Canta, Issue 7, 2014 by UCSA

{Issue 7 April 9 2014}

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{ Contents }

THINGS WE LEARNED THIS ISSUE

Sweaty, caffeinated beer and books: eau du parfum á l’université, according to this week’s contributors.

When I say rebuild construction workers and drunken groping, what do you think of? Racial stereotyping is not ok. Michael O’Connell reminds students that Irish people are people too.

Is artistic licence a good thing or does it need to be revoked? We have a discussion on how HBO version of Game of Thrones differs from the books.

EDITORIAL I was reading the other day, as I am want to do, and over the course of such causal reading I came across a delightful detail that has sunk into my brain space quite elegantly. It happened to be a short discussion on toys and how it is possible to treat a toy as a design piece. I found this fascinating.

Life ain’t always so peachy keen post-degree, but that’s ok. Lower your expectations, remember that retail is always an option, and you graduates will be fine.

The centrefold is one delicious looking photo. Go ahead and stick it on your wall.

20 Turns out the geriatric generation’s graduates had just as much to complain about as we do. They were just more eloquent, verbose, and bigoted about it.

Toys can be seen as an expression of the owner’s interests. If you keep a small figurine of Wall-E on your shelf it could mean any number of things; that you are a fan of robots, or Pixar studios or that the aesthetics of the small object are simply pleasing to you.

As I grew up I was aware of a tension when it came to toys, and playing with them. At some point the toy had to serve a purpose rather than just being an interesting object. A car needed to be remote controlled once you got older. It was a silly child’s thing if you had to push it around with your own hands.

There is an interesting clash of high culture and low culture occurring. The toy is a representation of another medium that is easily accessible and understood. They are based on television shows or cartoons and at times exist in their own right. That is why it is low culture, that and because a toy is an object designed for the purposes of entertainment for those of a younger age.

This article was telling me that despite my older brain and the reality that play-time has long since passed, I can still own toys and be proud that I do. This is a very disturbing notion for a young man to have, who enjoys all things nerdy and has a pension for escapism.

High culture can jump in here and say that a toy is actually a thing of value. It has qualities that make it design-worthy and not just an ornament. You can place a toy on your desk and people will be told details about you from it, as well as you having something

Are taboos a boo boo that you are into or do do? Find out more about a few popular ones through the ages.

28 A clinical inspection of the BeerFest conducted with the upmost care and skill.

pleasant to look at. In this it gains a function in an adult setting. I haven’t purchased a toy in a long while. Instead my room is decorated by many books, a printed copy of a Salvador Dali and a few instruments I own. Now I have learnt more it’s time to dig through my old closet and find chunks of my childhood to set as new design pieces around my house. Woody would look great sitting on the bar next to a shiny bottle of bourbon and Buzz Lightyear can kick away a few books on my shelf to make himself comfortable. This isn’t me being a child or nostalgic, I am being cultured and in any case, it’s nice to have a few toys.

Callum Ching Deputy Editor { Canta 2014 }

IT’S HERE. THE LAST WEEK OF THE FIRST TERM. Sarah Platt For some of you this was your first, first term at University, ever. For others this was your last, first term at University, ever. Either way, or if you fall somewhere in the middle, I hope that the term has treated you well and that you’re powering out those assignments and studying hard for your mid-semester tests. Admittedly I have always been a ‘leave it till the eleventh hour/its 4.55pm, my essay is due at 5pm and I haven’t printed it yet’ kind of gal – so for those of you out there, ingesting unhealthy amounts of caffeine to keep your eyelids open so you can finish that essay or cram for you mid-semester test, I feel your pain and I wish you luck getting everything completed. I promise you that the end is in sight and in a couple of days you can have a welldeserved sleep and hopefully be able to relax for three weeks. For those of you, who have outstanding time management skills and complete assignments days or weeks before they are due, well whoopee for you (I’m actually just really envious of your beautiful talent). On the topic of study, hopefully you’re loving the extended library hours! If you’re new to UC here’s a fun fact; the Library didn’t use to be open till all hours during normal term time, you had to wait till study week to be treated to the privilege of being allowed to stay at the Library past your bed time. I tell you, the joys of being able to go BACK to the Library after dinner is a recent one but oh such a good one. While now you wait till 11pm, in days gone by, come 9pm that nightmare inducing voice would boom through the library speakers, politely asking you to please ‘pack up your belongings and leave the Library’ (aka get the F**k out). If you have no idea what voice I’m referring to, you’re missing out and before you graduate it is almost essential that at least once you stay till library closing time just to experience the pleasure, I swear the first time you hear it, you’ll get the bejeezus scared out of you.

NOTICES Entré $75K Challenge – entries are now open! Bit short on cash? Got a great business idea but don’t know where to start? Here’s an opportunity you don’t want to miss. Introducing the entré $75K Challenge 2014: This year’s competition is going to be better than ever and if you’re not excited yet, here’s the bottom line one more time: $75,000 in prizes. No biggie. So how exactly do you obtain these longpromised funds? With an idea. Entries are now open, so over the next few weeks, you and your team need to come up with an amazing and original business idea, and tell entré all about it in: a) A written entry form summarising your proposal, which is now available to download from the entré website (http://www.entre. canterbury.ac.nz/75K_2014.shtml) b) A 60 second video pitch explaining the who, what, why and how of your idea

If your days at the library are over and you’re graduating next week – congratulations. While the majority of you will be recovering from a sleep deprived last week of term, hundreds of students (including myself) will be donning their graduation regalia, shaking the Chancellor’s hand and receiving their long awaited Certificate. If this is you, again, congratulations – Christchurch and UC haven’t always been the easiest place to live or study but your resilience and commitment to our city and our University has definitely paid off.

Entries close 5pm 9th May.

For those that are staying around Christchurch these holidays, the UCSA is holding our second ANZAC Day memorial service on campus at 10.30am on the 25th of April in the Registry Quadrangle (the space between James Hight and the scaffold clad Registry building). This is a special occasion for students and the wider University Community to come together to commemorate and remember our fallen servicemen and servicewomen. I look forward to seeing many of you there.

Hailing from the dirty south ‘Dreamband’ is a force to be reckoned with. Having recently started in Dunedin, it has now moved up to Auckland, Wellington and most importantly Christchurch. Two Canterbury business students, Jacob Bignell and Andre Hart have been hard at work signing up businesses and are “coming in hot” with some exciting deals for you to get your hands on in the next few weeks.

Have a great rest of your week and have an even better holiday! Yay Holidays. Jokes …I don’t have holidays so if you want to come in and say hi or have a chat about anything I’ll be round!

ASK THE PRESIDENT Tired of complaining to your Facebook newsfeed about your locker-less existence, or the lack of microwaves in the engineering building? Well, you can stop now. Your 400 friends don’t give a shit about your uni problems. But luckily for you, Sarah does. Send in your UC related questions, criticisms, and curiosities to president@ucsa.ac.nz and Sarah will get back to you in the next edition of Canta.

{ Canta 2014 }

Go to entre.canterbury.ac.nz for more info.

Dreamband Business Opportunity

Dreamband gives your wallet something to smile about! At the same time we get to help local businesses get customers, learn a whole lot about running a business and most of all, help uni students save money. If you’re a student with a great business idea and want to have a yarn or you’re keen to get involved with Dreamband and make some coin then get in touch with these guys. A business that’s run by students, for students. If you want to get the deals before it’s too late, look out for our reps around uni, head to the Ensoc Shop or email andre@dreamband.co.nz. You can follow us via facebook.com/Dreamband.Christchurch or on our Instagram, dreambandchch.

CONTRIBUTORS Kirsten Marsh

Tim Bain

Chloe Winstanley

Age 22. BA in History & Media and Communications, ‘14

Age 22, BA/LLB (Hons.) ’15

Age 24, English Honours, ‘12

Tim wrote for this weeks point Counterpoint arguing that when a book is transposed into a film it becomes a diminished art.

In this issue Chloe wrote an article on life after graduating university. The world outside of tertiary life is a different place.

