Issue 13 ✦ Cupid

Editorial ✦ Etita

The News ✦

Kawe Pūrongo

Features ✦

Ahuatanga

14. Relationships Departure Lounge:

Baggage Allowance Assessed—Lauren Walker

18. Love in Full Bloom: Embracing the Alluring Charm of Floristry—Phoebe Robertson

22. Finding Love with the Stars of FBOY Island—Pippi Jean

26. How to Hook Up Without Hurting Your Heart —Georgia Wearing

28. Ace, Ace, Baby—Zoe Hollier

5 Podcasts ✦

Kōnae Ipurangi

6

Arts & Culture ✦

Ahurea

7

About Us

Salient is published by, but remains editorially independent from, the Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association (VUWSA). Salient is funded in part by VUWSA through the Student Services Levy. Salient is a member of the Aotearoa Student Press Association (ASPA).

The views expressed in Salient do not necessarily reflect those of the Editors, VUWSA, or the University.

Complaints

Complaints regarding the material published in Salient should first be brought to the Editors in writing (editor@salient.org.nz).

If not satisfied with the response, complaints should be directed to the Media Council (info@mediacouncil.org.nz).

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A Love Letter to the Salient Reader

ou might be picking this magazine up for the first time, or this might be the 61st issue you’ve flicked through. Whether you’re a new reader of Salient, or a fan since third-year: welcome. This is our love letter to you.

Each week, we pour our hearts into producing 40 pages of content just for you. We want you to be informed, enraged, engaged, and ultimately, feel seen. We love seeing cut-up Salient pages on bedroom walls in the back of IG selfies or TikToks. We smile when we see a group reading their weekly horoscopes together. Salient is a labour of love for you, and for us.

A lot of us leave our family for the first time to come to university, branching out into a sea of a million potential new connections. While RAs joke that 1/3 of us will find our future spouse during our time at university, we are more likely to stumble into chosen families: friends who prove that water is sometimes thicker than blood, and who surround us with love while we find our way through our tumultuous twenties. For many of us who work for this magazine, Salient becomes this kind of adoptive family.

Romantic love seems to get all the big hype. Love actually (go watch Love Actually) comes in a variety of different forms. The love we have for our passions, projects, or future prospects is what carries us through our hospo jobs and compulsory Stats courses. Especially for those of us who studied during the Covid era, the usual abundance of new connections were at times few and far between.

But the most magical type of connection you can find at uni is often not within halls or at Eyegum or at student night, but over a shared love for a subject. Fran can confirm that the vulnerability of a Creative Writing course is the perfect place for finding platonic soulmates, while Maia’s day one connection with someone over shared majors lasted an entire degree of late-night library study sessions.

It’s cheesy (but we love cheese here at Salient, so suck it), and as much as we have a complicated relationship with it, this university will always hold a soft spot in our hearts. It’s where our adult lives and careers truly began. Being an academic, say what you will, is romantic as shit. Imagine devoting your life to a subject just because you love it so much, that you’ll spend threeplus years exploring it. (This has turned into an editorial for the nerds). Even if you don’t feel that connected to your degree, at least you now have a bunch of random facts to pull out at your next speed dating event. Yeehaw!

In the ‘Cupid’ issue, Lauren evaluates relationships against the post-university travel plunge, asking if commitment can

co-exist with self-exploration. Phoebe helps you level up your love life with flowers (In the words of SZA: ”It’s cuffing season / I need a big…” bouquet). If the connection you’re looking for is more with yourself than another situationship, Georgia helps you navigate hooking up without the heartbreak. Finally, Zoe tells us about the experience of being the only one who isn’t madly crushed-up.

A lot has happened on campus while students haven’t been here: the university announced a sweep of staff cuts and departments to be disestablished, to a reception of protests and calls for a moratorium. The News section takes you through the last month of developments with this debt-ridden university—with extra reporting from Maia about the Living Pā, and Ethan (Jr) gets to the bottom of @NZSTYLE on TikTok.

Buy yourself some flowers this week kiddo, and best of luck for the first week of Trimester 2. Also, Salient Wizard warns you, be careful with your flings and boo tings as Venus is in Leo: a special time for self-love.

xoxo

Salient’s own Cupid and Psyche

Salient is fuelled by:

Hundreds of Proposed Job Losses, C0urses Cut, and a Government Funding Boost: What the Fuck is Happening at VUW ?

By Maia Ingoe (she/her) and Zoë Mills (they/she)

Part 1: VC Nic Drops a Bomb

After the University of Otago announced they had a $60 million debt in early May, suspicions of a similar blow at Te Herenga Waka arose.

On 24 May, Vice-Chancellor Nic Smith presented a forum entitled ‘Achieving Financial Sustainability’. The presentation detailed immense debt for the university—a predicted forecast of $33m for 2023 alone—and major job cuts. Areas under review at this period included ‘central service units’, such as roles in Human Resources and Engagement, as well as staffing within Business and Government, Education, Health, and Law faculties.

The forum also included the now-infamous chart of the nearly 60 courses under review—most of which were creative arts and humanities subjects. Classics, Languages, Nursing and Midwifery, Theatre, Teaching, English, and Tourism were just some of the subjects on the chopping block.

Part 2: Pushback Through Protest

Students and staff alike began voicing concern at their courses being cut. Many raised questions about the prominence of humanities subjects on the chopping block.

An open letter, signed by the Tertiary Education Union (TEU), Vice-Chancellor Nic Smith, VUW students, prominent alumni, global academics and others concerned about the cuts was presented to Parliament on 15 June. The letter urged the government, particularly Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Minister for Education Jan Tinetti, to ‘Save Tertiary Education’. The letter called for the government to lift the debt ceiling at VUW and UOO to prevent mass staffing cuts, and to collaborate alongside universities, students’ associations, and the TEU to “establish a sustainable funding model for universities”. There are currently over 3200 signatures on the open letter.

“Critical university education, including the arts and the humanities, fully funded at the same rates as technical and scientific subjects, is vital to the wellbeing of our nation, to the solving of gnarly problems, and to our international success,” wrote Professor Annemarie Jutel of VUW. Other signees included former Prime Minister Helen Clark, film director Jane Campion, author Catherine Chidgey, and Professor Dierdre Lynch of Harvard Univeristy.

Part 3: Full Cuts Revealed, Shit Hits the Fan

On 21 June, another forum announced the full extent of the cuts: 275 roles were to be made redundant. Of these, 135 were from centrally staffed units, and 140 from academic and professional roles within faculties. With 36 roles in scope of redundancy already vacant, and 46 new roles to be created within the proposals, the number of real redundancies proposed is 229.

News of the proposed cuts travelled fast, as did the list of programs up for disestablishment. As of 2024, there would be no new enrollments in Geophysics, Physical Geography, Workplace Health and Safety, the Graduate Diploma in Teaching (Early Childhood), and the Master of Teaching and Learning (Primary and Secondary). Tourism Management, postgraduate Design Technology, and the Graduate Diploma in Teaching (Secondary) were to be discontinued. Many languages were also on the chopping block : Italian, German, Latin, and Greek.

Concern abounded about the suite of programmes to be merged: Theatre, Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Museum and Heritage Studies, and Classical and Jazz performance all would be integrated into other programmes.

“The University is conscious of the need to protect the quality of education and student experience at our institution. We can also confirm that all our current students will be able to complete their programmes of study regardless of any changes,” a statement from the University on 21 June said.

On the same day, Vice-Chancellor Nic Smith said, “This is a hugely challenging task and I am grateful for the hard work and professionalism our staff have demonstrated during this process. I know this is a blow to our community, but I also want to acknowledge our areas of strength and distinctiveness, and our historical legacy as a university. I remain confident and determined that we will work through this situation and emerge positioned for future success.”

Part 4: “Get Fucked”

The forefront of the movement against staff and course cuts shifted to student and staff-led protests. On 21 June, TEU hosted a protest in front of the Hunter Building. A crowd of over 300 people showed their support, including staff, alumni, and current students. Protesters were encouraged to bring signs which told stories of personal experiences with the university and messages of frustration directed towards the education sector—one simply read, “Get Fucked” Speakers from the TEU, Otago University Students’ Association, and VUWSA voiced their support for staff facing uncertainty, and called for the government to raise the debt ceiling.

Gina Dao-McLay, Green Party candidate for Mana and student at VUW, is studying a Bachelor of Arts. For Dao-McLay, the cuts have a personal impact, as the subjects that they study have small, close-knit faculties. “The Prime Minister and the finance minister need to actually own up to the fact that they were a part of these kinds of movements in the past, and actually reflect on what they used to do when they were student association presidents,” Dao-McLay said at the protest.

Part 5: VUW is Saved!....Kinda?... Well, Not Really…

On 27 June, the Labour Party announced “significant extra support to universities and other degree providers”, providing additional funding to tertiary institutions to prevent major staff and course cuts.

An extra $128m will be allocated over the next two years to support tertiary providers, as well as a complete review of the higher education funding system. Education Minister Jan Tinetti said that the funding increase was the “most significant increase in 20 years”, yet the nature of the funding means that VUW is missing out.

VUW would only be receiving $12m of the funding pack—less than 10% of the total allocated funds. In an email to staff, Nic Smith detailed a new approach to deal with the university’s mounting debt, which included “pausing current consultation and running a voluntary redundancy process” throughout July. Phase 2, after that, will review the current cuts proposal.

This is predicted to be done by mid-August. Changes will be finalised and the process will be complete by early October. “This will include consultation on programmes that cannot realistically move to a financially sustainable position in the next 24 months and professional staffing areas that did not meet their cost saving targets through voluntary redundancies,” wrote Smith.

TEU protest the staff cuts, calling on the Government to save 275 jobs at VUW, on the Hunter Lawn on 21 June. From left to right: Sign Language Interpreter, TEU Branch President for VUW Dougal McNeill, and VUWSA Welfare Vice President Marcail Parkinson.

