Togatus Issue #3 2009

Togatus.

Aug 2009

. Second Semester Success . Brave Boarders . Rushed to the Kill . Charles Du Cane .

BB Get Booty-ful Come along for FREE every week!

The Tasmania University Union is running free boot camp classes in Hobart, every week in semester two!

Grab your comfy trackies, a water bottle, a couple of friends and join us in the fat fight!

Boot camp: Wednesday mornings 7:30am-8:30am University Football Oval No need to book!

Julius Ross 0400731427 editor.togatus@utas.edu.au

Letters to the Editor Like what you see? Enjoy what you’ve read? Got any criticisms? Have a suggestion?

Togatus wants your thoughts!

Write, email or text us with your opinion on the edition (or anything related to university life for that matter!) *The best letter wins a double pass to the movies!*

Published by the State Council on behalf of the Tasmania University Union Inc. (hf. “the publishers�).

The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of Togatus staff or the publishers. The copyright in each piece of work remains with the contributor however the publishers reserve the right to reproduce material on the Togatus website (www.togatus.com.au).

The copyright in this magazine remains with the publishers.

Editor:

Julius Ross editor.togatus@utas.edu.au

Sub-editors:

Selina Bryan, Simon McCulloch, Jessica Howard, Fiona Gardner

Design and Layout:

Alice Agnew, Hayley Bell, Katie Hepper

Cover: Alex Wise

Advertising:

please contact editor.togatus@utas.edu.au

Contributors:

Katie Boutchard, Samuel Burnett, Remi Chauvin, Patrick Cooke, Jordan Davis, Scott Faulkner, Ally Gibson, Jarrod Green, Robert Hortle, Travis Hutchins, Thomas Hyland, Warrick Jordan, Ella Kearney, Damita Lamont, Alice Lynch, Shantelle Rodman, Tara Smith, Jean Somerville-Rabbitt, Michael Voss, James Walker Printed on FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) environmentally friendly paper by Loongana Print 1 Sunderland Street Moonah, Tas 7009 Togatus PO Box 5055 Sandy Bay, Tas 7006 Email: editor.togatus@utas.edu.au www.togatus.com.au Togatus welcomes all contributions. Please email your work or ideas to editor.togatus@utas.edu.au.

It is understood that any contribution sent to Togatus may be used for publication in either the magazine or the website, and that the final decision on whether to publish resides with the editor and the publishers. The editor reserves the right to make changes to submitted material as required.

Togatus is published quarterly. Deadline for next issue is 1 September.

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From The Editor

Julius Ross When I first sat down to write this piece, I found it difficult to put pen to paper, or should I say place finger to keyboard.

The difficulty didn’t stem from my inability to write - I’m a journalist for goodness’ sake – but rather from an inability to pinpoint a theme that would strike a chord with the average Togatus reader.

As the student publication of this university, Togatus embraces a diverse readership, and to appeal to each and every one of you is near impossible (you have to admit, you’re a hard bunch to please). I needed to find something to stir your emotions – to take your attention away from your friend’s latest status update on Facebook – and inspire you to become involved with this prestigious publication.

After all, as the editor of Togatus, I believe this is my most important, but most challenging, duty.

What sort of tactic could I employ, I thought? I deliberated over whether I should take on the ‘Obama approach’ to win your hearts and minds, but my linguistic talents are far inferior to the current U.S. President’s (besides, I’m writing, not making a speech…). I thought about telling you how getting involved in Togatus would make you rich and famous, but that would be a blatant lie.

I contemplated hiring J. K. Rowling to use her creative and persuasive talents to knock-up a piece of writing that would attract millions of followers, but found that she was too busy living the ‘high life’ on the box office fortunes of the Half-Blood Prince, to help out a student magazine.

I considered whether to write seriously or satirically.

Colloquially or conventionally. In rhyme or rap (Tupac Shakur has a pretty good following, and he’s dead!).

Finally, I consulted previous editions of Tog to explore the way in which editors in decades past approached their duty to the magazine, for some inspiration. Some editors wrote essays, others indulged no further than a couple of paragraphs or a single sentence. Their opening spiels drew on topics ranging from student politics, campus life and the price of beer, to the issues plaguing the metrosexual man in 2

the 21st century. Each editorial entry was as diverse as the next. But I discovered a common theme.

student community is the most enjoyable experience on offer at university.

They all send out a rallying cry to YOU, the students, to get involved. After all, Togatus is YOUR magazine. So, in essence, this lecture is designed to echo this rally cry. To persuade and inspire YOU to get involved. No matter who you are, how old you are, what you’re studying, or your level of intelligence, if you think you’ve got something to say about university life, or life in general, then tell us. We want to know.

So now I’ve finished making my point, I’d like to thank a few people who made this edition of Togatus special.First, my appreciation goes out to the previous editor, Damian McIver, for his determination and endeavour on issues one and two, earlier this year. Damian has successfully brought Togatus back from the dead, and his tireless work made my transition into the editor’s hot seat a breeze.

If you can take a good photo, show us. If you think you can design Togatus’ next cover, do it. If you have more journalistic credibility than the ‘reporters’ on Today Tonight or A Current Affair, (I assure you, most of you would) tell us your story. If you like what you see in this edition, or think there’s room for improvement, inform us. Obviously there are certain restrictions on what you can and can’t say, but as you’ll see in this edition, we support a diverse range of voices (even the controvsial ones).

In saying this I’d like to bring back a section of Tog that in the past has allowed students to easily become involved and voice their opinions. It’s called ‘Letters to the Editor’ and all you have to do is write, email or text us with your thoughts on Togatus (or anything related to uni life for that matter). It’s that simple.

Again, me harping on about you getting involved is easy, but actually pursuading you is a difficult task. You might ask ‘what will I get out of it?’ Well for starters, it’s not going to make you rich or famous. But it will help you develop your writing, debating, design, photography, English and research skills and no matter what your objective is, you will provide a forum for discussion, dissent and debate for all students.

I’d also like to thank the student contributors whose work appears on these very pages. They are an example of students taking matters into their own hands and you are holding the result in yours. Many of these students sacrificed a large slice of their mid-year holidays to produce these outstanding examples of student voice and artistic talent, and they met tight deadlines despite the stresses of first semester exams. I felt privileged to experience the enthusiasm of the students who put this issue together; I had photographers chasing ambulances, designers meticulously piecing together the magnificent pages of this publication and writers slaving over high-quality articles of varying styles.

Finally, you’ll notice that Tog has undergone a few changes.

Some are obvious, others more sutble, but I won’t bore you with the details. I’ll let you discover them yourselves.

Enough from me. Turn the page. Start reading. I hope you are amused, educated, enlightened and entertained by this edition of Togatus. Enjoy.

Cheers, Julius Editor editor.togatus@utas.edu.au

Most importantly, you will be contributing to your university’s student culture, and despite what some people say about the delights of 3,000-word assignments and tutorial presentations; I reckon being involved in the 3

Firstly

Interviews

06 Second Semester Success 07 Dean’s Honour Role 08 Portmanteau Word 10 What We Are 11 State of the Union

34 Charles Du Cane 36 TMAGots

PROFILES 12 Robin-Mary Calvert 16 George Hudson

Features 18 Life Long Learning at UTAS 22 Irrigating the Midlands 26 Economic Crisis 28 Brave Boarders 31 Rushed to the Kill

REVIEWS 39 Theatre: Obama Mia 40 Music: The Decemberists 41 Television: Madmen

End Notes 42 Political Commentary 44 Opinion: Swine Flu 45 Opinion: Piracy 46 Social Pages 48 Event Guide

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by ella kearney.

So you’ve survived first semester, but having looked back on your performance over the break, you’re keen to improve. Togatus provides six suggestions for second semester success…

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e a dae y?on twicno or ce on en pp ha at th sions e this semester.” Yeah, ok… Meaont Loaf us sc di y an m oto eon e os th going to attend every lectur the majority; as our friend ally when Youd knthow . em “I’m tr y to attend ngs, especi

morni Atten er. But it’s hard some done that… ev th, but it pays earth has ever out of three ain’t bad”. I know ic bubble of sleepy warm o sm w st u’re in an orga once noted, “t that “Oh I’l l ju 00am’er and yo don’t give me .

9. ’t a nd on t A w f. go of u ve u’ Yo . yo recording” e th to n te lis know that.

I fi nd that A nd we both these word cautiously s sprink le throughout an assignm d del iver the go ent are not rea ods. Especia lly when lly sure wh you It could be weird at at p tr y ing to get first, but it’s the only across – th oint you are way to secure that 9.0 consultation time. Bring ey about any to 0am your tent at about 5pm pic. The use work for just the night before, when uni bustle begins to slo e of them sho q u ate to inst the w, and just casually sta uld rt setting up as if you’ve arr ived at Cock le Creek the wank-ta ant H D status. Don’t just for a fam ily camping trip ta lk ke too far th . Set up beside the lectur door, so they can still a feel ing th er’s enter and ex it with ea at markers ough. I have se. If they ask you why sleeping outside their k ind of hat when you th you are office just laugh rea lly e in loud and then sigh. Of some damper if they are aristocrat – k you’re some 18 th cen it fer them n’t overly happy about tu ry “O ne m ight su your constant presence thou is a to . ggest that ol”. If this d oes not wo you, get bac rk for k to me.

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“symUbiseotic”theas frworeqdsue “intangible” and ntly as possible

3 Set up a tent outside your lecturer’s office 4ot. Hidheres boocanks’t souse them

Sounds devious and conniving but at the en d of the day, don’t hate the pla yer – hate the game. You’v e got to learn these tricks if you are to survive in the wo rld of academia. I figure if you ’ve bothered to search for the book amongst the en dless library aisles, you de serve that book, exclusive ly. If people find out, or spot you trying to look nonchalan t as you slip a couple of textbo oks under furniture, just laugh really loudly and then sig h.

5. Don’t make up your own referencing style

ersity ously. Just because you go to univ Who do you think you are? No, seri your up e mak just to wed allo ’re you mean and use a moleskin diar y does not old the over e gaz atingly painful as it is to own referencing system. As excruci you ther whe g ckin che ly em, meticulous Har vard or Chicago referencing syst ’ve got to do it. A couple of markers you , stop full a or ma should use a com em but most will shut you down. might let you work your own syst

6. Facebook = Death

Facebook will betray you. When you’re ag onising over that assignment on the sym biotic relationship betw een the media and social movements, Face book reaches out to you with open arms.

But let’s be honest, if you hadn’t spent the one to two hours per day on Facebook and instea d applied that to your assignment time, you wouldn’t be ask ing for that ex tension would you?

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Firstly.

It’s not easy to get through uni - I wouldn’t have passed half my subjects if I wasn’t so good at seducing the lecturers (don’t judge, if you looked as good as me then you’d do the same) - but some people manage to excel.

These people deserve our applause (and also laughter behind their backs, but mainly applause). You’ll notice they they are awarded for their efforts by being named in the UTas Honour Roll.

However, there are also those who distinguish themselves in a more dubious manner. That’s what the Honour Role is for. It’s similar, although legally different, to the more renowned Honour Roll. Sure Mr Dean, we could waste time arguing over who thought of the idea first, but who wants to do that - especially since I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE! It’s a celebration of those brave enough to do something different, to push and bully the conventional boundaries until they’re a quivering mass of something that may or may not constitute excellence.