Kirsten wrote the thought provoking piece ‘Taboos Through The Ages’

Noodles or rice?

Rice, definitely.

Noodles!

What is your opinion on the upcoming film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? It is directed by Michael Bay, who was responsible for the Transformer films.

Both, naturally, at the same time. Them munchies is a force to be reckoned with.

What is your opinion on the upcoming film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles directed by Michael Bay? (Transformers director) AWESOME - I loved the cartoon as a kid and this reboot looks pretty gritty and cool.

How do you travel around the city and campus? On the bus, walking, carpooling... I never made it past my learners!

Studylink – friend or foe? Friend!

If you had to create a perfume that captured the essence of studenthood, what would it smell like? And what would you call it? Books and coffee: “Up All Night”

Michael Bay should go explode himself.

How do you travel around the city and campus? By car. I’m the flat taxi.

Studylink – friend or foe? Anyone who gives me money is my friend. But when I have to start paying them back I doubt I’ll feel the same way.

If you had to create a perfume that captured the essence of studenthood, what would it smell like? And what would you call it? Flat Tax. It would smell like sweat and beer.

Contributors Tim Bain, Emma Clarke, Megan Dickie, Samara Doole, Nicholas Evans, Law for Change, Kirsten Marsh, Katie Nimmo, Michael O’Connor, Chloe Winstanley, Phillip Young.

Send us your stories, photographs, epiphanies canta@ucsa.canterbury.ac.nz

Editor At Large Hannah Herchenbach Deputy Editors Callum Ching and Annalee Jones Designer Emily McCormick Webmaster Hayato Clearwater

What is your opinion on the upcoming film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesdirected by Michael Bay? (Transformers director) I don’t really have one. I think that it’s the men who should have the opinions, and the women should have the babies.

How do you travel around the city and campus? Generally alternate between bus, walk, and boyfriend.

Studylink – friend or foe? Friend. Studylink was very generous during our time together — their student allowance paid for my trips to Paris and New York a couple of years in a row. So really no complaints here.

If you had to create a perfume that captured the essence of studenthood, what would it smell like? And what would you call it? A Little Bit Broke. The new student-aimed fragrance from Chanel, boasting notes of vanilla, patchoulli, desperation, and a subtle hint of self-loathing for choosing to go with that law degree.

Phillip Young Age 21, Bcom Finance Major, ‘14 Phillip has taken a an evaluative look at your degree with his article, The Costs and Benefits of Higher Education.

Noodles or rice? Depends what type really; if it’s not 2 minute stuff I would prefer noodles.

What is your opinion on the upcoming film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles directed by Michael Bay? (Transformers director) I use to watch TMNT a little bit when I was younger. Leo is my fav. TMNT (Turtles in disguise?)

How do you travel around the city and campus? I normally drive around the city. I would drive around campus too if I could, but no I just walk.

Studylink – friend or foe? Friend, but the type that you only keep around because they shout drinks.

If you had to create a perfume that captured the essence of studenthood, what would it smell like? And what would you call it? Errr... Like sandalwood and honeysuckle. I would probably just call it sandalwood and honeysuckle. Definitely not wood-suckle or wood-honey.

{ Canta 2014 }

{ Letters to the Editor }

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

YES! Dear Canta.

Do you know what we think would be awesome here?

MERRY CHRISTMAS Dear Freddy Freespeech After reading the exchange of opinions on this topic, I feel obliged to join the fun. First of all, surely it is the characteristic of left-wing economics policies to result in a larger government deficit. Leftwing policies usually call for more “social spending” and more bureaucracy, hence larger government expenditure. Secondly, there is no utopia. As a fellow Econ major student, we never pretend that the real world is as tidy as our textbook models, nor do we pretend that by applying some formula developed in the classroom, all the ills of the world will go away. However, I would most strongly protest if you are suggesting that those ills get worsened by your so called right-wing policies and cured by left-wing ones.

Some stairs.

Contrary to benefiting the rich at the expense of the poor, rightwing policies usually make all classes of people better off. Whereas leftwing policies, who in the name of helping the poor, often end up hurting them instead. Consider social welfare, it both reduces and generates poverty, who is to say that the net balance is positive?

THERE SHE BLOWS!

Get your facts straight and learn some economics before you start pointing fingers. Jingyuan Ho ho ho

Yours, Cutoff Cameron, Stranded Steve & Walkaround Wally.

Hi, this might be a stupid question. Why is our student levy going towards some guys to blow leaves with leaf blowers. It’s hardly like they’re going to win against Mother Nature. Oh yeah, and it’s almost autumn as well. Yours sincerely,

PRO-THOUGHT Dear fellow students, As a student who tends to get lost in thought at times, I was thinking recently about our very existence and how lucky we are to even be alive when every day thousands of babies around the world are not given the chance to even see the light of day - the lives of our future Mozarts and Darwins are being ended. Why should they not be able to have their chance at life but I get mine? Do not these future children have just as much right to live as I do? Society tells us that its wrong to kill another human being, so are these babies not considered humans then? Because if a fetus is not a human then what is it? And at what stage does it become human? Thoroughly perplexed and in need of clarification. Yours thoughtfully, Deep thinker

{ Canta 2014 }

Polite Tree Hugger

What will you write to Canta? Use the QR code to submit, or type out this longwinded address with ‘Letter To The Editor’ as your subject: canta@ucsa.canterbury. ac.nz Looking forward to your submissions for 2014 – this space is nothing without it. Canta

{ Opinion }

CHALLENGING IRISH STEREOTYPES Michael O’Connor

Over the last few months, there has been particular attention and discussion from several avenues of debate about the Irish community here in Christchurch, particularly in regards to young Irish males working in the city. Young Irish men seem to be gathering quite a lot of attention in the written press, and this column is in response to the opinion piece Luck Of The Irish published in a recent issue of Canta. And seeing as this is an opinion section, here’s mine. Before I go any further though, let me make something clear, by my definition, stereotypes are a collection of real or imagined characteristics of a particular group of people, which conform to a shared knowledge in a society, used to portray the group of people in question. It saddens me greatly that the only recognition the Irish seem to get in the press is a tarnished stereotyped view of male drunkenness, public annoyance and attempted womanising. People don’t seem to see the huge help Irish people are giving to the rebuild. Christchurch needs construction workers, and Irish men and women are here as civil and structural engineers, quantity surveyors, project managers, doctors, nurses etc. But as usual, this is overlooked in favour of the image of a heavy drinking, womanising construction worker. This stereotyped view of Irish people was exasperated by the term ‘foreigners,’ which was used in the Luck Of The Irish piece to describe the recent influx of workers to the

Irony is a tricky leaf that some people never grasp

city. This creates an ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality, and I felt the piece embraced an image of division and conflict. It seemed to say that somehow the Irish – particularly the men – are an annoying presence in the city, rather than a positive and integral part of Christchurch as it is today. Irishness is much more than Guinness, rainbows, pots of gold, charming accents, and the slurring of words – images used extensively in the Luck Of The Irish opinion piece. For me, these are painfully stereotypical generalisation of Irishness that are neither beneficial nor positive in regards to the portrayal of Irish workers in Christchurch. This point is confounded by the fact the column accused an Irish individual of generalising Christchurch women. Irony is a tricky leaf that some people never grasp. Is Christchurch residents’ perception of the Irish people really limited to the pub and alcohol? There’s a lot more to the Irish community in Christchurch than people realise. For example, the National Gaelic Games Tournament was held in Belfast on St Patricks weekend at which Christchurch’s three Gaelic Games clubs competed in Irelands national sports of Hurling and Gaelic

Football, against the Clubs of Auckland and Wellington. There’s also the world renowned Irish play, Tom Crean, that visited Christchurch this week. And the Folk-Music club that hosts musicians every week in the Irish Society Hall in Spreydon. These are all brilliant events that seem to escape the minds of people when they look for ways to portray the Irish presence in the city. Let me make this very clear to the girls of Christchurch – and no doubt, a few blokes as well. Any guy who pinches your ass, or is overly confident in himself when trying to chat you up, is a tosser who deserves to be told as such. Rather than looking at him as another Irish tosser, maybe it might be more accurate to view him as a tosser, who just so happens to be Irish. A bad experience with a few Irish lads doesn’t give anyone the right to generalise and stereotype an entire section of the community under the guise of an opinion. Opinions are meant to be challenged, and in this case, easily discredited. To be honest, I don’t really care what one person thinks of Irish people. But I do care when those views are widely visible to a great number of people and portrayed as common knowledge about an entire section of the community – especially one that I belong to. Unless these views are challenged, they can easily become accepted, and as a result, gain popular consensus. And I refuse to believe that the majority of UC students feel that way about the Irish. One thing I know is very true. If you are unable to back your written and published opinions with clear and verifiable sources, if your knowledge is based on hearsay, and your opinions are a generalisation of an entire nation of people, then maybe, just maybe, it’s better to keep your opinions to yourself. But hey, that’s just an opinion, challenge me on it!