The university told Salient that while the university welcomes the announcement of a review into the tertiary education funding model, “treating universities in isolation and encouraging competition in the same disciplines and sometimes in the same geographical locations is not beneficial for a country the size of New Zealand.”

Massey University and Otago University have also announced major cuts, while the University of Auckland and the University of Canterbury have remained silent. The tidal funding model, in which funds are allocated to match the current funds that each institution receives, causes uncertainty. The University of Auckland, which is currently the most wealthy tertiary institute in the country, would receive around $28m under this model, over double of VUW’s $12m.

“We would argue, not for a full amalgamation model, but a system that enables sharing capabilities across the sector and allows universities the opportunity to define their individual areas of distinctiveness and strength,” said Smith in the email.

Part 6: What Now?

Nicki Wilford, TEU organiser for VUW, says that the next period of intervention from the university will depend on the staff that choose to put their hands up for voluntary redundancy.

Wilford says that it’s important for VUW to emphasise their niche. “I think that would make huge seats for Wellington to be the capital city university that teaches primarily Humanities, Law, International Relations, Politics. I'm not excluding other subjects, but you know, the core of what we do here should be really supported.”

“For years and years and years, humanities brought all the funding into this university. So it's been a bit sad for me that they're hugely in scope for this change proposal,” she said.

A full list of course cuts and other proposed changes is expected to be announced within the coming weeks.

Over Budget and Overtime: Why is Now the Time for the Living Pā?

Words by Maia Ingoe (she/her)

The building extension of Te Herenga Waka Marae, the Living Pā, is unique, ambitious, and future focused, but burdensome challenges have continued to push the project backwards.

An OIA received by Salient confirmed that a revised budget of $52 million for the project was approved in late 2022, an increase of $17m from the original budget of $35m approved in 2019.

$17.5m has been spent on the project to date. This marks a significant spend for the university in a fraught financial climate, with a $33m deficit and proposed staff cuts announced at the end of May.

The project has also experienced a 3-month delay since commencing on-site construction, with competition now expected by July 2024.

Multiple challenges

“We've probably got one of the worst sites in Wellington,” explained project Co-Manager Lincoln North (Te Arawa). The Living Pā project began development in 2018, with business and concept design long preceding the beginning of construction in April last year.

Initial testing confirmed it was a difficult build site, but after removing the pre-existing Kelburn Parade villas, they realised it was incredibly variable.

“In one spot, you'll drill and hit rock in two metres. So you'll move five metres to your left, and the 12-metre pile disappears into the ground,” North said.

This, combined with international drivers, has created “the perfect storm”, said Rhonda Thompson (Ngāi Tahu). Thompson is the project’s second Co-Manager and is also a Senior Advisor in the office of the project’s sponsor, Professor Rawinia Higgins (Tūhoe), Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Māori).

Construction costs escalated over the Covid-19 pandemic, with the price of labour and materials increasing 30-50% between 2020-2022.

Living Building certification

The Living Pā is the third building in the Southern Hemisphere aiming for Living Building certification, and the first in an urban environment.

The Living Building Challenge is “internationally recognised as the gold standard in sustainable building systems,” Thompson said. For that reason, it’s “incredibly hard”.

But, as a future focused framework, “It creates genuine sector change and research opportunities,” North said. The Living Building Challenge is organised into seven performance areas: place, water, energy, health and happiness, materials, equity, and beauty. All of these contribute to restoring a relationship with the natural environment by creating a building that provides significant good.

“It’s not really about building a building. It’s about what it can inspire a community to do,” Thomspon explained. The Living Building values align with Māori values in relation to the natural world. Perhaps this is why all Living Building projects in Aotearoa have been conceptualised and led by Māori. Thompson poses a central question in the building’s purpose: How do you be a better ancestor?

Attempting the Living Building certification in an urban environment “does raise very particular challenges”, North explained. “Our site is doubled down really tight, and [is] on a steep hill and not totally exposed to the sun.” An example of those challenges are closed loop water systems. All water treatment must be done on-site, a feat much easier to achieve in a rural environment.

Why is now the right time?

“Arguably, we’re perfectly timed, but really ill timed,” said Thompson, citing the project’s approval just prior to the pandemic in 2019. “We got in just before people knew all the stuff was going to tank out.”

The Living Pā is one of the most ambitious of the university’s Capital Works portfolio, and the sole remaining large project,

with the rest pulled in the context of the university’s $33m deficit. The university has a $1.4 billion property portfolio and has annual budgets of $60m-$80m for property services. “Is it a good use of resource[s]? I mean, we're always gonna say ‘yes, it is’. And you can’t go back once you get past a certain point,” North said.

“If we're a university that perhaps is lagging behind in terms of attracting new students and with upholding our traditional student base, then [the Living Pā] creates that sense of a unique location, [and a] specific university for the future,” North said. “And so importantly, it upholds our responsibilities under the Treaty [of Waitangi], and as a civic university taking responsibility for the future of Aotearoa.”

The Living Pā is a flagship project, proving that it can be done and paving the way for the construction sector, Thompson explained. “People want change. We don’t just want rhetoric around doing things better. We need people to be early movers, because governments and regulators can’t do it by themselves.”

In addition, Thompson said, the Living Pā extends the ability of the Te Herenga Waka Marae to become a place for discussions for the future. “All these really hard things that we're facing as a people, as a nation or globally, like climate change, depleting resources, inequalities, and injustices…. Those are really big problems, and a marae is a great place to go and have discussions about that.”

Te Herenga Waka Marae has been active since the 1980s, and is awaiting redevelopment within a competitive Capital Works portfolio, Thompson explained. “We’ve waited our time.

The Marae has waited it’s turn.”

The Living Pā construction site on Kelburn Parade.

NZSTYLE: Fashion Trendsetter or “Hella Creepy”?

Words by Ethan Rogacion (he/him)

The launch of NZSTYLE (@nzstyled) on TikTok has caused a stir in Pōneke.

The account premises itself on spotlighting the best dressed people in Wellington, but its method for doing so has drawn criticism from some.

The account does not ask the people it films for permission. Instead, it captures subjects from a distance without their knowledge.

This has proven to be controversial, with one TikTok commenter noting that it is “hella creepy” for the account to be filming without the explicit consent of the subject.

Public opinion on the account is split. While some commenters write that they “hope to be in one of these” and have made it “a goal to feature” on the account, others have said that they’re horrified that they will “be caught lackin”.

Some viewers also note that the outfits NZSTYLE captures aren’t representative of real Wellington fashion and are instead “giving […] grandparents and suits”.

Wellingtonians that spoke to Salient shared similar thoughts, with one commenting that it is “exciting to see if there’s anyone that I know” on the account, and that she would “quite like to be

on the account, but only when I’m wearing a cool outfit” —not when she is “walking to the supermarket looking like I’m wearing a trash bag”.

A VUW student who was featured on the account said that he would have been “uncomfortable if [he was filmed] in some other circumstance”, but was happy that the account “caught me in a good fit”. He added that “it was kind of exciting having a little moment of TikTok fame."

Professor Nicole Moreham—who specialises in privacy and media law—told Salient that, while the account’s videos are perfectly legal, it is a mild version of uncomfortable practices on social media.

Moreham notes that the content the account makes tends to be “celebrating [its subjects] rather than shaming them in any way”. She contrasts this against other media—especially that which creates spectacle out of traumatic moments— which also relies on images captured in public spaces.

Professor Moreham reminds audiences “how important it is, as consumers of this content and as the makers of [this type of] content, to think about what impact we might be having on the subjects without realising.”

just a bit of

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It's normal to feel overwhelmed when the essays start piling up. But if everything else is piling up too, we've got you. Free online therapy courses for everyone in Aotearoa - practical, accessible, and proven. thought just a

OPINION : The Government is Leaving Students Out in the Cold this Winter

Words by Ethan Manera

(he/him)

Students live in some of the shittest housing in Aotearoa. Our flats are old, damp, and bloody freezing in winter. Too many of us have to wait until our free hours of power kicks in at 9 p.m. to flick on those heaters and keep a reasonable temperature. After three hours, the cold seeps back in through uninsulated walls.

If only there was some kind of government payment to help with the cost of power during winter…

Turns out, there is. They’re just gatekeeping it from us.

The Winter Energy Payment is an extra $20 per week from the government to help Kiwis heat their homes from May to October. Over 1 million people are eligible, including those on Superannuation, the Veteran's Pension, the Jobseeker benefit, Sole Parent Support, Supported Living Payment, Young Parent Payment, Youth Payment, Emergency Benefit, and Emergency Maintenance Allowance.

But not students.

All of these criteria are valid. If you need support to heat your home, it should be available. So why has the government decided that students simply aren't worthy of keeping warm in winter?

Maybe it's not that bad? Maybe it’s a right of passage for uni students to live in an icebox flat? Maybe we just complain too much?

No. Research from the University of Otago last year showed that tertiary students are more than twice as likely to be living in damp and mouldy homes. Thirty-five percent of students surveyed had a patch of mould larger than a fucking A4 piece of paper growing in their houses.

We’re cold and we're getting sick, but the government doesn't give a rat's arse about students. Alongside backtracking on the full fees free program, and ruling out universal student allowance, they've shifted the goalpost for landlords, giving them more time to meet the Healthy Homes Standards. Don't rely on your flat getting a heat pump any time before July 2025.

It seems that if you want to splash out on the luxury of keeping warm this winter, the closest thing to government support is student loan living costs. Going into further debt to avoid cold and sickness shouldn’t be the best the government can offer students.

HOT TAKES

How do you think the government could better fund Victoria University?

It would be cool if the government could see university as a public good, rather than a business. If the funding model could switch from seeing education just as a way to upskill people to just valuing education for education.

Make sure that their funding is matching inflation and they’re funding the university a decent amount per student, but they also need to be funding students themselves better.