Undergrad Students: Ralph McPhearson, English: Submitted all assignments last semester via Twitter. Surprisingly the trend has caught on. This semester an essay’s necessary length will be changed, and rather than 2000 words an essay will now have to be approximately 14 Tweets long.

Alex Robinson, Medicine: Due to a clerical error, Alex was the first student to simultaneously be enrolled in 36 courses, theoretically finishing his entire medical degree in one semester (and without ever having operated on a patient). Is currently a senior doctor at the Royal Hobart Hospital (ZING! Relevance!).

Phoebe Clarkson: Was shocked to learn that there was no Medicine course named ‘RTE 342: Abusing patients and colleagues to cope with your Vicodin addiction: How much is too much?’. Quickly changed to Law, where she was similarly disappointed to find there was no ‘Introduction to semi-homosexual relationships with William Shatner.’

Chad Sleastack, History: Voted most helpful and happy to help you catch on stuff you missed out on in tutorials (provided you’re female, weigh less than 65 kilos and are stupid enough not to notice that he constantly confuses Hitler with Stalin because he’s looking at your breasts).

Mark Ginsby, Journalism: For having the exceptionally original idea of doing a Hunter S. Thompson style gonzo journalism piece, an idea that falls somewhere between Family Guy and this article in terms of creativity. Expect big things next year when Mr Ginsby discovers Chomsky and writes an essay that blows the lid on this whole terrorism thing.

Postgrad Students: Julie Carrol: After three years of study developed a ratio that can successfully gauge a person’s intelligence in relation to the amount of time they spend worrying about the relationships of fictional characters. (Note: If this were true then this writer would be legally braindead. Or an absolute genius, depending on how the ratio works.)

Madeline Crail: Finished thesis entitled: Snow White and the Seven Johns: how fairy tales have taught women that prostitution is okay.

John Zimmerman: Completed “The Time they have Wasted”, an examination on the amount of time that Postgrad students spend trying to think of a witty name for their thesis.

Lindsay Velour: Whose clinical studies have concluded that the most effective form of male contraceptive is a cardigan.

Dr Rick Smith: Carefully studied thesis concludes that there is in fact a cure for heartbreak. It consists of whiskey and Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska (for the record, I intend on suing because I came up with that idea years ago) Dr Marcus Howard: Was creating a drug that makes the patient appear stoned 100% of the time. Unfortunately before further studies could be conducted, the patient escaped and appeared alongside Robert Pattinson in the hit teenage vampire movie Twilight.

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P O R 3

By Tara Smith

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Forget unit outlines or style guides, Togatus provides a surefire way to impress (or persuade) your lecturers into giving you an HD. Lecturers always seem to agree that when writing an essay it is better to use less words to say more than using more words to say less. These linguistic economics can be a major strain on the old mind muscle, as it struggles through a cost benefit analysis of each piddly word. To add insult to injury, by the time you complete these mental gymnastics you are now 150 words below your original, hard won, word count and must now flesh your essay out with yet more weighty words.

Like most 21st century solutions, the answer lies in surgery. Two or three words just aren’t packing enough punch? Why not dissect each word, scrap the bits you don’t need, then sew them all together? Voila! You just made a Portmanteau word.

A Portmanteau word is a word formed from blending the sounds of two or more distinct words and combining their meaning. One of the most classic examples is Lewis Carroll’s famous poem Jabberwocky. In this poem Carroll is akin to something like the Dexter of the English language.

Words are slashed, their meanings disembowelled into a splendid soup of nonsensical verse. “Slimy” and “lithe” become “slithy”, “fuming” and “furious” become “frumious”, “miserable” and “flimsy” become “mimsy”, “murmur” and “warbled” become “burbled”.

That’s...nice, but...how do I use this in an essay? Well, firstly, the use of Portmanteau will keep the Arts department poetically entertained at the same time as

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giving them the glorious challenge of trying to work out what you are saying. English tutors and lecturers trawl through mountains of Jane Eyre essays every day and most of them would happily strangle the pious goody-twoshoes protagonist. Then, out of nowhere comes... Jayre!

Victorian vixen and enigmatic temptress of Thornfield manor! Suddenly the marker is so blinded by intrigue over the fascinating Jayre, that they hardly notice the rest of your essay, let alone the word count.

The second way to use Portmanteau in essay writing is when you find yourself with a sentence that is too long, going nowhere and saying nothing in particular. Rather than throw away a perfectly good sentence (and half an hour worth of work) why not camouflage it as a smaller one? Lecturers, by their own admission, say that it is far better to scrap three words where one will suffice. So, by using Portmanteau, the first sentence of this paragraph becomes: Thecway tuse Portmanteau inesriting isweenyou findorsel wita senat isoolong, gono sayno inpartic. So you have managed to salvage the original sentence as well as cramming more meaning into each word, now THAT’S economy!

Finally, nobody can dispute that the English language was built on a strong foundation of words. Words that were invented somewhere, sometime, for some reason or another. It is said that Shakespeare alone invented a large percentage of the English language. Here in Australia we are already at the forefront of word economics. After all, who needs champagne when champers gives you twice the fun in half the word? Why eat breakfast when brekkie sounds much more tasty? Yet with Portmanteau we could take one step further to word domination. With a word we 8

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Firstly.

can heal conflict and bring unity to Palestine and Israel (Palarael), forecast Hobart’s ‘sunny one moment, raining the next’ weather (sunsneeting) and make big decisions (can’t decide between residing in Melbourne or Hobart?

Why not live in Melbart?). Now you can write an essay that is economical, dazzles and amuses your lecturers and tutors, reinvents the English language AND changes the world., I think that deserves a High Distinction...don’t you?

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article do not represent the views of Togatus. Togatus accepts no responsibility for the results that anyone receives from the application of the techniques described in this article (unless they’re good ones), nor does it condone the use of Portmanteau words to solve any major world crisis (unless it works).

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“...WHO NEEDS CHAMPAGNE WHEN CHAMPERS GIVES YOU TWICE THE FUN IN HALF THE WORD? ”

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Rob Meredith State President Tasmania University Union Australians as a whole are a proud people. We are proud of what we have done on the sporting field, our history, our science, our business, our art, and of our national persona.

I believe that we are also proud of our diversity. As a whole, I believe that there is an overwhelming pride of the different colours, cultures, languages and beliefs that come together to make up the Australian people.

As you may be aware, there have been protests recently, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, over the treatment of some of our international students. There have been a number of incidents of race-related violence and discrimination that have been seized on by both the Australian and international media. I am both saddened and infuriated by this. Saddened because I believe that it does not reflect the overwhelming pride that we share in the diversity of our people, and infuriated over those who for some reason believe their skin colour provides them with some inherent natural superiority, and who use that belief to shame and disgrace the rest of us with their actions.

I had the opportunity to address a gathering recently that included the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and the Education Ministers from every State in Australia.

Our International Students Officer, our Vice Chancellor, and a number of our other international students also came and addressed the conference. We all said different things, but ultimately we all said the same thing. We said that we believe that by and large, Australians are proud of our diversity. We said that we believe that the key to supporting our international students is social inclusion, breaking down those barriers that exist to prevent us from connecting with each other.

Violence is a reality of urban living, every major city in the world has and will continue to experience violence, both race related and otherwise. Changing that will not be easy, nor will it be quick. Each of us can, however, play a small part, by being proud of the benefits that we gain by sharing our culture and experiences with those who travel here, and by being open to sharing the unique cultures and experiences that they bring to us.

International students often feel isolated when they come here, isolated from their friends, their families, and are thrown into a place that can be in many ways radically different from where they have come.

Be open to connecting with new people, open to new ideas, new cultures, and new experiences. Extend your hand in friendship to those who may feel isolated, alone and overwhelmed. Help us to make sure that all UTas students feel welcome and safe while they study here.

We live in a time where racism in any form should be relegated to its undignified and unwelcome place in history.

There are few prouder claims that we could make, than to say that we have contributed in some way to the process of unifying the Australian people, and doing our part to instill in them the qualities of openness and tolerance.

Images by Jordan Davis

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Firstly.

State of the Union 2009 has been a good year for Universities. Significant increases in funding for Universities through the Federal Budget mean that Australia is finally starting to make progress in catching up to the rest of the world in Higher Education. A Youth Allowance reform package targeting those from a low socio-economic background means that Higher Education is more accessible and equitable than ever before.

On a more local level, 2009 has been a good year for UTas and its students. We here at the TUU have been extremely busy providing representation, coordinating activities and events, and generally trying to make sure that UTas has a vibrant and healthy student culture.

Throughout the mid-year break, we were also busy preparing for this semester. Providing orientation services and activities for a wave of new students (both domestic and international), as well as our traditional Dis ‘O’ Week celebrations has kept us on our toes, but we’ve also got a number of BIG projects in the works that we’re really stoked about.

For one, the TUU is going GREEN. We’ve engaged a Melbourne–based company called Sustainable Infrastructure Australia to come in and tell us what our carbon footprint is, and how we can reduce it.

We’re planning on being a leader in environmentally sustainable business practices, as we should be, and pretty soon you’ll start seeing information coming out about how YOU can help us out.

We also planned a series of public forums across the State in the first couple of weeks of semester two, which were aimed at publicly fighting discrimination, and giving students an opportunity to speak out about their experiences, as well as finding out information about some of the support available through the community.

Before anyone says it, the TUU website is shit awful. I know it. We had some minor difficulties with our last web provider, and what’s there now is a temporary stop-gap measure. We’re working with a local company to put together a website that will not only work for us, but will work for you. You’ll hear more about it soon, but I’m REALLY excited.

That’s just a small sample of some of the stuff we’re working on at the moment. Sounds good doesn’t it?

We’ve also got elections coming up, so if you think that you might be interested in getting involved, whether your passion is putting on epic parties, ensuring the quality of our educational experience, or whether it’s welfare or environmentally related, there’s a position that will suit you. Each position comes with a budget, and the personal skills and GRADUATE ATTRIBUTES you get out of it cannot be undervalued. Yes that’s right, I said GRADUATE ATTRIBUTES – being a TUU rep WILL make you more employable. That’s a money-back guarantee.

State President Rob Meredith - ersity Union Inc. Tasmania Univ 11

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PROFILE

By Ally Gibson Walking down the side path of a house appropriately numbered 69, I enter another world. The garden gate opens into a myriad of images. Erotic lovers and nudes jump from their surfaces while a distant stereo colours the air with the classic tones of a 1920s Fred Astaire compilation, unconventionally accompanied by a quartet of acapella jazz scatters. Sculptures, colours, bold signage, and vegetables merge into one. A woman’s bare legs protrude from the earth, her pointed toes hang in mid air. I am concentrating on this impressive set of pins in wonderment, when a thick ocker accent interrupts, “She got legless at one of our parties.”

Here stands Robin-Mary Calvert, one of Australia’s most accomplished, yet unconventional, female artists. Her appearance is every bit the impressionist. Her clothes blend beautifully rather than match, her hair, two-toned red with black shadowing. Her eyes are neither blue nor green but somewhere in between, with specks of black. On her breast she sports a tattoo of a woman carrying a sword she had done after her second divorce - it signifies liberty. She plays out a story with animation. Her laugh is a genuine giggle; it is infectious rather than patronising, deep rather than shrill. Robin exudes fun and spontaneity. She is warm and open.

