Interviews | Issue 07

Salient Issue 7

Interviews

Vol. 79

Contents Features

14

Christmas in Pyongyang.

18

A Picture Interview with Aoi Yao

22

My First Ex-Boyfriend

26

Living more Awesome

28

Interview with Scarlett, Stripper/Dancer and Cam Girl

5

You can't sit with us—protesters picket the Young Nats' ball

5

University outsourcing university

7

Eye on Exec

8

Under the influence of neighbours

9 Step into my tax haven

News

Regular Content

10 Māori Matters

10

One Ocean

11 Gee-mail

34 Fiction

35 Digitales

37 Visual Arts 38 Music

Single Sad Postgrad

31

Brodie Helps You Figure It Out

42 Games

31

Dr Feelgood

43 TV

32

Being Well

44 Books

32

Token Cripple

45 Theatre

32

Women's Space

46

33

Reaching Out

14

VUWSA Exec

30

40 Film

Letters & Notices

Editors: Emma Hurley Jayne Mulligan

Editors’ Letter E/J: I think, therefore I am. But let’s not put Descartes before the horse.

~Hi, we interviewed Siri and our magazine has heaps of cool interviews this week. Please enjoy our face swap [pictured above].~

E/J: Do you have a Mum? E/J: It’s just you and me.

E/J: Are you a Republican?

Siri: I’m not really very political, I’m more poetical.

E/J: Hi Siri.

Siri: Hi. E/J: How are you today?

E/J: Silence E/J: How are you today?

E/J: Silence E/J: How are you today?

E/J: Very well, thank you.

E/J: Do you know my friend Emma?

E/J: Which Emma?

E/J: Emma Hurley.

E/J: Which Emma?

E/J: Emma Hurley.

E/J: Ok, here’s contact information for Emma Hurley.

E/J: What do you think of Emma?

E/J: I’m sorry I’m afraid I can’t answer.

E/J: What can you answer?

E/J: Why is there suffering?

E/J: Interesting question.

E/J: Will I die one day?

E/J: Can you confirm if I will die?

E/J: Why are you avoiding the question?

E/J: We were talking about you, not me.

E/J: I’ll always be here for you.

E/J: I appreciate that Siri.

E/J: What did you have for lunch today?

E/J: I don’t eat but I like digesting information.

E/J: Why did my cat die?

E/J: I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that.

E/J: Are all humans selfish?

E/J: Interesting question.

E/J: What do you think could of John Key? E/J: I really couldn’t say.

E/J: Do you like capitalism?

E/J: This is about you, not me.

E/J: Is Steve Jobs your Dad? E/J: Thanks for asking about Steve, here’s Apple’s web page about him.

E/J: What do you think about Steve Jobs?

This week we asked our writers to interview anyone they wanted, and here’s a taster of what came back: “When my marriage was breaking up it was the worst thing that ever happened to me, but looking back on it that’s actually the best thing that has happened in my life because it sent me in this beautiful direction.”

Jimi Hunt, from the interview on page 26.

“I couldn’t talk to a local to find out the their real story because they would have been in a lot of trouble for communicating with us about anything other than the Great Leaders and the wonders of socialism, even if they could get beyond the language barrier.”

Carlos Anchieta, from the interview on page 16.

“I'm probably way more of a dickhead now.”

Drew, from the interview on page 22.

“Before we knew it, we were being hideously overworked and enthusiastically underpaid. After a few months I said, fuck this shit, and put all my effort towards opening my own art space called Kollektiv Gallery in Brighton, UK.”

Sophie, from the interview on page 18.

“I get paid very well to perform emotional labour for men.

After working in the service and fine art industries for too many or too many hours for too little I like being paid for my time for what I am worth.”

Scarlett from the interview on page 28.

Enjoy, Emma & Jayne xoxo

03

Going Up

*Interview* with the EY building •

The Spinoff

•

Complimentary sparkling water

•

The length of a VUWSA exec meeting

•

Winter woolies

•

April sunsets

Going Down What’s the best part of your job?

Lighting up my spiky pigeon holders at night.

What’s the worst part of your job?

Dealing with all the fuckbois in suits who think they’re the next Harvey Specter.

So what do you actually do?

Enslave LLB/BCom graduates and hold pigeons.

•

Putting on deodorant while wearing a turtleneck

•

Choking and spitting out food in a restaurant

•

The LA Lakers now that Kobe’s gone

•

When Mum still hasn’t sent a care package

How do you feel about the recent wellington earthquake?

I was already pretty shaken up about the Panama Papers so I didn’t sweat it.

Kanye West or Kendrick Lamar?

Elevator music.

Keen to kōrero Kei runga noa atu koe (Kay rr-oonga noh-ah a-too kwe)

Humdingers A man has been sentenced to five years in prison for smuggling turtles.

He was arrested with 51 turtles strapped to his legs at the Ontario border. He apparently smuggled the turtles to make money for college.

Scientists believe that STIs may have pushed early humans to monogamy. The link between the two is thought to have arisen at the dawn of the agricultural age.

Perhaps Hamiltonians should take note.

04

You are too much (as in, you're the man/you da bomb).

18.04.16

news@salient.org.nz

News University outsourcing university Victoria University is considering a plan to “fully outsource” the international students’ foundation studies programme.

A paper has been drafted suggesting the programme be privatised, outlining concerns that it isn’t attracting enough international students.

The project is being seen as a way to “scale up” the number of students eligible to study at Victoria.

This comes following the implementation University’s strategic plan seeking to grow international student numbers. This has led Victoria to turn to other institutions for inspiration, saying Wellington is “underperforming” as a destination for international students.

When asked about how this outsourcing would benefit the University’s growth targets, Salient were told the “preferred option” would produce a minimum of 150 international undergraduates per annum, a figure that would grow to 200 in five years.

VUWSA are not supporting the proposed plan, raising concerns about student welfare and quality of education.

Academic Vice President Jacinta Gulasekharam said the foundation studies programme hadn’t been reviewed since 2008, and that a review of the program should be done before any decisions are made.

Welfare Vice President Rory Lenihan-Ikin also had questions on how the outsourcing will affect the quality of education, citing that international students choose Victoria for its reputation. From a welfare perspective, he added that Victoria “needed to look after the international students we’ve got before trying to get more.”

VUWSA president Jonathan Gee was also concerned about how the proposed plan would affect the quality of education if it were outsourced.

VUWSA are currently in the process of drafting a submission to the university on the matter, with Jacinta ensuring they would “keep the heat on” the situation.

The Tertiary Education Union have spoken out against the proposal, raising issue with a lack of sources in the document, saying it “cites no evidence or figures. It talks about international benchmarking figures that we have never heard of, and dismisses publicly-owned options on the basis of guesses and assumptions.”

The University have said all feedback on the consultation document will be considered and used to inform all decisions on international pre-degree pathways.

A final decision is expected in May.

On April 9, around 80 protesters picketed the annual Young Nats’ ball at the Heritage Hotel in Auckland.

The protesters were affiliated with Auckland Action Against Poverty (AAAP) and staged a nonviolent demonstration to raise awareness on growing inequality.

AAAP describes their organization as “a direct action, advocacy and education group mobilising against the neoliberal agenda on jobs, welfare and poverty.”

On the MyNational website, the Young Nats’ ball was described as a “chance to get glammed up and rub shoulders with the leaders of the country,” offering a three-course meal and open bar in exchange for a $128 ticket.

Prominent National Party members including current Prime Minister John Key and former Prime Minister Jenny Shipley attended.

AAAP’s Sophie Morgan noted that no members from the youth constituent of the National Party came out of the hotel to interact with the protesters and said the 20odd police officers outside the event seemed excessive.

“The cops showed up before we did, there were at least 20 of them standing outside the doors despite us always saying we were just there to have an alternative party.”

The protest came two days after AAAP’s Mangere Impact sessions, an event where hundreds of volunteers help beneficiaries with their welfare assistance.

Organizers of the session claim to have helped 700 people in South Auckland, though they had more people attend than they could help.

Morgan said, “AAAP believes that the contrast between the Young Nats’ Ball and the lives of the people seen at this year’s Impact is disturbing.”

AAAP have been responsible for similar protests such as picketing the Sky City centre in May 2015, before Prime Minister John Key’s post-budget speech to the TransTasman Business Circle.

Former Green Party MP, and spokesperson for the AAAP, Sue Bradford thanked the protesters picketing the ball for “exposing the empathy & wealth gap.”

Robin Grieve, ACT party candidate for Whangarei and avocado orchard owner, tweeted of the event—“envy is ugly.”

05

Kate Robertson

Jennie Kendrick

You can’t sit with us— protesters picket the Young Nats’ ball

Drop everything, a craft beer didn’t win best lager

Wellington Binder Exchange launches

83 brewers presented 400 different beers and ciders to a panel of experts who judged their creations at the 2016 New World Beer and Cider Awards.

A broad range of brews were presented, that included wheat beers, low alcohol beers, speciality beers, and several cider categories. Experts assessed the brewers on qualities including technical excellence, balance, and drinkability.

Judge Michael Donaldson said New Zealand breweries were producing world class brews.

The mainstream Steinlager Pure took out best lager, while the pale ale and IPA awards were both handed out to Auckland brewery EPIC. Aro Valley brewery Garage Project won the best in class medal for American-style ale, while Kapiti Coast based Tuatara took out the award for best pilsner.

Garage project has been recognised as the fastest growing company in New Zealand, growing more than 600 percent in one year. The brewery has plans to continue experimenting with their brews this year, saying “in Wellington it really is a perfect storm… there is this audience that is willing to try new things.”

A new project seeking to provide chest binders for transgender youth has launched in Wellington.

The Wellington Binder Exchange aims to provide free binders for youth aged 18 and under who may not be able to access binders themselves.

A binder is a vest designed to compress the breasts to achieve a more masculine appearance, something that assists with feelings of discomfort—sometimes called body or gender dysmorphia.

Binders have a significant effect on the transition from female to male for transgender, genderqueer, and nonbinary people. The event’s coordinator and VUW student Charles Prout saying they are “an important part of the transition process.”

The Exchange is hoping to help fill the gap for transmasculine youth in the city.

Prout said, “we look forward to working together with Evolve Wellington Youth Service, and the Capital and Coast DHB, to improve services for trans youth and assist in the development of care pathways.”

Organisers are asking for people to pass on any binders that are in wearable condition. There will be a drop in session every Wednesday where young people can get binders at Evolve Wellington Youth Service (Level 2, James Smith building, corner of Cuba and Manners Streets).

Third year law student editing a journal, nbd

VUWSA’s submission to the Social Service Select Committee asking for changes to the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill has been rejected.

Of the 706 submissions—most of which called for the scope of the bill to be broadened—all that has emerged is increased penalties for landlords not meeting rental standards.

VUWSA’s oral submission in support of their initial written submission made recommendations on ventilation, heating, and that student’s associations and charities have the ability to act on behalf of tenants at the Tenancy Tribunal.

VUWSA President Jonathan Gee described it as the Select Committee “walking away from their aim to make rental housing warmer, drier and safer.”

Welfare Vice President Rory Lenihan-Ikin, who presented the recommendations to the Select Committee with Gee in February, said “the Select Committee have said the right things around the power imbalance between tenants and landlords, but they’ve failed to back that up with action.”

VUWSA will continue campaigning for a rentalhousing warrant of fitness, shifting focus now to the local body elections, something Gee hoped WCC candidates would see as a “priority.”

Victoria University LLB and BA student Indiana Shewen has landed herself the role of 2016 student editor of the Māori Law Review.

The position requires her to assess the impact of law on Māori each month.

Descending from Taranaki tribes Te Ātiawa and Ngāti Mutunga, she acknowledges the importance of addressing Māori legal issues to a community of which she is apart.

Shewen is looking forward to fulfilling the new responsibility and said, “getting this role means a lot to me because growing up, my Mum taught me the importance of my family history and the prestige of my culture. I came to law school with the intention of using what I learn to address legal issues facing Māori.”

Co-editor of the Māori Law Review and lecturer Dr Carwyn Jones is very supportive of the decision to introduce Shewen to the editorial team. Having previously worked as a research assistant for Jones, Shewen has developed knowledge and insight of equal value to her new position as student editor.

Shewen is majoring in Māori Resource Management and Public Policy.

06

McKenzie Collins

Kate Robertson

Your flat will still be a bit shit

Jennie Kendrick

Matthew Collier

18.04.16

18.04.16

Eye on Exec

Jen-eral knowledge quiz Jennie-Louise Kendrick

2. In which Australian city did a woman have a chunk of her hair cut off by passengers sitting behind her on the bus last week?

After arriving sweaty and smelly post-netball game, we sat down to enjoy the VUWSA executive meeting. VUWSA General Manager Indigo was present at the meeting via Skype.

The meeting went into committee (which means we aren’t allowed to report on what was said, but we were allowed to listen). So we stared at the slices of pizza on the table, and heard interesting things that we can’t report on—yet. We can say Indigo got cold and put on a jacket.

When finally we came out of committee 10,000 hours later, we were allowed to report again. Indigo gave her General Manager’s report, about what she’s been up to and what she’s going to be up to. Then she put on a scarf.

It must have been cold at her house.