In order to have a university you need students and the cost of being a student is unreasonable right now. […] I think more importantly we need to make it affordable to be a student.

If universities are going to move towards a more collaborative model where you might be able to study at Vic but also do a course at Otago or another university, then they really need to invest in proper teaching resources.

Marcail (she/her)

VUWSA Welfare Vice President

Matt (he/him) VUWSA CEO Jess (she/her) VUWSA President

Mika (he/him)

VUWSA Sustainability Officer

HEADLINE

AUSTRALIA PRESCRIBES MAGIC MUSHROOMS AND MDMA FOR MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT

Australia is officially the first country in the world to legalise psychedelics as prescription medicine to treat mental health conditions. Psychiatrists will now be able to prescribe MDMA to PTSD sufferers, and magic mushrooms to help aid those suffering with certain kinds of depression. Though the move is seen as progressive by many people across the globe, the decision does not come without pushback. Melbourne based cognitive neuropsychologist, Professor Susan Rossel, questions the speed of the drugs’ appearance in the market, claiming no other drug for any other disease would have become available as quickly as the psychedelics. Other experts have expressed concerns over the risks of ‘bad trips’, and the potential cost of treatments. But many scientists and mental health experts see this as a massive move towards mental health rehabilitation.

WHITE SUBSTANCE AT WHITE HOUSE TESTS POSITIVE AS COCAINE

A mass evacuation of the White House was incited after a mysterious white powder was discovered in a secure building. The fire department quickly declared the substance as ‘non-hazardous’. It was found in a storage area frequently used by workers that undergoes regular inspections. The powder was sent off for testing and quickly confirmed as cocaine. Salient readers will be relieved to hear that President Joe Biden was far from the illegal drug, safely away with his family when the cocaine was found. The Secret Service are searching for the snorting culprit.

KIM JONG UN DOESN’T GET THE MEMO ABOUT SALIENT’S ‘CUPID’ ISSUE

North Korea has announced a crackdown on any language that could be associated with South Korea, particularly any words or slang to do with love. Any person caught using such language could face time in prison, or even the death sentence. Wives must opt for the word dongji (comrade), over jagiya (honey), which has allerted many to the situation’s striking resemblance to George Orwell’s novel 1984. The phrase ‘I love you’ has been reported as an indication of North Koreans watching South Korean films, another action punishable by death. Safe to say Kim Jong Un’s love language is not words of affirmation.

COLLEEN BALLINGER RELEASES NEW SINGLE AMID ALLEGATIONS OF INAPPROPRIATE RELATIONSHIPS WITH CHILDREN

CW: Sexual Harassment.

Youtuber Colleen Ballinger (Miranda Sings) has released the new ukulele single ‘hi’ in response to allegations of inappropriate relationships with young fans, singing, “I’m not a groomer / just a loser”. Screenshots from a group chat named ‘Colleeny’s Weenies’ showcased the YouTuber’s inappropriate correspondence with underage members. This included asking them questions about sex, sharing information about her own sex life, and distributing pornography from fellow YouTuber Trisha Paytas’ onlyfans. Ballinger shocked the world with her response video, as she sang about a “toxic gossip train”, dismissing the allegations as rumours whilst simultaneously confirming the truth of the accusations. Despite being “strongly advised [not to] say what [she wanted] to say” by her team, Ballinger found a loophole claiming “that they never said I couldn't sing what I wanted to say”. The video has been dubbed by many as the worst YouTuber response video of all time.

Daisy Jones & The Six

The Novel, TV Series, and Album that Revived My Emotional Inner Teenager

Words by Francesca Pietkiewicz (she/they)

“I’ve been in love. And it hurts, doesn’t it? But it doesn’t have to. Love doesn’t have to be bombs and tears and blood… if you’re lucky enough to find somebody that lifts you up even when you don’t deserve it. That’s where the light is. Find somebody who helps you see the light” - Daisy Jones

I’m in love with a band that never existed.

After my second watch of Amazon Prime’s Daisy Jones & The Six, and spending nine hours listening to Taylor Jenkins Reid’s words via the audio book, I gave in to the narrative that this band had once existed and bought their Aurora album on vinyl. I don’t usually buy merch, nor do I re-watch a whole show from start to finish (and most definitely not within two months of my initial viewing), but what can I say? I’m a moth caught in the sparkling-spangled disco ball glow of it all.

Daisy Jones & The Six curates a 1970s scene, where the worlds of two tortured artists collide to create a complex creative enigma, ending in their inevitable crash and burn. It’s a multi-faceted love story about connection and redemption, tip-toeing on a tightrope between stardom and sober sanity. Inspired by Fleetwood Mac’s famous Stevie Nicks stint, it’s a take on the psychedelic, Summer of Loveera rock star-cliche, complete with plenty of love, sex, and drugs (as well as some stellar looks, including, of course, a catalogue full of penny lane coats). Aurora, with its lyrical back and forth, mirrors a similar sound and structure to Fleetwood Mac’s conversational, stunner album Rumours

The novel has received hearty criticism for its structure. It’s laid out like a Rolling Stone interview, with the characters reflecting on the band’s rise and fall segmented by small sections of narration to aid the flow of the story. Critics will tell you it’s hard to follow, and to that I’d say, that is where it's nuanced beauty lies. I may just be used to reading transcripts, but it was wonderful to experience multiple characters'

storytelling. The ‘interviews’ directly respond to each other, letting the reader in on hints as the story flows and unravels between the lines.

I only actually read two chapters via a Kindle free sample before loading up the audio book. It was a wonderful listening experience, but in my opinion, the voice actors of Billy and Graham should have been switched, and the voices for Karen and Simone are completely wrong.

Initially, I was drawn in by the TV show’s tangerinehued trailer. It featured home-recorded Super 8 clips of Billy and Camila and their sweet, sensual, honeycombscented love, cut between scenes of the hardcore crashing between Daisy and Billy and their electric, creative lust. I knew then that this was a story about the complexities, contrasts, and comparisons of love.

The mockumentary, biopic style of Daisy Jones & The Six finds its true form within the TV show adaptation, with soft, reflective ‘20 years later’ interviews interwoven in perfect harmony with the jaunt and jive 70s present.

Throughout my second watch, my inner teenager was alive. I was both sobbing and scream-singing along at the top of my lungs, with a sense of reckless abandon I thought no longer existed in me. Maybe I’m just a sucker for a good redemption arch, but Daisy Jones more than that. This is a story about the different forms that love takes in our lives: soulmates, twin-flames, karmic connections, soul ties, platonic companions, chosen and biological families, passions, purposes, and vices. There are types of love that are good for us, and others that teach us important life lessons. We will never just experience one. Daisy Jones & The Six communicates how we are all interconnected influences on each other, and it’s up to us to find the light.

TOP TUNES OF ‘23: APRIL-JUNE

THE GROOVE GARDEN THE

Words by Xavier Farrow-Francis (he/she/they)

1. PARANOÏA, TRUE LOVE, ANGELS by Christine and the Queens

Chris, known as Redcar or Red, has crafted a superbly grandiose and sprawling masterclass with this project. PARANOÏA, TRUE LOVE, ANGELS explores grief, love, death, identity, and much more. Inspired by the play Angels in America, Red is bare and raw all throughout the album as he weaves complex stories (à la MCR’s Black Parade) of introspection against spotlit backdrops of heavy bass and crashing drums. The final product is a lengthy but striking emotional experience that will have your jaw on the floor at multiple points.

Listen if you like: Portishead, The Weeknd, Róisín Murphy, George Michael. Genres: Art pop, trip hop, progressive pop, rock opera.

2. Gag Order by Kesha

The past decade for Kesha has been hellish. She’s been stuck in a vicious cycle of court battles with her label executive and former producer, Dr. Luke. Gag Order sees her coming brutally head to head with the tumultuous emotions and trauma she’s had to endure. It’s a gloriously passionate record that sees Kesha at her most vulnerable, but also at her boldest. Gone is the party animal Kesha we all know; the popstar approach is abandoned. In her place is a daring music experimentalist utilising singer-songwriter and avant-pop-isms to accurately express a worn and tired woman who is sick of being silenced.

Listen if you like: James Blake, Bon Iver, Caroline Polachek, Alex G. Genres: Art pop, singer-songwriter, glitch folk, ambient pop.

3. Stereo Mind Game by Daughter

The latest offering from Daughter comes six years after their last, but it may well be their best. Meditative and melancholic, Stereo Mind Game is a bittersweet album about acceptance over emotional situations out of your control. The band captures distance in such an impeccable way across the record, through spacious beds of delicate vocals, airy drums and guitars, and glistening electronics. The listening experience of Stereo Mind Game is poignant and seamless, with many moments of great emotional resonance to be found.

Listen if you like: Julien Baker, The National, Sigur Rós. Genres: Dream pop, indie rock, post-rock.

4. Good Lies by Overmono

Listen if you like: Four Tet, Disclosure, Burial, PinkPantheress. Genres: UK bass, future garage, breakbeat, 2-step.

5. gisela by NOIA

Lush and fucking banging is one of the greatest combos you can have on an electronic album, and Overmono have got this in spades. After dominating the live electronic scene for the last couple of years, their debut album presents us with hazy, euphoric, and stimulating beats, interweaving some excellent samples throughout. Good Lies provides a diverse dance experience that is as atmospheric as it is consistently Quite simply, NOIA’s debut album is spell-binding. gisela is a hopeful and contemplative listen that evokes a mythological beauty, with its soft glitchiness taking your hand and leading you through a misty sort of psychic terrain. Fusing Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, and English, NOIA delicately trills over this story of an album, her inward-looking poetry constantly sparking wonder and amazement. It’s beautiful and wholly touching.

Listen if you like: Björk, Caroline Polachek, oklou, FKA twigs. Genres: Art pop, ambient pop, glitch pop.

