THE MAGAZINES THAT SHAPED ME

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By Ella Somers (she/her)

Obsessed with magazines from an early age, Ella Somers looks back at the magazines she discovered over the years that shaped her into the reader she is today.

My love for magazines started with Wild Things which would land in my letterbox wrapped in plastic wrap that I always struggled to open, brimming with animal stories and photos. Like many small children who go through an extremely passionate marine biology phase, Wild Things was the magazine that convinced me - for a short time - that my career path lay in marine biology.

As a young teen with a serious library habit, I would check the shelves for Frankie every time I went just in case the latest issue was out. My day was made if I found the latest issue beside the stained and well-thumbed past issues. If the latest issue wasn’t there, I’d drag piles of the older issues back home with me and reread them again and again. I only barely resisted the temptation to cut out all the pretty paper because I had a fear that a librarian would track me down and confiscate my library card forever.

I covertly read scraps of National Geographic during the quiet moments in my café job throughout my gap year, which helped alleviate some of the panicked boredom I was full of at the time. I would fold napkins and sift through old issues, letting myself be transported to other places.

Starting university encouraged me to add North and South, Bitch, The New Yorker, and Gal-Dem to my magazine pile, so my brain didn’t feel like it was collapsing after researching and writing essay after essay. I joined CANTA and realised the importance of student media, so student magazines started getting added to the stack.

While the Covid-19 pandemic took over the world, New Zealand Geographic reminded me of the world outside. It scratched the marine biology itch while also doing what it says on the tin: exploring New Zealand and beyond through people, places, and wildlife in all its glory and tragedy. It was a good reminder that if nature can do its best to resist humankind, I can do the same and make sure to hug the occasional tree.

Now, I don’t rip into and speed through magazines as soon as they land on my doorstep. Magazine deliveries are opened like presents and then put aside for later, hidden from family and friends until I’ve gotten the chance to read it first. Magazines become saved weekend reading where I can take the time to lose myself in them properly and digest them slowly, with a cup of tea as big as my head in hand, making my way through the pile until I’m finished.

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Tēnā tātou e te whānau whanui o Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha, Ko tēnei te mahi o Te Akatoki o ngā Pou Mātauranga

TE AKATOKI UPDATES

- Taukaea Tauira is a haerenga between TA, TRM (Otago), TA (Lincoln) and Ara. We visit kura around waitaha to promote tertiary education and Māori excellence. We also will be having time together to collaborate, wānanga, have whakawhanaungatanga, sport and social nights: as of now, this haerenga is still on - fingers crossed, please sign up via our Instagram or the link in our bio (more information on the post or Google form).

- Te Wiki O Te Reo Māori was a great week in which we shared a lot of prizes and whakataukī over social media and also were able to run a quiz night. Karawhuia tātou, Kia kaha tō Reo Māori ia wiki, ia wiki.

- Hauora week will be happening in early October and is a week of well-being focused activities for students. We also give out a well-being pack for tauira!!! Keep an eye out for this kaupapa

UPDATES FROM COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING:

- Last two hui have been cancelled due to lack of Agenda items and Lockdown.

- Have been working closely with Felix (the Engineering representative for UCSA) and have an equal voice at the table on tauira matters. Advocated for tauira against assessments being due during study week.

- If you are studying engineering and are facing anything you would like to be taken to a College meeting (albeit successes or challenges), my inbox is always open at aly33@uclive.ac.nz.

- If you have any ideas on how studying engineering can be made better for tauira Māori and would like to sit down for a kawhe (virtually or in-person eventually), get in touch, e te iwi. Ngā mihi, Alyce UPDATES FROM COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT:

- Mātauranga Māori endorsement in Bachelor of Teaching and Learning all set to go ahead, consultation done through Kay-Lee Jones, who is still keen for any more feedback (positive or negative) on course proposals \.

- Interest in creating support for students who are repeating placements and how to provide more support for students completing placement first time round. Many students in Diploma and PG Dip are on placement at the moment, with varying levels of support from schools, but CEHHD is providing alternative forms of assessments for students who cannot teach in schools during COVID levels 4, 3, or 2.

- Any tauira Māori in the CEHHD who are having any raru or want to provide any feedback on their courses or ideas regarding tauira Māori support and engagement can email me at bwb36@ uclive.ac.nz. UPDATES FROM COLLEGE OF ARTS:

The current update from the CoA is as follows:

a) Significant changes are currently occurring for the Bachelor of Arts courses. This restructure includes new courses, papers, and specialisations available to students, which allow them to explore the large number of diverse curriculum courses available under the Arts degree.