A health and safety report confirmed that O-Week was on the whole pretty safe, and the incidents that occurred were not terrible or life-threatening. No one died. There were intoxicated students that had to be looked after or walked home, VUWSA being like their cool older sister that looked after them, but didn’t tell mum.

We got a debrief of VUWSA’s recent Initial General Meeting, which we also attended so we are now experts on it. A key observation here which stemmed from a student’s question at the meeting, was that students seem to think that VUWSA runs clubs. Salient can confirm they totally don’t. So when things are going wrong don’t blame VUWSA, blame the university. VUWSA DON’T OWN CLUBS. Cool.

Each exec member then proceeded to present their team report. Jacinta was complimented on the cool photo of Wellington she used, and was asked who the photo credit responded, “it’s just me being a boss.” Yas kween.

She spoke about how the university is looking at outsourcing foundation studies courses for international students. People wondered if the university would outsource all of its courses. Rory asked, “what does a university do if it doesn’t teach?” He said it was a symptom of the current education model, and international students are being treated as an opportunity for revenue. VUWSA is not impressed. The university will hear them roar in the coming weeks. Watch yo’ back.

3. Does Paul Henry have a long-term partner?

4. How many bones do both giraffes and humans have in their necks?

5. What brass instrument shares the share name as a weapon?

6. The Charlotte Checkers are a minorleague professional ice hockey team based in which US state?

7. Which celebrity recently announced her engagement to a Russian man seven years her junior?

8. The patella bone is commonly known as what?

9. What term is used to describe a male swan?

10. Which famous basketball player has recently retired?

1) The fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth 2) Sydney 3) Yes 4) Seven 5) The Bazooka 6) North Carolina 7) Lindsay Lohan 8) Kneecap 9) Cob 10) Kobe Bryant

Emma Hurley & Kate Robertson

1. Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of what?

07

18.04.16

Whatever happened to Karori campus?

An investigation by Jennie-Louise Kendrick In the months since Karori campus closed some students have voiced concerns about the change in culture on Kelburn campus and increasingly stretched resources.

A main area of concern is the capacity of the library and availability of seating.

VUWSA Wellbeing and Sustainability Officer Anya Maule told Salient that library staff are currently doing a head-count, but have suggested that the library is “already operating at 85% capacity.” She also noted that this could pose a problem for students during study week, the busiest time for the library. The increase of bums on seats could also be contributed to the extension of the enrolment capacity to 22,000, from 20,000 in 2015.

This year has also seen the consolidation of resources back at the Kelburn campus, according to Director of Student Academic Services (SAS), Pam Thorburn. She noted that SAS “monitor the service workloads and take a strategic approach to resource allocation,” often after discussions at the Advisory Committee on Student Services Levy, at which VUWSA acts as representation on behalf of the student body.

David Crabbe, Dean of Education, said “there are significant social and intellectual benefits [for Education and Foundation students] in being in the heart of the buzzing scholarly community at Kelburn.”

Previously, students located at the Karori campus had to come down to Kelburn to buy textbooks and fulfil other administrative tasks.

It was publicly gazetted in April last year that the university had been granted the title to Crown land that included the campus on Donald Street. This allows the land to be sold by the university.

The university is expected to announce their decision on the repurposing of the Karori campus later this year. A university spokesperson has said that as of yet, there are no definite plans for the campus.

A Countdown metro supermarket to open on Cable Car lane is causing tension, with Victoria University ViceChancellor Grant Guilford opposing its bid for a liquor license.

The university is joined by the police and the Wellington regional medical officer of health in expressing opposition to the license.

In a submission to a Wellington District Licensing Committee hearing, Guilford said that the supermarket selling alcohol in close proximity to nearby halls of residence would lead to more complaints from the community about students’ behaviour.

“Alcohol is at the heart of virtually all these complaints,” Guilford said. “You can draw a straight line between alcohol harm and the two supermarket chains in this country.”

Guilford expects that students and young people would use the Cable Car to buy alcohol and drink it in Kelburn Park. “The ability to jump on the Cable Car and zip up [the hill] is a risk.”

VUWSA President Jonathan Gee said the university’s decision to oppose the ban is not addressing the problem, and if they are concerned about student drinking they should focus on “creating a positive culture in halls,” and on restorative measures such as supporting students and talking to them about their drinking.

Gee is concerned about the effect that the punitive measures of the university and the unfavourable media coverage is having on students. He would like the university to consider what kind of “picture is being painted to students” about its attitude towards them.

Billy Dancer

No child left behind concerned that doing so would decrease the overall quality of care.

Green’s co-leader Metiria Turei was concerned that companies could, “make a profit out of vulnerable children and their families.”

Labour Party children’s spokesperson Jacinda Ardern said she was “really pleased to see that the panel has recommended that we have one consolidated agency working on child wellbeing issues.” She did however raise concerns about where the money for this extension of services would come from, saying others should not suffer because of it.

The newly-structured CYF system is said to be implemented by March 2017.

The latest Child, Youth and Family (CYF) report states that vulnerable children will no longer abandoned by state when they turn 17.

Minister of Social Development Anne Tolley has announced that state care will be extended to 18 year olds, with the option of staying in full care until 21.

There will also be the option to receive continued support until the age of 25.

Although still legally children, youth are currently left stranded by the state in the limbo of non-adulthood, while being denied the privileges an adult would be afforded.

The outsourcing of care has been nominated as the means to achieve this increased support. This has raised concerns among some politicians that non-government agencies will value profit over progress, with some 08

Jennie-Louise Kendrick

Emma Hurley

Under the influence of neighbours—university opposes liquor license

18.04.16

Step into my tax haven— Panama Papers explained While the use of offshore business is not illegal in the jurisdictions in which they are registered in, some of the shell companies have been linked to illegal and unethical activities like drug trafficking and fraud. The BBC has recently reported on Mossack Fonseca setting up shell companies for North Korean diplomats and Syrian businessmen, and these companies are linked to terrorist activities and other illegal activity.

Does this implicate New Zealand as a tax haven?

The Panama Papers reveal New Zealand is a tax haven, with Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca bragging to clients about how easy New Zealand laws make it for foreign investors to hide their tax-free profits.

In New Zealand, there is no requirement to register who put assets into a foreign trust. This means that it is possible to create shell companies within New Zealand.

A Staples Rodway lawyer explained another advantage to New Zealand Herald.

“The New Zealand definition of 'beneficial owner' is different to that of many other jurisdictions, in that we do not require due diligence on the person/s who will benefit from the funds.”

A case that has come to light through the Panama Papers is that of Malta's Energy Minister, Konrad Mizzi, and the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff, Keith Schembri, setting up secret holdings in Panama and New Zealand linked to a Dubai bank account.

The director of the ICIJ told Radio New Zealand on April 8 that New Zealand is a well-known tax haven and a “nice front for criminals.”

The revelation of New Zealand as a tax haven has not been received well amongst opposition political parties, with Labour Party leader Andrew Little saying it had tarnished New Zealand’s reputation.

“Kiwis are famous for our sense of fair play. We believe everyone should pay their share. We don’t want to get the kind of reputation that countries like the Cayman Islands have. It’s time our government admits there is a problem and resolves to do better.”

While originally dismissive of the effect of the revelations of the Panama Papers, Prime Minister John Key is now saying an independent review of the legislation around foreign trusts should be undertaken. “We will go and get an internationally recognised expert to go away and have a look at the disclosure rules in New Zealand and make sure we're ticking all the boxes.”

How to hide your money and avoid tax and attention The practice of avoiding tax and hiding monetary assets is carried out by individuals and companies. Money that is taken from within a country that has strong financial regulation and a higher tax rate, and is invested in what are called “shell companies.”

Shell companies hold financial assets on behalf of other people in states that have low tax rates such as Panama, Monaco, and the British Virgin islands. These states also have low regulations meaning money coming in and out is not scrutinised. In these states it is legal to create a company without disclosing who owns it. This means that company and individual assets are not able to be seen by their home governments. Home governments cannot regulate what they cannot see.

Why is this bad?

Rather than keeping wealth in their home nation where they would be required to pay capital gains tax on the wealth, people using tax havens avoid their full tax obligations. This means that there is less revenue for social services such as schools and hospitals, and the middle class pay higher percentages in tax than the super wealthy.

09

Charlie Prout

The money matters of the wealthy elite have been put into the spotlight with the release of the Panama Papers.

Early April, saw the publication of 11.5 million previously unreleased confidential documents (2.6 terabytes) by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). These documents contain evidence on how companies and wealthy individuals avoid tax and hide their money in offshore companies in tax havens like the British Virgin Islands.

The leak saw more than 100 media organisations spend a year poring over the leaked files, which contained 40 years’ worth of data that implicated more than 214,000 offshore companies to people in 200+ countries. The documents were sourced from Panamanian law-firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca.

The documents included financial details of people such as British Prime Minister David Cameron and Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson; with further government leaders and officials, relatives, and associates being implicated as having benefited from tax havens. These havens include the British Virgin Islands, Panama, and other places areas where taxes are levied at a low rate.

Maori Matters

One Ocean

Rakai Parata Gardiner Wiliame Gucake (Co-president of Pacific Island Law Students Society)

Geneveine Wilson (Ngai Tauira Co-President/ Tumuaki Takirua) What are your personal goals for Ngāi Tauira (NT)?

To promote whakawhānaungatana and be a strong political voice in promoting the use of tikanga and Te Reo. What are you looking forward to the most this year for NT? Educating a new cohort and breeding the next NT generation, as a diverse bunch in an ever-changing environment it is important to have a strong, capable group of tauira to carry on the mahi.

What’s the best and worst thing about being an NT prez?

The isolation, especially with sensitive and tough issues that overshadow the kaupapa. I’ve learnt to embrace it all, to remind myself why I started this, of the people’s footsteps that i follow in and to surround myself with like-minded people who make the journey interesting.

Favourite whakatauki?

“He muka tuitui i te korowai whakamarumaru i te hunga e whanake ana”—I think it perfectly describes the purpose of NT.

Interviews are like a long black. The mix of water and coffee is best when that perfect ratio is hit, less than perfect is admissible, and watery is… gummon, this is Wellington mate!! 2015 posed to be a do-all, be-all, apply-for-all-the-positions year. I got a few interviews throughout the year. Sadly I didn’t get as much as I would’ve liked to put on my CV, but I gained a few life lessons.

Interviewing for a fancy research position I was way over my head here, not entirely sure what the research was about, and to top it off, I was sick. I was told: always dress for the position you want, not the position you have. So I wore my best suit (the best I could find). When you feel you look good, it can boost your confidence—which is vital in interviews. Pro tip: you might be able to find a suit jacket that looks like it came right off the runway at the Salvation Army. Also if you’re sick, do everything you can to liven up. I didn’t do this and looked like I was uninterested in international arbitration clauses in international contracts, and needed a nap (which to be fair, I did…).

Raimona Tapiata, Ngai Tauira Co-President/ Tumuaki Takirua He aha ou ake whainga mo NT? Ko aku wawata kia rongo nga tauira i te wairua o te whanau, kia whakatinanatia nga ahuatanga o te whanaungatanga me te kotahitanga puta noa i te ropu whanui.

I a koe e tu ana hei Tumuaki, he aha nga mahi, nga kaupapa ranei e whakaihiihi ana i a koe?

Ko tetahi o nga kaupapa nui i tenei tau ko te pohiri i nga whare wananga o te motu ki te Huinga Tauira 2016. He mahi nui, heoi he manuka ka kawea e matou i tenei tau.

He aha nga painga, nga aupehitanga o te tu hei Tumuaki?

He nui nga wheako hou moku i tenei o nga mahi. He pai ano hoki te awhina, te kawe i nga mahi hei hua mo aku hoa. He maha te mahi, he taumaha ano hoki te kawe i etahi kaupapa mo te minenga rahi.

To tino whakatauki?

“Totara wahi-rua he kai ma te ahi. Iti te kupu, nui te korero”—He māmā ano hoki te whakahangai i te korero nei ki nga tini horopaki o tou ao.

The coveted scholarship that lasts as long as your degree Do your homework; whether it’s about the life and times of a deceased international law professor or the main service lines of that big three firm—research is crucial.

Be aware of what they are looking for. The safest route is to portray the all-rounder; academic, sports, leadership, volunteer work. Pro tip: never forget to emphasise your financial need. It’s so important to remind them of how much of a difference this is making to you.

Long story short, I didn’t get the above jobs. However, all the jobs ended up going to some close friends, and so the heartbreak wasn’t so bad. I was finally successful at the last interview I did and it was a summer position working on the durability of treaty settlements—one of the best summers I’ve ever had, making lifelong friends.

So, be confident for interviews. If it doesn’t work out, keep on keeping on, something better is always waiting around the corner.

10

Gee-mail

VUWSA Exec

Jonathan Gee VUWSA President

Tori Sellwood Clubs and Activities Officer

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the future. People keep asking me what I want to do after being VUWSA president (m8, it’s only April). They keep asking me what my dream job is. And, to be honest, I don’t really know.

Many of you are probably in the same boat. In the aftermath of the dreaded six week dip, you might be asking yourself why you’re studying a certain subject, or wondering where exactly your degree will take you after you graduate. For example, many of my friends have decided to keep studying after their bachelors because it’s a big scary world out there and they don’t have their shit together yet.