DepartureRelationshipsLounge

Baggage Allowance Assessed

Words by Lauren Walker (she/her)

The classic post-uni life transition often kicks off with hopping on a plane and jumping full force into a travel expedition. But for those of us leaving university with a partner, does this travel pursuit have to come at the cost of losing a meaningful relationship? Can cuddles, commitment, and the need for solo world exploration coexist?

The longest relationship I’ve ever maintained lasted a mere 12 months.

I met him through friends, after arriving back from my gap year OE. It was the kind of relationship where, if you’re not careful, you could blink twice and suddenly find yourself ten years down the line with two kids, an affordable house, and a mediocre job. When we first met, I was hot off the press from Europe and glowing with newfound confidence. I was both excited and nervous for my first year of uni, ready to keep growing with even more life experience another year down the line.

Ten months into our relationship, any spark that had been there was completely out. The tap had run dry. He grew comfortable with us staying stagnant just how we were. I thought back to my year overseas and everything I had learnt on my own. I wanted to keep growing independently.

He told me he was going travelling. It was the perfect opportunity to break up, except he didn’t want to. I tried explaining that for us to be on the same page, he needed to solo travel just as I had, and he couldn’t grow into the best version of himself if we were together. He kept arguing. It didn’t matter to him. He loved me, and he was only going to be gone for six months. I wanted to prioritise myself, and he needed to learn how to prioritise himself, so I called things off.

I didn't recognise it at the time, but now reflecting on the relationship I wasn't ready to be committed to someone. It’s okay to not be ready in your early 20s. If you’ve been in a relationship for most of your degree, and by the end of it you feel a desire for self exploration, then that’s fair. You have to be in the right place for a relationship to be able to put your all into it.

At this point in my life, that's no longer something I need. I know who I am (well, kind of). After a billion years, I’ve (almost) left uni, and I no longer feel the need to figure myself out alone. I have the space in my life for a partner by my side.

What I am struggling with, though, is whether or not I’m committed enough to do long distance. Once again, my (new) boyfriend is going travelling. But this time, I have to make a decision. Do we keep it going long distance or would it be easier for both of us to just end it? Whilst I’m happy in my relationship, the same questions and intrusive thoughts keep coming back. What if this is a sign that he’s not right for me? What if he finds something better overseas? Could I find something better?

The allure of solo travel filled with whimsical, romantic bliss seems to have painted a skewed picture of what the correct path toward true happiness looks like for our generation. We find the idea of being tied down unsettling, and question whether a committed relationship is going to hinder our journey of self-growth. We’ve fallen prey to the notion that non-monogamy and solo exploration in our 20s is the life experience we need if we’re going to live a fulfilling life. We need to have experienced a life liberated of emotional strings, where we have the freedom to pursue any individual desires.

The reality is that love is It doesn’t have to be some life- interrupting enigma .

The reality is that love is a choice that waits. It doesn’t have to be some big, complicated, life-interrupting enigma.

It is possible to improve and experience life at its fullest alongside a partner. The idea of finding ‘the one’ is a modernday myth perpetuated by pop culture. Love is about finding the one who works for you, and choosing to be with them each and every day. You acknowledge their flaws and choose to focus on how they make you better, committing to a journey of growth together. Being in a committed relationship shouldn't mean sacrificing your personal dreams. If you can’t grow alongside a partner long-term, that is a sign something needs to change or the partnership isn’t right.

“It feels to me that our generation is afraid of commitment, and marriage epitomises commitment,” my friend Chloe said. I’d asked Chloe to meet me for a drink to chat about her relationship and whether or not she thought that she’d found ‘the one’ for her. Chloe got married last year at the age of 21, to her boyfriend of three years. “Essentially, I’ve just said, ‘Hey, I’ve found the person I wanna spend the rest of my life with [now], and I’m okay with that.’ Sure, I might have crushes every so often. But at the end of the day, I’m gonna come back to my husband and he’s the one that I’ve chosen to be with.”

Chloe has a different lens on life experience to mine. Where mine is shaped by the three-day whirlwind romances I experienced during my solo travels, hers is centred around a long-term commitment. The romantic experiences I had overseas felt euphoric. In those moments when you’ve clicked with this random person, everything feels perfect and amazing. You think, ‘What are the odds, coming from two different countries on opposite sides of the world, that we both found each other here and met by chance?’

All of a sudden, one of you decides to leave for a new city. You’re left pining over an imaginary life with this person. Leaving that person on such a high gives the illusion that your lives could have been that way forever.

Contrast that, to having met your current boyfriend on Hinge. You grew to know him, and the spark truly began after three or so dates. Is it fair to compare the two? Not really. Someone who's grown to know you over six months is hardly comparable to an instantaneous, glamorous, three-day romance that’s not fit to last.

In the months leading up to my current relationship, I’d said yes to a date with a recent, short-lived ex. I sat at one of the dimly lit tables at the back of Goldings, clutching my glass tightly. He took a chance, grabbing my other hand, holding it softly in his, stroking my fingers. “Come travelling with me next year,” he said, looking down at our palms. I knew then that I shouldn’t have been there. His lips crooked slightly upwards into a devilish smile, as if pulled by puppeteer strings.

Afterwards, I went over to my friend Rose’s flat to ask for advice on my now boyfriend’s travel plans. I was feeling a strain between the desire to stay with him and the lure of my ex’s proposition.

“The thing is, Lauren,” Rose said, “relationships are very different to a short-lived fling or a little travel romance. Relationships are hard. They’re quite horrible in a lot of ways, because you get to know someone at a very deep and intimate level. Maybe [there are] some things you don’t like, maybe some you do. That experience will never compare to someone that you dated for a short amount of time. [With a fling, you only get to know them] on a surface level.

is a choice that waits . some big , complicated ,

But he saw it as that. He was concerned about how he fit into [my] plan, and it became part of the deal breaker for that relationship. I knew that what I wanted to do was not going to be supported by him.”

And maybe [you] had a wild time with them, so in your head, that [time] looks so shiny and so nice compared to the gritty hard stuff of everyday life.”

She was right. I needed to stop comparing reality with fantasy.

“I feel like there is, especially in New Zealand, this ‘grass is always greener’ approach is [the reason] why everyone does their OE. I personally don’t see a problem if I’m in a relationship with someone and they want to go off travelling for a few months. I’d be like, sweet as.”

Rose had a point. The grass isn’t always greener. Usually, the wild ride you have with someone overseas stems from the fact that neither of you are looking for anything more. You’re looking for short-term excitement, so that’s what you get. The ‘what ifs’ are always going to exist. There is no right answer, but it should be based on real feelings, not on the idea of something.

Rose was the perfect person to talk to. She’d done long distance with a long-term boyfriend. “We stayed together because I was in love with him. I didn’t want that relationship to end, [but] it got too hard. It was a situation of, ‘Yes, I don’t have this person with me, but I love them enough to stay with them. I want them to be a part of my life.’ It honestly never crossed my mind to break up with him. I think we did, in total, eight months of non-consecutive long distance where he’d be off travelling or I’d be back in New Zealand.”

“But I’ve also had the opposite in another relationship, where they've been like, ‘What do you mean you don’t wanna travel?’ [...] I was at uni. I was working part-time. I wasn’t just gonna quit everything and leave.

What my discussions with friends have highlighted to me is that every relationship is different. Ultimately, I know myself and what I need the best. Rose made me understand that support and trust are the two biggest things. If you’re not feeling those in your relationship, maybe that’s a helpful indicator to influence your decision. With that being said, my current relationship is full of support, so throwing that away for the unknown doesn’t add up. I’m still stuck.

To this day, I still think about the men I met on my travels and wonder whether we could have ever been more. I think of those whirlwind romances as a privilege, because at the height of freedom, I got to experience the euphoria of love with an expiry date. A huge positive about travelling alone is that you can solely dictate where and when you go, and what and who you want. It creates the space for you to grow into yourself by gathering new perspectives and breaking routines. Things that, ultimately, will better you for any eventual relationship.

Regardless of what you choose, every experience will teach you something. There is no perfect decision, and it’s okay to regret things. If you want to go travelling alone, maybe it’s because you’re not satisfied in your relationship, you feel like you need independence, or you’re not ready for a serious relationship. That’s okay too. If you want to stay with your partner and try long distance, maybe you’ll grow closer from the challenge, or maybe you won’t. But it doesn’t hurt to try.

As for me, I’m deciding to take things day by day. It’s too soon to tell. Sometimes all you need is time to think. I’ll keep you posted…

Sincerely, Lauren

Embracing the Alluring Charm of Floristry

Words by Phoebe Robertson (she/her)

"I can buy myself flowers." Words from the ever-wise Miley Cyrus got me thinking— why don't more people indulge in the joy of an elegant bouquet?

For the ‘Cupid’ issue of Salient, I encourage you to let delicate petals speak volumes and express the depth of your passionate love for your partner. From whimsical park strolls to supporting local businesses, Te Whanganui-a-Tara has something for everyone to create unforgettable moments. If you really want to make a lasting impression on your engineering student sweetheart, why not surprise them with exquisite LEGO flowers? Trust me, the impact of blooms is undeniably romantic. I mean, even my ex admitted that flowers played a significant role in our relationship's second chance. So, if that heartfelt story doesn't convince you, well, I'm not quite sure what will. It's time to let the flowers work their magic and show your special someone just how much they mean to you.

Flowers Manuela $$

Located just off Cuba Street, Flowers Manuela is my personal favourite on this list. Outside the store, you'll find affordable, pre-made bouquets priced between $12-$30. They’re perfect for budget-conscious students aiming to impress their beloved. Inside, you'll be greeted with genuine smiles and a passionate devotion to the art of floristry. What captivated me most was their personalised and romantic approach. If you desire custom arrangements, the attentive florists will cater to your preferences and budget, guiding you with thoughtful questions that ignite the flames of creativity.