However, most do not realise Robin’s value of life is due to her battle with cancer.

“The doctor didn’t paint a real good picture of it, but I just thought ‘nah, well I’m not going to worry about that.’” After a series of painful operations, Robin is in remission. However, she still suffers a painful post-surgery condition known as lymphedema. But she doesn’t let this get in her way. “So many people are miseries and they don’t get on with it and my artwork is a reflection on that because it’s kind of the opposite. It’s all about parties and good times and enjoying life.

They’re a celebration of life.”

Robin was born in Tasmania. When I awkwardly inquired about her age, she bluntly replied “… 56! As if I give a shit, sweetie!” Although Robin always wanted to be an artist, she dabbled in an array of different careers. “After school I wanted 12

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“I got a studio in Salamanca that I really couldn’t afford, and we ate toast and I painted, it was great!”.

to go to arts school but I had to get a job, life got in the way.” Aged 19, she left Tasmania and travelled around Australia in a caravan. To her surprise she sold some of her amateur artwork. She returned to Tasmania and began to seriously consider art as a career. At age 39, she joined Rosny College art class along with her son Daniel and loved every minute. From there, Robin studied Fine Arts at the University of Tasmania, earning a living cleaning the Arts Centre, and graduated in 1997. “I got a studio in Salamanca that I really couldn’t afford, and we ate toast and I painted, it was great!” Today, Robin’s paintings are sold worldwide for around $10,000 a piece and she is inundated with commissions. Her artwork was considered for the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize in 2000 and 2002, and was selected as a finalist in the Portia Geach Memorial Award. Robin’s proudest moment was “selling my painting to Margaret Olley! I was so stoked with that!”

Robin has always admired Olley’s artwork, who became a National Treasure in 1997.

Robin’s own art is erotic and humorous. “You’re buying a bit of the artists soul,” explains Robin. “[My art] is about me, I’m out there and there’s always a bit of sex,” she says with a cheeky giggle. Entering Robin’s studio is like entering a risqué party. Huge canvases of scantily dressed women, erotic toys, lavish food and the odd token male, crowd the room. Contrary to the traditional idea of the younger woman pleasing the older man, Robin’s work is all about the older woman. “She’s in charge, she’s in control, she knows what she wants, she actually loves men but she loves herself first. She’s putting it out there and saying ‘that’s it if you wanna see it!’ In ya face!” In her painting Croquet Lesson, an older woman is being held by a younger man as they hold onto the croquet stick, the ball is somewhere in the background. “He’s the young gorgeous boy teaching the older woman who knows it all. She’s giving a knowing look that says, yeah, I’ve still got it!” Robin paints voluptuous figures in revealing evening gowns, or tulle skirts with frilly red knickers showing underneath. The clothes are all about dress ups, a theme which began when Robin was a child, tottering around in oversized high heels.

Clothes are Robin’s second love. In between painting, she works at the clothes boutique Challans. I wanted to see how a woman who is still dealing with the effects of cancer was able to take on this double workload. Shirley Sloan, owner of Challans explains; “she deals with her illness in a really positive way. It’s obviously stressful because it’s a terminal illness, but she’s always trying to put people at ease when they ask her about it.” Shirley said Robin uses humour to deal with her health. “We joke whenever she needs a day off that ‘it’s only cancer, darl!’ Humour is a trait Robin uses in her art, “if I could act I would have been a comedian!”

Robin is also completing her Masters Degree at the University of Tasmania. She has just returned from Paris where she worked in her own studio for two months as part of a self funded residency. Here she completed a series entitled ‘Chick to Chic’.

Robin’s attitude is inspirational. “I work hard and play hard, I think a lot of it too is urgency ‘cos I wanna get things done. I don’t wanna run out of time.” Her career is blossoming and she continues to be obsessed with painting. “I haven’t painted the masterpiece yet and I think when I do, that’s when I’ll stop.”

Images courtesy of Robin-Mary Calvert 14

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By Jarrod Green The opaque face of the ambulance is a front we rarely see through.

With a voice like a vile ringing tone, it’s a visage we watch winding through our woe - our accidents, our burning homes.

Only in misfortune its features we come to know, and even then it is soon distant, driving back down the road. But now imagine this: a retired great-grandfather switches off the Moto GP and kisses his wife goodnight. Tomorrow they will drive together for two hours for her radiation therapy. He settles into bed but now his beeper is going off. Somewhere between Bicheno, Elephant Pass and Cranbrook, something has gone astray. There may be blood or drugs but there will almost certainly be pain. For George Hudson, one of Tasmania’s 500 volunteer ambulance officers, this might just be his everyday.

“If [the beeper] goes off—it goes off. You’ve got a job to do,” says Hudson. “We’re on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week here. We don’t have a roster [because] we don’t have enough people for a roster….We’re on call all the time.”

Hudson’s home overlooks Waubs Bay in the east-coast town of Bicheno. On first inspection, it’s hard to reconcile the melodic movements of the water with the restlessness of an emergency pager poised face-up on Hudson’s desk. However, what seems to be an incongruous juxtaposition actually serves to throw Hudson into relief. It is a fitting image for a man equally familiar with life’s sirens and silences.

“You’ve got to take the good with the bad,” says Hudson, articulating what is a pervasive motif in his conversation. “You get different things that happen which are not nice but it’s all part and parcel of it.”

Having joined the Tasmanian Ambulance Service 16 years ago to fend off the tedium of retirement, it is tacit but clear that Hudson has had his share of both affliction and healing. Hudson acknowledges the tragedies of Tasmanian road fatalities with a knowing look. It is the sort of opaque glance that gives back few of the sights it has seen. Yet Hudson is not unaffected by his experiences as an ambulance officer.

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“The sicker side of the work now is the drugs and the drug related problems—especially the younger people. It ruins their lives,” says Hudson. “It’s horrible: you get a young person that’s clever [and] once they get into those drugs they’re finished really. It’s sad to see nice young people getting involved in that.”

Despite its often sharp turns, ambulance driving “just sort of goes on” for Hudson, threading its way equally through Bicheno’s muted midnight winters and loud noon summers. In the warm afternoons Hudson cools the influx of “recreational people”. Through the rainy evenings he dries all the “winter ills”. Irrespective of sunny days, sickness or holiday breaks, volunteer work drives all streets of time.

Perhaps what sustains Hudson is an understanding of what is held and seen inside an ambulance. The approaching bends, the potholes, the bleeding, coughing and crying: it’s all a reflection of the struggle in people’s lives. For Hudson, the compulsion to serve others is what fuels his enthusiasm through the late night call-outs and the long drives. He states it with characteristic simplicity: “I get a lot out of it. It is quite fulfilling and I enjoy helping people.”

After a varied life in business on Tasmania’s roads—taxis, trucks, service stations, tyres, a motel in Scamander—it is unsurprising when you meet Hudson that his life has steered him towards the most altruistic of vehicles. Indeed, there is something about his humble disposition and gentle conversation that suggests benevolence is Hudson’s driving force. A resident of Bicheno for 18 years, Hudson’s role as an ambulance officer has assured his status as a respected mainstay of the small coastal community.

“You get to know just about everybody,” says Hudson, acknowledging that it is not always pleasant coincidence that brings him to rest at Bicheno’s curbs. “Being a small town, sooner or later [almost everyone] seems to fall foul of the ambulance,” he says.

Hudson tends his roses and dahlias as much as the next person, but the small-town ‘senior’ stereotype is too narrow to capture his perspective. Indeed, Hudson’s unassuming demeanour belies the scope of his energy and the range of his experience. Excluding South America and Africa, Hudson has travelled “pretty much everywhere else”. He drives a light, glossy-grey hybrid car and studies for his ambulance work online. It is the sort of dynamism that breeds opinion rather than acquiescence.

“We’re not big enough in the state to be parochial. It’s rather silly really,” he says, reflecting on Tasmania’s health system

and the state’s entrenched funding rows between the north and the south. “When you think about it, the drive from Launceston to Hobart is only two hours. When you think of what people over the other side [on the mainland] have got to do, we’re pretty small minded about these things.”

High sentiments? Hudson and his wife Lucy have routinely travelled the two-hour road to Launceston to access health services.

“Lucy, my wife, she’s been having radiation treatment,” said Hudson at the time we first spoke last year. “We’ve been in Launceston for days on end. We only got back for Easter and we’re off again this week….It’s keeping us busy.” Hudson met Lucy in Launceston, the city where he grew up. They married in 1957 and now have three children and a greatgrandchild. Today their progeny are all over Australia: a daughter in Bicheno, a daughter in Sydney, a son in Darwin.

“Our married life has been wonderful,” says Hudson. “We’ve travelled a lot and seen a lot. We’ve been very fortunate— really very fortunate.”

Nonetheless, there’s a kind of savage irony that has seen Hudson, the volunteer ambulance officer, transport his own wife to hospital for treatment. Of course, Hudson understands that change is a part of life: “You’ve got to have change. Sometimes it’s maybe not for the better but that’s all part [of it],” he says.

If you are like Hudson, you have to be prepared to keep moving. It’s implicit in the electrical cord forever plugged into the side of the ambulance. “It keeps the battery charged and the sump oil warm,” he explains. “This way you can drive straight out.”

Watching Hudson move through his ambulance with casual confidence, proudly explaining its every nuance and feature, it’s hard not to recall Philip Larkin’s memorable description of an ambulance: that which “brings closer what is left to come, and dulls to distance all we are.” For Larkin, the ambulance portends our mortality. For Hudson, however, it is a vehicle for human compassion - the ambulance sharpens the measure of what is important in life.

“I’m not a great lover of sitting around when you’re retired and waiting to die,” says Hudson. “You’re a long time dead.

Enjoy [life] while you can.”

No-one knows when their beeper is going to go off. But “if it goes off—it goes off. You’ve got a job to do.”

Image by Travis Hutchins 17

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Jean Sommerville-Rabbit How did you get to be here, studying at uni? Did you come straight from year 12 as a natural progression from your college studies? Or maybe you are here looking for your second chance at a fulfilling career that has, as yet, remained out of your reach? Or perhaps you are simply here because of an interest in learning something new?

It may come as a surprise to many that approximately 40 per cent of students currently studying at UTas are over the age of 25, and 19 per cent are over the age of 35, with the oldest student reaching the grand old age of 87!

So what makes someone decide to come back to uni, or indeed make their very first step into further education in later life? The reasons are many and varied, and in an attempt to uncover this increasing trend of more and more matureage students completing university courses, I spoke with three uniquely different people currently studying here.

My first interviewee, Robin Gardiner, is one such person - a 60-something grandfather who, now that he is retired, has the chance to study further in a field that has been a life-long interest to him - journalism.

In the mid 1970s, Mr Gardiner worked as a journalist in the Post Master Generals Department in northwest Tasmania, without any formal training, as at the time journalism was a career that only involved on the job training.

“I was the ‘least worst’ of what was available at the time, that’s how I got the job,” Mr Gardiner said.