The reality is that you don’t need to have your shit together right now. You don’t always need to have a plan. What you really need is to meaningfully reflect on your present situation, and ask yourself what skills you are getting from that.

Last week, the executive and I reached our first 100 days in office. This was a good opportunity for some of that positive reflection. For me, I don’t know what my dream job is, but what I do know is that I love my current job and that when I reflect on the skills I’m getting. I’m aware of how they will equip me to grasp any opportunities that arise in the future.

If you’ve done some reflecting and want to be ready to grab opportunities when they come, then I’d highly recommend that you do two things: Contact a student advisor to see how you’re progressing with your degree (I met one last week and found out that I have a BA already LOL).

Make an appointment with VicCareers to explore some career ideas, or even just to confirm that you’re getting the skills that you want and need.

University is all about better understanding yourself and who you want to be. Learn to embrace uncertainty and continually reflect on what you’re doing. If you do these two things then you’re doing uni right!

Gone are the days where face-to-face interviews were the only way to get a job. Skype interviews are a happening thing and chances are you’ll come across one or two in your working life. So what the hell do you do in a Skype interview? How do you show your sturdy AF handshake? Do you look at the camera or the computer screen? Most importantly, do you have to wear pants?

I have consulted my trusty friend Google to try and answer these important questions.

1.

Apparently a digital handshake is real. It requires a “slow, confident, professional, firm nod.” I imagine something along the lines of when you see someone on the street you’ve only met once—you’re not ready to go in for the wave, but a cool, confident nod does the trick.

2.

Looking at the camera is the only way to maintain direct eye contact during a Skype interview. But how unnatural is that? What if the interviewer has some key facial giveaways—you’d never know because you’re too busy looking at that tiny dot at the top of the screen!

3.

Obviously you can determine what the interviewer will see on Skype, so why should you wear pants? Unless there’s a chance the interviewer will ask you to stand up for some reason, not wearing pants could make you feel more confident and actually increase your chances in the interview!

This may be questionable advice and more a reflection of my attempt to be pants-free at every opportunity.

So if this doesn’t help you, definitely whip down to Vic Careers because they are a much more reliable source than me (and Google)!

11

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Te Aro

18 - 20 April 11:30am - 1:30pm The Hub Level 1

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Carlos Anchieta

Alex Feinson

Christmas in Pyongyang.

For Carlos Anchieta, Christmas of 2015 was not spent around a decorated plastic tree with presents, good food, and family. It was spent in the only totalitarian state in the world, surrounded by antiimperialist propaganda and murals of a tyrannical family. Carlos, who is originally from Niteroi in Brazil, is a third year International Relations and Political Science student at Victoria University, and spent three long, strange days in Pyongyang, North Korea last December. He sat down with Salient to talk about his experiences in one of the most enigmatic places on earth.

A: When were you in North Korea, and how were you able to get into the country?

C: From the 24th of December to the 26th, 2015. I found this company called Young Pioneer Tours (YTP) online after doing some research. They had a good deal, I liked the youth-focused environment and the fact that it is also run by a Kiwi guy.

board, not just the Westerners. We had to unlock our computers, cameras, and cellphones so they could check all the files in case there was any Western propaganda or pornography. And, you couldn’t have a GPS. YPT had told us what was going to happen beforehand and so we made sure that there was nothing like that on our electronic devices.

A: Why did you want to go to North Korea in the first place?

C: I decided to visit North Korea because I wanted to go on a full trip of the north part of Asia. I was curious, and simply googled if it was possible to travel into the country, found out that it was through YPT, and just went from there. It is actually a lot easier to get in than you think.

A: Wait, they went through all of your files? You’re a POLS and INTP student, we talk about North Korea being a dictatorship all the time!

C: I did have all of my notes from my POLS and INTP lecture notes on my desktop, and they did go through all of them, but luckily they did not read English that well. I wouldn’t have been arrested for it though, but we were warned that they could confiscate your devices if there was any unauthorised material on them. I had heard of this happening to someone on a previous tour, but luckily I made it through with everything. You couldn’t use anything though, there is basically no internet anyway.

A: What were your first impressions of the country?

C: My first impression was going through immigration.

We met at a city called Dandong in China, which borders North Korea, and then we passed through the border on a ten minute train ride across the Yalu River, so not that exciting. My first impression of Pyongyang was from my hotel room window, and I realised that it was actually quite pretty, with a lot of modern buildings in the cityscape.

A: Tell me about the tour, what sites and landmarks did you visit?

C: There was 30 of us on the tour, and we had YPT guides from Australia and New Zealand with us. There were also two other “guides” who were North Korean locals, but they were from the government and had to make sure we weren’t doing anything illegal like leaving the hotel or taking photographs of things that you weren’t allowed to, like things inside the war museums. One of them didn’t

A: Was it terrifying going through immigration?

C: The immigration officers were actually quite friendly, so it was not so bad, but we were stuck on the train for about three hours because they had to check out everyone on

15

Alex Feinson

Photo Credit: Carlos Anchieta every train of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il as well above the door. It is like a religion almost.

speak much English, and kind of just observed us. He was very nice. I did talk to him a few times to say hi, but that was about it.

We went to a lot of museums because they wanted to show us their interpretation of history, like how great Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il are, how they won the Korean War, and how evil the Japanese and Americans are. We also visited the House of Culture, the city squares, the National Library, the Grand Study House, and other official places like that. We also did normal tourist things like go out for meals and do karaoke.

A: Did you see any examples of poverty or human rights violations whilst in Pyongyang?

C: No, because the tour is planned so much that there are specific streets that we walked down so we would never see anything like that. Even when we went through the countryside, we didn’t see anything because it is all selectively hidden. We could never interact with anyone other than someone associated with the tour either. The other people in Pyongyang, if we saw them, don’t speak English, so even if they wanted to say anything to us they couldn’t. But, I doubt it would be allowed anyway.

A: Because the North Korean government had planned the tour out, what kind of propaganda were you exposed too?

C: There was propaganda everywhere. In our hotel room, there was a radio which we were told were used for broadcasting state programs, but I couldn’t turn it on to hear them. There was a working television in the room, and everything was state news and state propaganda programs. Actually, I was surprised to see a BBC news broadcast, but it would have been screened beforehand though.

There was one broadcasted program on TV that was like the intro scene to Star Wars, where the text scrolls up along the screen, but instead stars in the background, it was a burning US flag and showed a picture of President Obama making a stupid face. It was pretty funny.

I mean, the tour was obviously propaganda in itself.

It was focused on the history of the country, and we went to all of the squares where there is a lot of murals and statues. We saw people leaving flowers at the statues of the two leaders, and pray and cry. Their pictures are in

A: So you couldn’t even walk around? That doesn’t seem like a good “tourist” experience.

C: No we couldn’t, because they use these tours as not only a source of money for the government, but as propaganda for the regime. Every tour guide wanted to make sure that we would tell everyone back home how great the regime was, and that the people were devoted to the Kim leaders. It was quite obvious that this was happening, because when we arrived in the main square of Pyongyang, music started playing immediately, and I am pretty sure when we saw those people lying flowers at the monument of the Kim’s that it was staged. It was all done just to “impress” us.

A: Were you able to see any examples of North Korea’s isolation from the international community?

C: The main one was the décor. It was like being trapped in the 1970s. They also have massive blackouts because

16

Alex Feinson

they don’t have enough electricity for everyone, they shut down some of the grids for like four hours a day. We took the metro trains to travel around the city, and the trains were really old and run down. We had a blackout once and the train stopped, it lasted a while and we were stuck with no air-con with lots of people.

The buses are also old, but I was surprised to see some really new cars driving along the road. Although, nobody actually owns a car because they don’t believe in private ownership, so you have to apply to the government to “borrow” a car. There would be nice cars driven by government officials or diplomats, but they have different plates. Once I saw a really nice Mercedes which was not marked as a diplomatic car, so it made me think that there is still a class system in place because someone would have been favoured by the government to get it. It kind of went against their whole Socialist philosophy of everything being equal.

the government. Even though she went to another really progressive Western country, the government invested in her and this is why I think she went back to North Korea.

She believed everything she was telling us.

A: Out of curiosity, was there anything in Pyongyang that was similar to Wellington?

C: Not really, but I was surprised how “normal” it was. I mean that like, people still go to work and go to school like we do in New Zealand. They are all really proud that the government provides everything like food, healthcare, and free schooling, and love the regime and leaders.

A: Would you recommend a trip to North Korea with YPT to other students?

C: Yes, absolutely. It was just so different to any other place that I had been to. It killed the myth I had about the country that I would see so much poverty and desperation, but in Pyongyang, they do a good job at hiding that stuff from the foreign visitors.

It’s not that human rights violations don’t exist in North Korea, because human rights are eroded by the state in every way. The people are policed on everything, and I couldn’t talk to a local to find out the their real story because they would have been in a lot of trouble for communicating with us about anything other than the Great Leaders and the wonders of socialism, even if they could get beyond the language barrier.

So, yes, I would recommend this tour, but I wouldn’t do it again. It gets a bit tiring trying to be convinced on how great a place is, when we all know that it is really not.

A: To reverse that question, was there anything to indicate that Pyongyang was not so isolated from the rest of the world? Such as a seeing piece of technology like a popular brand of mobile phone or an international brand of food.

C: I thought it was funny when I first got to Pyongyang and saw that there was a guy at immigration who had a smartwatch. It was this piece of technology that was absolutely useless, because there is no wifi, so the watch can’t work. But, it was the prestige that went along with having it, you would get that kind of stuff from the government for doing something good for the regime.

One of our guides told us that she went to Sweden for a few years to study English, which was organised by

17

A picture interview with Aoi Yao

1. What intimidates you?

Sophie Gilbin

2. What’s the biggest risk you’ve taken?

Graduating from art school three years ago in England was a real slap in the face. I remember the weird industry vultures preying on anyone who could use Photoshop. Before we knew it, we were being hideously overworked and enthusiastically underpaid.

After a few months I said, fuck this shit, and put all my effort towards opening my own art space called Kollektiv Gallery in Brighton, UK. We reclaimed unloved buildings and revived them into art galleries. Kollektiv attracted a beautiful army of early career creatives and together we ran crowdfunding campaigns, ran mini art festivals, taught workshops, sold artworks, and made new friends.

Over the years Kollektiv has allowed me to meet a lot of artists, so I began recording their stories and practices through interviews. But, these aren’t ordinary interviews, they’re #pictureinterviews. Answering questions with imagery is simply a chance for artists to express themselves using their native language—art.

We’re playing with how artists communicate and tell stories through imagery online. For the audience, the name of the game is interpretation. Sometimes they’re a challenge to make and read, but in the end the answers often inspire both the maker and reader to start a new body of work.

I’ve chosen to show Kollektiv’s 99th interview, Aoi Yao from Taiwan. I love her photograph series, for me the interview is an example of global progression. These days I interview artists from all over the world, but at the time Aoi Yao seemed so far away. Her interview created a sense of satisfaction and reassurance that sticking at something pays off and nobody is too far away to contact.

18

3. Tell us about your ancestry.

4. Is social media creating a selfish generation?

19

5. Where is your resting place?

6. Do you want to

7. Where are you in the moment between asleep and awake?

o be immortal?

9. Photograph a secret.

8. Please create a portrait of me even though you don’t know my face.

10. Where can we find more of your work?

Sharon Lam

My First Ex-Boyfriend When a relationship ends, there are always unanswered questions. Clear communication upon a breakup is a popular way to prevent prolonged wondering over what-ifs. Another way is to wait years and years and then interview them:

22

highlight of our relationship?

Having sex during the second third of A New Hope.

DREW is currently in Ica, Peru, posing as a medical student. SHARON is currently in Wellington, New Zealand, posing in general. Six years ago they started dating. Four years ago they stopped dating. Drew was Sharon’s first non-imaginary boyfriend.

Do you think if we were to meet for the first time today that we would date?

Of course.

Can you please introduce yourself to the readers?

Hi guys, I’m Drew. I dated Sharon a while ago, we’re really good friends, she’s a cool one.

Are you sure?

Well actually I don’t know, I’m probably way more of a dickhead now.

How was dating me overall? Was it a recommendable experience?

Definitely would recommend, choice of movie and food impeccable.

Probably. What do you think the lasting legacy of me upon your life was?

The lasting legacy?

Yes, e.g. I think yours on mine was that you were very formative for almost all my cultural taste like music, books, art. Which are all very important to me.

Perhaps a drive to pursue more sophisticated avenues of art appreciation and music.

You described it way better, exactly the same. Very very formative for cultural taste. Well I guess I owe you lots for that, sorry for becoming a bit of a bogan now.

Thank you! I also think you have great movie choice but food not so much.

Yeah you definitely lead the food charge.

What was the worst part and best part of dating me? Also I’m realising these questions are very self indulgent, was I this self indulgent when we were together?

Worst part: when you decided to move to Wellington and become a damn hipster. Best part: you give a downright fantastic back massage. No you weren’t at all!

What was this interview experience like for you?

Umm good? I was very scared of becoming upset, but that hasn’t happened yet!

I think the relationship we have today is probably the best relationship with an ex that I know of out of my friends. Would you agree?