Flowers Manuela isn't just about stunning floral masterpieces. They make you feel like family, enveloping you in a warm embrace of love and artistry. For a florist that leaves you with a smile and a bouquet that whispers poetic sentiments, look no further than Flowers Manuela.

The Supermarket $$$

When you embark on a mission to Countdown or New World for a grocery run, the alluring display of floral arrangements at the self-checkout counter is simply irresistible. Bouquets bloom with beauty, typically starting at around $30-$40.

Now, let's delve into the supermarkets and their commitment to reducing plastic. Why do they still wrap their flowers in large plastic sheets? Their sustainability efforts lag behind the other florists on this list who passionately embrace eco-friendly materials like paper, card, and recycled materials for wrapping, adding a touch of environmental consciousness to their stunning creations. If you're seeking convenience, the supermarkets are as accessible as it gets. But if you're going out of your way to buy flowers, why not make them a tad more special? Let your love blossom with a dash of eco-friendly charm, creating a meaningful connection with nature while adorning your space with enchanting blooms.

Juliette Florist $$

Who's that adorable doggy in the window? Well, at Juliette Florist, you can find out. Hank, the lovable shop dog, delights in peering out at passersby on Willis Street through the shop's expansive glass windows.

Outside, Juliet Florist proudly showcases pre-made posy bouquets for $25. On a student budget, they also offer $15 pre-made spring flower bouquets, ensuring that beauty and affordability go hand in hand. Stepping into the store, I'm instantly enveloped in a sunny, warm, and cosy atmosphere that radiates romance. My visit to this enchanting florist was a delightful experience from beginning to end, with vibrant colours and intoxicating fragrances that even my post-long-Covid nose could detect.

Looking to impress someone truly special? Juliette Florist has you covered with their range of accompanying gifts and chocolates, adding an extra touch of sweetness to your thoughtful gesture. Plus, if you're in need of ongoing floral joy, they offer a convenient flower subscription service that ensures a continuous flow of happiness. If you're searching for a one-stop shop that combines wagging tails, stunning blooms, and impressive gifts, Juliette Florist is the place to be, where love and beauty intertwine in the most enchanting way.

The Botanic Gardens $

Not everyone has a soft spot for flowers or wants to witness their eventual demise, and that's totally okay. So, why not seek out a place where you can be surrounded by them? Whether it's a romantic stroll, a clandestine rendezvous, or a spot where the RA won't scold you for enjoying a late-night drink, the botanic gardens offer the perfect escape, where nature's floral wonders unfold in all their glory. The best part? Take your date to the duck pond, and they'll be smitten forever. Or maybe they'll reveal their questionable taste, and you'll realise you're better off without them. Treat the ducks to some duckfriendly treats, marvel at the intricate beauty of nature's design, and revel in the company of your companion (or maybe just Miley). If you're seeking a budget-friendly and accessible option, the Botanic Gardens are the ultimate ‘florist’ for you, where love and serenity intertwine amidst the petals of botanical splendour.

LEGO $$$

Back on 2 January 2021, the internet burst into excitement when LEGO unveiled the Flower Bouquet 10280 as part of their Creator Expert set. Since then, LEGO has been on a blooming journey, releasing an array of captivating flower bouquets, bonsai trees, succulents, and even dried flower table spreads. These remarkable creations have quickly become a go-to choice for surprising that hard-to-buy-for lover, or for those seeking a fun and creative outlet. If your partner isn't keen on watching flowers wilt away, doesn't want to deal with a polleny mess, or prefers something longer lasting, LEGO flowers are the perfect solution. They offer a delightful combination of craftsmanship and playfulness that is sure to bring joy and spark creativity, ticking off two love languages (quality time and gift giving) at once. So, why not immerse yourself in the enchanting world of Lego flowers as a thoughtful alternative? Let your love blossom and your imagination flourish with these everlasting, charming creations that will stand the test of time.

Introducing John Middleton, 27, a Linguistics lecturer at the University of Auckland; Greg Hunter, 24, a sailing coach, model, and musician; and Ross Ringwood, 25, administrator and model. Alex Casey, a senior writer at The Spinoff, said, “I cannot look [Ross] in the eye.” I also cannot look Ross in the eye, because he is my cousin. This man has seen me feed my brother under the dinner table like a dog and I am coming to him for relationship advice.

In 2022, all three men starred in TVNZ+’s FBOY Island NZ The reality TV show is basically a male-manipulator mashup of Love Island. Twenty men and three women compete for a $50,000 cash prize. As host Shavaughn Ruakere explains in the show’s trailer, “Ten of [the men] are selfproclaimed ‘nice guys’ looking for love, and the other ten are every heterosexual woman’s worst, best nightmare.” The challenge? The women must successfully determine which of the men are ‘nice guys’, and which of them are fuck boys.

The show had a very public casting controversy late last year, resulting in re-edits, advertisers pulling promotion, and an overall shit storm across NZ news media. Hearing I was planning this interview, my friend sent me her MDIA306 essay on how the show romanticises misogyny, reinforces the patriarchy, and produces a strictly hetero-normative understanding of gender and sexuality.

But I knew that for the ‘Cupid’ issue of Salient, these were the right guys to come to.

I’ll set the scene: it’s a Monday night after work at Ross’ family home in Auckland. Greg’s got his leather jacket on and pearls round his neck, meaning to go out, but he keeps getting distracted by our super in-depth discussions. John’s chilling on the floor. When he arrived, he shook my hand, then

instantly put his hair in a business-like man bun. Ross is petting the dog he’s dog sitting. I’m eating some good potato chips. But for this interview, I feel like I should’ve brought popcorn.

What are your three tips for a first date?

“Leave,” John says.

“Three tips!” the boys remind him.

“Put the tip in, then leave,” he corrects. “I hate first dates, they’re so boring.”

John elaborates. In his past, depending on ‘how bad he thought the date was gonna go’, he’d set an alarm on his phone that sounded like an incoming phone call. Hour-long first date? The alarm would go off at just under an hour. He’d let it ring. Then he’d pretend to look at the caller ID. He’d shut it off. “To make it seem like I was a good person, I wouldn’t ever take the call while I was with a girl, right,” John explains. That’s best case scenario. Worst, if he wasn’t feeling the date, he’d use the ‘call’ to suggest he had somewhere else to be—an “excuse to get out ASAP”.

Ross and Greg have different perspectives. On the TV show, they both chose to play as ‘nice guys’, not ‘fboys’ like lecturer John. That meant splitting any potential prize money with the co-winner, instead of ditching her and stealing all her money.

“Pick a restaurant you both like,” Ross says. “Bond over the cuisine.”

“Be comfortable enough in yourself to just relax and allow something natural to blossom,” Greg says, passionately.

Words by Pippi Jean (she/her)

He’s leaning forward to drill his eyes directly through mine and into my mind. I feel like he’s a school counsellor giving me an intervention.

“And, second, have a surprise [prepared]. Like, something that she’s not expecting. A little dessert or a little afterdate walk or something,” Ross says. “Third, remember shit. Oh, she likes cars, this area, this juice, whatever.”

Greg asks if you should write down a list afterwards of things to remember. Ross shrugs and says “not necessarily”. But, he continues, “Imagine if all goes well, six months from now you’re like, oh by the way, I remembered this from our first date.”

How do you ask someone out?

“If you’re hitting on a girl and you find out she’s got a boyfriend and she’s not willing to cheat on him,” John says, “Just wait. They’ll break up. You’ll have your opportunity.”

The others hum noncommittally. All three of them seem to agree that a girl with a boyfriend is not offlimits. Also, side note, they don’t believe in pick-up lines. Just like, as a concept. That was a whole discussion. Did I even need to prep interview questions?

“Fail. Fail fast. Strikeout,” Ross says suddenly, like an inspirational Wii Sports coach. “You’re going to fail a hundred times. But the point is, the 101th time, when you find someone who says yes, that gives you more of a boost than a hundred no’s.”

“He’s always getting dogged,” Greg adds.

“It sucks when you’re 70 no’s in, and you’ve got 30 more no’s to go, and you’re like, ‘oh man’. But you gotta do it. Put yourself out there. Everyone’s so afraid of rejection. And as soon as you experience it, you realise it doesn’t actually matter.”

Greg runs a hand through his hair and looks genuinely tortured. Leading on from Ross, he tells us the key is “not to give a shit” or overthink too much. He says just go for it. “Yeah, I’m really cut [when I get rejected]. But I grow from it,” he says. “We go to the gym to break ourselves down to get bigger and stronger. It’s kind of the same thing with love.”

What are your red flags?

Pretty sure John misheard me. “I think you should try to find out every single girl’s red flags and try to be all of them,” he exclaims. “Because they’ll say that they hate red flags…” Then he winks across the room. Greg squints back.

I decide it’s time to move onto the next question, and quickly.

Have you ever fallen in love?

Ross leans back on the couch. “I felt like, when I was your age, I was so, like… oh, I don’t know… it’s so hard to know,” he says. The dog barks. He gives her a scratch. Randomly, I think how weird it is that we’re sitting on the same couch where my brother and I used to perch, watching over Ross’ shoulder as he’d played video games. We must’ve been no older than seven. He would’ve been age 12, but to me, back then, he looked twice as old. “But you are an adult,” he continues. “Fun fact for you. Nothing changes. I’m still a kid too.”

“We’re still kids, for sure,” Greg agrees. “But I’d like to say we’re pretty woke… like, I studied a lot of shit about cosmology, and with Ross’ philosophy, we come up with some great ideas. And ultimately, we both know what we currently know to be facts. Which is that you live and you die. Everyone dies. [...] When you start to take that point of view, it really makes the little things like love mean less. Because what’s the point?”

“I completely disagree,” Ross says.