{ Canta 2014 }

{ Point }

THE SMALL COUNCIL CON Megan Dickie

At the end of the first episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones, adapted from the books by George R. R. Martin, Daenerys Targaryan is pictured crying, while her husband penetrates her from behind. In the books, her character is only thirteen years old. Is a show where thirteen year olds are raped really one that we want to tune into every week? Now, I’m not writing this to argue that showing a thirteen year old Daenerys is going to lead to lots of thirteen year olds getting raped because “Game of Thrones says that’s okay now.” But having read the books, the thought of watching some of that happening to the characters at their actual ages makes me a bit uneasy. To explain this, we have to look at the role of TV, and also what type of show Game of Thrones is. Let’s get the easy one out of the way first. Game of Thrones is a TV show that contains a lot of violent and sexually explicit material, but also has a strong focus on character development. That means that the characters are put in all kinds of horrific situations, but we keep watching because we care about what happens to them. Television shows affect us differently to other types of media. The nature of TV shows means that we watch them frequently for long periods of time. When was the last time it took you four or five years to read a book or watch a movie? Or have you ever read a book or watched a movie for an hour every week for four or five years? This rarely happens with other kinds of media, but happens frequently with TV shows. What that means is that TV shows tend to influence us in different ways to books or other media. They are much more successful at normalising behaviours than movies in my opinion. Think of the fact that Sex in the City is often cited as a show that caused a revolution in the way that women thought and talked about sex. That was because the behaviour of going out with your friends and talking about sex was shown on a regular basis for a number of years. Similarly, what that means when we see a thirteen-year-old Daenerys engaged in some of the sexual activities in Game of Thrones is that we begin to find that behaviour less and less shocking. Sure, the first time we might find it particularly disturbing, but by the time we’ve worked our way through the first season, it seems just as much a part of the show as the fact that Joffery is a little shit. Because we view children as innocent and in need of our protection, it IS harmful to send a regular message that normalises those kinds of activities, which TV does.

{ Canta 2014 }

You want to see what the shows creators do with your characters – how do they bring them to life?

I also think that making them older brought a new dimension to the series that is different from the books. Many agree that the television events of the Red Wedding had a different emotional impact for people who had already read the books due to the fact that the characters are older. That was good, because it gave those who had already had the emotional experience of that event a different emotional experience when they watched it on TV. The other thing to remember is that there wouldn’t be as many hot guys and girls in the show if they were all younger, and that’s important because we all like watching beautiful people. So yeah, part of it may have been a ploy to make sure that there were lots of 20 year olds in the show so that horny teenagers would watch it, especially given the gratuitous sex scenes. I’m not complaining – Jon Snow is a babe. When you watch a television adaptation of a book do you want it to be exactly the same? Probably not. You want to see what the shows creators do with your characters – how do they bring them to life? Do they look like what you expected? When there’s such a distinct difference – such as age – I think it allows those characters to take on a new persona, different to the one they were given in the books. Robb leading the North to war looks very different when he’s only fourteen, as does Jon going off to the Wall when he’s only eleven. But were either of those things less awesome just because they were older in the TV series? Of course not! I’ll cheer for Robb whether he’s fourteen, or however old he is on TV.

{ Counterpoint }

NSIDERS ARTISTIC LICENSE Tim Bain

I nearly stopped watching Game of Thrones after the first episode. In perhaps a ten-minute period, you witness a 10-yearold boy being pushed out of a tower and a 16-year-old girl being raped. That was all a bit much for me – if it wasn’t for the character of Ned Stark I think I would have quit right then and there (my flatmates who had read the books laughed at me when I told them this; I didn’t realise why until later). But I pushed through and after a couple more episodes I was hooked, so much so that I decided to read the books as well. Which was when I found out that in George R. R. Martin’s version of the story, the 10-yearold left paralysed from the waist down was merely 7, and the girl who had been sold as a sex slave by her elder brother was 13. HBO, though not shying away from the aforementioned atrocities – nor indeed from others containing some combination of sex, boobs, blood and screaming – decided that audiences would be more receptive to a show where all the characters were three years older. Initially, I thought this was a smart move. Martin’s stories are designed to shock the reader, but things are a hell of a lot more shocking on a TV or laptop screen than they are on a page. But the more I came to think about it, the more I began to disagree with the tweak. Martin didn’t set the ages of his characters merely for the shock factor; he did it because the storyline and the development of the characters makes quite a bit more sense with pre-pubescent children as characters, rather than teenagers. There are a couple of reasons for this. For some reason, fantasy universes tend to be set in the Middle Ages (The Hobbit would have been a hell of a lot shorter if Gandalf had a bazooka); and in the Middle Ages, perceptions of age were quite different. People didn’t live very long, and resources weren’t yet abundant enough that the majority of children could bugger around playing video games until their mid-twenties. Daenerys Targaryen finding out that she was pregnant on her 14th birthday wouldn’t have been that out of place in 1300; and neither would Robb stark being recruited as a page to some order of knights at age 15. Staying accurate to the vicissitudes of medieval life – rather than importing 21st Century expectations – makes the world of A Song of Ice and Fire richer and more complete. It’s a shame that Game of Thrones loses that. And that’s only the beginning of what gets lost by modifying the ages of the characters.

Martin’s stories are designed to shock the reader, but things are a hell of a lot more shocking on a TV or laptop screen than they are on a page. Since HBO didn’t substantially change the way the characters behave on screen, a lot of the time they seem oddly immature (I won’t dump specific examples because it will take too long – but think about the way that Sansa and Joffrey in particular act in the first season). That in turn means that viewers of the TV series develop different relationships with characters than readers of the books do: you sympathise a lot more with a 13-yearold acting immaturely than you do with a 16-year-old. Subtly, but importantly, it changes the experience you have. The same goes for plot points. The idea of portraying the rape of a 13-year-old girl on TV sounds abominable. But is it that much better when it’s a 16-year-old? I would say not, for one simple reason. With the way in which that scene, and all of the other sex scenes involving Daenerys and questionable consent are shot, the viewer is meant to be titillated. That is, a part of them is meant to look beyond what’s happening on screen and think “yay boobies!” That detracts from the point of the scene: to arouse sympathy – not arousal – for Daenerys and let readers/viewers witness her inner strength when she manages to overcome her hopeless situation. Frankly, it also sends a questionable moral image. And that is the risk when studios change things, even small things, about books that they turn into films. Well-written stories aren’t just the sum of their parts – all of their elements are woven together in a complex system. Changing one part means that you have to change others. But that takes too much work, so studios don’t bother. And that means you end up with a lesser product, a diminished art.