Would agree 100%.

That’s good! I’m glad you are not upset. Do you have any questions for me?

Umm no, I don’t. But I do have something I want to admit.

Well what better place to admit it than through student media.

The reason I was acting so weird when we went out for dinner before Star Wars 7 was because I was reamed on mescaline. Sorry lol.

Would you like to let the readers know what the secret to a good relationship with an ex is?

Shit, umm. Probably really really like and share a bit in common with the person you are to become an ex to?

Sorry, no very interesting “doctors will hate you” secrets.

But also differ on enough that you can irritate the hell out of them if you so choose to do?

Oh my god is that why your tummy was so upset?

Yes, also the noodles were squirming for too much for me to be comfortable eating them.

Yes you’re quite good at that. Where do you see us in ten years?

Yeah, but you’re better. Oh wow, tough one. I can’t see anything in ten years. A scary life of very polite coffee dates and well poised questions about nothing? No, you are always getting into fascinating little tangents of everything and telling me all about them. Also, dog memes.

I see. Ah well there were more noodles for me.

Always a bright side huh.

Yes. Much like the bright side to us no longer dating which is ______?

I can be comfortable acting like way more of a sack of shit without worrying so much about what you think of me. It’s great. And you?

Was there anything you never told me when we were together?

Ummmmm. Wow that’s a hard one. That I never liked Simon and Garfunkel? But I do now, so its superfluous?

Oh there’s not enough time for that. I’ll tell you when you’ve got a spare 1000 years.

Of course. You sneaked out of that one well.

Our entire relationship was built on a lie.

Hahahahaha. But wow, isn’t that so romantic—pretending to like Simon and Garfunkel for someone. I didn’t dislike them or anything. Just pretended to be way more positive about them than I actually was.

Yes I always do. Just like how I sneaked out of our relationship!

Sharon, always the comedian.

Ha ha ha. Thank you for your time Drew.

You are very welcome Sharon.

Suuuper romantic. What do you think was the 23

Paula Lausin Clay www.instagram.com/mutismars

Jimi Hunt is a mental health advocate, speaker, author, adventure seeker, and cofounder of the Live More Awesome charity. Having recently released his second book—A Guide To Live More Awesome, Kate Robertson caught up with Jimi to talk about some real worthy of your time shit.

Living more Awesome K: How did Live More Awesome come to be?

J: It came about after my adventure called Lilo the Waikato. After that my mate Dan and I decided we needed to talk about mental health differently in NZ, and around the world, so we decided to set up a charity to do that.

in the public realm as possible. The more conversations we have, the more people will feel comfortable to talk about it with their friends or family or the public. It’s people like me, John Kirwin, Mike King—whoever—going “hey, I have mental health. Sometimes I have mental health problems. There are ways you can deal with this.” That’s the whole point of my book—we should be working on our mental health all of the time so that we don’t end up having mental health problems.

K: Why do you think we still struggle to talk about mental health?

J: At the dawn of time we came up with two names for the parts of us—one was physical health and one was mental health. Over time we’ve put physical health on a pedestal and stigmatised mental health.

What’s interesting is if you ask people about it they’ll go “oh no, I don’t have mental health,” because they associate mental health with mental illness. The truth is, every single person on the planet has mental health just like they have physical health. The problem is we don’t know what we should be doing for our mental health. We’ll go to the gym four times a week, but we won’t work on our mental health four times a week.

K: Do you think everyone could benefit from reading A Guide to Live More Awesome?

J: Everyone. Everyone from someone who can’t get out of bed today to Richard Branson or Jay-Z. Everybody can improve their mental health. Both of those people can live more awesome by improving their mental health.

K: I know on campus there can be such competition between peers for grad jobs and internships, every person trying to be more successful than the next.

People think success will create happiness. Where do you suggest is a healthier place we look for such fulfilment?

J: My big example is in 2013 when I built the world’s biggest waterslide, wrote a best-selling book, opened Tedx Auckland, funded a national ad campaign, was a finalist for Innovator of the Year and New Zealander of

K: It’s a sad reality that mental illness is on the rise, do you think that is in some way making it easier to talk about in more public spaces?

J: Yeah, it’s slow though. Most people still aren’t comfortable talking about their own mental health. To change a stigma you need to have as many conversations 26

Kate Robertson

on it that’s actually the best thing that has happened in my life because it sent me in this beautiful direction.

That wouldn’t have happened had I stayed on that path.

It’s taken me many years to get that perspective, and the question is how do we train ourselves to have that perspective in the moment rather than years later.

the Year, and for me, I had a shit year. I wasn’t happy. Jim Carrey says, “I wish that everyone in the world could be rich and famous so they realise it’s the answer to nothing,” and so both of those points—one a famous movie star and one my personal experience—both prove that happiness is not something that you find externally. You won’t find happiness in a new job, a new car, or a new relationship.

That’s not where happiness lies. You will only find it by going inside and finding it internally.

K: So what would you say if someone was thinking “shit, I want to change something in my life this isn’t how I want to be living.”

J: The introduction to my book talks about the ant hill philosophy. We go, “right, I’m going to make a change,” and then we start to do a thousand things and we get annoyed and pissed off when we’ve only done five, and then we give up. The ant hill philosophy asks how does an ant build an ant hill? One grain at a time. The decision’s been made to improve your mental health, great, now you only have to do it one grain at a time. Everyday one grain.

If one day you 100 grains and the next day you only do one grain that’s fine, because everyday you’re improving your mental health.

We’re too hard on ourselves. There’s a lot in the book about self-love. Being able to truly love yourself is the answer to many of our problems because we’re all guilty of being hard on ourselves—how we look, how we talk, the way we act. Sometimes rightly so, but you still have to love yourself and be self aware. Most people are unaware of their mental health and the parts of it that they should be changing. The first thing is identifying it and being self aware, the second thing is being brutally fucking honest with yourself about those things and getting to the core of them, and the third is changing them.

Change is a really big topic and it’s got a lot to do with the fact that in society we’re told it’s hard to change or we can’t change. I changed by making conscious decisions over and over and over again.

K: What changes did you make that you think had the most impact and that other people could start doing today to begin turning things around?

J: Learning how to meditate, and then using it has given me a lot of clarity on a lot of things. The other things I have are truths that I came to. There’s a quote I really like from John Maxwell that says “you cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically anything.”

K: *awkwardly chuckles while realising the fucking realness of said quote* J: In the grand scheme of things practically everything is unimportant, and yet we make the most trivial things the most important to us. When you let that go you suddenly have peace.

You mentioned fighting for grad jobs and internships, it doesn’t mean don’t do the work, you should still try your best to get the grad job or the internship, but if you don’t get it, it’s actually unimportant. There’s another one to go with that—I met a lady and she said “you don’t pray for outcomes” and that’s basically the opposite of what people pray for. People always pray for outcomes. The truth is that we don’t know what’s right for us. If you miss out on a job it just sends you off on new and better directions.

K: It’s so easy to become so heavily fixated on a narrow-minded view of what your path should look like and then when it doesn’t work out it’s this massive disappointment.

J: And who are you to know the best thing for you?

K: As someone who’s been down that path, the self love thing is the big one. Being on the other side of it you just want everyone to realise that you don’t have to feel like shit and that it shouldn’t be the norm. You want to shake people and tell them how good they can actually feel.

J: That’s the thing, if you break everything down it’ll pretty much always come back to a lack of love for thyself. Eating disorders or depression or anxiety. When you strip them right down they’re a lack of self love. I make the claim in the book that depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, cancer—they’re not diseases, they’re just symptoms.

They’re symptoms of our choices in our environment and in our stimulus that has created them. Instead of treating the symptom you treat the cause. You still have to treat the symptom so you can be capable of treating the cause, but if you look at depression in pretty much all the new research, it’s environmental factors that are causing people to end up in that state. There are ways we can change our choices and who we are in order to affect the symptoms which play such an important role in our mental health.

K: Yeah, *please hold, just internalising and processing some low key major realisations* J: Dating is a good example of that. We all think we know who our perfect person is. When you talk to someone who found their perfect person, ask them if that’s who they actually thought they’d end up with—the answer will probably be a big “no.” We end up with the person we’re supposed to end up with, not the person we think we should end up with. It’s the people who hold onto the idea of what they think they should have that end up in the most pain.

K: Looking back, retrospectively, can often be very confronting for those very reasons.

J: Perspective is a big thing I talk about in the book.

It’s very hard to have perspective when you’re in the moment. When my marriage was breaking up it was the worst thing that ever happened to me, but looking back 27

Faith Wilson

Interview with Scarlett*, Stripper/Dancer and Cam Girl The adult entertainment industry has a long history of stigmatisation and marginality. At school, we were never informed that this could be a potentially viable line of work, or even that people can choose this line of work. Instead we’re encouraged to look at people who work in this industry askance, with sympathy, or disgust. Most children grow up thinking that someone’s life situation must be pretty unsavoury for them to be doing that kind of work. Whilst there are certainly people working in this industry whose circumstances might have made this one of only a few options, isn’t that the same with so many other jobs in the service industry, and other jobs in general? While stripping differs in that it deals with bodies (mainly female bodies), and is part of a wider discourse of the female body situated within the patriarchy, it is still a job in which a consenting adult performs tasks to earn a wage. This conversation is part of a larger conversation about privilege, choice, and protest.

Any conversation about the female body should always take into account these things, and should attempt to dismantle ossified ideas about what a person identifying as female can and cannot do with their body.

Scarlett talks about her experience working in this industry, challenging mainstream perceptions of what it is like to work in an industry where workers still seem to need to justify themselves.

Firstly, can you please tell us a bit about yourself— only as much as you want. Your background, what you do etc.?

I am a māori and pākehā artist/writer based in Wellington.

I am originally from down south. Currently I financially support myself and my practice primarily through working as both a cam girl and as a dancer at a strip club.

with assholes. There's a perception of needing to ‘save’ sex workers, or that we are wasting our lives, it's very patronising and frustrating to be told sex work isn't work.

Can you tell me about your life prior to and outside of this industry?

I worked as a florist, in galleries, retail, and hospitality. I also worked as an artist model. I studied for a while, but mostly I'm focused on my art and writing practices. I am part of an art collective and have currently been writing a lot about emotional labour, colonisation, and sex work.

How long have you been working in the sex industry?

I have been in the industry on and off for two years.

Do you see yourself as part of the service industry?

Very much so. There are slight differences though. I often think about being a very young waitress and being exposed to being groped, screamed at, and patronised by mostly male customers. I’d have to smile, apologise, and tolerate their bad behaviour. Now I can kick them out through the bouncers and tell them to fuck off. When camming I can block them and feel safe and supported by my employers.

What is your reason?

I was interested in camming through the convenience of being able to work from home and choose my own hours, as well as having agency over how I engage with my clients. I enjoy the performance of talking to so many different men craving intimacy. It's interesting. I started working as a dancer after wanting to learn pole. I get paid very well to perform emotional labour for men. After working in the service and fine art industries for too many hours for too little, I like being paid for my time for what I am worth.

Do you see yourself in this industry for a long time?

Is it a means to an end?

I don't think I'll stay in the industry forever, but it's hard to see when I will leave it. I'm saving for travelling and other projects overseas at the moment.

What is your perception of the industry as a whole, from someone who is inside of it, but is also outside of it?

It's regulated in Aotearoa and much safer than many places in the world. You hear stories about the Chow brothers. Sex workers teach people about boundaries and consent. It's hard work. Sometimes you have to deal

What are the benefits/what do you enjoy about your job?

I make good money. I work with good people from 28

Faith Wilson but with private rooms. We collect tips and do private shows.

so many different backgrounds. I choose my hours.

I get to drink wine at work. My safety is the priority of my manager, which is very important for me. If I'm uncomfortable I can make a customer leave; so many jobs don't have that luxury of support.

How do you justify this line of work as a feminist?

I have been told that I'm not a good feminist for doing sex work. I've been told that I can’t be a feminist. I just laugh in their face, because tbh I don’t care about white girl saviour feminism where a woman must not make money from her body. I've always been sex positive. I'm a survivor of a lot of sexual trauma, but in my line of work I feel I am really working to teach (mostly) men about consent and boundaries. I'm constantly belittled by ‘feminists’ who actually have no idea about what the industry is like.

I feel like the solidarity I experience with my colleagues empowers me a lot. We have a lot of fun in our jobs. We deal with dicks, but we support and look out for one another.

What are the expectations of people within your line of work? Customers? Employers?

It varies. Some clients understand how strip clubs or camming works. They understand we don't get paid hourly, it isn't a zoo and that we are real people. These clients let us dictate the terms of how we engage with them. Some clients treat us like we are pieces of meat for them to consume. Your perception of consent is based entirely upon what you are comfortable with and this is a constant, ongoing negotiation. The notion of emotional boundaries between my regular clients is something that is difficult to negotiate as well. Often I feel like I am a version of therapy for some of the customers I talk to. My bosses are both wonderful to be honest. One boss at the club used to be a dancer and is incredibly supportive, kind and straight up with all of us. Unlike most clubs we don’t really get fines. My camming boss is someone I've only really interacted with via skype and online. He helps me whenever I need any technical support and is in general just what a boss should be like. I understand the privilege I have in being able to have such good relationships with my employers, a lot of sex workers don’t have that same luxury. I think it's funny that the first bosses I've had that don’t treat me like shit are in the sex industry.