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Following numerous trips to China, Mr Gardiner first came to UTas aged 32. His experience of international travel inspired and motivated him to pursue the opportunity of tertiary education. Despite a continuing interest in journalism, the lack of a journalism and media studies program at that time prompted Mr Gardiner to choose to major in History and Ancient Civilisations as part of his Bachelor of Arts degree. He continued to work full time at the Australian Bureau of Statistics and managed to maintain the uni/work/life balance, and although his university studies did not relate directly to his current employment, following these studies he received a promotion.

“I think it’s easier [to study at university] when you’re older because you have more life skills, you’re more confident, more outgoing,” Mr Gardiner said.

This year, Mr Gardiner returned to UTas and he has noticed some significant differences between his two experiences of study at Utas.

“Students are still young, intelligent and articulate, but in the past students were not impoverished with HECS debt and it is a more competitive world now,” Mr Gardiner said.

After finishing his studies, Mr Gardiner would like to use his skills in a voluntary capacity now that he is retired.

Another student who has taken a somewhat different path to study here at UTas, is Jenny D’Arcy who had never been to university in her life prior to commencing her studies last year. Having recently retired, she decided the perfect accompaniment to her love of travelling was a degree from UTas. As she puts it, she is studying an: “Arts degree for interest interspersed with travel”.

Mrs D’Arcy is a well-travelled lady, having volunteered in India, worked as a court reporter in Fiji, completed twothirds of a pilgrimage walking from France to Spain, and has travelled widely throughout the Middle East.

So why did she choose to come to UTas? “I just didn’t want to do what I was doing and branched off into a different area of study,” she said.

Mrs D’Arcy is currently studying a mixture of French language, culture, and literature classes and plans on moving to France in September where she will live in a

small village with her husband for four months, before returning to Tasmania to continue her studies at UTas. “Uni is very nurturing of new students and I think the uni here is very accommodating for mature age students” Third-time mature age student, Bert Aperloo, this year decided to study a Master of Fine Arts by coursework, after accepting a voluntary redundancy from his previous place of employment STEPS Employment and Training, where he had worked for seven years.

Mr Aperloo began his tertiary education at the age of 50, completing a Masters of Education in 1997 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2008, majoring in furniture design and print making. On these two previous occasions, he balanced his study commitments with full-time work and so this year is enjoying the luxury of just being a student.

“I must say, being here as a full time student for the first time in my life, I just threw myself into it, I really enjoy it,” Mr Aperloo said.

Studying at university was not something Mr Aperloo had ever planned to do. As the eldest of seven children, his family’s financial circumstances meant that he did not ever think of studying at university. He left Holland at the age of 23, worked in South Africa for seven and a half years before coming to Australia (Melbourne) in 1976 and then moved to Tasmania in 1992. As a trained massage therapist, Mr Aperloo worked as a masseur at the University Sports Centre where he heard many positive comments from students about uni, and decided to give it a try.

“I believe you should always try something, so you can look back on life and can say I tried it,” he said.

Mr Aperloo believes that there may be an increase in the number of mature age students studying at university in the future.

“There might be a whole trend now through this economic crisis that actually more mature people will say ‘well I’ve been putting this off for 20 or 30 years, I might actually do this now.’”

Our university, it seems, is also aware of this possibility and UTas is making available HECS Scholarships for the equivalent of one academic year of full-time study to any permanent employees or long-term casual staff made 20

Features. redundant, as a direct result of the global financial crisis, since the beginning of December 2008. Applicants must commence study at UTas after semester one, 2009 and within six months of being made redundant.

Last semester a third of Mr Aperloo’s print making class were mature age students, which he found worked well.

“It was a lovely mix; young people have fantastic ideas but then the more mature people sort of look at life a bit differently, and have more life skills,” Mr Aperloo said.

So whether it be purely an interest that motivates someone to study at university, or the necessity of re-training following redundancy or a mixture of the two, it would seem that there has never been a better time to become a mature age student at UTAS! As these three mature age students illustrate, university really is for everyone. Students study for many different reasons: achieving a lifelong goal, improving career prospects, consolidating a current career, preparing for a career change or simply for the joy of learning.

And some final advice to anyone who may think uni is not for them or that they have missed their chance?

“A lot of people have the wrong idea about what uni is really about…Do it!” Mr Gardiner said.

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Irrigating the Midlands Food Bowl, or Pipe Dream?

By Warrick Jordan

Tasmania is often viewed as a land of plenty, with abundant, if sometimes mismanaged, resources. Prior to white settlement, the Midlands was the island’s most fecund hunting ground. Since the 1820’s, these fertile, open plains have underpinned the Tasmanian agriculture sector, forming the original wool-dominated economy which enriched Tasmania’s squattocracy.

Now, however, the Midlands is facing its worst-ever drought, with long range climate forecasts suggesting the dry times will continue. Some farmers have already left the land, with others only just managing to hang on. The farming families and the communities that rely on them, such as those in Ross and Oatlands, are fast running out of options.

Many, including high-profile figures Premier David Bartlett and the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association’s Tony Clarke, see large-scale irrigation projects as the long-term solution to the problems of the Midlands and other drought stressed areas, such as the East Coast.

“Most farmers have had negative income over the last three years,” Clarke, the TFGA’s Drought Manager, said. “The alternatives are running out for them.”

Twelve major projects administered by the state-owned Irrigation Development Board are currently planned, covering an area of 178,000 hectares and totalling $400 million. However, these projects will be dwarfed if the vision of recently returned Tasmanian and former Harvard Professor of Business, Jonathon West, is adopted.

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West is encouraging an overall investment of one billion dollars in irrigation infrastructure over the next decade in order to boost Tasmania’s agricultural output from $545 million to $4.7 billion. Premier Bartlett, in an attempt to define his leadership in terms of the big picture developmental vision so beloved of Tasmanian leaders, has enthusiastically embraced West’s ‘food bowl’ vision as a hydro-industrial style future-building exercise.

Construction on the Midlands Water Scheme, the largest irrigation project currently planned at 50,000 hectares - and valued at $78 million - is expected to begin later this year.

The development of irrigation schemes has widespread support among the Midlands farming community, while many other urban Tasmanians appear largely ambivalent toward the situation developing in drought affected areas.

Northern Midlands sheep farmer and irrigation activist James Walch is one of the many Midlands farmers to recognise the necessity of the Midlands Water Scheme.

“We’ve had three years of half our average rainfall. The little bit of irrigation we have has allowed us to survive, just, the last three years,” says Walch.

While overwhelmingly supportive of the Scheme, Walch also qualifies this with the pragmatism expected from someone accustomed to earning a living in an unforgiving landscape.

“I see…introducing water into the Midlands as giving people options, but I wouldn’t say it’s the only option, as it won’t cover the whole Midlands,” he says. “What the Midlands have to offer is large areas of reasonable soil that can be suitable to larger developments, but that doesn’t mean it will all go that way.”

Walch is also sceptical of the state government’s aim to ‘drought proof’ Tasmania. “I think it’s a furphy.”

Near the historic town of Ross, Rae and Lindsay Young, who are working towards an environmentally sustainable sheep farming operation, see multiple problems with the Midlands Water Scheme.

In the early 1990s, Lindsay had his property assessed for a smaller scale irrigation project. “The recommendation then was that if I wanted to grow the kind of crops I needed to grow to make irrigation pay, bearing in mind that the water was free, I would be better off moving to any area

with better soils, lower pumping costs, and better access to water,” says Lindsay.

Former Government geohydrologist David Leaman expresses similar concerns regarding the sustainable allocation of water. While confirming the government’s oft-quoted line that Tasmania receives 12 per cent of the nation’s rainfall on only one per cent of the nation’s land mass, he is at pains to point out that this water is unevenly distributed, with most water falling in the rain shadow on Tasmania’s west coast.

“The water simply isn’t there,” David said. “Yes, you could irrigate bits of Tasmania, but planning which bits hasn’t even got started.”

Salinity is also a significant concern. “At Ross and Tunbridge, the salt has only been stable in those areas because there has been no water,” David said. “If your land goes saline, you’re finished, and I’ve known enough farmers to know that I wouldn’t like to see that happen.”

Kevin Knowles, of the Upper Meander Catchment Group, has been one of the most prominent of those opposed to irrigation schemes.

The CSIRO is currently completing a Sustainable Yields Project for Tasmania, which will provide water yield data for the state, and should be finished by September. Knowles believes that the development of further water projects without this data is a grave mistake.

Sven Meyer, of the state-owned Irrigation Development Board, believes that the assessments and environmental safeguards in place for the schemes will ensure appropriate environmental outcomes. James Walch and the TFGA’s Tony Clarke agree. Walch also offers what he sees as a more fundamental guarantee for the sustainability of irrigation schemes.

“We do understand environmental issues. We are good land managers,” says Walch. “Farmers are the best environmentalists you can have, because if they muck up their own backyard, they don’t produce, and if they don’t produce, they don’t survive.”

However, the Midlands Water Scheme and the food bowl vision appear to be facing significant economic hurdles.

Leaks in April indicate that Tasmania’s Treasury chief Don Challen holds significant reservations regarding the long 24

Features. term viability of irrigation projects. Given the significant fiscal tightening evident in the recent state budget, and the continued downward forecast for the State Government coffers over coming years, there is a distinct possibility that this reluctance from Treasury to hand over large amounts of State Government money will continue.

As well as state government funds, the 12 currently planned projects and future developments are dependent on significant cash inputs from both the Federal Government and farmers themselves. The failure of Premier Bartlett and Water Minister David Llewellyn to secure funding for irrigation projects in the Rudd government’s $4.7 billion preChristmas infrastructure package has fuelled speculation that the Federal Government is reluctant to hand over promised funding.

There are also concerns that cash strapped farmers, with little income and diminishing equity may be reluctant to invest their required percentage in the irrigation schemes.

Farmers, government, and industry representatives, however, see government loans, increased farm value, and the potential to produce higher value products as compensating for the current lack of capital.

While issues in this state involving development, economic and environmental concerns are often depicted in black and white terms, it will come as no surprise to many that, like the old growth logging issue, irrigation encompasses numerous shades of grey, with the division between prodevelopment and pro-environment being largely artifice.

says Rae, referring to areas of the Northern Midlands subject to irrigation development. “Maybe David Bartlett should consider chucking some money at teaching people to farm better, because we all farm badly. We can all farm a whole lot better.”

James Walch also recognises that changed farm practices may be necessary for farmers. “For the people who can’t get access to the water, or don’t get access to it, it doesn’t mean pack up your bags and go. Maybe we have to farm differently,” he says.

In contrast to the Young’s, Walch is broadly supportive of the present State Government initiatives, seeing the current interest in the communities of the Midlands as long overdue. “What we need is a government which creates an environment in which these regions can develop, and the spin off to that is that it strengthens regional Tasmania.”

While the environmental and economic issues surrounding irrigation in Tasmania will no doubt continue, the outcomes resulting from the development of the Midlands project will determine, in part, if David Bartlett’s food bowl vision will come to fruition, or whether it will join the long list of Tasmania’s unrealised irrigation pipedreams.

Images courtesy of Steve Leonard

David Leaman, for example, is not opposed to irrigation developments, but only those he believes are ill-conceived and unsustainable. He also recognises the extreme difficulties faced by Tasmania’s farmers.