{ Canta 2014 }

{ Opinion }

A DISCUSSION ON THE CHRISTCHURCH SEX INDUSTRY Nicholas Evans

New Zealand, like a significant number of other OECD countries, fully legalized prostitution with the Prostitution Reform Act in 2003. Since 2003, this system has operated without any major issues, or any of the moral chaos and social disintegration that those of a more right-wing persuasion assured us would follow. However, since the Christchurch earthquake there have been several problems with prostitution in Christchurch. Prior to the earthquake prostitutes would gather in two places: either in brothels in the CBD, or those who worked the streets would congregate near the Bealey Ave end of Manchester Street. Following the 2011 February earthquakes many of the street workers moved north into the Edgeware, and Bealey Ave areas of the city. For some, this was cause for concern as it was a much more residential area of the city. Complaints surfaced of sex workers using back gardens for toilets, or even as locations to perform their services. Understandably residents were not all that pleased with this development. This trend was also reflected in the higher number of arrests of both clients and prostitutes in the area. As a result, the City Council set up a “working group” to try and deal with the issue in 2012. The result of this was a proposal to allow brothels into the suburbs, including Lyttelton.

{ Canta 2014 }

Complaints surfaced of sex workers using back gardens for toilets, or even as locations to perform their services. The working group was set up largely because the council was concerned that it had no ability to control where brothels could be relocated, and where prostitutes were already relocating. Come June of 2012, the Council released a draft bylaw restricting the location of brothels to certain commercial areas, and away from schools and certain “important open spaces,” such as Cathedral Square and the Avon. However, the council did allow for public submissions. As was to be somewhat expected, following the hearings, the Council decided that brothels would not be set up in residential areas, near schools, or in Lyttelton. However, it could be argued that residential brothels are desirable under the current circumstances. Firstly, the public are notoriously conservative when it comes to the sex industry; often unfairly tarnishing clients as ‘sleazes’ and sex workers as moral degenerates. As a result, most bylaws try to hide prostitution away as if it did not exist;

as seen by the overwhelming majority in the council who voted to have brothels banned from the suburbs. Most of the arguments in favour of restricting brothels to the CBD tend to follow the same tried-and-tested line: we do not like the people who use brothels hanging out near our houses. I think it may be an acceptable argument to make in favour of restricting brothels from being close to schools; however I do not think it holds that someone cannot have a legitimate business near your house, just because you do not like what goes on. It would seem that ‘not in my backyard,’ rules the public discourse. I’m not advocating for brothels in every possible location. However, I think both clients and workers deserve to have brothels in locations outside of the central city, just like how anyone else can run free enterprise outside of the CBD, even if the businesses cater to uncouth activities, such as selling legal highs or alcohol. Secondly, under the current climate sex workers are still relatively unsafe working inside the central city and moving into areas without brothels only seems to cause more problems. Having brothels in the suburbs would prevent the kind of issues that people were complaining about in the first place, such as the use of their back gardens for all kinds of undesirable activities. Brothels can easily provide essential services that stop the aforementioned issues. I appreciate that the Council recognized something had to be done to address prostitution after the 2011 earthquake, however I do not think the correct decision was reached. To be fair, it was hardly as if many of the previous councillors went out on a limb and decided, in the face of opposition, to ban brothels from the suburbs. A perusal of the letters to the editor of The Press would suggest the opposite: the public were the ones driving to have it unequivocally restricted to the CBD.

{ Column }

IT’S A HARD KNOCK LIFE FOR US Chloe Winstanley

When you’re in your twenties there is only one thing worse than being a student. Being a graduate. Oh alas, gone are the days of cruisy afternoon lectures and regular day drinking. Gone are the UCSA parties you never really enjoyed, and the free membership to the Rec Centre that you never used. Finding your footing in your first year out of uni can take time, and much like that stranger from the Foundry you woke up next to, it’s often not pretty. Prepare to bunch up into a little ball all of those expectations you have of graduate life and throw it away. Some of you may be wondering how you can make this next step

Work is a fickle bitch: some of you may get an amazing job offer tomorrow, and some of you may never.

into adulthood a good experience. The simple answer is: there is no simple answer. I am going to attempt to provide you with some helpful advice, and who knows, some of you may just make it out of your first graduate year alive.

Take the first job that comes your way but keep reminding yourself why you went to uni in the first place. Post-graduation job hunting is no time to be picky. A lot of people are operating under the misconception that getting a degree is going to guarantee you a career. These sorts of people end up working at McDonalds. Universities in New Zealand are constantly churning out more graduates than there are jobs for, and what makes you more desirable an employee than the person in the lecture hall sitting next to you? These are the sorts of things you need to take into account before you graduate. My first job out of uni was a shoe store in Westfield Mall. I didn’t actually apply for it, I just happened upon it one day before I’d even begun job-hunting. It wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for, but it was money, which as every student knows is nothing to sneeze at. At times it was fine and I actually enjoyed being there. It was a good distraction from wondering about where my life was going, and the job itself wasn’t exactly taxing on either mind or body.

But there were those times when I’d have to deal with a shitty customer or an overbearing supervisor who didn’t seem to comprehend that, no, our job wasn’t so important that we were saving the world one shoe sale at a time. In these times I found myself wondering why I had even bothered getting an honours degree in the first place. This was just a reminder that I couldn’t stay here for long – I needed something that actually challenged me. So I applied for another job and got it, and tried my hand at the corporate world for a while. I am aware that I have been incredibly lucky on the whole job-front thing, and it won’t be this easy for everyone. I had a friend who, after she graduated, was unemployed for about a year before she found work. She scoured TradeMe Jobs every day and sent off countless applications for basically any kind of work, but still – zip. And yeah, the dole – not as fun as it sounds. Then again, after graduation another of my friends walked straight into a job with UC – a job that ordinarily required five years experience, where she had none. So it’s swings and roundabouts, and in all honestly you will find that when job-hunting, you will likely be more successful if you interview well and if you know someone already in the business. You’ve probably heard this a million times before, but it really is about who you know. If networking isn’t your thing or you’re worried about job opportunities being scarce after uni, there is no harm in taking a job that isn’t exactly your cup of tea or what you had in mind. You can always apply for the more desirable jobs as they come along, and work up some savings and experience in the mean time. Work is a fickle bitch: some of you may get an amazing job offer tomorrow, and some of you may never. Decide now that the latter isn’t going to be you. So yes, take the first job that comes your way – just make it your plan not to stay there. Life as a recent graduate isn’t really all grey skies; there’s always a hint of blue striving to show through, somewhere.

{ Canta 2014 }

Marathon Run • Half Marathon Run & Walk 10k Run & Walk • Kids Mara’Fun

Sunday 1 June 2014

Double Brown 18 pack

1999

christchurchmarathon.co.nz

1 STANDARD POINT

All entrants go into a draw to win a trip to the New York Marathon!

Jagermeister 700mL

3690 1 STANDARD POINT

Stil Vodka Lime & Soda 6 pack 500mL

$ 90

Asahi 2 Ltr Keg

1899

Somersby Apple Cider 10 pack cans

1990

Liquorland Riccarton, 43 Riccarton Rd, T. 03 348 6145 Available at Liquorland Riccarton only. In store retail sales only. Our Exclusive Student Deals are not advertisedin store, show us your Student I.D and they’re yours! Prices and offers valid until 16/04/14, while stocks last.1 Fly Buys Standard Point collected for every $20 spent, excludes purchases of Gift Cards.

{ Mates }

Interviewed by Emma Clarke

Meet Mollie McBride and Bridget Crooke – UC Psyc social reps 2014, Foundry frequenters, and firm friends since way back. According to Bridget’s calculations It all began “whenever 1993 plus five is”, which turns out to be the good old primary school days of ‘98. Mollie was top dog in the playground and Bridget used to roam around thinking she was a cat, so perhaps that explains the frenemies roots to their friendship.

After a few years of being “friendly associates” The pair bonded on more amicable terms upon finding out they were to attend the same high school. This is where the trouble really began! Adding one to their crew, Mollie, Olivia and Bridget formed a close knit MOB. Mollie said, “people would get mobbed by us”, which one can only assume to be a fortunate occasion.

Once gracing UC with their presence The girls decided they wanted to get involved in campus life together and inject some of their energy into the student life. It was Mollie’s idea to apply to be UC Psyc’s Social Representatives for 2014, and although Bridget doesn’t even study psychology, the pair rightly argued that, “UC Psyc is for everyone, not just psyc kids!”