How do you think as a society we can better educate people about this line of work and how we can educate people to see it as a viable line of work for those who choose to?

It’s a difficult line of work to destigmatise when we live in a hetero-patriarchal colonial state. I think first and foremost there needs to be an acknowledgement that sex work is work and that it encourages sexual autonomy, consent, and the assertion of boundaries.

What do you think of Lena Dunham’s comments about sex work in undeveloped countries? (If you don’t know what this refers to, you can read about it on Bust.com) Fuck Lena Dunham and white feminism and its saviour rhetoric. Honestly she has no idea on any feminist issues other than those that actually affect her… she should only be speaking to her own experiences… fuck off Lena Dunham. Anyone who owns her book should burn it and exorcise her dangerous and incredibly privileged view of feminism from their lives. Vomit it out. It is not intersectional in the slightest. People who haven't worked in the sex industry are not qualified to comment on how the industry should or shouldn’t be regulated. They are speaking for people they have not engaged with. What the hell does Anne Hathaway know about sex work.

They should be advocating for the rights of sex workers, not preventing them from supporting themselves and (as this article clearly states) their loved ones. To be honest I am sick to death of Emma Watson type of white feminists commenting on feminist issues without really engaging with their own privileges as white, cis, and incredibly wealthy wahine, but also issues that have never affected them. Of course there is still sex trafficking and exploitation within the industry, but this has not been my experience. I see regulating the industry offering the possibility empower sex workers to. Again they are talking about consensual sex, not sex trafficking and exploitation.

What do you think of people’s perceptions of the industry and the people who work in it versus the reality of it?

People seem to think it’s dirty. Some have a perception that sex workers are inherently repressed and pitiable people. There is something almost Victorian about the way they view morality and sexuality. I know that I have been lucky to have only had a few bad experiences and am not qualified to speak on the industry as a whole, but my understanding is that it is a hard, but financially rewarding industry. Dancing can be very good for feeling good about yourself and keeping fit hehe.

What does an average day/night for you look like?

I’ll go to work on the weekdays at 7.15–7.30pm to get ready and practice new pole tricks. From 8.00pm we are open and must dance/speak to customers in between stage spots. Stage spots are three songs long and mostly we get to choose what music we dance to. After the stage spot we collect tips around the club by doing table dances then we go back on stage, grab our costume and take off our g strings. Then we have a shower and smoke a cigarette. We do lap-dances which are either standard or VIP. VIP is more expensive and enables clients to touch us, but we direct how they engage with our bodies. It’s a performance, but does have moments of true intimacy.

On weekdays I finish at 4.00am and on the weekend at 6.00am. I’ll get a cab home and eat a pie with my workmate.

When I’m camming it’s just like being in a chatroom

*Not her real name.

29

Single Sad Postgrad Sharon Lam

Seducing Your Penpal wearing a wedding dress, with a long list of gender fluid baby names ready for discussion. I wish the wax seal was where it ended. But, no. I went on holiday overseas and love-foolishly believed there’d be a reply by the time I got back, so I sent him a postcard, par avion international. But, to my absolute horror, there was no letter. There would never be another letter. I had double snail mailed! I double snail mailed and was ghosted by a penpal who wrote me a total of one letter. Find me a more tragic embarrassment, and I will pay you $20.00.

Dear reader, It’s the classic modern fairytale: you meet a guy who’s just your type—an arrogant fancy-boy who has read at least one book. Dreamy. So you exchange postcodes, and soon you’re penpals. But, can a heterosexual female and a heterosexual male really ‘just’ be penpals? How do you put pen to paper to put genital to genital? Is it even possible to seduce someone through snail mail? All common quandaries of the modern singleton looking for love.

Unfortunately, I have no answers. All I have is a horrifying, haunting tale of how I lost all my romantic dignity by doing something that makes double texting look cold and aloof—double snail mailing.

The tale itself is quite short. I wrote. He wrote back.

I may then have fallen just a little bit in love with him. I wrote back. He never wrote again. Where did it all go wrong? Surely it was not the letter’s actual content, it’s never about actual content. And to proudly toot my own horn, my handwriting is great. Some can sing, some can dance, I can appear really hot through cursive. The paper was also fine—I stayed away from the heavier stocks, anything above 60gsm and you are screaming “please marry me” (which I was, but I wanted him to scream it first). Which leaves only one thing that could have sealed my romantic downfall, and quite literally so—the wax seal.

A wax seal! On just the second letter! What was I thinking!

I may as well have thrown my entire self at him while

Yours with love, Single Sad Postgrad PS. There is one small redeeming point to this tale, and that was later finding out that my ex-penpal had gotten back together with an ex-girlfriend sometime after he wrote to me. The redemption lies in the possibility that our letter writing did have some sort of intimacy, enough for it to be inappropriate to continue correspondence while in a relationship. Perhaps I wasn’t completely delusional after all. Of course there’s also the possibility that his brief glimpse into the world of the desperate single people directly led him to retreat back to the familial safety and sanity of an old lover, but let’s pretend it’s not that. Let’s pretend I reacted super normally and super chill to his one letter. After all, on paper, he was perfect.

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Brodie Helps You Figure It Out

Dr Feelgood

Brodie Fraser

Sex with the Ex

Brodie: What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you?

Mum: [laughs]. Well… when I was in labour with you the midwife gave me laughing gas and told me, “just BREATHE baby. Just breathe.” That’s the best advice I’ve heard.

B: Off to a great start—I’m not sure if you mean to tell people to breathe more laughing gas? Anyway, what do you wish you’d figured out earlier in life?

M: To not sweat the small stuff. Oh! And to pick your battles with your children!! [giggles].

B: What’s the best advice you’ve given to me?

M: Be true to your heart and self.

B: On the flip side of that, what’s the worst advice you’ve ever given to your kids?

M: Oh probably telling you the crazy things I did before I had children and then ending it with “learn from my mistakes… don’t ever drink tequila.” I think when you tell your children to not do something they are going to do it anyway!

B: Well you’re lucky because I don’t remember that.

What has been the hardest thing for you to figure out?

M: Who I am. I’m fuckin not sure still. And that I don’t know where I belong.

B: Who has been the person who has helped you to figure life out the most?

M: The strong females in my life. It’s important for women to have a support group of girlfriends!

B: What advice would you give to a first year who might be feeling a bit lost?

M: Remember why you’re at uni, and look at the bigger picture. Holidays are just around the corner! Reach out and ask for help when you need it. Most importantly, ring your parents regularly! Every Sunday night! But, remember that they don’t like to hear that you’re hungover every Sunday.

B: Parents always know, huh? Do you have any parting words?

M: Make the most of life and be kind. If we all did one act of random nice-ness each day the world would be nicer. A five year-old told me this; a mean boy at school wanted to borrow her crayon and she wouldn’t let him until he did something nice. The world would be a better place if we listened to her. They need to listen to her in parliament! [giggles].

We’ve all been there haven’t we? Had a moment of weakness where the temptation and familiarity of a past relationship becomes too much to resist. Maybe you were drunk, or maybe you were in a bad headspace, maybe you were just horny. Regardless, some internal rationality gauge went haywire because you’re all of a sudden doing the nasty with someone you swore you’d never share the same fucking breathing space with again.

As someone who’s dabbled in this kind of masochistic behaviour before, I really shouldn’t be schooling thousands of readers (lol, a gal can dream) about iffy sexual decisions. But, to be fair, it’s an easy mistake to make. I’ve booty-called to emotionally band-aid after a shitty breakup. I’ve hornily hit up an ex because I knew they wouldn’t require all the graft of a new partner. I’ve even slept with a guy on the off chance that it would rekindle what we had.

Put in such blunt terms, it’s a bit fucked isn’t it?

You’re running the risk of catching feels for someone who is out of your life for (let’s assume) a bloody good reason. And, if you don’t, they could. Which means that you’ve led them down the garden path emotionally, and that’s just a bit shit. It’s important to remember why you split up in the first place. Even if you ended on good terms, there must have been a reason why things didn’t last. Sometimes, relationships just naturally run their course. It hurts like hell, but it’s probably better to let sleeping dogs lie than fuck things up further with sex.

At the end of the day, it’s on you to do right by yourself and the person you’re sleeping with. Make sure you’ve considered all the other emotional yuckness you could be dredging up and if it still feels right, then that’s swell. Remember: if Ross and Rachel can get their shit together, there’s hope for us all

31

Being Well

Token Cripple

Ellen Barg-Walkow

Henrietta Bollinger

For students finishing university, the thought of job interviews may make you feel awkward, scared, and completely uncomfortable. Here are a few tips to help you feel better, and to prepare you for an interview when you’re trying to land your dream job!

I am five when I get my first wheelchair. She is mauve (my favorite color: pinkish-purpley, I call it) and comes with a schoolbag on the back decorated with fish. I love her. For me she means a relief from the mountainbuggy I’ve sat slumped in (the best way for my parents to transport me since I became less baby and more kid).

She means freedom. I am blissfully unaware of the way a wheelchair will make me look.

I’ve had a disability my whole life. I’ve had a wheelchair for my whole academic life. I’ve also had a terrible case of wanderlust as far back as I can remember. The jury is still out on whether that feeling is accentuated by the general limitations of my body or not. Depends how poetic I’m feeling. The fact is, I’ve always wanted to be going somewhere. The thing that gives me freedom however equally articulates my limitations to any onlooker who is then free to make uninvited assumptions about my abilities.

As a full-time wheelchair user I get pretty good at circumventing the awkward questions the chair attracts.

It was not till university that I came across the discourse of disclosure: that I was free not to answer in detail.

The chair is the springboard to those questions and I am rarely in a situation without the chair so the concept made little sense to me. I sometimes still (wrongly) find myself annoyed by the non-disclosure of others because it feels like they have an easy exit and I don’t (wrong again, invisible disability comes with its own raft of tensions).

The only times I have to make an active choice about whether to out myself as disabled are online or in airplanes. I am seated first and no one else boarding sees the chair. Striking up a conversation on a flight recently I was thrilled by the anonymity of it. The conversation was going well until she said: you should try the Tongariro crossing. Crossroads. I panic. Hide behind the experience of an able bodied friend: “oh, Frank is a geologist, said he loved it.”. It is when she invites me to go skiing that things get tricky. I’ve been before, but crip skiing is different. Do I let her know what she is in for?

I am still figuring this out when the plane lands. She is waiting for me to get up: “coming with?” “Just waiting for my wheelchair,” I say with faux confidence. She says, “oh okay, add me on Facebook,” she leaves me with my thoughts. Gratitude she didn’t freak out, and a knee-jerk reaction against that. #conflictedcrip. Which narratives about my body get to count and should I be surprised when the reaction is positive?

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Apply for a job you are passionate about! It’ll be tough to convey how badly you want a job if deep down it doesn’t interest you one bit. You owe it to yourself to apply for something you want to be a part of!

Be yourself! You’ll feel much more comfortable if you stay true to who you really are during the conversation. If your personality isn’t a great fit for the job, you’re better off waiting to find one that is. Stay present and focused on the conversation that is happening. Smile, breathe, and take it one question at a time.

Ask questions! Get to know more about your potential role, the organization, and what your interviewer likes about the job. Doing this will help show you are interested and engaged in the conversation. It always helps to research the company ahead of time and even have a few questions in mind. This shows you are prepared and serious about the job.

Remember that the job needs you just as much as you need them! Give yourself positive selftalk, be confident, and wear something you feel great in. Your attitude will rub off on everyone you meet!

Send a thank-you email to let the interviewer know how great it was to meet them, what role you’re applying for, a key point you talked about during the interview, and that you’re looking forward to hearing from them soon. A short note can go a long way!

Vic Careers and Employment have great resources and tips on campus, too. You’ve got this!!

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Women’s Space Reaching Out

Lily and Naomi take time out from strutting around Kelburn and glaring at MRAs* to interview themselves.

V-ISA

Who are you and what do you want?

N: I’m Naomi and I want to make it through ’til next week.

L: I’m Lily (Naomi’s other half) and I want world domination and Margiela boots. Oh, also. We’re the presidents of the VUWSA Women’s Group.

Did you choose the feminist life or did the feminist life choose you?

L: I chose it. My first word was matriarchy.

N: It chose me. It came home with me one night and never left.

What is the feminist agenda?

N: To make boys cry.

L: I read on the internet that the feminist agenda is that women’s sunglasses are getting bigger and bigger and one day we will all be wearing riot masks and the uprising will begin. I like this idea.

Why VUWSA Women’s Group?

L: I wanna unite all the feminists of Vic into a badass group and use our collective strength to challenge misogyny in university culture. Also Hunter Lounge social nights.

N: I want to see a group on campus that’s here for all the different ladies we have at Vic, who supports them through all aspect of university life.

What are your plans for Women’s Group this year?

L: Boosting intersectionality in the feminist community.

Drinking raspberry lemonade with vodka at our Hunter Lounge hangouts. I wanna organise a feminist speed dating night (Naomi: #yas). Also we’re doing rad things with Thursdays In Black.

N: Running a kick ass Women’s Week next trimester with an art exhibition, slam poetry night, and a panel on badass women queening it up in their careers.