“It’s a very difficult situation, and I don’t have the answers, but it may be that some of those properties have to go. I can’t judge that. There may be other options. Maybe we should be paying people to conserve biodiversity on their land,” Leaman says. “The question is, what do you do? And you have to be honest first, to farmers and to townspeople.”

“That’s the impression you get on all these schemes,” says Rae Young. “[The impression] that they are going to be built, and it doesn’t matter what the consequences are.

“I think there’s a whole lot of things you can do to make this catchment without necessarily adding any more irrigation,” 25

The effects of the recession on University students’ employment prospects

By Damita Lamont “The employment world is increasingly difficult, and the focus is shifting from pursuing your dream career to taking any job that you can find”

Op-shop fashions, Mi goreng noodles and $5 goon bags are central features of the uni student’s life. In short, we are all used to money being tight. We tolerate it with the belief that when our three, four or five year degrees are finished and our post-graduate studies are completed, we will be rolling in cash and living a lifestyle we had only ever dreamed of. But our Utopian dreams are being shattered as the effects of the worldwide recession sweeps across our nation.

Suddenly, all our hard work and sacrifices are at risk of being rendered pointless – and students are starting to get worried, as stories on job cuts, businesses closing down, and longer working hours with less pay are splashed across the media, daily. The employment world is increasingly difficult, and the focus is shifting from pursuing your dream career to taking any job that you can find. In these uncertain and confusing times, it seems that students need some insight into this crazy new world.

Stephen Reid, an economist from the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce, maintains that while the Australian economy has felt the full effects of the recession, we have not yet felt the full effects of unemployment. Although many job cuts have already been enforced, especially in the areas of mining, manufacturing, finance and tourism, Mr Reid warns that many more are yet to come. In Tasmania, the unemployment rate is currently at 5.3 per cent and it is predicted to reach double figures.

Businesses have either made job cuts or have closed down altogether, so with the large amount of people seeking employment, the workforce has become 26

Features. increasingly competitive. The next group of university graduates will also face an additional challenge; many businesses are ceasing to hire new staff altogether.

Paul Blacklow, an economics lecturer from the University of Tasmania, believes that “employing new staff is not high on the agenda at the moment”.

He maintains that this is because employers value their current staff as they have invested a lot of time and money into training them with specific skills. So not only will university graduates find an increased amount of people seeking employment, they will also find a decreased amount of available jobs.

“I guess you can think of it as a bushfire, it is definitely bad, but it burns the undergrowth and then it regenerates the forest”.

Despite initial appearances, it is still possible to gain employment during these tough times – and the key is qualification. UTas graduates will already be one step ahead of the many people seeking employment, due to a severe skill shortage in Tasmania.

“86 percent of jobs require post year 12 qualification, yet only 43 percent of people in Tasmania at the moment have this qualification or above,” Mr Reid said.

However, now is not the time to be complacent. Mr Reid advises students that to compete for employment you must be as qualified as possible – and this means considering postgraduate studies, undertaking work placement in your own time, and networking with potential employees. In addition to your teriary qualifications, it is also essential to develop a thick skin and continue to pursue employment - regardless of whether you have been previously rejected. If possible you should ask the employers why you were not given the position, and take this on board when applying for the next position.

On a lighter note, the recession and its effects on employment will not be permanent.

“It has been a very large recession and it has happened very quickly due to the interconnectedness of the world economy, but it looks like the recovery will be much sooner than people thought,” Mr Blacklow predicted.

Mr Reid also echoes this sentiment. He believes that there is a great deal of hope for the future of the global economy, and that the recession has some positive effects on the global economy too. He maintains that the recession allows for the reallocation of resources around the economy, and as inefficient businesses are forced to close down, more efficient businesses fill their spaces.

“I guess you can think of it as a bushfire, it is definitely bad, but it burns the undergrowth and then it regenerates the forest”.

“We can expect to see a great deal of recovery in two to three years time”.

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BraveBoarders Remi Chauvin Esky-lids. Boogas. Shark biscuits. Gut sliders. Dick draggers. Speed humps Bodyboarders are abused with any one of these insults (if not all) at one point or in their careers. But what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, right? So what makes this small, devoted crew of people so different to their esteemed wave-riding colleagues ‘the sticks’?

There are a few things that separate the sports of bodyboarding and surfing.

But two prominant features which differentiate the forms of wave working are: the money in bodyboarding is non-existent in comparison, and the way riders approach the waves is completely different.

In 2009, the events for the Association of Professional Surfers (ASP) World Tour each had a prize pool of $340 000. The highest prize pool of a bodyboarding event was $40 000. Further evidence of the monetary divide is found in the fact that Australia will not host an international bodyboarding event this year due to lack of funding. Such a thing would never happen in the lucrative Utopian world of Quiksilver or Billabong.

But bodyboarders don’t care. They’re used to being at the bottom of the food chain.

In fact, they thrive there. Sick of being told they can’t surf crappy, mushy waves by narrow-minded surfers, bodyboarders started searching for waves that more suit their riding style. Bodyboarders prefer to surf shallower and suckier waves that offer big hollow barrels. It is this attitude towards surfing better and more extreme waves that has led to bodyboarding being regarded nowadays as an impressive and trend-setting pastime. Bodyboarders are often the first to surf outrageous new waves that were either previously undiscovered or deemed unrideable.

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Bodyboards nowadays are a far cry from the cheap pieces of foam bought from Kmart. They are precision engineered pieces of equipment which can cost upwards of $300. Their design makes them perfect for steep, shallow, sucking waves that break onto virtually dry rocks or reef. Being able to ride such different waves opens up a seemingly endless amount of new options for riders. The pioneers of many elitelevel waves over the past decade have been bodyboarders, and nowadays in the jetski era there are numerous teams searching our vast shores for the next big thing.

Only recently have surfers and bodyboarders reached a mutual respect of each other. Surfers recognise that what bodyboarders do is amazing in its own right and have taken their own inspiration from bodyboarding. This is perhaps most evident in the new-school aerial manoeuvres that surfers are performing now. Bodyboarders were the first to attempt skills in the air such as 360’s, rolls and flips, and surfers are now beginning to perform them with consistency. On the other side of the coin, bodyboarders have taken a leaf out of the surfers’ book in their approach to finding the biggest waves possible and riding them better than the last guy.

This appreciation of each other’s sport is very visible in Tasmania. In a place that has much fewer wave-riders than the rest of the nation, everyone knows everyone, and if there was bad blood between surfers and bodyboarders, it would lead to a much less enjoyable time in the water. So on the most part, everyone is friendly with each other, both in and out of the water, which leads to a much healthier affiliation with the ocean.

Bodyboarding nationally does not get very much coverage, let alone bodyboarding in Tasmania. There are two Australian bodyboarding magazines, Riptide and Movement, which are released bi-monthly, but neither ever have much to do with Tasmania unless the infamous Shipstern Bluff breaks. This wave, located at the bottom of a remote cliff on the Tasman Peninsular, needs a rare combination of huge swell with light winds to break, but when it does, it offers some of the biggest and heaviest barrels in Australia. These waves lure professional teams of bodyboarders from interstate to come

and test their mettle in the huge seas. These marketable faces of the professional scene then capture the coverage in the magazines leaving no room for the local riders to showcase their abilities through the magazines. This is truly unfortunate, as there are some very talented individuals riding the same waves who do not receive due recognition.

For these people, it’s not about doing it for the money or for photos in the mags, it’s purely for the love of it. And in the Tasmanian winter, it’s tough love. Getting out of your warm bed into the rain, wind and sometimes snow hours before the sun has even thought about rising makes you really consider if it’s worth it. But those few times that the wind dies off and the sun actually does peek through the clouds easily overshadows the negatives. While the waves might not break everyday, we are blessed with four different coastlines, meaning we have a plethora of waves on offer.

Even though Shipstern’s might overshadow everything else in the state in terms of coverage, it does mean that the rest of the waves still have a degree of anonymity, which is a good thing in terms of waves, as it keeps the crowds down.

The freezing cold keeps the crowds down too in winter.

Even though some of the best waves arrive when the sun is at its lowest, there is a fraction of the people riding them.

Thick rubber and a smile are necessary to survive.

One thing that motivated bodyboarders during the cold months or the flat days is a new sub-category of bodyboarding that harnesses some serious horsepower.

‘Tow-out’ bodyboarding is a recent phenomenon pioneered

by West Australian bodyboarders that uses jetskis to tow people at waves instead of on to them. Jetskis mean more speed, and more speed means bigger airs, which in bodyboarding terms means more fun.

Despite having a less celebrated image in the surfing community, you will find it hard to come across a happier, more devoted bunch of people anywhere in the world.

Everyone should be able to take a leaf out of these guys’ book, especially in the winter months. Next time you have a whinge about winter, consider those of us who have to bear the full force of it to do something we love. Get out there and enjoy yourselves, even if it is a little different.

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Travel.

By Alice Lynch Drug scandals in Indonesia have become infamous in our country, encouraged by the media’s constant exposure of Schapelle Corby and other compatriots who have become embroiled in the Indonesian justice system. But while many Australians look forward to relaxation when they choose Bali as a holiday destination, a trip to the discomforting Kerobokan prison is now essential for the Australian tourist.

“The face of one man and the struggles he encounters on the island made me reflect upon drugs, mistakes, the law and the death penalty.�

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. - Article 1 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights Many of us see Bali as an island paradise. It rests on the Indian Ocean, a getaway for the tourists who await it. The coast tightly embraces hotel resorts and hectic market places. Its atmosphere is accompanied by the taste of nasi goreng and the scent of fabulous spices. We all flock to the island eight degrees south of the equator because of its welcoming sun. As you travel through the rice terraces and voyage through the volcanic mountains, the true, uninhabited beauty of the island becomes apparent. The peaceful Hindu religion is reflected in the serenity of the temples, but most importantly in the smiles of its people.

One might say that travelling to this foreign and spiritual place might bring about all kinds of revelations or epiphanies. My journey, however, brought me to consider something different. The face of one man and the struggles he encounters on the island made me reflect upon drugs, mistakes, the law and the death penalty.

On April 17 2005, a group of nine Australian citizens were arrested in Denpasar, in an attempt to smuggle illegal drugs: four million Australian dollars worth of heroin.

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Arrested and locked up in Denpasar’s Kerobokan prison, the group were referred to as the Bali Nine, a term coined by the Australian media. When convicted, it would be revealed that initially six of the Bali Nine would face the death penalty.

Everyone has the right to live, have liberty, and security - Article 3 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights When you approach Kerobokan by taxi, the dry Bali heat and the imposing façade of the prison break the otherwise relaxed ambience. The details of the concrete mass slowly become apparent as the taxi edges closer; a dim structure encircled with barbed wire spirals, fastened atop the surrounding boundary wall.

