Yak September 2013

CREATE 2308 Art like you’ve never known it before.

EASTERN UNIVERSITY GAMES Lachie Leeming retells the ins and outs of university sports.

FOUR WAY MASS DEBATE

Which is your vice; visual art, film, music or creative writing?

ISSUE 18 / SEPTEMBER 2013 BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE U

SSTTRRAAEEHH NNEEKKORB

,seow ralucihev rieht eur dna evar ,tnar maet kaY ehT .senutrofsim ralimis ecneirepxe ot hguone etanutrofnu neeb ev’ohw fo esoht gniripsni

CONTENTS 08

Car Troubles

10

Places & Spaces Edwards Hall

12

18

Heywire - Mental Health

23

Eastern Uni Games

Cover design by Angela Geddes

EDITORIAL

Emily Steele - Managing Editor Kate Ellis - Deputy Managing Editor Bayden McDonald - Deputy Editor Lachie Leeming - Deputy Editor Samuel Rayfield - Deputy Editor Tanya McGovern - Deputy Editor Anneliese Wild - Graphic Design Hannah Sunderland - Graphic Design Lucy McLoed - Promotions and Advertising

14

How To Vote

triple j Review Kite Strings

CONTRIBUTORS

Susan Boyd - Contributing Writer William Gleeson - Contributing Writer Matt Hatton - Contributing Writer Isabel Enks - Contributing Writer Meg Francis - Contributing Writer Laura Bradley - Contributing Writer Selina Chapman - Contributing Writer Shannen Aungiers - Contributing Writer Jennifer Todd - Graphic Design Ellen Rafen - Graphic Design Nathalie Saruhashi - Graphic Design Brandon Biddle - Graphic Design Holly Farrell - Graphic Design Ellen Bennett - Graphic Design Jessica Rykers - Graphic Design

24

Four Way Mass Debate - Best Art Form

SUBMISSIONS

26

Arts Festival Create 2308

16 What’s On

05 Academic Profile

21 Campus Whiparound

07 Green U

07 Support U

10 Places and Spaces

ADVERTISING

R18+Gaming

04 YakOnline

05 Watt Space

The Yak editorial team is always on the look out for passionate student writers and graphic designers to contribute to the magazine. If you would like to take the opportunity to get your work published, please send a sample of your writing to yakmedia@newcastle.edu.au.

29

20 Clubs and Societies 27 Movie Review

30 Bayden’s Bitching 31 Vox Pops

For advertising opportunities, contact Lucy at yakmedia@newcastle.edu.au Get your free copy from press-points around campus on Monday, October 7. yakmedia@newcastle.edu.au facebook.com/YakMedia

• Renew Newcastle • Asylum Seekers • 3D Printing

• National Happiness Index • Busking • Recipes

twitter.com/YakMedia Yak magazine is a free publication of UoN Services Ltd © 2012. www.uonservices.org.au Printed by PrintCentre on Callaghan Campus.

Yak Magazine is published by UoN Services Limited at the University of Newcastle. The views expressed herein are not necessarily the views of UoN Services Limited or the University of Newcastle, unless explicitly stated. UoN Services Limited accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of any of the opinions of information contained in this issue of Yak Magazine.

In addition, Yak Magazine may at times accept forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of affiliate compensation to subsidise the costs associated with producing the magazine. We recommend you do your own research and draw your own conclusions about any product claim, technical specifications, statistic, quote or other representation about a product, service, manufacturer, or provider.

LETTER FROM

THE EDITOR A WORD FROM OUR MANAGING EDITOR,

EMILY

It’s about this time of the year when we start to get really caught up in our uni work. Assignments begin piling up, your behind on readings and the mid semester break doesn’t seem to be nearly close enough. I am having a massive semester and have practically become a hermit crab. When I do venture out into the world, it is to attend uni or go to soccer. There are no surprises then that I have begun to notice the emotional and largely irrational attachments I am having to inconsequential and inanimate things.

I’m not sure if I’m lacking human interaction or if my work load has me stressing on a subconscious level I am unaware of, but the questionable things I feel I cannot live without during semester are starting to worry me.