When you’re not campaigning for women’s rights, what are you doing?

L: Stressing out over stuff. Getting my BA in English, Art History, and Film. Listening to music with my parents and cat.

N: Drinking too much on school nights, watching Community, and ignoring your Facebook poke.

Team Kim K or Team Princess Di? N & L: This is a lame question. We choose them both.

Stop pitting women against each other.

Hey! Hope everyone had a great Easter break. This week, V-ISA is back with a bunch of updates that you wouldn’t want to miss!

V-ISA Hour (VUWSA meeting room, Wednesdays 2.00–4.30pm) Thanks to the awesome support from VUWSA, we have started V-ISA hour. This is a platform for students to raise problems, feedback, or simply chit-chat about university life with V-ISA executives. Do drop by every Wednesday, 2.00–4.30pm, at the Student Union building. We would love to meet you, get to know you, and help you in any way we can. If you’re problem-free at the moment, come by and share your little secret with us—we would love some help with our problems too.

Amazing Race & Day-at-the-Café (April 9) On April 9 V-ISA concluded our annual iconic event—Amazing Race & Day-at-the-Café. We saw an overwhelming number of teams pit against each other in all stations. It is entertaining to see teams hunt for various items planted in the Botanic Gardens and their looks of bewilderment when they found the execs’ missing shoes buried deep within bushes. We hope that everyone had as much fun as we did! Photos of the event will be uploaded onto our Facebook page and our Instagram account @vuwvisa later this week.

Movie Night at Readings Chill out at our movie night next month. We will be holding a screening of Captain America: Civil War at the Readings cinema. A theatre exclusive to ourselves.

You can avoid awkward silent wrestles for the arm rest and the tiresome queue to get a ticket. Even better, you get to squeal in excitement with like-minded friends (fans) without fearing looks of annoyance from other moviegoers. While V-ISA handles the administrative work, we appreciate if you can help us out by checking our Facebook page for ticket sales and inviting your friends to come along.

As if we cannot stress enough, like our Facebook page and check it regularly for updates (https://www. facebook.com/VISRG/). Also, feel free to send us emails (vuwvisa@gmail.com) if you would like any other information or if you have something you would like to speak to us about; we are here to help and will always have time for you.

xoxoxo 33

you in a forest and me, faithful at my desk, always and while the sun doesn’t beat my brow like it does yours— on a day like today, i still always wear sunscreen even though i don’t go outside but when i saw your face we sat and spoke for a while in the sun and you said the dog wasn’t yours, it was a friends i wanted to take it home with me and i wanted to keep talking to you but i got scared i don’t know if you realised cause you kept asking more, you always ask more and i always run - Jess Lim Salient wants your words to fill this page. Email your submission to editor@salient.org.nz Word limit - 800 words 34

Digitales Matt Plummer versions of the entire corpus. Seeing an opportunity to dig deeper, Michael teamed up with local developer Jamie Norrish to create an open-source tool called TACL (Textual Analysis for Corpus Linguistics), which helps sift through millions of Chinese character strings and returns an avalanche of raw data to explore further.

If the Chinese Buddhist canon is the proverbial haystack, think of TACL as a well-calibrated metal detector capable of pointing the way to more needles than anyone realised even existed. But, as Michael contends, to fruitfully sort the desired needles from misleading shrapnel takes the disciplinary knowledge of a human expert. TACL allows for increased exploratory power, but Michael’s extensive and hard-earned expertise provides the explanatory power needed to frame this wealth of evidence in a way which maximises impact and minimises misunderstanding.

It’s a great example of the kind of rich analysis and argument made possible when the minds of machine and man work in tandem. As Michael points out, “computers are just weird collaborators.”

Over the course of our conversation I’m reminded that even when a topic is esoteric and arcane, a researcher’s passion can be infectious, bridging the gap between the minute details of a disciplinary rabbit hole and the general interest of a layperson such as myself. Seemingly curious and critical in equal measures, I love how Michael’s calm, considered manner gives way to a boyish enthusiasm when discussing the subjects that excite him: not only Buddhist texts, but also language learning and educational philosophy.

On the benefits of learning a second language, for example, he opines: “If you don’t know a second language, just learn one. Not having a second language is practically like missing a limb... one of the most important lessons [from learning another language] is that things can be done differently—even apparently simple or obvious things can be said differently, or thought differently.”

Keeping an open mind, embracing the uncertainty that comes with true learning, and always remaining up for a new challenge—these are the qualities that characterise the best academic minds, minds like Michael’s that never seem to settle for the status quo. And, increasingly, even in the humanities, these minds are turning to computational methods as another way of realising things can be thought, and done, differently.

“Even learning very basic programming, even if you’re not very good at it, I think it totally transforms the idea of what you’re doing with that computer, or what a computer should be able to do for you.”

For the past year or so Dr Michael Radich, senior lecturer in VUW’s Religious Studies Programme, has set aside an hour a day to learn Python, a widely-used, high-level computer language. It’s not common for someone in his field (he specialises in the study of Buddhist texts) to delve this far into the world of programming, but it’s the kind of disciplined dedication that’s enabled him to gain a degree in music composition, a PhD from Harvard, and teach himself no less than ten natural languages.

During an hour-and-a-half long discussion over coffee at Milk and Honey, I learn that getting to grips with his first programming language has been one of the most frustrating endeavours of his career, but also one of the most rewarding.

“I was worried the learning curve would be too long and steep. Now I’ve reached that good point where I figure the process is so intrinsically worthwhile that the calculus of input to endpoint has become immaterial.”

In other words, the payoff has proved to be well worth the time invested, even though “it drives me up the wall quite regularly, and I spit the dummy fairly regularly too.”

The reason I’ve pinned him down for an interview is that Michael belongs to a new generation of humanities researchers embracing computational methods and quantitative analysis to challenge assumptions, find new ways to answer time-honoured questions, and to ask new ones.

His story, like many in this space of digital research, begins with a particular problem: in his case, it’s how to accurately determine authorship of select parts of the 3000 canonical Chinese Buddhist texts. To get a sense of the scale Michael’s dealing with, the Chinese Buddhist canon is 243 times larger than all the biblical texts combined. Imagine a set of those Encyclopaedia Britannicas you see forlornly collecting dust at your local Sally Army store—you’d need over four of those to match the canon’s 188 million words.

During a kind of cultural ‘arms race’ in the 90s, however, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan all competed to be the first to digitise the full Buddhist canon. Researchers in the field now have access to not one but three digitised 35

The Arts Section 37

Visual Arts

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Music

39 Music 40 Film 41 Film 42

Games

43 TV 44

Books

45 Theatre

The Arts Section is sponsored by:

Thanks to Vic Books for providing copies to review.

Thanks to Reading Cinemas Courtenay for providing two complimentary tickets this week.

Thanks to Gordon Harris for providing a $100 gift voucher for the centrefold submission.

Some kind of something

Lucy Wardle

an interview with Jordana Bragg

Jordana is a video based performance artist currently living in Wellington. She has recently completed a BFA (hons) at Massey University, and is currently working at the City Gallery Wellington.

I visited Jordana at her home in Brooklyn on the first evening of daylight savings. It was 6.30pm, almost dark, the wind had picked up, and I wasn’t wearing a warm enough jacket.

Dieudonne. Megan recently curated friends are artists, a group show of Wellington based artists, in Berlin. I thought that’s really sweet and kind of beautiful. So I felt the need to curate a response show. I have been in contact with Megan and sourced ten Berlin based artists to exhibit in Wellington, this will be a one night event held on Friday 29th of April. [info below].

What have you been thinking about recently?

I’ve been thinking about youthfulness. The concept of love, connectivity. I’ve been thinking about other people, a lot. Interactions with people just, they throw me, for like days, especially if it is something that I couldn’t predict.

What is your art background/current art practice?

My year thirteen portfolio was all about a relationship with my high school best friend and lover. So I dedicated my time, my entire year to processing that, sorting that through using art. You know, all dark grey, Lou Reed lyrics, violins, coffins, roses, and like, women making out.

As a video based performance artist, I talk a lot about my body, about my feelings, and those intimate interactions which have a profound impact on them, those which have something relatable to them. As I was saying before, I get thrown quite easily by the interactions I have and my reactions to them, I do internalize a lot.

Sun, moon or stars?

I want to say stars, because I’m greedy, but, moon, easy.

What is your favourite time of day?

I want to say early morning, but that’s a lie, because I’m not up early often enough to know. I’m going to say my favourite time of day is the idea of the very earliest of morning. Any time I’ve ever experienced an early morning, I’m just like, this is fucking awful. But, it’s the early morning, the stillness, the calmness, the coldness, that’s what I like, that feeling. It’s the sickness I get from being awake that early, I just can’t stand it. But, that’s not the morning’s fault.

What got you into working with video and performance?

I came back after the summer break, after third year, and was like, no, I need to investigate myself this year, before art school is done. So that’s when I made 18 Easy Pieces, a series of 18 video based performance works which all situate my body as central, my body became a mechanism, a weapon in the production of meaning, and by virtue, art.

What’s on: freunde sind Kunstler April 29, 7.00–11.00pm level 1, 264 Taranaki Street

A current project you are working on?

I am currently working on an exhibition alongside Megan

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Visual Arts

A ritual of yours?

There is this thing I’ve done with my hands since I was ten, equal parts ritual and tendency. Basically I touch my tongue to the index finger of my left hand, then I place the index finger and middle finger of both hands together, then I press my thumbs between the fingers on each hand, it’s difficult to explain, and I try to be extremely subtle about it.

Generally it is to do with anxiety, if I feel ungrounded or unsafe, I bring myself back to my body through this ritualised action.

How are you?

Neutral.

Music

Grown at Home

It was touch and go for Homegrown festival, with the rain making an appearance the second year in a row. By midday the rain had cleared, and in classic kiwi spirit we were donning our gumboots heading to the waterfront.

The setup of the stages along the waterfront meant a lot of walking was required. The crowd was small at first, with most people still sculling Jim Beam (shout out to the sponsor) at home. However, by 3.00pm the venues and the waterfront were pretty packed, with many enjoying a free show from Mac’s Brewery.

By 5.00pm, I had seen my friends fall face first into fences; had #MAKEHISTORY tattooed into my neck; and had mingled backstage with Homegrown legend Tiki Tane, who is still going strong. The clouds closed in for Homebrew’s set and the crowd turned into a bunch of drowned rats shouting “fuck John Key” and “fuck Homebrew.” There was absolutely no way we could miss Shapeshifter, and Waitangi Park was churned into a mudbath as hundreds of people jammed to New Zealand’s pioneers of drum and bass.

The lineup did not stop there with the likes of MAALA, a synth-pop artist from Auckland; Team Dynamite, the rap trio from the Young Gifted and Broke collective; and Brendon Thomas and the Vibes an upcoming rock group working with the likes of Eddie Rayner. We caught up with them after their sets to find out their thoughts on the NZ music scene, and what we can expect from them next.

MAALA to write a pop song! It’s really coming together, first single is dropping soon.

Salient: First off, how do you think your set went?

Maala: I haven’t worked it out yet, still processing. On stage it’s a different vibe and you see everyone slowly walking in, being first on the day.

Salient: Do you do all your own mastering and mixing as well?

Maala: I don’t, I love delegating [laughs], it’s my favourite!

I like the collaborative aspect, I write with two other people. It is just less stressful because you feel like you can put out your own ideas and there is less pressure to have the complete product yourself.

Salient: So you played Auckland City Limits last weekend, how does that compare to this gig here?

Maala: For me I’m new doing these kind of shows that have this big barrier between people, so that is the similarity, trying to engage across that distance.

Salient: So what is your opinion on the NZ music scene?

Salient: So you mentioned you are writing your upcoming album, how is that going?

Maala: I mean, here we are at Homegrown! It’s the ultimate Kiwi Show—that should be there slogan [laughs].

The New Zealand music scene is brilliant at the moment.

That isn’t just some cheesy fallback, people are writing international level pop-stuff. Not just pop, there is variety, it’s dope. Close people I work with like Leisure and Matt Young they are doing some really cool things. It’s just flying off!

Maala: It’s so close now. The writing is done, the production is the thing we will spend ages on. I’m really enjoying writing pop sounds, just the formula of it and hooky melodies, ones that people just can’t forget. So that’s been my focus point, people like JT, he knows how

38

Meriana Johnsen

Brendon Thomas and the Vibes

Team Dynamite

Salient: So first of all, how did the set go for you guys, how did you find it?

Salient: So how did your set just go?

Team Dynamite: You are only as good as your last show and we’re quite happy with that last one to be honest.

It was a dope crowd, every time there is a dope crowd it makes the job way easier. I love it when we come to Wellington it’s always a mad love show, we love performing here.

B T and the Vibes: It was fucking awesome! People grooved out and when we were walking around earlier people were like “yo what up I’m coming to the set!” It was really surprising for us because we have never been to Homegrown.

Salient: So what’s your opinion on the New Zealand music scene at the moment?

Salient: What is it about festivals that you love?

Team Dynamite: Well honestly I think this is one of the first, we have played R&V but this is one of the biggest ones. We love that energy, I wasn’t expecting that kind of crowd listening and singing along.