When I arrived, visiting hours were over. It was just past three o’clock in the afternoon, and a sea of Indonesians flooded from the jail in a race to see whose motorbike was left last. In the wake of the tanned locals, a Caucasian man emerged from within, gripping a tattered and well-worn Australian passport. Clearly no stranger to the climate, the man wore plain jeans, a sweatshirt and white sandshoes – stained brown from the dusty car park – and an expression that lacked hope. Grief was evident in his dark eyes; a forlorn expression belonging to a man who appeared to understand the meaning of loss. His name: Lee Rush, father of the youngest member of the Bali Nine, Scott. Lee’s predicament stimulated me to explore Scott’s perilous situation.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. – Article 5

Scott Rush, was an intravenous amphetamine and ‘whatever’s-going’ user with a history of small-time drug and theft convictions. It is alleged that Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, the suspected financier of the smuggling plan, latched onto Scott’s desire for drugs in Brisbane, and recruited his services. Lee was aware of his son’s previous experience with drugs, and on learning his son was heading to Bali, he acted on his suspicions.

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law – Article 6 Lee tried to contact his son on the night of his departure, but his mobile phone did not answer. Desperate and suspecting the worst, he asked a barrister friend, Bob Myers, to alert the Australian Federal Police. The AFP were already watching the group: “Operation Midship” was afoot. The police knew that pulling Rush aside would jeopardise their operation. Rush was not stopped in Sydney; instead he was permitted to travel to Bali – a decision by Australian authorities that has ultimately cost Scott his life.

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him. – Article 10 For Scott, it appeared to be a holiday with a financial benefit on return to Australia. In reality, it was a holiday with a deadly risk. Scott indulged in the rhythm of Bali party-life that young tourists know all too well: wake-up mid-morning, play, eat, 32

Travel. sleep, get up, eat, go to the clubs at 11pm or midnight, party till dawn, sleep till mid-morning and do it again. But once the partying was over, there was a job to do.

Ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran allegedly fitted Scott with 8.1 kilograms of heroin for his journey.

He was to call Chan on the way to the airport, probably to confirm he hadn’t got cold feet. With the mobile phone Chan had given him, Scott was to call a preset number on arrival in Sydney; an unnamed person would collect the heroin. Scott dressed in oversized clothes and was given tourist artifacts to help distract the Customs people. It is alleged that if Scott backed out, he would be shot.

Upon arrival at Bali’s Ngurah Rai international airport, Scott ‘the mule’ passed through X-ray checks and queued at the airline counter. He paid his 100,000 rupiah (about AUS $15) airport departure tax and had his passport stamped.

Scott feigned interest in duty-free Jim Beam, believing the first major hurdle had been passed. He was through to the departure lounge. That’s when his heart left his body and clattered on the airport’s tiled floor. It was over.

Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence. – Article 11 Is it wrong for foreign states to impose the death penalty on Australian drug traffickers and drug mules, when Australia has ratified a treaty abolishing it? We apply different reasoning to non-Australians facing the death penalty, at the hands of other states. The death penalty must be either right or wrong mustn’t it? How can we ‘sit on the fence’ about whether a government can justify killing someone for their crimes?

Clearly, the position must be reached that it is wrong to kill someone, no matter what positive, political consequences apologists believe might come from executions. It is time that Australia formed a coherent, unified voice to the world.

The harm done to the cause of human rights and to our own reputation when we fail to take a firm and consistent opposition to the death penalty must be highlighted. We must show that we are not only opposed to the death penalty when it is

fellow Australians on death row. The death penalty is barbaric whether the criminal is a Bali bomber or a drug mule.

No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed .- Article 11 Scott was initially given a life sentence in the Denpasar District Court in February 2006, which was reaffirmed on appeal to the High Court. He then appealed to the Supreme Court, Indonesia’s highest, hoping for something less than life in jail. In September 2006, despite the prosecution not calling for death, he got it. The court gave no reasons for the dramatic upgrade. It is almost unheard of in Australian courts for an appellant to receive a higher sentence.

Scott Rush does not deserve to die. He did not commit the worst of offences; he has been arbitrarily singled out for the death sentence by the Indonesian courts. His criminal act, if successfully completed, would have caused direct harm in Australia rather than Indonesia and our courts, most likely, would have imposed a ten year sentence and a minimum of five years to serve. Instead, Scott is living in an Indonesian prison, in a place called ‘death tower’, as a result of making a mistake involving illegal drugs. Scott is 23 years old. How many 23 year-olds in Hobart indluge in illegal drugs every Saturday night?

The dilemma still stands, that when a law is broken in a particular country you are subjected to that law; whether it is considered harsh and unjust remains irrelevant. Scott’s tragic situation can be summarised by the Balinese naming system. Every third son is called Nyoman. In Kerobokan jail, locals have a name for Scott. His name is Nyoman Apas. It means, ‘third son, bad luck’…

“Abolition of the death penalty” - The Second Optional Protocol of the United Nations International Convention on Civil and Political Rights 1976 ...It seems we have a long way to go.

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A conversation with Charles Du Cane Interveiw By Thomas Hyland In a music scene that’s attended mostly by friends, friends of friends, and the relative few patrons that genuinely care about sourcing new music, fantastical notions of ‘stardom’ and ‘making it’ are rightfully tossed aside as independent musicians flourish in the void left from A&R reps and industry folk. While advances in communication have given a large degree of power back to the artist, it still takes a particular manner to rise beyond the DIY and pub scene.

Charles Du Cane, real name Fred, is a Launceston based pop artist whose music shares the same eccentric nature as the likes Beck, David Bowie or Stg Pepper era Beatles. As he prepares for the release of his second album, Poets, Togatus spoke to Fred with keen anitcipation.

T: Via Unearthed, Triple J seem to be almost prepping Charles Du Cane for some future prominence. Your single ‘Judgment Day’ was described by Triple J as ‘catchier than swine flu’. Are ‘targets’ like this something you think about when writing an album, or when planning its release? Other than attaining personal or artistic satisfaction, what are you trying to ‘do’ or ‘achieve’ with your music?

F: I try, when working on an album, not to think of ‘targets’ such as particular radio stations, demographics or whatever.

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Interview..

Yeah I guess I do think about it when planning a release, but by that time the album is usually in the bag already.

All I’m trying to do with my music is make an album that I would listen to, if somebody else had made it. When I started a few years ago there was nobody doing electronic stuff that was much chop, song-wise. There’s a few around now doing it well, so maybe the next album [to be recorded at the end of the year with Chris Townend] will be something completely different.

T: I like the idea that you’re thinking about your next album before Poets has even been released. Is that to say that the reception of Poets has nothing to do with the creative process of your next release?

How far are you through the writing process of your next album?

F: Not much writing done for it yet - I’ve got a few lyrical sketches, some melodic ideas and a couple of old tracks that deserve to be recorded. I’m in the middle of getting ready to move into our home, so I’ll be playing at being the zen handyman for a month or two…will probably try to work songwriting around that, I find that physical labour tends to encourage the muse.

As far as people’s opinion of Poets influencing the next album…no way. Again, I’m sure there will be things that people say about it that filter through, but you’ve gotta try to block that stuff out as much as possible, listen to your own voice.

T: Let’s get back to your upcoming release. Lyrically, how does Poets differ from your last album? The influence of your trip to India clearly filters through in a luscious wave, is this the same with the lyrical concepts?

F: Oh yeah, India’s definitely in there... seven or eight of the tracks on the album were written over there, I just bought a little shitbox guitar and lugged it round the country with me. Lyrically I think this album is a lot fuller than the last, it feels as though this one constructs a world of its own — I was trying to do that with Tomahawk too, but didn’t get anywhere close.

T: You seem to have a knack for well constructed extravagance followed by a catchy chorus. Is a memorable chorus something you consciously do as a songwriter? What does a “chorus” mean to you?

F: Nah, I’d describe very little of what I do musically as conscious — most of the songs on the album I wrote in probably about half an hour, chorus and all, so it’s something I really try not to sweat over. I have a strong ear when it comes to arrangements–after ten years producing my own stuff I feel like I’m finally starting to get a feel for what makes a good production.

T: On the subject of lyrics and chorus’, one of your latest songs, Black Pepper, employs the phrase ‘I don’t want what I haven’t got’ with great offset repetition. Are such prominent cries keynotes to your personal philosophies? Do you want what you haven’t got? Tell me about the meaning behind this song?

F: I try to live very simply. At the moment, there is very little that I want for in my life. My wife and I are just about to move into our first home and start raising chickens. We’re going to strip the carpet from the floor, whitewash the walls and have house shows.

‘Black pepper’ was written just before I went to India...

I’d just come off this contract job I’d been doing that had absolutely run me into the ground, I was fat, tired and couldn’t wait to get on a plane and take a few months off.

Then this bolt of activity struck me from somewhere, and I wrote, recorded and released a new EP within the space of five days or something. It felt great to have that momentum again, for things to be flowing so smoothly.

Anyway, that track was written after I’d seen I’m not there, the Dylan biopic, and I had the Richard Gere character in mind…a man witness to sudden, absolute destruction and desolation, surrounded by these incredibly vivid, surrealist vignettes - silver pianos and vivisectors and fireman’s eyes.

That’s about all I can say about it.

There’s a few [tracks] - ‘Beggars’ Union,’ ‘Judgement day,’ whose lyrics are definitely and directly about things I saw and experienced over there, but in other cases it probably added more of a subtle, tonal sort of aspect.

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Interview. take. We kicked off about four years ago with a major event.

Just inviting people along for free, in that age bracket, to the museum for a big behind-the-scenes tour and that’s what really gets people interested. Unfortunately not everything has been successful, we tried to hold an indie rock concert in the Commissariat Store on a Friday night and learnt not to try and compete with [Hobart’s] Friday/Saturday night agenda as only about twenty people showed up!

T: Why is there a need to get young people involved?

Is it to ‘culture’ them or to just raise the revenue?

Interview by Katie Boutchard Have you ever thought about hanging out at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery? It is possible that it is not high on your to do list. It might have been something you did with your grandparents on a rainy day when you were in primary school. But what if I told you that there is a youth-orientated group called the TMAGgots which aims to show the youth of Hobart a different perspective to the TMAG, and even lets you go behind the scenes? Togatus spoke to the TMAGgots president, Kelly Eijdenberg, to find out more…

T: How did TMAGgots come to exist?

K: We are the first and only, as far as I am aware of, ‘young friends’ group for a museum and art gallery in Australia. The TMAG [Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery] recognised that they were getting a lot of older people and younger families, and people in their 20s and 30s weren’t actually visiting at all. It was an important area to address for a long time, and still is for a lot of museums, but was put into the ‘too hard basket.’ I must say when I was first approached with this idea of making a museum cool for young people, I was a little bit hesitant because I thought, ‘how on earth is anybody going to do that?’ It is a very difficult task. So what happened was they started with a steering committee and thought about what kind of approach we wanted to

K: Raising the revenue? I will stamp on that immediately!

The TMAG does not charge people for entry. It’s really just to engage young people. There really is no ulterior motive.

Personally, I would say that there is one factor, and I’ve experienced it; if you have gone to university and once you leave, you do tend to miss the stimulation and the educational experience. I have found that TMAGgots has been really successful with people our age because they come along, enjoy themselves and get to be a part of a stimulating group which has a sense of community.

T: The concept of community - and building on what you said about university - are you fostering friendship groups and projecting an image of making people feel comfortable to come along and talk to new people?

K: The social part of it is huge, TMAGots runs primarily on people wanting to come together and network with people who might have similar interests. One of our most interesting aspects is that we attract…scientists, artists, lawyers, there is a huge range because the TMAG is also a museum, an art gallery and a herbarium, it’s quite unique and so we have a very vast range of members.