Their speech was the best of the lot at the AGM The girls stood up together, and blurted enthusiastic words and ideas to the awed committee, excitedly promising to make UC Psyc the biggest club on campus with the best events ever. They admit, “we think we kinda threw everyone off a bit”, but the two have kept their promise as they’ve been the central organisers of UC Psyc’s two sell-out events so far this year!

In regards to the academic side of things Mollie is beginning a Bachelor of Social Work after taking a gap year in Australia, where she also spends her summers. Mollie claims, “Bridget lives in fear that I’m gonna leave her,” but the girl’s friendship is unlikely to be unbalanced anytime soon; you only need to meet them to see that they are at home with each other.

{ Canta 2014 }

Bridget is the third of the Crooke’s to tackle a Bachelor of Commerce, and if the accounting and finance thing doesn’t work out for her then being a beautician would go down a treat. But both girls really dream of travelling together after the serious studies are done.

The duo flat together too Which means that there is a lot more to them beyond their UC Psyc commitments. When asked what they get up to usually, they both laughed, looked at each other in that way only best friends do, and nodded, “eat”. In addition to food, Geordie Shore, romantic

coffee dates at New World, moonlit walks around Kirkwood (to study…), and hitting up The Foundry rank in the pair’s top activities.

Bridget said “80% of the time we’re a great combination, but sometimes, after a few, we get silly and do our own thing”. These two definitely have friendship down pat.

For information on UC Psyc’s upcoming social events organised by this amazing duo, check out facebook.com/uc.psyc and get involved!

to measles. To get immunised now, talk to Student Health or your family doctor or nurse. Not only children get measles. Protect yourself and your family.

IMM0130

Call 0800 IMMUNE or visit health.govt.nz/measles for more info

{ Club Profile }

CANOEING CLUB Alastair Smith kayaks off Maruia Falls near Murchison during the University of Canterbury Canoe Clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2013 White Water Week.

Although the waterfall is recommended for experienced paddlers only, the trip itself is aimed at beginniners and is taking place again over the Easter break. For details hit up the UCCC website, uccc.org.nz. Photograph by Holly Zeldis

{ Canta 2014 }

{ Club Profile }

{ Canta 2014 }

{ Feature }

THE COSTS AND BENEFITS OF HIGHER EDUCATION Phillip Young

Embedded in the back of every students’ mind is the question, “what is the true value of my education?” At the moment, a few weeks (or years) into university, you may have forgotten why you came here in the first place. You might start to reconsider whether or not the benefits of obtaining your degree outweigh the costs. Bearing in mind that you have already chosen to be at university, the logical proposition is that your costs are outweighed by your benefits. It seems an unfair trade if you only consider the immediate tangible benefit from graduating. Some do consider that the only thing earned is an extremely expensive piece of paper. Others believe that a degree opens doors and makes your opportunities endless. But your degree is not only decent wall art, but also doubles as a signal to employers. It shows employers that you have the intellect and dedication to obtain a qualification. Recruitment isn’t as simple as having a degree or not, but it certainly is a criteria that many employers use to cut down the application pool. Whether or not it gets you that dream job, having the right degree will certainly help you get a foot in the door. However, there are many costs involved with obtaining higher education. Here is the breakdown of the biggest ones:

{ Canta 2014 }

- Over the course of your degree, you have your perpetually increasing student loan. Statistics New Zealand reported that in 2012 the average course fees came to $5570* per year. This is $30 shy of what one of John Lennon’s Ties sold for. - Then there is the opportunity cost of studying. Instead of spending all that time pretending to study in the third floor of the library, you could be working. Assuming you earn the average weekly income of someone with NCEA Level 3, you would be making $21684 every year. That is equivalent to over 9600 decent** beers or 722 decent bottles of wine. That is pretty much it for the bad news. On a more positive note, there are definitely statistics showing that on average, you will earn more with a university degree. - With a bachelor’s degree, the average weekly wage from the survey was $791. Over the course of the year that’s nearly $19,500 more than that of a high school graduate. - From the survey, the average wage of a person with a post-graduate degree earned $1,011 a week from wages. This is more than double the $417 average a high school graduate would receive.

Who would’ve thought that the hours of brain strain were actually good for you? Although the repetitive head banging/face palming probably doesn’t help

{ Feature }

TERTIARY ENROLMENTS AND NUMBER OF STUDENTS ACCESSING THE STUDENT SUPPORT SYSTEM(1) STUDENT LOAN BORROWERS

STUDENT ALLOWANCE RECIPIENTS

YEAR

TOTAL TERTIARY ENROLMENTS(2)

STUDENT LOAN BORROWERS

Proportion of tertiary enrolments (%)

STUDENT ALLOWANCE RECIPIENTS

Proportion of tertiary enrolments (%)

TOTAL STUDENTS(3)

2000

330,633

128,103

38.7

65,481

19.8

142,488

2001

367,629

148,167

40.3

67,851

18.5

160,749

2002

418,089

150,561

36.0

66,777

16.0

163,260

2003

454,380

156,276

34.4

62,208

13.7

167,778

2004

483,702

157,029

32.5

59,265

12.3

168,312

2005

500,283

154,410

30.9

55,281

11.0

165,006

2006

489,393

167,409

34.2

58,005

11.9

177,048

2007

483,072

173,775

36.0

61,029

12.6

184,392

2008

459,699

178,521

38.8

64,119

13.9

189,813

2009

467,589

198,729

42.5

80,460

17.2

210,714

2010

464,886

212,478

45.7

93,693

20.2

225,240

2011

430,392

207,315

48.2

97,032

22.5

220,263

2012

421,764

201,180

94,953

22.5

212,892

47.7

(1) During the calendar year. (2) Total tertiary enrolment figures are available back to and including 1997. (3) Students can use both the Student Loan and Student Allowances schemes, so adding student loan borrowers and student allowance recipients numbers together will not equal the number of students accessing the student support system.

In addition to the money, there are certain health benefits of higher learning. High functioning cognitive activities help protect you from neurological diseases, such as dementia. In this case, the more difficult the courses, the better. Who would’ve thought that the hours of brain strain were actually good for you? Although the repetitive head banging/face palming probably doesn’t help. If higher education is so great, then why isn’t absolutely everyone doing it? Willpower is a factor. It is fair to say that it takes a bit of effort to get into and complete university. The amount of effort is different for each individual of course – we all know that person that does not study, yet aces everything. Simply put, the amount of motivation required deters some people from giving it a go. In the grand scheme of things, the fact that everyone doesn’t have higher education makes university graduates more unique.

NOTE: Enrolment data in this table is sourced from the Ministry of Education. Student loan borrowers and student allowance recipients data is sourced from the Ministry of Social Development. All counts are randomly rounded to base 3. SOURCE: Statistics New Zealand.

Looking at it in the abstract, if all degrees were valued the same and if everyone had one, then there would be nothing special about your education to your employer. You might dislike the cost and effort involved, but that is what makes higher education so special when applying for jobs. Some people think they will do better without a higher education, and some do! There are also people who don’t need higher education for their preferred career or aspirations. Also, university can be glorious at times. Meeting people and joining clubs where you can find your niche mean that there is always something interesting and fun going on. Perhaps it’s worth the costs just to experience the student lifestyle first hand.

*$5570: This is a 2012 figure, I’m assuming this has not changed much for 2013 – as I used wage stats from an income survey from June 2013. It was a sample survey, but I think it gives a rough idea. **Decent: It might be the case that decency is a subjective term. I have considered a decent beer to cost roughly $2.25 and a decent bottle of wine as $30. Don’t judge.