My brother’s girlfriend works at a candle shop and brings me home lots of deliciously smelling goodies.

I now cannot sleep or study in my bedroom without the wafting fragrance of pomegranate, guava and plum, watermelon or some other summery scent.

I’m actually worried that if I have to sleep somewhere that doesn’t have a delightful candle I will face a sleepless night.

I am also becoming highly attached to fictional characters. Last month they killed off Patrick in Offspring and I thought for a moment that I was going to cry. Actual tears.

I get really irritable at my local grocers because for some reason they only feel the need to stock my favourite cereal half the time. I may be the only person purchasing the gluten free cornflakes, but I would surely be keeping that company in business.

Sadly this is not a semester related issue, as I have eaten cornflakes almost every morning since I was eight, which makes it more worrying of an attachment.

My last worry. I have many anklets from my holiday to Thailand during the break. Due to the cold weather, every time I shower they inevitably get wet and cause my ankles to be in a permanent state of chill. I could take them off, but that would just depress me about not being on holidays even more.

If that’s possible.

The further into my degree I get, the more scatty and crazy-cat ladyish I become. I know it’s balanced with super organisation and multi-tasking skills but I’m just slightly concerned my normal functioning capacities might not return when the holidays grace us again.

I hope I’m not the only one with these intrinsic issues.

Yak Magazine - August 2013

03

THIS MONTH’S BITING QUESTION: “What is the worst thing your sibling has ever done to you?”

MANAGING EDITOR

EMILY STEELE

My brother never told me our house was on fire. He was worried I would make him leave footy early.

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR

KATE ELLIS

My sister used to use her head against me. Literally. I would have a head butt pin me to a wall...

DEPUTY EDITOR - COLUMNS

BAYDEN McDONALD

My brother hooked up with a girl I had my eye on. I was totally indifferent to her after that.

DEPUTY EDITOR - ENTERTAINMENT & TECHNOLOGY

LACHIE LEEMING

My sister always tricked me into paying the majority for Christmas and Mothers’ Day presents for Mum. She probably owes me a couple of hundred dollars to square it up.

DEPUTY EDITOR - FEATURES

SAMUEL RAYFIELD

My brother and sister are thoughtful and loving human beings and I sincerely struggle to speak ill of them. Since birth, they have been powerless against my fiendish machinations, and I look forward to ruining their teenage years.

DEPUTY EDITOR - UNI CONTENT

TANYA McGOVERN

My little sister threatened me with a kitchen knife.

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

ANNELIESE WILD

My little bro saved over my Pokemon Silver file! I had a level 92 Feraligatr! 10 years later and it still hurts.

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

HANNAH SUNDERLAND I have no sister.

PROMOTIONS & ADVERTISING OFFICER

LUCY McLOED

Once my brother bit me on the face. Enough said.

04 Yak Magazine - September 2013

twitter.com/yakmedia

BEN

MICA 10 people like this

LEWIS

facebook.com/yakmedia

What’s with the helicopter circling the uni?

They found out Walter White was cooking in the chemistry building.

Sounds about right.

21 people like this

ALISDAIR

Marcus Rodrigs spotted at 24-hr K-Mart.

Apparently he finds their prices very reeeeeeeeeeeaasonable.

20 people like this

KALINDA

“THAT’S RIGHT, WE ARE BACK IN GEAR” Rastaman, just now walking into AIC. Happy first day of semester.

19 people like this

PAT 15 people like this

To the person in the Huxley Library printing out instructions on how to make a silly face, good luck.

MORRIS

Did they print out a picture of your profile picture?

PAT

Been thinking that one up all month, champ?

3 people like this

Memes: Sourced from UoN Memes.

Yak Magazine - September 2013

05

BY TANYA MCGOVERN The mobiDRIP, an intravenous infusion device for antibiotic medication, is Paul’s latest creation.

said Paul. These polymers act as semiconductors, allowing their conductivity to be turned on and off.

The idea started 10 years ago when Paul met a representative from mobiLIFE. The company had tried to design a drug infusion system.

The technology was featured on the ABC’s New Inventors program in 2011, and since then the Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources has installed large scale printing equipment, hoping to move towards commercial production.