John rolls his eyes in my direction. Greg and Ross have been friends for yonks before ever signing up to FBOY Island NZ They’ve completely dodged the question, but apparently their conversations end up like this all the time. (Allegedly, mostly in spa pools, under the stars (five feet apart, of course, cause they’re not gay), while really, really high.)

What does love feel like to you?

“Love doesn’t exist. It’s a chemical emotion. Love isn’t, like, mathematically or fundamentally real. We create it in our minds,” Greg tells Ross.

“We create it in our minds, why isn’t that real?” Ross replies.

“Because you can’t calculate it mathematically.”

“That’s your definition of real?”

“Physics is real. And you can calculate that mathematically,” Greg says. “Love, you cannot.”

Any final words of advice?

“Love is such a fucking waste of time,” Greg rants. I can’t help but wonder if he’s still bitter after Coco rejected him when he poured his heart out to her on the show.

“Strike out as many times as possible,” Ross advises. “You’ll get there.”

“Don’t be a loser,” John says. “Like, girls smell desperation, and I hate desperation, and I hate losers. Losers are desperate people. Don’t do that.”

Well. Anyway. None of these men left FBOY Island NZ with prize money or a new partner, but they left with some real points to make. Now the question is: what do I do with this advice? Put it on a t-shirt? A mug? Welly gal pals? On my friend’s MDIA306 discussion threads? I leave my cousin’s family home with no answers, only a vague and concerning sense of urgency, and the sweet, sweet aftertaste of Honey Soy Copper Kettle Chips. I hope you take from this something similar.

Three months ago, I emerged from my first big break up all puffy-eyed and heartbroken. I reinstalled Tinder, kitted out my closet with cute lingerie, and went no contact, to emerge thonged-up and ready to triple my body count.

I’m still in the midst of this new ‘short term fun’ era, and actively looking past the ashy club photos and concerning bios. I’m loving it.

A lot of people think that hook up culture can never serve you. They caution that flings, hook ups, and situationships are only ever going to hurt you (mostly while cushioned in the protective commitment of their long-term relationship). But this 'in-between' state can be a massive learning curve in our young adult lives.

There is so much potential within the hook up scene for self-discovery and inner healing. Throughout my own journey, I’ve learned about my sexuality, how I like to meet people, and that the most important relationship we have is with ourselves. It takes the awkward moments (wanting them to kiss you first so bad you just kinda stare at them) to really appreciate the amazing ones (spending a whole week with someone and not getting bored once).

With all of that said, putting yourself out there can be scary, especially when you have to wear your heart on your sleeve. So, with my experience and the wise words of trained relationship therapist Angela Rennie, here’s how to master the hookup scene while protecting yourself, your peace, and your heart.

1. Know what you want

What do you want to get out of this era of your life? To experiment and discover what turns you on? To meet new people and broaden your social circle? Are you looking for long-term, or are you just trying to find a rebound?

The easiest way to get hurt is by not being honest with yourself as to why you’re talking to or seeing someone. There’s no shame in simply wanting a one-time thing. You just have to know what you want. Once you do, it’ll be easier to find people with the same intentions as you. When I first started hooking up, I did so for the sole reason of putting distance between me and my ex. This great decision making meant I rushed it and chose someone who hurt me even more (lesson learned).

As a relationship therapist, Angela likes to provide a multi-dimensional approach, drawing from both mindfulness and classic psychology. She recommends writing a list of what you like about yourself and what makes you a great partner. This helps to build resilience, preparing you for when things don’t work out and you need to move on.

She also says that while you should build up your confidence, you should acknowledge that not everyone will be approaching hooking up like you are. Not everyone else will know exactly what they want and their intentions. She says, “Everyone should have a hoe phase, just don’t expect another hoe to be anything more than a hoe.”

Words by Georgia Wearing (they/he/she)

2. Keep your options open

Unless you’re crushing, do not hone in on one person. Being in the in-between is all about openness and options. If you’re only talking to and seeing one person, you can’t be surprised when you catch feelings. Put simply, you can’t be played if you outplay the player. Plus, when you’re talking to more than one person, cancellations and changes of plans are less likely to bother you.

Angela believes that it’s a good idea to date multiple people until someone gives you a reason to single them out. If they’re worth it, they need to make you feel special, fulfil your needs, and tick the boxes of the partner you’re looking for. But, Angela notes, desire for monogamy is a gradient. Everyone is different, and some people are more compelled to settle down than others.

Personally, I’ve never been super monogamous, especially during this stage of my life. I don’t mind if my partner and I are kissing someone else at a party or dancing on strangers in the club. As long as we come home together at the end of the night, I’m happy. I’ve met people in fully open or polyamourous relationships, as well as people who are very monogamous and looking for exclusivity, and had great times with both.

3. Don’t make things messy

One of the most important practices to protect your heart is to keep the social gene pool diverse. Don’t sleep with your friend’s ex or your co-worker’s situationship. Keep the whole thing drama free. You’ll thank me later. Peek at their mutuals before meeting up, and reach out to your mate to find out how exactly they know each other. Wellington is a small city, but it’s not so small that sleeping with the same five people is the only option we have.

Angela believes we should embrace, to an extent, the ‘Coolidge effect’. When we find new people more desirable and exciting, we are put in danger of constantly seeking out ‘the next one’. It’s an effect that’s definition is still tinged with the sexist nature of old science (I’m sure your hoe phases aren’t about fertilising as many people as possible). But if we take it at face value, it can explain why we find meeting new people more exciting and motivating.

When we acknowledge this effect, it can stop us from constantly moving on and leaving a potential good thing behind. A good practice I’ve started is to build up a roster of a couple people and delete my dating apps. When that roster meets its end and I feel like something new, I redownload and remake my profile. Doing this also helps avoid the awkward moment where your Tinder date notices the Tinder notification on your phone.

4. Have Better Sex

The rule to beat them all is to never endure bad sex or a bad situationship. Twice I’ve stopped sex mid-way through to let my partner know that we just weren’t sexually compatible, and both times it was a mutual realisation. A movie with a bad beginning and a bad middle isn’t going to have a good ending, so don’t force yourself to see it through. Figure out your own personal boundaries. Place the standards for yourself higher than a hook up simply for the sake of it.

Focus on the relationship you have with yourself. Entering the in-between stage, I wanted to distract myself from my past relationships. What I actually needed was assurance that I wasn’t ready for another relationship. Now I’m in a laid back, open relationship, and casually seeing a couple different people. My nights alone don’t feel lonely and I still enjoy the thrill of meeting someone new.

AC ACE, BABY

Have you ever faked a crush? No? Well, I wouldn’t recommend it…

Sex and love are everywhere. Not just interpersonally on social media, in semi-secluded uni hallways, and in your flatmate’s bedroom. Pop culture is absolutely saturated in the stuff. TV, films, music, everywhere— everyone’s making like Marvin Gaye and getting it on. Growing up with all this lovin’ in my face meant that as young as 12 I was trying to figure out why I felt different about it all.

At that age, a mate of mine told me he was bisexual. “What’s that?” I asked.

“I feel the same way about boys as I do girls,” he replied.

Huh. That made sense.

So then I was bisexual. I wasn’t loud about it, but I liked having a word I could use among friends. They were all figuring themselves out, proudly using their new labels while I awkwardly lagged behind.

When I was a bit older, a different mate of mine told me she was asexual. “What’s that?” I asked.

“I don’t feel anything for boys, girls, or anyone, really,” she replied.

Oh. Shit. That made a lot more sense. Turns out I do feel the same way about boys as I do girls: entirely indifferent.

Thus I adopted a new label, ‘asexual.’ Again, I wasn’t loud about it, but I liked it. I thought it sounded a bit scientific, especially when we learnt about flower reproduction in science, but it felt good. I felt less weird with a Googleable word assigned to my existence.

But then I was a teenager sitting on the social sidelines, entirely crushless, while my mates ran amuck with their boyfriends and girlfriends, losing their virginities left, right, and centre. I remained utterly uninterested.

With the gift of hindsight, My next decision was completely mortifying. I thought I might be missing out on something. Everyone else was flouncing about in lovey-dovey delusion and seemed to be enjoying it, so shouldn’t I be doing that too? It was the cool thing to do, right? It was like what we were warned about as kids with peer pressure and drugs, except I was being pressured into doing love—a much harder substance (in my opinion).

Words by Zoe Hollier (she/her)

At the time, surrounded by all my sweet-hearted friends, doing this thing called love was the best way to blend in. Enter my (fake) crush.

I picked a guy, studied the behaviour of girls around me like I was the David Attenborough of high school, and began my Oscar-worthy act. I blushed and giggled at all the right times, stuck to him like a limpet when the opportunity arose, messaged him online constantly, planted seeds with my friends that I liked a boy… You get the idea. Completely embarrassing.

Apparently my act was convincing enough for him to ask me out, causing me to splutter in his face, attempting a few syllables before promptly running the other way and never speaking to him again. Turns out he was a total dick, so I dodged a bullet.

Despite the relief I felt at leaving behind that strange facade, I felt wrong. I should’ve leaped at the opportunity to have a proper, grown-up boyfriend, my school status easily boosted by the masculine arm-candy. I should’ve been excited by his interest. Instead, all I felt was discomfort. When he started to (badly) flirt with me I should’ve felt butterflies, like the girls in movies do, not heavy rocks settling in the pit of my stomach.

With sex and love everywhere, I felt wrong, broken, alone, and alienated in my lack of desire for these intangible, trademarked experiences. This boy was fine (as in mediocre, not foine), offering up coveted sociocultural initiation on a silver platter, but I didn’t care for what he was proposing. What was wrong with me?

Inscribed in us from the very beginning is the idea that love and intimacy are the true objectives of human existence. Just about every Disney princess (ily Merida, my ace icon), pop song, and HBO show tells us that happiness is directly associated with these abstract concepts. When I was gifted a prime opportunity to jumpstart my happy ending and found that, despite every piece of entertainment I’ve ever absorbed

telling me I should crave it, I didn’t want it, I started to understand that maybe I was a bit different from the norm.