Stats NZ 2012 Average course fees

$5570

Average course related cost

$990

Average living cost

$3770

Average borrowing

$7820

Stats NZ Income survey June 2013 Quarter

Average wages/Salaries per week: No qualification

$273

NCEA level 1 or equivalent

$386

NCEA level 2 or equivalent

$415

NCEA level 3 or equivalent

$417

Other school $390 Trade, advanced trade/ levels 4-6

$580

Bachelor’s degree/ level 7

$791

Postgrad or higher degree Other post-school

$1,011 $557

{ Canta 2014 }

{ Feature }

STUDENTHOOD

A HISTORY

Nicholas Evans

As many students may know, our university has been around for quite a significant amount of time. Founded in 1873 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand, our uni quickly grew in size and eventually became known as Canterbury University College in 1933. While student magazines are a mainstay in pretty much every reputable university today, many of these publications have a significant history behind them too. It is not surprising then, that the magazine which you are currently enjoying (hopefully) also goes way back. In fact, Canta goes back 84 years, with the first volume being published on April 14th, 1930, taking over from the Canterbury College Review. 20

{ Canta 2014 }

Public perceptions: Here is an excerpt from an Editorial of the Canterbury Review from September 1927. The Editorial expresses outrage at the behaviour of the University’s Debating team at their recent tournament, and apparently, the government’s official response to it.

I personally enjoyed reading excerpts from these early editions in my undergraduate days, and I think it’s only fitting that once in a while Canta should reprint some of the letters, notable articles, and other excerpts; many of which lend insight into student life in the earliest days of our university. It is also worth noting however, that one should try and avoid deconstruction of the morals of the time. Sexism, racism, and other forms of bigotry were present in the older Canta, and obviously reflect the mores and morals of the time. However, as any student of history should know, one should try and understand the past within the context of its own time, not through the prism of our own. That said, reflection on the fact that we have progressed is always positive.

The last University Tournament was, if we may say so without infringing the copy right of a local evening paper, marred by certain disgraceful incidents. While the teams were travelling to Auckland several railway cushions were treated with singular brutality and railway sandwiches thrown about with an utter disregard for the lives and safety of the travelling public. In Auckland itself, the University Debate showed all the worst features of an Irish election and a meeting of the League of Nations Union. This succession of events has seriously shaken the faith of the people of this country in the Higher Learning and moved the Minister for Education to waggle a reproving forefinger at the university authorities. In other words, some things never change. Students caused outrage in 1930, and continue to do just that. Moreover, the government will always try to stick its unwanted nose into student affairs (or the local council).

{ Feature }

Student Activism: Whilst the public might perceive students as too radical and disruptive, it would appear that students themselves have always accused their fellow students of apathy and disinterest, often gazing with nostalgia at some period in time when they were supposedly radical. Here is a letter bemoaning student apathy and a distinct lack of firebrands at UC; also from Canta Volume 1.

To the Editor, Sir, I wish to ask the manhood of the College, through the medium of your journal, what has come over it. Not so very long ago we had a Student’s Association general meeting. The business was little and put through quickly, and the meeting was over. There was little noise and few crackers and foolish interjections. A few years ago this meeting would have taken at least three hours, would have adjourned at least twice, and would have provided some amusement. This year there were no really witty interjections, no desperate pleadings for order, no water in sight, and no motor-bicycle exhausts or hearty undergraduate exuberance in evidence at all. Why! The ladies were not even shocked! The spineless crowd actually let one of its number be ejected!! Terrible! What’s the world coming to?...I came a considerable distance in my oldest clothes for that meeting, but I shall refrain from attending any more in the future if they are not livened up. Surely there are enough bright young things in our midst to arrange for a more suitable meeting next time? I am etc., LAW AND ORDER. If we replace ‘Students Association’ meeting with any given protest, the results are pretty much the same. Moreover, this very magazine is still home to students moaning about how disinterested their peers are.

Social Cliques: Unibros No analysis of university life would be complete without some mention of social cliques. The following perhaps represents the ‘lads’ (Unibros) of the 1930’s. I’m sure these chaps would feel at home at a GC event, Ensoc BBQ, or something of the like. ‘One of the Boys’ wrote a letter in Canta Volume 3, in June 14th 1930, expressing his desire for a better defined lads group.

To the Editor, Sir, Has it ever occurred to you how the men of our University lack co-operation? All College functions show this lamentable state of affairs and, with the large number of students in the Varsity, even some comparatively small organisation or society would have a great influence…To achieve this end is simple, if it is attacked from the right angle. The Following are necessary requirements:(1) A meeting room. (2) A supply of beer. This suggestion is serious, Sir, and I defy anyone to deny that the most congenial atmosphere in which one can meet and make friendships savours of the keg. One or two beers will make a man’s heart warmer than all the camp-fires in creation. A smoke concert once a month, official barracking squads for football matches (with consolation squads till 6 p.m when we lose), organisations for processions etc., could be a few activities of the society. Men of C.U.C! Are you going to let your University spirit die? Let us form the M.C.S- the Men’s Congenial Society. Men, let us pull together and make Canterbury College loom out of its Sunday School mist and burst forth into the dazzling sunshine of a real University. I am, etc.,ONE OF THE BOYS.

Social Cliques: Engineers Last but not least, a distinctive group of students was often discussed: Engineers. Specifically, Engineers complained about how hard their lives were. Here’s a summary of a debate held in the Engineering college on the motion that “the Engineer’s is not a happy life.” The transcript of this is to be found Canta Volume 2.

Mr X, a student, was the mover. He said that he had reluctantly come to this conclusion after much bitter thought and experience… An engineer’s life was one long struggle against the forces of Nature, Man, and Differential Equations. He could never pass a bridge without shuddering at the amount of mathematics he did not know. He would not go into the thorny question of shear, bending moment and deflection, but if anybody doubted the truth of what he was saying, they should come and see his lecture notes. He would defy them to understand them. It seems like an old cliché now, but history repeats itself.

{ Canta 2014 }

{ Feature }

TABOOS THROU Kirsten Marsh

University – a place to let your inhibitions go and experiment: where day time drinks aren’t questioned and study is a distant concept from a distant land. If you also happen to be in your twenties, raging hormones, great stamina, and a high alcohol threshold are also on your plate. So you might have had what you call your “lesbian phase” and snuck some “happy juice” into your finals, but hey! These are the years that you do the craziest and probably most messed up stuff of your life! But where do we draw the line? And why? Now, I don’t want to come across all straight laced, but there are some things we just can’t be free and easy about. Remember that twinge of disgust you felt when you got your first lecture on pervy old men, or how scandalised you were when Jaime and Cersei Lannister were caught doing the dirty on Game of Thrones? However, if asked to objectively explain exactly what it is about these scenarios that make them wrong, you might not be able to say much outside of “because it just IS!” We call it “taboo,” and we just don’t touch these things with a ten foot pole. The question is, why? Pull up a chair children, because I’m about to learn you a thing.

{ Canta 2014 }

Incest Incest was practiced in ancient Egypt, as well as in Europe during the Middle Ages. It was primarily used as a means to preserve royal bloodlines. Historical evidence suggests that the practice was otherwise condemned. Many point to the modern case of Austrian man Josef Fritzl‘s abuse of his daughter Elisabeth in his basement to argue against incest, but forget that this was first and foremost a case of abduction, torture and sexual abuse. A relationship between consenting adults – whether they are cousins, siblings, or parents – is harder to contest. Certainly in the case of siblings and cousins, a presumably similar age group makes coercion less likely. However, the power and trust relations implicitly tied up in a parent-child relationship cannot be ignored. It is common for us to look up to our parents and trust them – they raised us for much of our early life, after all. How, then, can the overt power of a parent over the child be overlooked when considering the moral status of that incestuous relationship? Furthermore, online forums have given niche demographics a sense of belonging – a virtual meeting place where hundreds of incestuous individuals come to talk encourages the idea that “maybe I’m not so strange after all”. Arguing that two people can’t be together because they might have deformed offspring seems unnecessarily backward in an age of advanced contraceptive technologies, but the counterargument revolving around trust and power relations certainly has weight. Consenting incest between adults is legal in Argentina, Netherlands, Spain, China and Turkey and has been decriminalised in Brazil, Portugal, Russia and India.