“I said that it wasn’t going to work and sketched a solution literally on a napkin and gave it to him. And ten years later we now have the mobiDRIP... and it’s now in hospitals across Queensland and NSW,” Paul said.

The device is a small, round, rigid plastic container, and is powered by a compressed gas propellant which creates pressure on the IV bag, pushing the drugs into a patient’s arm.

Professor Paul Dastoor Professor of Physics

A quick chat with Professor Paul Dastoor about his latest research developments shows that our university is a “leader in world-class innovation”.

Paul’s a physicist specialising in organic electronics, but not the type you’re thinking of, he said.

“Organic here doesn’t mean the same as does in the supermarket. Organic here means carbon based.”

There is a reduction of air bubbles in the delivery line, with an air elimination filter automatically outputting any bubbles introduced during the attachment of the line to the patient’s arm.

The next stage for the mobiDRIP is introducing it to the international market.

Paul has also been working on a project developing solar paint, which when painted onto surfaces and coming into contact with light, generates electricity.

The solar paint, which contains semiconducting polymers, is applied to thin sheets of plastic using an inkjet printer.

Usual polymers (plastics) don’t conduct electricity, but a select few polymers do,

“I said that it wasn’t going to work and sketched a solution literally on a napkin and gave it to him.”

The potential for this technology is exciting, says Paul, and there is the possibility of developing new methods of blood glucose measurement for diabetes sufferers.

Organic bio-materials, like enzymes, can also be added to paint.

The Centre is developing glucose sensors which are 100 times more sensitive than standard blood glucose sensors, with the potential to detect glucose levels through salvia.

“There are going to be something like 550 million people with diabetes by 2030, and at the moment their only option is to stab themselves four to six times a day. So imagine a test for diabetes that’s cheap and you can throw away,” Paul said.

4 - 29 September Australiana

The Annual UoN Services Student Art Prize Theme for 2013, Australiana Curated by Watt Space Gallery Assistant Ben Bourke Judges Newcastle based artists Sally Bourke and Brett McMahon Opening Night: 6.30pm, Thursday, 5 September.

Thursday, 5 September, 6.30pm Email: wattspace@newcastle.edu.au Website: www.newcastle.edu.au/group/watt-space Facebook: facebook.com/WattSpaceGallery Watt Space Gallery, University House, Auckland St Newcastle. Open 11am -5 pm, Wed - Sun. Ph: 4921 8733 Watt Space is funded by UoN Services Limited and supported by the University of Newcastle School of Creative Arts.

Thursday, 12 September 11am - 2pm, Auchmuty Courtyard R U OK?Day is our national day of action.

The day is dedicated to reminding people to regularly check in with family and friends to make sure they’re ok.

Come along and learn how you can support those struggling with life, starting with three little words, ‘are you OK?’

Yak Magazine - September 2013

07

- TRANSPORT OPTIONS

By Tanya McGovern

Here’s the lowdown on the greener transport options to the Callaghan, Central Coast, Newcastle City and Port Macquarie campuses.

Car – Finding a car park at Callaghan after 9am only produces material for StalkerSpace Facebook posts. Free parking at Callaghan is available in car parks 15 and 16. Lucky Central Coast and Port Macquarie campus students get free parking.

University management introduced special car park spaces reserved for carpoolers last semester. A special permit is required to use these car park spaces. It has been a popular option among students, so there are a limited number of permits available. Check out newcastle.mycarpools.com.au for information on eligibly.

Bus – At Callaghan, buses conveniently stop at the Design and Mathematics bus stops. At Ourimbah, the local buses stop outside the main quadrangle on campus.

Check out newcastle.edu.au/service/transport to view the bus timetables for each campus.

Both Callaghan and the Central Coast campus have free security shuttle bus services. See Laura Bradley’s Support U article on the Security Shuttle Bus below for info.

Bicycle – See newcastle.edu.au/service/transport/cycling.html for cycleway maps.

Train – All campuses are conveniently located near train lines.

Callaghan campus has Warabrook Station, Newcastle City

SUP PORT U This month, Laura Bradley steps in and shares the wonders of the Security Shuttle Bus. Whether it’s parking problems or mosquito miseries, us UoNgoers seem to have a lot to complain about.