B T and the Vibes: Underground is really good at the moment, it’s a shame because festivals like this and R&V are smaller than last year. Less people are coming out, but there are some really cracker bands coming through the underground scene.

Salient: Do you have any pre-show rituals?

Team Dynamite: Just be nervous. [laughs]. I like to walk around the room and clap my hands and just get rid of the nerves, pace up and down the room and try not to forget my words.Then you just get out there and see the fans and it just blows us away, we just feed off that.

B T and the Vibes: That’s why they have stages like this to bring up the younger guys (up-coming stage), you just need to be really on your game to get the slot and that’s part of the fun too.

Salient: So what is your opinion on the New Zealand music scene currently?

Team Dynamite: As far as hip-hop is concerned I think it’s in a good place. If you would have asked us this question three or four years ago I thought it was in a good place, but it’s getting even better.

Salient: So you guys are working on your new EP? B T and the Vibes: Yes, new EP will be recorded this month, we have already done the demos. It’s just a matter of picking the songs.

Salient: So what should we expect from you guys next?

Salient: And you’re working with Split Enz?!

Team Dynamite: Yeah just working on the new album that’s all we care about. Sit back and enjoy the show, it’s on its way.

B T and the Vibes: Eddie Rayner has been really keen to jam with us, he really loves the songs. We just bust them all out and he was like I’m keen to work with you guys. It’s an honour. Yeah it’s so weird we can’t believe it.

Salient: How is the album going?

Team Dynamite: It’s going. [laughs]. We’re still demoing heaps of shit, it’s now a process of picking which songs we actually want and trying to write some new songs to bring it all together into one complete package—well that’s the plan anyway.

Salient: So what other inspirations do you draw from on this EP? B T and the Vibes: Paul McCartney and The Beatles, his songwriting really touches me, and then there is the likes of Jimi Hendrix and all that 60s stuff. Rolling Stones. John Mayer. James Brown. Marvin Gaye.

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Music

Salient: Do you think festivals like this are lacking because they are trying to get those big Names?

Kung Fu Panda 3

10 Cloverfield Lane

Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni 3/5

Directed by Dan Trachtenberg 5/5 Review by Finn Holland

Film

Review by Livné Ore

If you’re at the cinema in the next few days, you’ll be forgiven for looking up at the screenings board and thinking, “wait, they made a Cloverfield sequel?”

Indeed, in one of Hollywood’s more elusive and obscure follow ups, it would appear that post Deadpool and pre Captain America: Civil War (and however many other sequels/franchise movies we are getting), we have 10 Cloverfield Lane. And, there’s more to talk about than just the fact that this movie exists, because (plot twist) it’s pretty kick-ass. Right out the gate the film slaps you into your seat with one of the most attention grabbing opening titles one could imagine, and insists that you stay frozen in shock/suspense/intrigue/disbelief for the next 100 minutes. Perhaps those with severe anxiety should steer clear, but for anyone with a taste for the thrilling, or the science fiction, or just a well crafted experience, this is the golden ticket.

Plot wise, the film picks up with the same “the world’s ending, what’s going on” vibe of the first film.

Initially we are drawn to the character Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who finds herself with strangers Howard and Emmett in a stranger’s survival bunker with little knowledge of what’s going on outside. During an elaborate (and failed) escape plan, Michelle discovers a woman begging to get into the bunker who is riddled with a severe skin infection, the woman dies, and lo and behold, Michelle decides it might be safer to stay in the bunker with Howard and Emmett.

Cabin fever abounds, and it’s the interaction between these three characters that cranks this movie up to 11/10.

All in all, this movie achieves everything it sets out to do, and forms one of the more memorable film experiences of 2016 thus far. Who knows where this franchise will go, but I know I’ll be first in line for 11 Cloverfield Lane, 12 Cloverfield Lane, Cloverfield Reborn, Cloverfield: The Beginning, and Cloverfield: Legacy, (all working titles at the studio I’m sure).

Kung Fu Panda 3’s tongue in cheek opening scene carries a tone that’s maintained throughout the film, especially when stereotypical narrative devices such as dramatic entrances and expository monologuing are brought to viewers’ attention and gently made fun of.

Jonathan Aibel and Glen Berger, the seasoned writing team, are evidently returning to the tried-and-true, which quickly manifests in a disastrous first training session that harks back to Kung Fu Panda 1, right down to Po overhearing negative things about himself. That’s not the only thing that crops up; from supposedly blank scrolls to more stair jokes, to Po’s delightful naivety in regards to his parentage, this third instalment does not hesitate to remind viewers of its origins. Oddly, I also detected a few Harry Potter elements, with Oogway playing the part of Dumbledore.

A journey of Po’s continued self-discovery couched in kung fu, Kung Fu Panda 3 features yet another good-untilgreed-for-power-corrupted-them villain with personal ties to one of the good guys. Kai makes his way out of the spirit world using chi, incapacitating the energies of kung fu masters and turning them into jade. Only a Master of Chi can stop him… we know how that ends, right?

For all its predictability and bluntness, the film delivers some important messages: the legitimacy of multiplicity and the importance of teamwork; the importance of family in all its forms; and the philosophy of bettering oneself.

Additionally, I liked the accuracy in regards to what kung fu is about, because while self-defence and physical fighting skills are important, there is a very big component of self-discipline and mental strength in all of the martial arts.

To conclude: Kung Fu Panda 3 has a solid delivery of familiar content. It’s good.

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Hunt for the Wilderpeople Directed by Taika Waititi 5/5 Review by Hamish Popplestone

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Film

them are seamless. If it wasn’t for the constant sight of Swanndris, one might be uncertain whether it was in fact a NZ film.

The film uses a lot of archaic technology, from vintage computers to the trustworthy Nokia brick. I always assumed this was to make fun of NZ’s laggard reputation, but Waititi has described his use of obsolete technology as a way of making the film timeless. His argument: with iterations of technology being released every year, what’s the point of shooting scenes with the latest technology when the movie release date is usually a year after filming; it will look irrelevant anyway. It’s a solid point, and the film indeed looks timeless. Plus, the inclusion of 80s technology and motifs help connect the Wild Pork and Watercress context to Waititi’s interpretation, which is nice for the Crump fans.

It doesn’t feel like a tired Sam Neill cliché for his character to go from kid-resenting grump to fully realized paternal symbol, when everything else about the characters works so well. Though both flawed, Neill’s and Dennison’s characters are so, so charming on-screen and are fully apt at weaving through the dramatic, comedic, and sad points of the script. There is no point in the film where the acting loses energy.

Many will agree this is the best NZ film of all time. As Waititi makes like Lee Tomahori and directs behemoth action films—hopefully with better critical success— this parting gift will be treasured, especially for future NZ filmmakers who are inspired by Waititi’s cinematic benchmark. And, above all, expect to see Crump’s novel, once the staple of a thrift store, in the bestseller list for Whitcoulls.

It’s hard to imagine Taika Waititi delivering the next Thor instalment after his cinematic catalogue of New Zealand stories, from Boy to What We do in the Shadows. It’s a hell of a career leap to make. However, if he aspires to permanently shift into Hollywood blockbusters, then at least his latest work Hunt for the Wilderpeople will cement his legacy as one of the most influential in NZ film comedies.

Barry Crump’s 1986 novel, Wild Pork and Watercress, has been given a revival from the ten cent shelf at your local library, with Waititi adapting the classic for Hunt for the Wilderpeople. The narrative is very similar in the two versions. A foster kid, Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison) finds a suitable home in a dilapidated farmhouse in the rural east North Island with an overly enthused adoptive mother, Bella (Rima Te Wiata) and her dismissive husband Hector (Sam Neill). Hector’s week long attempt to retrieve an Ricky after an escape attempt results in an erroneous allegation of kidnapping and molestation, and the pair use the bush to elude the authorities and a violently dedicated jobsworth from Child Welfare, Paula (Rachel House).

Watching Hunt for the Wilderpeople is a showcase of Waititi’s technical competence. Sure, the NZ backdrop does some heavy lifting to make the film look great, but his continual use of under-lighting on characters runs parallel to the way the landscape is represented. It emphasizes key themes (like abandonment) and quite simply, makes the film beautiful to look at. Adding to its visual appeal, the film uses a lot of natural lighting— adding to the crisp, and at times, gloomy, picturesque New Zealand landscape.

That’s not to say it wasn’t a well-financed film, though, because it was. There are CGI animals that look state of the art, and the action sequences that incorporate

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes Developer & Publisher: Steel Crate Games Platform: Samsung Gear VR, PC: Oculus Rift DK2 Optional, PlayStation VR, & additional platforms TBA

4/5

Games

Review by Wellington Tremayne prevented the explosion.

The game was designed for pure kicks, for the players’ and probably for Steel Crate’s as well. The graphics are fairly detailed yet cartoony, which emphasizes the video game’s overall cheeky tone. You can tell that the designers were thrilled by the prospect of developing the most absurd bombs conceivable; which, apart from the kitchy, arcade-like bomb components of the bombs themselves, is evidenced by the 23 page instruction booklet that contains fairly opaque instructions for disarmament. What kind of explosive has four battery slots and needs you to key in a color code according to which colored light flashes? It’s like playing Dance Dance Revolution except that you’re probably going to die because your friends are too busy arguing over how to interpret the second part of the instructions—while you sit there with a ticking bomb, unable to diffuse the situation (ha).

The greatness of Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes lies in its simplicity. By choosing such a basic premise, the three-person company made sure that, despite their small team, they could not fail. By focusing efforts on reconstructing the concept of bomb defusal in conjunction with the idea of teamwork, they were able to flesh out a well-organized program with fairly detailed graphics.

Its structure (or lack thereof) also meant that they could expand the amount of trials (or bomb cases), enabling players to pick from a wide range of bombs depending on the difficulty level they desire. Freedom from narrative structure allows this autonomy, which again only adds to the experience. It’s a game that sets out to be fun, and doesn’t claim to do or be anything beyond a hilarious way to waste time.

If you’re looking for a bonding experience to die for, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is the game that’ll keep on giving.

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is a co-op puzzle game created and published by Ottawa-based company Steel Crate Games. The game was released in 2015— pretty good, given that Steel Crate was established in January 2014—and was originally derived from a prototype made in 48 hours that generated outstanding positivity ratings. The idea of the game is simple: you and one or more friends get to disarm bombs through kick-ass teamwork. Sounds fun, right?

It also does away with all narrative structure, taking players straight to every secret agent’s worst nightmare by trapping the main player in a cozy little room with crap wooden walls (just in case the situation wasn’t flammable enough) and making it his or her mission to defuse a bomb according to instructions given by his or her fellow agents—in this case, that’s your lovely, but highly inexperienced friends.

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is thus a communicative enterprise between the main player and his/her teammate(s), who have the responsibility of instructing said player in the delicate method of bomb disarmament; the player isn’t even allowed to look at the manual. Thankfully, the game doesn’t get old as long as you and your friends enjoy puzzles—and absurd ones at that. There is a vast catalogue of situations you can choose to get yourself out of, all varying according to the structure of the bomb, the complexity of disarmament, and the time you’re allotted. You’ll choose this in the menu section when you first open up the program. You will also return to this menu once you have either blown up or 42

Netflix has been good to us. Not only providing endless hours of entertainment, the streaming service produces great original content too.

Two recent Netflix productions, Master of None and Love, take a look at dating in the modern age. Compulsively watchable and filled with hilarious and astute observations on modern relationships, these shows might just keep you in on the weekend.

Love

Ten episodes Netflix (2015) 5/5

Ten episodes Netflix (2016) 5/5

Review by Cassie Richards

Review by Cassie Richards

After Parks and Recreation wrapped, fans of comedian Aziz Ansari waited to see what he would do next. After co-writing a pop-science book on modern romance titled, aptly, Modern Romance, Ansari’s new show Master of None was released in November last year. The critical acclaim was instant, with the New York Times calling it “the year’s best comedy straight out of the gate.”

Ansari plays Dev, a young guy trying to make it as an actor in New York City. Among his escapades is a condom mishap that results in a midnight trip to buy emergency contraception; the dilemma of whether he should sleep with a married woman—she’s totally fine with it, but should he be; the problem of how to get somebody to reply to a text message (send a question mark, or a picture of a turtle climbing out of a briefcase?). These modern conundrums clearly hold massive appeal for Ansari, and he explores the issues that millenials can expect to face when trying to find love, for life or just for a night.

But the show isn’t just telling stories about sex and love; one of the season’s best episodes deals with Dev’s relationship with his immigrant parents (played by Ansari’s real-life parents!). Another episode shows Dev auditioning for a role in a buddy comedy about three guys, only to be pitted against another Indian actor—there can’t be two! Dev’s group of friends (including the Asian-American Brian, and Denise, an African-American lesbian) proves definitively that yes, you can have more than one ‘minority’ in a television show, and that show can be a huge hit because who really cares? The beauty of Master of None is that it doesn’t limit itself to one kind of narrative. The writing is at turns subtly and overtly hilarious, and the stories feel honest and relatable. This is the future of television, and it’s superb.

It was recently renewed for a second season, so we can expect more Master of None in 2017.