It was a rather uncomfortable conclusion to come to.

After all this crush palaver and self-discovery, I inaudibly went back to the old label, adding ‘aromantic’, full of doubt and unease. What if I’m wrong? What if I’m just a late bloomer? What if I just haven’t found the right person yet? What if I just don’t know what sexual or romantic attraction feels like? Sometimes I worry I’ve got it all wrong, and I’m actually experiencing some weird psycho-symptom of a strange childhood, illness, or social anxiety—my thoughts still remaining deeply entrenched in the idea that my sexual and romantic orientations are abnormal.

My continued self-doubt has been reinforced by limited and unnuanced media representations of asexuality as a caricature of virginity and conservatism. I’m not prudish or repressed. Sex and love just aren’t my vibe. I’m actually very good at ‘that’s what she said’ jokes and my relationship advice is superb. I’m not disgusted by sex, I’m just not interested. I’m not repulsed by romance (although kissing is actually very gross), it’s just not part of my life. I like a decent rom-com and Harry Styles song as much as the next person— About Time is in my Letterboxd top four and I know every word to ‘Medicine’—they’re just not my experience. Maybe I won’t be picking up a Colleen Hoover novel any time soon, but I will be seated for that new Zendaya tennis threesome movie. I can still enjoy stories about sex and love, just more like an allosexual or romantic person might enjoy a nature documentary— with hesitant curiosity and a constant concern as to why the camera operator doesn’t interfere.

I’ve grown up now, had a couple of months at uni, and continue to be uninterested in the obsessions of many of my peers. I feel pretty safe sticking with the labels ‘asexual’ and ‘aromantic’ (‘aroace’ for short)— the A in LGBTQIA+. I like to call myself a ‘rare collectible’ of the queer community, a member of those beyond the typical LGBTQ acronym. But I also don’t really feel like I’m part of it at all. Instead, I feel like an outlier from the typical sex and love-based experiences of the community. I’m also a New Zealander. Pride doesn’t come naturally to us.

All of this builds up into a feeling of cultural and social exclusion, but I’m trying to find my space. I think this might be a good start. I’m just a bit different and a lot normal. Rest assured, I won’t be faking another crush anytime soon. I shall remain comfortably and proudly off the market.

I’ve also been looking for a way to come out, which has proved difficult without a catalyst. I guess this’ll do the job.

ODCASTS

PODCASTING WITH FRIENDS

Words by Alex Marinkovich-Josey (he/him)

The best podcast hosts are ones who care and look out for one another. To coincide with the ‘Cupid’ issue, we’re celebrating the friendships behind two of our shows.

20Somethings

The 20Somethings podcast celebrated the magical ride that is your 20s, diving into all the highs and lows this period of rapid change brings. It ran with Salient back in 2021.

‘You Should be Loving Someone’ This episode is all about love (can you believe it?), covering everything from developing crushes, being good to yourself in a relationship, and more.

‘Friendships Unpack(ed)’

Joined by Kii and Thabi of the Unpack podcast, this episode’s about a different kind of relationship.

Celebrating friendships, they chat about how friendships grow closer or apart, and how they change shape over time.

‘What Now?’

On this episode, the team dives into the wonders of childhood in Aotearoa, looking back at the nostalgic hallmarks that encompassed our friendships and favourites as kids.

FOR REAL?

The FOR REAL? podcast platforms real conversations between besties Liv and Gabi, diving into how they experience their university years. They chat about their friendships, flatting, drama, and getting the most of their uni life.

‘Our REAL Besties!’

Joined by their friends Kate and Ruby, this episode is not just a chronicle of the real life friendships around the podcast, but also a real celebration of the love between friends and the importance of relationships you form at university.

‘The Mid-Year Crisis is Real.’

How does stress affect your relationships? Liv and Gabi are in the middle of the university year, and as stress sets in, they check in with one-another about how going with the flow might not be the perfect solution.

‘AIYC… really’

It doesn’t get more real than a FOR REAL? sleepover! Liv and Gabi update each other on the ins and outs of their lives and how they can keep each other grounded. It's about the importance of remembering you’ve got people in your corner.

Check out these episodes and more on the Salient Podcasts Weekly Playlist!

HE MAONGA ĀWHĀ

We’ve all been there. There are butterflies in your puku, and the ‘good morning’ messages are hitting different. If you’re like me, you’ll then do a quick whakapapa search to avoid any future meet ups at whānau reunions or orders from aunty to “give your cousin a kiss” (she doesn’t need to know you’ve already given him lots of kisses on the Siglo balcony). Finally, the ‘what are we?’ conversations that, if all goes well, will find you changing your FB status from ‘single’ to ‘in a relationship’. Yayurrrr!

Now the fun starts. Meeting the family, date nights, holidays away, and a permanent booty call for whenever you need a #DoseOfTheD. Slay! You’re learning about yourself, and you’re learning about the person you’re with and getting to know their world. Most of all, you’re learning about the depths love can take you.

Suddenly, your bed covers are soaked in your tears, the ngākau and māhunga hurting. No appetite, no movement, no sleep, no single emotion lasting for longer than 30 seconds before you jump to anger. Wait no, sadness! Wait no, relief? Shit, now we’re back to anger. Your first heartbreak. Not so slay. Once again, you’re learning about yourself, learning about the person you were with, and learning about the depths of love.

Now you’re jumping on the grief journey, paddling a waka that you don’t want to be on to a destination that you can’t see, trusting that it’s better than the one you’re leaving behind. Is there a way to get your waka to shore any quicker? How can you make the grief journey more bearable? What do you do with this leftover mamae?

To be completely honest with you, I don’t have the answer. No-one ever will, because there’s not a one-sizefits-all solution. Whether it’s a hoe phase, an experimental phase (I see y’all kissing the homies at rezzys. *side eye*), or even if it’s your single-and-not-ready-to-mingle era— kei te pai! Life is a game of trial and error.

But a path that will never fail you is finding your people and leaning on your village. They’ll teach you more about yourself, the person you are, and your world. Most importantly, you’ll see, feel, and learn about the depths of love they have for you. They’ll lay down the whāriki for you to rest on, holding the four corners of your whāriki to Papatūānuku and keeping your foundations grounded until you’re ready to stand up again. Trust that when you stand up again, that post-breakup glow up is *chefs kiss*.

There’s no right way to paddle this waka, just as long as you keep paddling. Because, at the end of the day, you deserve a life that’s full and happy. You might be forever changed because of your experiences, but not forever tainted. Anything that escapes you wasn’t meant to be on your journey any longer than it already was.

When you’re surrounded by your village, your people, your family and friends, you’ll realise that soulmates aren’t limited to romance. Maybe a soulmate is a friend too (or a cousin, but not the type that you kiss on the Siglo balcony xx).

Aroha tino nui, Whakaahurangi <3

Words by Whakaahurangi Gallagher (she/her; Kāi Tahu, Kāti Mamoe, Waitaha, Te Āti Awa ki Taranaki (Parihaka), Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngaa Rauru ki Kai Iwi)

Dear Aunty Vic

I love this question because it’s the reverse of the common one: “How do I go from casual to something more serious?” Your concerns are totally valid. I’ve also found myself in this exact position.

I had recently ended a long-term relationship, and I found an absolute snack of a man in town. I knew exactly what I wanted: someone reliable, entertaining, and, in all honesty, a good weekend shag. Nothing serious! Anyway, it was a Friday evening and I was home alone. I flicked him a message, “Hey what are you doing later on?” He responded, “Oh I don’t have any plans, how come?”

So I said, “You should come over later! Everyone’s out at my flat for the evening :)”

That was all I said.

He then proceeded to freak out, saying he didn’t “want to start anything before summer”. Like, babes, neither Just because I’m inviting you over doesn’t mean I want a relationship. God, can’t a girl just get laid? I had to assure the man that “I never saw us as anything more than a casual, Saturday night fling.” He then proceeded to get offended. Good God, red flag, red flag, red flag

Back to your question. Firstly, you need to be absolutely clear what it is that you want. Reflect on where you’re at in your healing journey, and identify your wants and needs. There is no shame in wanting something casual, but you need to lay this out on the table from night one (or maybe two). Do you want something that might develop into a new relationship?

Do you want a Sunday BZ? Do you want someone who you hit up once a month for a saucy sexcapade?

A.QFill your partner in on your expectations and boundaries, and establish a clear line of communication. An easy example of this is: “I am cool with us sleeping with other people, but if either of us do, we need to tell each other we have.” Another example is: “If either of us start catching serious feelings, we need to tell each other, so we can figure out how to navigate it without anyone getting hurt.”

.This might sound excessive, but clear communication is what will save your casual root from going up in flames. Trust me, you don’t want to be four sleepovers in and wanting two different things. To be frank, this is just human decency, communication, and respect.

Aunty Vic’s Casual Sexy Time Tips:

• Do not save their name in your phone. They’re a casual part of your life, don’t give them a permanent space.

• Leave their place, or get them out of your bed, by 9 a.m. at the latest.

• Always reward yourself after a casual slay with a coffee and cake. Enjoy those endorphins.

• Do not communicate with them via text, Snapchat, or IG during the week. Those are relationship privileges.

• Always use protection. When you are casually sleeping around, your regular partners have no obligation to be loyal (nor to tell you what they’re up to). So wrap that shit up, and normalise talking to your partners about when they were last tested!

• If this relationship ever makes you feel anxious, nervous, ashamed, sad, whatever—it is not serving you. Drop it like a hot fucking rock.

• While casual relationships can be fun, it's important to know your worth and boundaries. If your boundaries are crossed, or the relationship dynamic shifts, you have the right to speak up or leave. Enjoy it while it’s fun, then pack up and go. After all, there are plenty of fish in the sea. Have you seen Lulu’s at 2 a.m?!