Cannibalism Now here’s another black and white taboo. People eating other people? How could we do such a thing to a fellow human? Are we not a civilised species capable of higher order thinking? In the 18th and 19th centuries, at the peak of European and American colonial expansionism, cannibalism was used as a marker of barbarianism to legitimise the pursuit of colonial interests in exotic lands. This trend has carried on into the 20th and 21st centuries with documentaries like Dennis O’Rourke’s Cannibal Tours (1988) and National Geographic TV series Cannibal Island. As such, its status has been cemented as a demonic and ritualistic activity carried out by unthinking savages. However, as the case of German men Armin Meiwes and Bernd Brandes shows, the planned consumption of a willing ‘victim’ does not make a savage. The two men met through an ad placed online and discussed the whole thing beforehand. I won’t go into the details because I’m sure some of you like to peruse your weekly Canta over lunch, but Meiwes’ consumption of Brandes was exceptionally thorough. And, since Germany had no provision for cannibalism, this particular practice had always come under the legal umbrella of murder. The nature of this arrangement meant that it was not strictly a murder and his lawyers claimed that Meiwes was only guilty of ‘killing on demand,’ which was punishable by five years jail time. In the end, Meiwes was convicted for life.

{ Feature }

OUGH THE AGES

Intermarriage For most of us, the idea of persecuting someone for having sex outside of marriage or being in an interracial relationship is abhorrent. However, at one stage, all of these practices were considered unlawful. The discovery of the New World in the 1400s and the subsequent, booming slave trade left a lasting impression on race relations and civil rights for centuries. The 1600s saw the states of America passing laws to ban or restrict marriage between whites and blacks. Though some of these laws were repealed in the following centuries, the lagging progress being made in the racial equality movement meant that intermarriage was still considered taboo up until very recently. In fact, in some places a mixed race couple might still draw a few stares. Gallup’s 2013 Minority Rights and Relations poll showed that 87% of Americans now approve of marriages between black and white partners, which still leaves 13% opposed to it! Interestingly, one group which is particularly known for the practice of marrying within their own is the Jewish community. Non-Jewish partners are often told to convert, and any search for “intermarriage taboo” will generally turn up a handful of articles such as this one, published on a Jewish educational website: “Intermarriage: Can Anything Be Done?” Clearly, though, this taboo’s existence is not widespread in today’s world. The belief systems that see this practice as taboo are also, arguably, not socially accepted except for in a select few groups – whether they are the deep south of the United States or strict Jewish communities.

Homosexuality We have come a long way in the last few decades where LGBT rights are concerned, but this struggle for equality – as with the race movement in the 20th century – has encountered many obstacles and continues to be fought today. Some may know of the ancient Greek tradition of pederasty (between adult men and pubescent or adolescent boys), the mythical relationship between Achilles and Patroclus in Homer’s Iliad or the historical and legendary love between real life hero Alexander the Great and Hephaestion. These would all suggest that homosexuality has not always been the taboo it was in later years. Indeed, the ancient Greeks did not use sexuality as a social identifier as we do today. Jump forward a few centuries to the early modern age, where same sex relationships were practiced in private and ignored by society. During this time, it was an entity which dwelt in the shadows and was not to be mentioned in polite conversation, as is the norm for a true taboo. A shift in medical developments in the 20th century led to a new focus on mental health. Something of a psychiatric craze ensued, with horrific practices such as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and lobotomies practiced freely on those ‘diagnosed’ with homosexuality.

A relationship between consenting adults – whether they are cousins, siblings, or parents – is harder to contest. Generally, you might think that taboos are pretty straightforward. You know when you just feel wrong about something, even when you can’t put your finger on it. However, even just within the issues of incest and cannibalism there are clearly many facets to the argument and a very large grey area is developing where this is concerned. The changing trends of societal values and differences between eras of time and geographical regions also make things complicated. Adultery, intermarriage and homosexuality in particular have received a particularly varied treatment across the globe and in different time periods, while taboo sexual fetishes like those involving corpses and small children will always have that “ick” factor.

{ Canta 2014 }

{ Student Recipes }

LAW FOR CHANGE

BROWNIES

Law for Change Canterbury is a new organisation on campus, seeking to enable students to meet unaddressed legal needs in the community, and to promote public interest law. This is one of the execâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favourite recipes. Frances, our research team leader, bakes these brownies to get us through our long meetings, where we have been planning lots of events and exciting opportunities for students in 2014.

Ingredients:

Method:

200g butter

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees (160 if using a fan forced oven). Line a brownie/slice tin with baking paper.

1 cup cocoa 2 cups brown sugar 2 eggs 1 cup flour Half a cup of white chocolate chips

2. Melt butter in microwave, pour into mixing bowl, add cocoa and stir until glossy. Add brown sugar and eggs and mix thoroughly. 3. Add flour, then white choc chips, saving a few for the top. 4. Spoon mix into tin and spread evenly. Put the last few choc chips on top. 5. Bake in oven for approx 25-30 minutes or until a fork comes out clean (or you can undercook them if you like it gooey!) 6. Wait until fully cooled before cutting it up.

{ Canta 2014 }

STOCK GE! D I R F R U O Y

2499

11 99 Vodka RTD Mixes 9 pack

Art Auction 2014 Brought to you by

skub

Calling all artists! We’re holding an Art Auction during Arts Week, Term 2, and submissions are open to anyone!

**Students take 100% of sale**

How to submit

each Gingerbeer or Icebreaker 1.25Ltr

Harrington’s Gin or Vodka 1 Ltr from

210 50L Kegs Kiwi Draught Saddler Lager or Ice Breaker

CALL NOW TO PLACE YOUR ORDER

355 5632

OFFER EXPIRES 16/04/14. ONLY VALID WITH STUDENT I.D

NZ CHAMPION BREWERY 2012 “LIKE” OUR PAGE... OR WE KILL THE CAT

Forms available from UCSA Reception, due back Fri 18 April Artwork Due Tues 6 @ UCSA Reception

For more info keep an eye on the UCSA event page

facebook.com/theUCSA

{ Infographic }

WHAT DO WE WASTE? Katie Nimmo

On the whole, students aren’t exactly known for being a particularly tidy breed. We’re time starved, sleep starved, and oftentimes just a little bit lazy. But despite our general state of being hindering our cleanliness, learning what to do with your shit when you’re done with it is something we should make time for. And so is knowing how to just use less shit in general. That’s why UC Sustainability has some tips and facts to get you up to speed with all things reduce, re-use and recycle, that will hopefully help you get your shit together. On Campus Tips: • Reduce your carbon emissions when you are travelling to UC: walk, catch a bus or hop on your bike! • Learn how to use our recycling system correctly.

UC is only one of two universities in New Zealand that have a four-bin waste recycling system. Organics, landfill, recycling & paper

• Learn how to grow yum organic veges at UC’s Okeover Community Garden. Just a few hours of volunteering a week means you can take home some of the crop too. • Bringing your lunch? Minimise nonbiodegradable wrapping as much as possible. Think nude food.

250,000

UC sends about this many single-use coffee cups to landfill each year. Remember, the lids are recyclable!

• Buy Fair Trade beverages and vege food from campus cafes. • Coffee drinker? Buy a reusable takeaway cup, or bring your own. Cafés give discounts for reusable cups. And if you leave yours at home, remember you can still recycle singleuse takeaway cup lids.

95,000

• Take a course on our new sustainability curriculum – the world needs people who have the know-how to create socially and ecologically sustainable societies.

UC recycles approximately this many single-use drink bottles a year

• Running a student event? Take a look at our ‘Green Event Guide’ checklist, and contact the Sustainability Office for advice. • Instead of buying a drink bottle, buy a reusable one and fill up at the water fountains around campus.

• GeogSoc • Kakariki

• UC Brew Club • UC Greens • Vegetarian Sustainability Club

{ Canta 2014 }

rec yc

net !

Want to find out more? Visit www.sustain.canterbury.ac.nz, or drop into UC Sustainability House at 118 Ilam Road. Or, come talk to us about UC’s waste system and pick up an affordable reusable cup at our stall in the Undercroft lounge on the 9th and 10th of April.