- This restructure of the BoA will be announced publicly later on, but exciting things include a compulsory te reo/te ao Māori course for first-year students studying under the Arts degree.

b) Record number of students studying under the CoA has been acknowledged for 2021, and preparation has started for greater numbers in 2022. As such, increased support for both students and academic staff are currently being worked out.

c) Discourse around the mandatory recording of lectures and a drop off in student attendance has been raised by academic staff. Working alongside UCSA representative Asher Herrman, we have been able to give insight and comment on the usefulness of recording lectures from a student’s perspective. Conversations are still being held regarding potential alternative methods for engaging students and staff.

d) Upon prior agreement with your course coordinator, students are now able to submit their assignments in te reo Māori. This watershed moment for the CoA means that students can freely express themselves and their mahi in te reo while also having the peace of mind that their work will be read and translated by a competent speaker of te reo Māori.

Most of the other/prior CoA agenda updates have gone and passed. However, if anyone wants further information, then send me an email at cas201@uclive. ac.nz, Connor Smith.

UPDATES FROM FACULTY OF LAW:

- We no longer have the College of Law and Business as a restructure has led to separating these two schools. We’re now known as the Faculty of Law.

- Next Law Faculty meeting is on 28 September.

- Next BCJ Standing Committee Meeting 20 September.

- Have been working alongside USCA Law Rep (Jess) to collate student feedback on the CLE amendment regarding compulsory Tikanga Māori in core courses.

- Pushing for this to be introduced into more than just core courses, especially those heavily relating to people (e.g. Family) and Land Law, if not all courses.

- Have offered support on behalf of TA to help connect the Law school with some appropriate people to deliver Tikanga Māori

- Restructure of Bachelor of Criminal Justice degree, including dropping some papers and introducing new ones.

- Advocating for the inclusion of more Māori and other multicultural papers focussed papers.

- Ensuring that the papers that are being dropped, especially 200 level Treaty paper, won’t impact tauira graduating gaining characteristics we want, e.g. cultural competency etc.

- Law school disappointed with first semester marks and think there is a correlation with low attendance.

- Bit redundant now but wanted to understand why students were not attending and how we could change that.

- Since lockdown 2.0, there will be less attendance, working on how we can better support our law students, so grades pick up. UPDATES FROM COLLEGE OF SCIENCE

- Last hui was during Lockdown and another coming up this week.

- 26 per cent increase in tauira Māori studying undergrad science this year :).

- A cluster hire of new Māori science academics has been happening throughout this year.

- A group has been set up for Māori staff in CoS to whakawhanaungatanga - they are currently meeting monthly.

- Currently, the only compulsory course meeting BiCC requirements is SCIE101. The goal throughout CoS is to establish 200-level BiCC courses throughout the major.

- Recent kaupapa has been around equitable textbook access - since Covid-19, many unis are pushing to online textbooks, many of these cost more for the library to purchase than physical textbooks and can only be accessed by a small number of people. The library is creating resources to encourage professors to move towards open-access textbooks and create their own.

- Access to limited-entry courses are currently based only on GPA - some early kōrero are being had on how to make this more equitable.

- Several new degrees are being developed across CoS - looking to engage early with UC Māori to ensure these meet BiCC requirements. These are interdisciplinary degrees focused on broad global issues, e.g. climate change, global policy.

- CoS Equity & Diversity Committee has been focusing on the UC Equity Review. Some concerns were brought up in the last meeting on the deficit thinking presented in some of the feedback. The next meeting will be workshopping what can be done within CoS to meet the recommendations.

- Any pātai from tauira in CoS, feel free to flick me an email at glf22@uclive. ac.nz. UPDATES FROM POSTGRAD SPACE:

- Graduate School is pretty much going ahead - it is going to be for research students first and then taught masters students etc. will be added in later. Have been having focus groups and consultation for Māori, but this is still ongoing and has been impacted by Covid-19.

- Lots of PG events are being discussed in terms of the replacement for GradFest (usually a week of events) to instead be spread across the year. The first event they outlined was not received that well by the PGAG (a postgrad advisory group made up of students), and this kōrero is ongoing. Other events being run by UCSA are very monocultural, and I have been commenting on this for a while.

- Continuing to have meetings with Library staff on what they can do to support tauira Māori.

- Advocacy for a Social Work student on placement who raised concerns with other unis allowing placement students to go back during L4; however, UC was deciding not to. We discussed options, but luckily UC reversed their decision.

- Personally, questions around what the impact of Lockdown means for research students, especially when many of us are still doing research but cannot access the library etc. Last Lockdown, we were given a one-month extension to our research timelines but haven’t heard anything about this time.