I'm not experienced with casual dating. The only relationship I’ve ever been in was long-term. How can I avoid being too romantic and potentially scaring off my new partner?

DISABLED RELATIONSHIPS

Words by Teddi (they/he/she)

When you’re disabled, relationships have to look different. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be allowed them.

The concept of being a ride-or-die is instantly put onto everyone within your circle. Would your friends come to the hospital at 1 a.m. to hold your hand when your parents couldn’t? Would they bring you juice while you wait for the crisis team? When I say I love my friends, it is because they have endless kindness for me. They always support me in any manner I need. If I ask, they will always try to help me feel better. This unconditional love is the most important thing to me.

The life of a disabled person can feel self-centred. Monitoring your wellbeing to stay healthy is very time consuming. Those close to me know, in terms of love, I’m not reliable, but I will always reappear when I can. I don’t have the ability to say I would do anything for the ones I love. I have to set boundaries

to protect my health and not exhaust myself. I do what I can with my limitations.

Disabled people are punished by Work and Income for having a partner. This includes a de facto partner. I've had someone say to me before that disabled people shouldn't have partners, and that if we do, our benefits should be cut. The assumption that if I cannot work there is a direct financial penalty to be close to me makes me uncomfortable. It makes the guilt I have around relationships worse. I’m constantly asking for things.

The basic benefit on its own is nowhere near livable for anyone. It’s a horrific system, but everyone that’s on Disability is too unwell to fight it. We are fighting to be able to get out of bed and live our lives. We are asked too much by the universe a lot of the time and the systems in this country are letting us down.

StudyLink Approved Meal Steals

Words by Bianca Maria Schioler (she/her)

Like the Irish in the mid-19th century, sometimes it can feel like we’re surviving on the bare minimum. Sustaining ourselves off a few potatoes and other root veges that don’t really seem like they should be classified as food is a lot less fulfilling than our classic at-home comfort foods. Luckily, we can thank our dear Irishmen for providing us with a recipe that makes these seasonal root vegetables taste like the best thing since bread, and warms our tummies so much that we forget the house is cold. My version has the added bonus of being vegan (and a little bit alcoholic). Why do we put Guinness in stew you ask? Well, it’s not good for much else, to be honest. Google says it also helps tenderise the meat and give the sauce a richer flavour, but it’s not an essential step.

I made this purely from seasonal vegetables I got from my Wonky Box. This is a cheap, sustainable way to eat seasonally which I highly recommend, especially if you’re in a flat of two or more people!

Wonky Box delivers fresh, seasonal produce weekly for just $30, and it’s definitely a lot cheaper than going to the supermarket. It’s also a good way to make you feel like you’re doing right by the planet on a budget.

Makes 5-6 portions Cost per portion: $3.30

Ingredients

• 500g potatoes

• 2 large carrots

• 2 turnips

• 1 yellow onion

• ½ leek

• Vegetable stock (I used 3 cubes but depends on the stock)

1. Chop the vegetables into large chunks (something that roughly resembles 2 cm cubes).

2. Add all the vegetables into a big pot with 1 litre of water. Add the Guiness, vegetable stock, herbs, and a lot of salt. Taste it! If you’re using meat, add now.

3. Bring it to boil and then let it simmer for about 40 minutes.

With meat: $5.90

• 1 can of Guinness or other stout beer (optional)

• Herbs (dried or fresh: parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, whatever floats your boat)

• 3 tbsp flour

4. When you’re almost ready to serve, mix the flour with a bit of water until it becomes a runny paste, then stir it in. Keep stirring until the stew thickens (if you’ve been stirring more than 10 minutes and nothing’s happening, add another tablespoon using the same method).

5. Stir in some more fresh parsley and serve with a slice of bread, like the poor, cold, hungry student you are.

Eat up, warm up, and see you next time with more nutritious meals for broke students!

The Poor Man’s Stew: effortless, vegan, and dirt cheap.

Did you have a finding Jesus moment? I can’t figure out if your energy this week is ‘I’m over my cheating on my partner phase and moving towards commitment’, or ‘I’m over my hoe phase and getting into yoga’.

Unlike Aries, you’re the one moving into a hoe phase. Low key, you’re going to have the best sex of your life this week, which is a very impressive feat since you're only interested in hook ups. Taurus out here making the impossible possible.

You’re the wifed-up friend now. Your mates miss your dating stories you always found weirdos on the apps. Now all they hear is how your partner’s oh-so-perfect, or how they hurt your feelings when they forgot the ‘x’ in the good morning text.

You’re a bit addicted to the mock honeymoon phase that happens after you fight and make up with your partner. This one is the best, in your opinion, so far, but I warn you: there might be some red flags you’re ignoring for the sake of thrill.

Woah. Venus-Mars conjunction in your first house? I’m freaking out about this. Like, there are astronomical levels of sex appeal you’re providing the world with right now. But I’ll shut up. Don’t want to inflate that Leo ego any bigger.

The Virgos are gonna be mad about this, but I’m sorry! I can’t move the damn planets! You’re a bit targeted by Cupid. I’ll admit, he’s being unkind. You tried the relationship that didn’t work out and then Tinder was even more of a shit-show…

I see ya, little fiend Libra. Every week you check your horoscope to see if there are any updates in your love life. Hahaha! Sucks to be you. The week I do love readings for everyone else, nothing changes for you. Loser.

I’m not even saying this cause you’re reading a student magazine. Usually my horoscopes have a student spin, but for real, the stars are saying you’re gonna meet the love of your life in one of your new courses this week.

This is not a drill.

Are you the one dating Gemini? I’m loving the unproblematic vibes. Everyone else seems to elicit chaos in their love lives, but you're coasting like a Love Island contestant who got all their drama out at the start of the show.

Typical Capricorn. You don’t give a shit about what Cupid might have in store for you this week. You just wanna know about your money. Yawn. Well, stocks are looking good I guess. What uni student has shares and investments?

In typical Aquarius fashion, your love life this week is chaotic. You complain, but really you love it. Your remorse is for show. In chaos you thrive.

Hmmm, Mars is probably gonna cause some tension between you and your partner this week. Well, you’re in the wrong. Why? Because my boyfriend’s a Pisces… I’m not helping my case as a nonbiased horoscope writer. I apologise.

VISION OF THE FUTURE

Words by Bailey Simone (she/her)

we’re in a house big enough to stretch out all four limbs the cat has stopped biting our feet and we have started to miss it your lyrics have stayed on repeat in my head and i’ve taken thousands of photos of you we’ve been to london, with both of our pasts in tow and they’ve complimented each other beautifully my mother loves you. like you’ve been here all along our future feels just as peaceful and certain as the day we met

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

I was tipsy, you know, and I'm always honest about that. I'd had a few wines. But this is just the reality of public figures, especially politicians. I'm keen to move past this.

Tory Whanau to Newstalk ZB last week, on the allegations of her drunken behaviour over the weekend. -

ACROSS

1. Kirikiriroa (8)*

5. Surname of legendary tough guy Chuck, American actor and martial artist (6)*

10. Analysing and solving technical errors (15)

11. Country with the capital Reykjavik (7)

12. Given name of actors Crowe and Brand (7)*

14. Son of Kanga from Winnie the Pooh (3)

15. Bathroom attached to a bedroom (7)

18. Take a fixture off the wall; unfix from backing or support (7)

21. Hang down (3)

22. His Royal Highness, the King (7)*

24 One who runs and jumps over obstacles for sport (7)

26 Rushed wedding, usually because the bride is pregnant; topic of the Billy Idol song ‘White Wedding’ (7,8)

27 Leisurely walk (6)*

28 1976 ABBA song about two war veterans reminiscing (8)*

DOWN

1. ‘___ Bling’, 2015 Drake song (7)

2. People who participate in mock court proceedings (7)

3. Predominant October zodiac; period product brand (5)

4. Wearing clothes too fancy for the occasion (12)

6. Cat-sized North American marsupial (7)

7. Lift up; give a higher salary (5)

8. Surname of actor Jason, known for ‘How I Met Your Mother’ and ‘Freaks and Geeks’ (5)

9. Road or path between two places (12)

13. ___ of Tawa (3)

16. ‘Yeah, ___’ on Tui billboards (3)

17 Unlawful (7)

19. Forget, discard from memory, put out of one’s knowledge (7)

20. Self-propelled underwater missile (7)

22. Fees, expenses (5)

23. Secret love affair (5)

25. Older TV episode that is re-aired later (5)

THE TEAM

CO-EDITOR

SUB-EDITOR

CONTRIBUTORS

Xavier Farrow-Francis (any/all)

Lauren Walker (she/her)

Georgia Wearing (they/he/she)

Zoe Hollier (she/her)

Ella Hoogerbrug (she/her)

Teddi (they/he/she)

Whakaahurangi Gallagher (she/her)

Bianca Maria Schioler (she/her)

Bailey Simone (she/her) Blake (cross/word)

DESIGNER

Francesca Pietkiewicz (she/they)

CO-EDITOR

Maia Ingoe (she/her)

Bella Maresca (they/them) @cupids.kiss

Willem Koller (he/they)

VIDEO CONTENT CREATOR Seren Ashmore (he/him)

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER

Alex Marinkovich-Josey (he/him)

PODCAST MANAGER

Ethan Manera (he/him)

NEWS EDITOR Zoë Mills (they/she)

NEWS EDITOR

Niamh Vaughan (she/her)

CHIEF REPORTER

Maia Armistead (she/her)

POETRY EDITOR

Tessa Keenan (she/her)

Joanna Fan (she/her)

EDITORIAL SUPPORT

Phoebe Robertson (she/her)

STAFF WRITER Kiran Patel (he/they)

STAFF WRITER

Pippi Jean (she/her)

STAFF WRITER

Ethan Rogacion (he/him)

NEWS INTERN

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