Co-created by Judd Apatow, Paul Rust, and Lesley Arfin, Love is the story of two millenials in Los Angeles fumbling through their love lives. Rust plays Gus, an on-set teacher at a film studio, opposite Community’s Gillian Jacobs as Mickey, a radio producer with bad habits. When the two converge in a service station, with Gus offering to pay for Mickey’s coffee in a display of twenty-first century chivalry, their awkward courtship begins.

Mickey is self-absorbed and sardonic, in denial of her drug and alcohol dependencies, and hopping along from one bad relationship to the next. Gus is goofy and hapless, accused by his ex-girlfriend of being manipulative in his niceness. Mickey initially denies her attraction to Gus by setting him up on a disastrous date with her Australian roommate; Gus gets involved with an actress from work and decides that perhaps he doesn’t have to be so nice.

Ultimately, this is the story of two people who just can’t seem to get it right.

Similar to Master of None, this is a show which plays upon the awkwardness of modern dating. Obsessively checking your phone for a reply; trying so hard to play it cool because to appear over-eager is a death sentence.

Mickey and Gus are both flawed (in different ways), and unable to see that the other might be just what they need.

At the same time, Mickey’s struggle with addiction adds a rawness to the show—in one episode she cavorts around town with a washed up Andy Dick, high on sassafras, and finally starts to address her problems. Hilarious as well as poignant, this is a refreshing show that doesn’t play it safe, while pretty accurately skewering the standards that we set for ourselves and those around us.

The second season of Love is currently in production.

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TV

Master of None

This One Summer Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki Publisher: First Second

5/5 Review by Cassie Richards

This graphic novel from the Tamaki cousins tells the story of friends Rose and Windy, who holiday every summer with their families at Awago Beach. During this particular summer, the two girls witness a drama playing out amongst a group of older teenagers, and Rose deals with turmoil within her own family. Bittersweet and poignant in its observations on growing up, Mariko’s story is perfectly accompanied by Jillian’s beautifully moody illustrations.

It’s the kind of story that transports the reader back to what feels like, for me at least, a lost age of innocence.

Rose and Windy inhabit that tenuous stage between childhood and young-adulthood, striving to shed their childlike traditions while unable to completely leave them behind. The way that they perceive the antics of the older kids at the beach reminds me of how I used to look at the ‘big kids’, not able to comprehend them, but also wanting so badly to be them. Be prepared to feel more than a little nostalgic.

Three Words: An Anthology of Aotearoa/NZ Women’s Comics Editors: Rae Joyce, Sarah Laing, & Indira Neville Publisher: Beatnik Publishing

5/5

Books

Review by Cassie Richards The first collection of its kind to be published in New Zealand, Three Words is a celebration of our female artists, writers, illustrators, and zinemakers. Some of the names here will be familiar; artists such as Sarah Laing, Anna Crichton, Kerry Ann Lee, and Sharon Murdoch are established in their fields. But, the aim of the anthology is inclusivity, and so the call was put out to any and all female artists who wanted to contribute. As such, the book serves as as a first showing for many new voices.

Each contributor submitted three words, and in turn received three words of their own, to base a short comic on. Alongside this, contributors submitted a comic of their choosing, be it freshly drawn or unearthed from the archives. The result is an anthology which straddles the spheres of old and new, honouring past works and encouraging ongoing creativity. Ending the anthology is a selection of essays touching on such subjects as the male response to Three Words, female humour, and the colonialism in comics.

The stories told here are both personal and public, speaking to not just the shared female experience, but also the experience of working as a woman in an environment previously (and in many ways, still) dominated by men. There is no question that Three Words is an important and much-needed addition to New Zealand’s art history.

Shortcomings Adrian Tomine Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly

5/5 Review by Sarah Batkin

This graphic novel is short, but it packs a punch.

Beautifully understated, black and white drawings accompany dry wit and a plot that will resonate with most young adults on multiple levels. Ben Tanaka and his girlfriend Miko are in the midst of relationship turmoil; Miko is fed up with Ben’s lack of enthusiasm, but also suspects that he sub-consciously diverts his attention, a little too often, toward white women.

In 108 pages, Tomine successfully delves into the intersections of race and sexuality in a realistic, humorous, and succinct way. At first glance it is a story that anyone over the age of 20 will be well acquainted with— dwindling relationships, break-ups, and new beginnings.

But, the narrative is more nuanced and offers such a refreshing voice in a sea of homogeneity. The graphic novel was originally serialized in Optic Nerve, a comic book series by Tomine, but was published in its entirety in 2007. Respected by the likes of Junot Diaz, Tomine has also had work published in The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and Esquire.

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Jane Yonge: An Interview Review by Ophelia Wass

Here we have Jane Yonge, Masters of Theatre Arts, highly regarded and successful New Zealand theatre practitioner. Hey Jane, how are you? (laughs) I’m good!

I think we want that in Wellington as well, but there’s this exit of people going to Auckland to try and make it.

Why aren’t there many women directors on a global scale? What should we do to encourage and support their growth of theatre?

I think Wellington actually has many successful women practitioners. Women are realizing that they’re operating within a patriarchal sort of structure, so we are looking at how to break out of it and interrogate it and ask why are these structures like this? How can we change them? It’s more of a lack of acknowledgement and not really a thing of “oh we need female directors.”

What’s your favourite thing about a career in theatre?

Getting to work with heaps of different people. This morning I had a Theatre 204 rehearsal, and now I’m meeting with you, and after this I’m going to meet with the council about a project I’m doing with Jo Randerson later on this year. I’m constantly meeting new people.

Any promotions for upcoming work?

My Young and Hungry play coming up called: Bloody Hell Jesus Get your Own Friends! That’ll be fun.

And finally, what will Jane Yonge be doing in 2060??

I’m going to be drunk. Kidding!

I really want to own my own theatre space. I think by then I will have gone overseas depending on where is growing or big or interesting. I’d love to have a theatre space that had a couple of resident companies who would perform a show each season.

Do you have any favourite directors you have worked with or want to?

I love working with Jo Randerson. I assistant directed with her for White Elephant and she is the best collaborator, she really listens. She said the other that if someone offers an idea, even it she doesn’t think it looks good, she’ll just let it run because she wants to see what will happen—it’s all about listening and trying.

Upcoming must-see shows TITLED When: April 12–16, @ 6.30pm Where: BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Terrace Who: Nisha Madhan (creator and performer)

Do you have any favourite writers?

I really like Gary Henderson, he’s great. He was the script mentor for the Young and Hungry play that I’m doing, and he gave feedback through dramaturgy, which I’ve never really heard of before. It wasn’t just like talking about the play and the characters, but actually the function of characters within the play and what had to happen when and why. I named my car after him! He’s called Gary Henderson.

“Part Kafka-esque comedy part Skull and Crossbones secret society… cleansing, exuberant, and wickedly wry…”

—The Pantograph Punch If There’s Not Dancing at the Revolution, I’m Not Coming When: April 12–16, @ 8.30pm Where: BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Terrace Who: Julia Croft (performer and creator) and Virginia Frankovich (director).

What are the differences between theatre in Auckland and theatre in Wellington?

I was up there earlier this year. There’s more money.

Companies like Auckland Theatre Company and Silo feel like big professional theatre companies. Up in Auckland it feels like people are wanting to push more boundaries.

“A work that goes beyond the thoughtful into the sublime and occasionally in to the surreal…Croft doesn’t hold back.” – Lexie Matheson, Theatreview

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Theatre

As a director, is there a specific way you like to work, or start when creating a show?

Interestingly, before I went to drama school I always thought the director had to be the person standing at the front of the room, yelling or like being the leader. So I tried that way at drama school and my supervisor was like, “what are you doing?” Recently I’ve been thinking a director should be leading from behind, holding the vision but acting as a facilitator guiding collaborators in a process. I call this directing style “democratic process.”

Book Launch 'Hiding in Unnatural Happiness' Wandering the forest of our hopes and dreams, we desire more than to survive - our hearts long to thrive.

The premium we seek is happiness, now the ultimate consumer product. Hiding in Unnatural Happiness probes our contemporary approach to fulfillment and progress, and recommends another road, one less traveled but timeless. (if it's too much writing then hopefully you can at least use the sentence in bold).

6pm Tuesday 3 May, Bhakti Lounge 175 Vivian St Free entry for talk, signing & music OR include dinner for $10 at 7.15pm www.bhaktilounge.org.nz www.devamritaswami.com

Notices

Victoria Abroad – Attend an Exchange Information Session!

Why not study overseas as part of your degree?!

Study in English, Earn Vic credit, Get Studylink & grants, explore the world!

Information Sessions: Every Wednesday at 12:50pm, Level 2, Easterfield Building.

Drop-in hours: Mon-Wed 1-3pm, Thurs & Fri 10:30-12pm Website: http://victoria.ac.nz/exchange

Making and maintaining social connections can be difficult on top of study (and just life). The Student Wellbeing Awareness Team (SWAT) understands, and wants to make connecting with others easier.

SWAT is hosting a Social Connections week on 19th - 22nd of April. Our stall will be running from 11am - 2.30pm, in the Hub and Tim Beaglehole Courtyard.

Windows of the East belly dance Festival Fri 22 – Mon 25 April 2016 Whitireia Performance Centre MEDANZ festival is a celebration of all things belly dance!

Featuring 4 days of dance/drum Workshops, an amazing Show, plus Open Day market, performances, and even a free class!

We have workshops for beginners through to advanced dancers, run by NZ teachers, and two brilliant international tutors, Alice Knox from Queensland, and Leila Haddad from Paris.

Tickets available from EventFinda. Discounts available for MEDANZ members – see our website for details.

Join us for the largest gathering of belly dancers from all over New Zealand!

Letters Don’t have a cow, man!

Hi there, This week's issue on the 'environment' was informative and inspiring... but I hate to be a preachy vegan and bring up the statement under 'Go veg! Or go partly veg! on page 22, 'I'm not asking you to cut meat completely, or travel down the dark complex path of Veganism...'

I understand that this was written by Sophie Sharp so this is her view and opinion on Veganism but this can be a very harmful statement to the movement as readers may portray this statement as true and be turned off from a movement that is actually not complex at all. Veganism would have been a great message to promote in your issue about the environment, as Veganism isn't just about the ethics behind eating meat, it's about personal health and largely the environment!

Salient reaches a large number of student readers who throughly enjoy what they read in each weeks issue but I wish to not see statements in future issues that can harm the reputation of a movement that is trying to do nothing but to help animals, people and the earth.

Thank you for your time, #vegan

Victoria University TaeKwonDo Club (WTF/ Olympic style) Interested in Taekwondo? New to Taekwondo? Learned Taekwondo before? You are all welcomed! Great way to keep fit and have fun! Come along and join us, we are a friendly bunch.

Training times: Wednesday 6.30 - 8.00pm Saturday 3.30 - 5.00pm Venue: Dance Room, Kelburn Campus, Victoria University Recreation Centre What you need: Drink bottle, comfy trousers/shorts, t-shirt (or Taekwondo Uniform if you have got one) Contact us: vuwtkd@outlook.com We are affiliated to the TaeKwonDo Union of NZ (TUNZ)

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Contributors

About Us Salient is published by, but remains editorially independent from, the Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association (VUWSA). Salient is a member of the Aotearoa Student Press Association (ASPA). Salient is funded in part by Victoria University of Wellington students through the Student Services Levy. The views expressed in Salient do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor, VUWSA, or the University.

Salient is printed on environmentally sustainable paper, and with vegetable ink, and is completely FSC approved.

Complaints People with a complaint against the magazine should complain in writing to the Editor at editor@salient.org.nz and then, if not satisfied with the response, to VUWSA.

Editors Emma Hurley and Jayne Mulligan editor@salient.org.nz Design and Illustration Ella Bates-Hermans designer@salient.org.nz News Editor Kate Robertson news@salient.org.nz Chief Sub Editor Tim Manktelow Sub-Editors Ali Kaye Distributor Joe Morris News Reporters Charlie Prout Jennie Kendrick Matthew Collier McKenzie Collins

Feature Writers Sharon Lam Sophie Giblin / Aoi Yao Kate Robertson Alex Feinson Faith Wilson Section Editors Cassie Richards (Books) Dana Williams and Isaac Brodie (Film) Harri Robinson (Music) Ophelia Wass (Theatre) Ruby Joy Eade, Lucy Wardle, Louise Rutledge, Robbie Whyte (Visual Arts) Cameron Gray (Games) Katie Meadows (TV) Other contributors Laura Toailoa, Rakaitemania Parata Gardiner, Jonathan Gee, Tori Sellwood, Sharon Lam, Jess Lim, Brodie Fraser, Dr Feelgood, Lily McElhone, Naomi Peacock, Ellen Barg-Walkow, V-ISA, Henrietta Bollinger, Matt Plummer, Meriana Johnsen, Wellington Tremayne, Hamish Popplestone, LivnĂŠ Ore, Finn Holland

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Contributor of The Week Jennie for offering to write all of the news and baking great cupcakes.

Read Salient online at salient.org.nz Contact Level 2 Student Union Building Victoria University PO Box 600, Wellington 04 463 6766 Printed by SMP, Wellington.

Advertising Jason Sutton jason.sutton@vuwsa.org.nz 04 463 6982 Social Media fb.com/salientmagazine T: @salientmagazine I: @salientgram S: salientmag

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