T: What are the difficulties? We’ve established that people want to come along and be a part of a community, has that been an incentive in itself or do you need other tactics to entice people to come along to the TMAGgot events?

K: Initially, getting people along was a bit hard as we were new and nobody knew who we were. However, after a lot of hard work and a few years of pretty much wrangling my own friends to come along and relying on word of mouth, people have just started coming quite regularly to our events and are enjoying themselves, as we knew they would! I think that it’s important to keep costs down when 37

you are running events like this for young people, because it’s quite often that people our age don’t have a lot of funds and it just needs to be informal, relaxed and entertaining, which is what we aim for. We also aim to be kind of quirky in the way we approach things. So essentially, we have very similar events to the friends of TMAG but with a totally different flavour. We might go and see the same exhibition but we might have a visual artist or a performer or a speaker who is a bit out there. Speakers we have had at our events include the likes of Andy Muirhead, Adrian Franklin, Patricia Piccinini, Patrick Hall, Ricky Maynard, Craig Webb and Peter Gouldthorpe. We also try to do field trips and excursions to the Theatre and we went to the Port Arthur Historic site recently - we try to branch out and make the most for our members.

We’ve had 30 events so far; it used to be three or four a year, [but] now we are up to monthly events. It ranges from everything from looking at science, history or art, and everything in between. Our most successful events are the ‘behind-the-scenes’ tours, which we do at the Hobart site and also at the Rosny storage facility. People love getting behind those locked doors and having a look at what is actually in storage and what is going on. We have also had cocktail parties, art events, it goes on.

It’s kind of like the best kept secret at the moment; there are still a lot of people who still don’t know who we are.

T: Do you think, in this financial climate, that going to the TMAG will become a more viable, cost effective option for entertainment?

K: Our events are value for money, there’s usually a $5-10 charge and you get drinks, food and entertainment. What I am really hoping for is the redevelopment of the TMAG and that it will happen sooner than predicted, because there may not be an need for the TMAGgots once they have really upgraded the facilities and are a lot more contemporary.

maggots are used medicinally for cleaning wounds and we like to say that TMAGgots are trying to eat away at those notions that people may have about museums being old and stuffy and detached from the youth. What we are trying to do is reveal a stronger and fresher museum.

T: How did the recent appointment of Andy Muirhead as your patron come about?

K: Andy has been a really big supporter of the TMAGgots for quite a few years. He is our perfect patron because he has a strong science background, but he is also young and entertaining and a very cool guy and he has his finger on the pulse on pretty much everything that is happening in Hobart. Our relationship with Andy is that he helps promote our events and I talk to him on the radio every now and then. We also have an events calendar, The Glutton’s Guide, which comes out every quarter and I send a copy to Andy and he will use information from that about other cultural and arts events.

T: How does the funding break down?

K: We are not funded. The idea is to put the money back into the museum. We estimate that we have raised over $60,000 in ‘in-kind’ and cash support. We are fully incorporated and self funded. We have corporate sponsorship and we’ve relied on the Australian Business Arts Foundation matching our sponsorship that we’ve received from the community. We really don’t make any money from events but membership fees help as well.

T: How would you get involved?

One way to find out about the TMAGgots is to actually go down to the TMAG-(that was a bit sneaky of me)-or visit our website, www.tmaggots.org.au Images courtesy of TMAG

T: You talk about ‘quirky.’ Is that a part of how the name, TMAGgots came about?

K: The [term] ‘maggot’ was suggested at one of our meetings, and it immediately says that we are not taking things too seriously and that was important when we were trying to work out what kind of group we wanted to be. People don’t like the word maggot and you are not allowed to say it too much on radio because old ladies ring up and complain. But

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Theatre. Reviews.

OBAMA MIA, UNI REVUE 2009: REVIEW Walking into Theatre Royal this year, I had somewhat high expectations after last year’s Kevin 007 left me in fits of laughter.

Unfortunately this time around, I found myself longing for the show to end, and I was left feeling rather disappointed.

Many of my friends said they enjoyed Obama Mia, though I believe this is largely due to the fact that a majority of them had never experienced a Uni Revue before.

This year’s Revue, directed by Craig Wellington, saw a more traditional approach to the show, with a few changes. One of the first things I noticed was the lack of familiar faces – most of whom (for me personally) happened to make last year’s show. This year’s cast lacked enthusiasm and fun.

While lines and parodies were well rehearsed, it was easy to see through the fake smiles and realise that a lot of the cast didn’t seem to be overly enjoying themselves. There was a substantial decline in the amount of naked bodies on stage too, and I was surprised not to see a final curtain call with everyone starkers. Not that this was a pressing issue of course, simply just an observation in light of the fact that the Revue is notorious for its nudity. The showing time was also shortened to 90 minutes without an interval, and while I felt that this was more than enough time for a good giggle, it lacked good comedy, and did not need to continue for any longer. In fact, while a lot of the jokes had good substance, the punch lines were flat and almost always fizzed.

The show essentially tried to incorporate every joke and issue currently plaguing society, including coon cheese, and a good hammering of the residents in Hobart’s suburbs

Shantelle Rodman

(particularly bogans). While this was all slightly amusing, some of it was a touch repetitive, and I couldn’t help but feel that there was still something missing. Take some of this year’s skits for example. Portaloos, Paris Hilton, and a couple of old nannas, just had nothing on shitting in a bucket, picking your mum up at a bar, and seeing male dancers’ privates falling ungraciously out of Borat “mankinis”, from last year’s Revue. Even when it came to political satire, the main element of the show, I was surprised at how tame the content was. Given the extent of political controversies which have occurred over the past 12 months, it was disappointing not to see more of a thrashing of these issues in the show, and a greater level of creativeness and wit.

All of this aside, I have to say that the stage, props, and costumes were amazing. Everything was colourful and vibrant, and the retro one piece outfits really reinforced and made the ABBA theme evident. Aside from the content of the show, the choreography also let this wonderful stage setting down. The dancing could and should have been more energetic to match the mood of the ABBA music, not just plain and boring. In fact, in terms of music, I have to say that I was impressed at the witty transcribing of ABBA’s ‘best of’ lyrics, and the band executed these songs well. Surprisingly, many of the cast had some obvious talent when it came to singing and really brought some of the songs to life.

Still, all of this wasn’t enough to push my buttons.

I live in the hope that next year’s revue will prove to be more entertaining and deserving of my $20.

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Music. Reviews.

Hazards of Love The Decemberists (2009) A shape-shifter, a beautiful young woman, an evil queen, and a sex maniac...no, it’s not a fantasy nerd’s favourite dream, it’s the new release from Oregon story-tellers, The Decemberists. Released in March 2009, Hazards of Love is their fifth album, and is a testament to the band’s attention to detail and unique song-crafting skills.

Although you might need to Google the plot to make sense of it, this concept album is beautifully realised. Basically, the story is about William the shape-shifter and his human lover Margaret. William’s adoptive mother, the Queen of the Forest, is jealous of the attention that William lavishes on Margaret. To force the lovers apart, the Queen teams up with the Rake, a nymphomaniac widower who killed his three children so he could spend more time getting laid. The Queen helps the Rake to kidnap Margaret and imprison her in castle in the wilderness. William races to rescue his lover, promising to sell his soul to a river along the way, and... well, you have to listen to find out what happens.

Robert Hortle

biting, and are unleashed by guests Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Becky Stark (Lavender Diamond), and Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond), as well as Meloy himself. Each character has a unique musical motif that wends its way through the album, from the Queen’s strident drop-D guitar riff to William’s heroic tune, and these themes mix mandolin, melodica and accordion with more traditional rock ‘n’ roll instruments to lead the listener through a world of magic, love, and broken promises.

All this might sound a bit pretentious, and maybe this album is a guilty pleasure. But it’s also bold, touching, and catchy all at once, with a good measure of rocking-out thrown in.

Treat yourself to an escapist trip – The Decemberists have created a fantastic vehicle for it.

I find that many concept albums sacrifice their musicality in trying to tell a story. This isn’t the case with Hazards of Love: the album combines a whimsical narrative with pop-inspired melodies and engaging hooks. Front man Colin Meloy’s Old-English style lyrics veer from poignant to 40

Television. Reviews.

The brilliance and botherations of Mad Men

Television series The Sopranos was the stunning chronicle of mob life in suburban 21st century New Jersey and hailed as one of the greatest pop-cultural achievements of recent years (Stuart Diwell notwithstanding). After having a key role in the production of this cultural juggernaut, what’s an acclaimed screenwriter and producer to do? Such success was always going to be hard to follow up, and creating a period drama set in the relatively uninteresting industry of advertising is hardly the obvious path. However, The Sopranos alumni Matthew Weiner has created a new series, Mad Men, in which The Sopranos’ character-based drama and complex story arcs are alive and well.

The world of Mad Men is New York in the 1950s, where the tough and relatable Dick Nixon is favoured over the glossy, nouveau riche Jack Kennedy, and sexism, racism and homophobia are rife. The series centres around advertising agency Sterling Cooper, a small firm on Madison Avenue, that punches above its weight by maintaining Lucky Strike and Heineken as clients (with the latter allowing for some ingenious product placement).

The mercurial, mysterious and charming Don Draper (Jon Hamm) is the focal point of the series, a mysterious Korean War veteran from a nowhere town in the Midwest who received a Purple Heart for his service. Family life frustrates Don, leading to affairs, the bottle, and other attempts to liven up his existence, while trying to keep his true identity under wraps.

The supporting cast of Mad Men compounds the intrigue surrounding Don, while also adding more plot lines.

One of these follows junior executive Pete Campbell

Patrick Cooke

(Vincent Kartheiser) and his struggles with his fiancé’s old-money parents and his own fidelity, along with his attempts to reveal Don’s true identity. The supporting characters are a major failure of the show, with the closeted homosexual Salvatore Romano (Bryan Batt) being too stereotypically ‘dandy’ to be taken seriously. This is a standout mistake given the thoroughness Weiner’s production is associated with.

Mad Men’s set is exquisitely crafted, exhaustingly compiled from genuine period items. The set and wardrobes add life to the show, highlighting the disparity between Australian and American television production values. There are no contemporary items as seen in Underbelly; no ‘spotthe-digital-watch’ can be played here. The realistically omnipresent – although criticised – smoking makes the acting come alive, moving the show towards a more cinematic experience. One complaint is that many of the actors, particularly the employees of Sterling Cooper, seem content to allow the audience to admire the period furniture, without adding anything to the script.

As an experience, Mad Men is unique in television today, in that the story arcs and multi-faceted characters reward the dedicated viewer. The script is literate and taut, allowing it to be considered a genuine piece of art. Despite this, there are problems in the show, including the woodenness of the performances of some of the peripheral actors and the script’s heavy-handed treatment of minorities. While the show may not reach the atmospheric heights of The Sopranos, it is one of the best experiences that can be found on television today.

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When having mates affects international peace and security James Walker Political leaders always want to be your friend.

They know that people who like or respect them personally or sympathise with their point of view are vital to achieving political goals. They might want to give you $900 so you can be friends.