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• Generation Zero

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• UC Bike

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• Pot Luck Club

• Engineers Without Borders

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• DigSoc

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• OpSoc

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Clubs to join: • BioSoc

In 2012, UC sent 256 tonnes of waste to landfill. This is equivalent to the tare (empty) weight of 26 waste-collection trucks!

In 2012, UC recycled or composted 521 tonnes of waste from the landfill. This is equivalent to the tare weight of 53 waste collection trucks.

Snap a photo of what you’re doing right now & be in to WIN

Each week, we’re giving away a $50 Prezzy Card for your best photos of uni life.

This week’s winner: Nicole Taaffe

Submit at the website or www.ucnow.canterbury.ac.nz hashtag an instagram

Are you tired of papercuts? Have your arms gone numb from all that annoying page turning? Sick of the ink smudging because you’ve laughed so hard you’ve cried all over the Letters to the Editor page? Well then....

Congratulations! Canta online is for you!

www.canta.co.nz

{ Reviews }

APPARENTLY I WAS AT BEERFEST

Reviewed by Callum Ching They call it Beerfest, yet I am not entirely convinced that it is a festival. It felt more like an event. However, at this event there were festivalgoers. People who dress in costume and roam fields, becoming sunburnt and disillusioned. These people were in the minority. I arrived after midday, having quaffed a cider and scoffed a potato top pie at the comfort of home, before beginning a walk to Hagely Park. An urge to relieve myself struck as the queue into the sealed-off venue came into vision. I ventured off the beaten path to perform the deed, only to walk past a proper facility 30 seconds later. When you made it through the gates they gave you a cup, complete with resplendent logo. I thought it was a charming item, although many criticised the size as too small. This cup was meant to be carried from stall to stall and be filled with the beers on offer. Typically a glass was $5 and a sample was $2. The breweries controlled their own prices. At times the extra dollar or two was acceptable, for the right drink. Drinking beer is difficult. It can taste a tad strange when its warm and the drunk it gives you will make you sleepy before too long. Fortunately there was a vast range of ciders to slosh down. A line of food outlets ringed a third of the venue as well, the smells emanating from which reminding those who walked by of the value in sustenance. I just wandered around the fields and plonked myself down when I saw a comfortable place to relax. It was exhausting and there were too many activities, drinks and strange people around.

{ Canta 2014 }

I had a traditional heart to heart with a stranger outside of a port-a-loo; I then proceeded to climb into the only unoccupied one on the grounds. It turned out to be unoccupied for a reason. It was resting on uneven ground and would rock about wickedly. This encouraged punters to jump on either side and throw it around some more. I had the good sense to shut the lid before someone else’s fluid hit me, zipped up and got the fuck out of that plastic nightmare. The bands were curious. Off to one side was a smaller area where hay bails were laid out in rows and a woman would wail her version of popular music in a countryesque manner. It made my ears unhappy. The main stage had a tidy sound coming from it. Although Mi-Sex was a bit wrong – their outfits had me giggling and spilling yet more beer onto my well-stained jeans. I spilled a lot of drinks onto my jeans. The day had been rather pleasant. A few interesting things happened, I met a few interesting people. Took advantage of the variety of beer and cider on offer, and enjoyed the entertainment. The only terrible thing that occurred during that day was when I posed for a photo in a silly fashion. Apparently this appealed to a certain individual who performed their version of a photo-bomb. It wasn’t a photobomb though. It was a random climbing on top of me from behind without my knowledge or consent. I was touched and I never learnt this person’s name. Yet other than that instant of molestation, I truly had a lovely day at the Beerfest.

WHAT’S ON Daniel Crooks: Seek Stillness in Movement

Beer and Banter with Generation Zero

UC Lions presents Sinhala and Tamil New Year 2014

Saturday 5 April – Monday 2 June 209 Tuam Street (above C1 Espresso) FREE

Friday 11 April 7:00pm Backyard Bar, Riccarton

Sunday 13 April 12:30pm Ilam Fields

Graduation 2014

Preliminary Quiz for University Challenge

Tuesday 15 April and Thursday 17 April 10:00am – 5:00pm CBS Arena

Thursday 10 April 5:00pm KH07

Visit canterbury.ac.nz/graduation for more details

Contact Rachael Gresson at postgraduate@ucsa.org.nz

BYCSOC BBQ #1 Friday 11 April 3pm FREE for members, $10 for non-members or sign up for $15 at the gate. With better-than-ever signups of over 300 members we are now back in the “Big Club” league and rolling in more money and sponsorship than we know what to do with! Kidding, we’re going to buy beer with it, not difficult. And on that note the BYCSOC BBQ #1 is kicking off on the last day of term. Whether it’s a warm up for the UCOM Jungle Party later that night, a warm down from some shitty midterms, or you just like playing cricket and drinking, its going to be a bloody good afternoon. More details on Facebook (BYCSOC)

Onesie World Record Attempt Saturday 12 April 12:30pm The Warehouse – Eastgate (20 Buckleys Road, Linwood) Wear a onesie, win spot prizes, get yourself in the Guinness Book. See thewarehouse.co.nz/ onesieworldrecord for more info

Rob Thorne Album Release with Special Guest Stainer Black-Five Saturday 12 April 8:00pm The Auricle – New Regent St Cover Charge: $10

Grad Ball Thursday 17 April 7:00pm CBS Arena

ANZAC Service Friday 25 April 10:30am Registry Quad, Centre Campus

Husk – Indigo Mountain Tour

Flip Grater Pigalle Album Release

Friday 11 April 8:00pm Dux Live Tickets $15

Saturday 12 April 8:30pm – 10:30pm Wunderbar Tickets: $10 presales, $15 on the door

{ Canta 2014 }

{ Haberdashery }

TERM TWO IS COMING UP! Why don’t you write for Canta? You can meet other smart and clever people, drink beer, put something on the ol’ CV and maybe even polish up those writing / photography / illustration / video game skills. You could have one of the following titles!

W A A T N N TS A C

The current issue in progress is MUSIC Got some muso friends who need a plug? Know where to find the best DJs to bust some sweet moves with about town? Or do you just want to tell the world about your flawless recorder skills, still in tact from those year 4 lessons?

Rep your department: (Fine) Arts / Biology / Sociology / Education / Engineering / Classics / Law / Business / Science / Politics Correspondent

Canvas your favourite subject:

Write into canta@ucsa.canterbury.ac.nz by 8AM Friday 11 April if you’re keen to get amongst. You may be rewarded for your journalistic prowess with free beer, chips, and yarns. Or you may not. We’ll see.

Snow / Sports / Beer / Fashion / Tech / Sex / Style / Pop Culture / Video Games Correspondent / Fluffer

Be the voice of your hall or street: Uni Hall / Bishop Julius / College House / Rattray / Rountree Correspondent

FACT!

Opossums don’t “play dead.” When frightened, they become overexcited and pass out.

The first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer. A collector of broken laser pointers bought it for $14.83.

The nutrition info on Swedish Chef’s Cröonchy Stars says the cereal contains no shoe trees, venetian blinds, or pachyderms.

SUDOKU 9

1 8 8

5 7

9 3

8 1

The famous Aaron Burr “Got Milk?” ad from 1993 was directed by Michael Bay (our deputy editor’s favourite director).

G-rated family films earn more money than any other rated films; however, only 4% of Hollywood’s output is G-rated.

Hysteria was originally thought to only occur only to women. It was said to be the result of a wandering uterus.

FINISH THE DOODLE

Puzzle 1 (Hard, difficulty rating 0.73)

Braces go all the way back to ancient Egypt. In fact, archeologists have found several mummies with crude metal bands wrapped around their teeth.

5 1 9

{ Canta 2014 } 30 Generated by http://www.opensky.ca/~jdhildeb/software/sudokugen/ on Tue Apr 1 23:29:58 2014 GMT. Enjoy!

FIND A FLAT... You need a flat, and maybe some mates to help share the costs. Wheedle.co.nz is the best place on the planet to find what you want.

E E R FO LIST T

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