

Marketing: Abby Alexander

Catalyst acknowledges that this magazine was produced on the stolen land of the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation. We pay our respects to their elders, both past and present. We also acknowledge the traditional owners of all the lands from where the stories and artworks were sourced.