They might make worthwhile gestures, like give important apologies or sign treaties. They might emphasise that they speak a funny lingo or unremittingly repeat slogans and catch phrases (but this might actually lose them friends). Ok, fair shake of the sauce bottle, so far I’m only talking about Kevin ‘On message or bust’ Rudd and in a domestic political context. But what about when the friends you need are overseas and whether or not you make those friendships has consequences for international peace and security, or for a civilisation?

The speech Barack Obama gave at Cairo University on June 4 was an occasion where trying to make friends was motivated by those higher interests and will have those weightier consequences. Emphasising that the ‘cycle of discord and suspicion must end’, Mr Obama spoke of the need for ‘a new beginning’ between American and Muslim communities globally, based on mutual interest and respect.

The speech traversed many issues including the rights of women; nuclear proliferation, affirming America’s desire for a world ‘in which no nations hold nuclear weapons’; the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which America did not 42

Political Commentary. End Notes.. want but pursued to build democracy and fight extremism; and democracy, that must be based on ‘tolerance and compromise’ and governed through ‘consent, not coercion’.

Assurances that ‘America is not – and never will be – at war with Islam’ were matched by assurances that America would continue to ‘relentlessly confront violent extremists’.

Mr Obama spoke of reconciliation, Islam’s shared values with America, and of using American leadership and power to address the problems that trouble Muslims the most.

Mr Obama’s underlying vision is of a more tolerant world where people of all religions live in peace, a world that he believes young people of all faiths ‘have the ability to remake’. The speech was presented with linguistic subtlety and balance: Mr Obama’s obvious talents as an orator are intimidating and inspiring. At least a third of the speech was dedicated to the Israelis and Palestinians, ‘two peoples with legitimate aspirations, each with a painful history that makes compromise elusive’. This problem is undoubtedly one that troubles Muslims. America’s stubborn support of Israel during the Bush administration was divisive, effectively crippling its credibility as the only believable interlocutor for the conflict. The speech also reverses the Bush policy of refusing to make friends with adversaries. There is even the intention to try to make friends with people who think they don’t want allies, like Iran, where violent repression of those protesting against the ‘stolen’ election has shocked people the world over and whose support for militant groups and nuclear aspirations lurk still in the background.

While the temptation to dismiss speeches and the like as symbolism is a powerful one for many, even Obama detractors have largely resisted the impulse. Remarkably though, one Reagan-era defence official writing for The Washington Times thought that Mr Obama, a life-long Christian, was so good at making friends in the Muslim world that he must secretly be a Muslim himself. In the same article Frank Gaffney accused Mr Obama of having aligned himself to the ‘dangerous global movement known as the Muslim Brotherhood’ and with Islamic charities accused of sponsoring terrorism. While these suggestions will be, for many, difficult to swallow, Gaffney’s comments are the Western equivalent of those pundits in the Muslim world who suggest America is an evil empire bent on crushing Islam and dominating Muslims. Just because these ignorant views are expressed by Westerners, and do not seem to inspire acts of mass casualty terrorism, does not mean they deserve any less condemnation.

There are those groups who will criticise the views outlined

by Mr Obama for failing to provide staunch enough backing for Israel or, perhaps, the Palestinians. There are those who will, strangely, accuse Obama of being some kind of covert Muslim Manchurian candidate. These views will largely be ignored by what must be Mr Obama’s target audience, the generation of younger Muslims and moderate Muslims of all ages, a majority that includes the educated and tech savvy who are likely to find American values and ideals more attractive. One such value is religious freedom and Mr Obama rebuked a ‘disturbing tendency to measure one’s own faith by the rejection of another’s’ amongst moderate Muslims, and another apparent tendency to resist condemning extremism. It is this moderate majority who must be persuaded away from the injuries and injustices, real and perceived, of the Bush era and to condemn extremism. The possibility of further atrocities on Mr Obama’s watch, like civilian casualties from unmanned American drones dropping bombs or the torture of prisoners held in American facilities in Afghanistan, could nullify any benefits of the Obama charm offensive. Mr Obama can not afford to be seen to be providing pleasantries with one hand while stacking the shelves with relabeled policy mistakes like indefinite detention and torture with the other.

The vision outlined in the Cairo speech is bold. To implement it Mr Obama and his officials are going to have to make, and keep, a lot of new friends. By raising expectations in the Muslim world the risk is that American prestige, still in need of repair, can now fall further and harder. The speech signifies a clear shift in the underlying assumptions that drive American policy but the specifics are still being debated.

The value of optimism and hope provided by symbolic acts is difficult to measure but should not be understated. The real challenge is translating that sentiment into action and, as always, the devil is in the detail.

To read Frank Gaffney’s article in The Washington Post: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/09/ americas-first-muslim-president/ You can hear James Walker on ‘unradio’ every Saturday from 1 - 2pm on Edge Radio 99.3 FM

The speech was never going to please minorities but foreign policy should never be made seeking to please a vocal, radical minority at the expense of the moderate majority.

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Opinion. .

Stock up on face masks, hand sanitisers and vicks vaporub because we’re all screwed.

Michael Voss There are a lot of things I dislike. Country music.

Religious doorknockers waking me up on the weekend. Dogs that fit in handbags. And now, to add to my comprehensive list. Swine Flu. The Paris Hilton of influenza, the hybrid pig flu virus, Mexico’s greatest export since Tequila, or the Chiquita Banana Lady, is transferred from the swine population by carriers such as Miss Piggy or Tracy Grimshaw. Doing nothing while looking good, the hype surrounding it has labelled it as more dangerous than consuming a crabstick at Mykonos at 3am, or Amy Winehouse at an open bar event. Problematic considering that it’s not as deadly as normal flu - in fact the only people that have succumbed to pig flu or ‘flu like symptoms’ (they cant conclusively label it as swine flu in most cases) have already had a laundry list of complaints.

So really unless you’re a meth addict or large enough to make Oprah Winfrey salivate, you should be fine.

So why all this hype then? I mean its not like the media exacerbate things with their treatment of issues right?

Wrong. The media are generally about as honest as a deposed Tasmanian premier at a moratorium on professional ethics.

Because just like herbal remedies and global warming, pig flu is a lie. And if you disagree with me you are wrong. Because that is what history has taught us. For example, lets briefly examine some other scenarios claiming to be ‘world-ending’, where the beer of common sense has been over-fermented by the yeast of media hysteria, leaving nothing but a frothy mess that not even the diehard alcoholics of TULS could make use of.

The Millennium Bug - In the year 2000, because some computer programmers had left out a few digits in some programming, all technology was going to fail. And not in a cool, I Robot way where Will Smith would show up and make some shit happen. Nope, instead of going rogue or exploding, it was just going to stop working. What happened instead?

Some idiot ruined the New Year countdown fireworks in Hobart. And then I went home and Google image searched boobs with safe search off.

SARS - I remember being told in science class in High School to buy a face mask because of some illness kinghitting China from behind for looking at it‘s girlfriend funny.

I don’t even know what else happened. I just remember that it was going to result in the entire global population participating in a macabre masquerade ball with their face masks. Instead, and perhaps more shockingly, I managed to pass science without any significant physical injuries.

Avian Flu - Alfred Hitchcock’s original idea for his 1963 film, Bird flu was another case of farm animals trying to screw with humanity. It was also claimed by PETA to be caused by people refusing to be vegetarians. So obviously intended to be taken seriously.

Effectively, unless the Flu virus comes from Spain there is nothing to worry about. Except when the crossover finally happens and redheads become contagious.

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Opinion. End Notes. . have to miss out, just because television channels decide that they don’t want to screen a show over here?

A (half hearted) attempt at (kind of) justifying piracy (but not really).

Sam Burnett Here’s a story: There’s a 23-year-old male who has an unhealthy fixation on Jim and Pam’s relationship in the US version of the Office. He knows it’s in vogue to use words like ‘unhealthy’ to appear dramatic, but this obsession is genuinely a cause for concern. When he heard that Jenna Fischer got divorced he started giggling to himself and plotting to move to L.A to woo her. When he needed a haircut he bought a picture of John Krazinski to the hairdresser. He’s spent over $100 importing the DVD’s from the United States so he can go to sleep listening to the cast talking over the commentary track (again, I’m not kidding).

This male has a problem - the season finale to The Office is airing in the United States soon. It promises to resolve the Jim/Pam storyline and gives this poor viewer a chance to get a decent night’s sleep. The thing is, it’s not being shown in Australia - at least for a couple of years, and, in fact, considering the station’s shoddy treatment of the show, it might not ever be shown on our shores.

Downloading TV shows is like eating food off the floor or making a fake Facebook account with Robert Pattinson’s picture on it so girls will talk to you- everybody does it, but nobody really talks about it. Sure it’s “wrong”, but it’s the kind of wrong that has quotation marks around it because we’ve gotten so used to doing it. The television industry is cutthroat. Shows are being given less of a chance to find an audience. Brilliant shows like Pushing Daisies and Arrested Development are being cancelled quick smart over in the United States- and never even getting a chance to find an audience over here.

In Australia, there’s almost some weird justification for downloading some television shows -is it really fair that we

Full disclosure:As you probably figured from the introduction.

I download TV shows. I’m just like that though. I don’t care about the rules. I’m like James Dean except I can actually drive a car properly (ladies, am I turning you on?) It’s not something I’m necessarily proud of, but it’s something I do, just like making fake Facebook accounts with pictures of Robert…dammit, I only have one joke and I’ve already used it.

There’s no doubt it’s tricky for television stations to continue to operate with dicks like me out there. Last year Gossip Girl (which this writer will admit to being absolutely obsessed with) had its stars plastered over magazine covers before the show even aired in Australia. When it finally came to free-to-air television it only lasted a couple of episodes before it was cancelled. It sucks that happened, but kids today are smart. When you delay the show that every teenage girl (and maybe a few male university students) is looking forward to, in place of Bert Newton and his Zeppelin sized forehead, then you’re asking for trouble.

Dawn Ostroff, the head of the CW Network, said that the amount of internet buzz Gossip Girl generated was a major factor in it being renewed for another season. People who missed an episode were able to download it for a reasonable price, meaning that the traditional ratings weren’t indicative of who was watching the show. The option to buy episodes off iTunes- or watch them on legal websites like Hulu- isn’t available in Australia, which means that potential customers wander over to the shadier side of the internet.

With shows like Lost, television stations also face a lose/ lose situation- mainly because of the fact that the shows are dependent on one continuous narrative. It’s impossible to get new viewers to watch a show that’s so wrapped up in crazy, long running plots, and established viewers don’t feel like waiting to see the latest episode on local TV. That’s not to justify downloading TV shows. There’s no doubt that it’s naughty-but Broadcast TV is starting to feel more and more the music industry, where the retail release is the big deal. I’ll still buy the CD when it comes out, but if the new Hold Steady record leaks there’s no way I’m not going to download it early. It’s the same with television shows- I’ll still buy the DVD’s when they come out, but I’m not waiting six months to hear Tracy Jordan throw zingers about on 30 Rock when I can download it see it hours after the US has.

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Social Pages.

Opinion. .

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shows ‘n’ stuff

Medibank Multicultural Night TUU Activities Centre

Saturday 15th August Food stalls, performances, Tickets on sale now TUU Contact Centre

Grafton Primary Saturday 22nd August With special guests

The Cassette Kids Tickets on sale now TUU Contact Centre or www.moshtix.com.au

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