One University aspexct which rarely musters a whinge, however, is our trusty security shuttle bus service.

Catering each day and night for the late, lazy and lost of Callaghan and Ourimbah, I decided this much appreciated aspect of our student lives deserved a wrap.

So why are our shuttle bus services awesome? Let me count the ways.

1. Amazing operational hours – The Callaghan security shuttle operates between 8am-12pm Monday to Friday during semester.

If you’re in a rush for that early morning lecture, or enjoyed one too many late night vodka sunrises at Bar on the Hill without a way to the train station, the shuttle bus is just a phone call away.

The Ourimbah Shuttle bus operates between 5pm-10pm Monday to Friday, ensuring you won’t have to venture through the campus alone once the sun goes down.

2. Will take you anywhere on campus – In addition to the timeflexibility, it will also take you almost anywhere on campus.

Between 8-10am, and 4-6pm, the Callaghan bus operates on a continuous loop, stopping at the railway station, Carpark 5 (Shortland Union Carpark) and Carpark 15.

precinct has Civic Station and Newcastle Station, the Central Coast campus has Ourimbah Station, and Port Macquarie’s closest station is at Wauchope.

The train journey experience is steadily improving with the newly rebranded Sydney Trains (formerly CityRail) introducing more designated quiet carriages and purple themed furnishings.

Train timetables can be viewed at 131500.com.au.

Pony Express at Ourimbah – This transport option unfortunately has nothing to do with riding a pony to campus.

If you drive to campus, try parking at the nearby Tall Timbers Pony Club, then catch the free bus service to campus.

The Pony Club is located on the Pacific Highway, near Ourimbah RSL Club, and is on the opposite side of the train line to the university.

The large car park (which I can tell you is surfaced with gravel and pony manure free) was created by the Roads and Maritime Services to store machinery during the Pacific Highway upgrade.

See newcastle.edu.au/service/transport/pony-express.html.

Student Discount – If you decide to make the most of public transport, be sure to pick up a student concession sticker from any of the Student Hubs. Thanks to tireless campaigning by student associations, a conditional discount is now available to international students. See your Student Hub for more information on eligibly.

Security Shuttle Bus

By Laura Bradley

Between 10am-4pm, the bus operates in a continuous loop throughout the campus, stopping at 14 main stops: the train station, Forum round-a-bout, Hunter ACT, Chancellery, Car Park 5/Shortland Union, Medical Architecture, Chemistry, Great Hall, Maths Bus Stop, Design Bus Stop, Edwards Hall, Car Park 15, Squash Courts and the Hunter Building.

The Ourimbah shuttle departs from the main bus stop on the Loop Road but will come to any campus location on request.

3. Will take you to off-campus areas – Just when you thought the service couldn’t be any more convenient, the bus also goes to off-campus areas!

After 6.30pm, the Callaghan shuttle bus can take passengers to nearby suburbs including Jesmond, Shortland, Birmingham Gardens and Waratah West.

The Ourimbah shuttle also extends to drop off and collect from Ourimbah Railway Station on request.

4. Dedicated to your comfort and safety. – ‘Good friends care for each other’ is our university security motto, evidenced through the positive and helpful attitude exuded by each driver upon every free ride.

Shuttle bus, we thank you.

The Callaghan Shuttle can be contacted on 0407 951 470.

The Ourimbah Shuttle can be contacted on 0414 411 799.

08 Yak Magazine - September 2013

BROKEN CARS & BROKEN BROKEN HEARTS HEARTS The Yak team rant, rave and rue their vehicular woes, inspiring those who’ve been unfortunate enough to experience similar misfortunes.

I feel like my 1992 Mitsubishi Lancer and I share a special bond. As my very first car, she tolerated my driving mishaps when I was a fresh-faced 17 year old red P- plater. She tolerated that time I reversed into a tree in my own driveway. She continues to tolerate my heavy handed driving style to this day.

However, several months ago our relationship was almost bought undone by an intermittently sticking thermostat. Unfortunately for our relationship, it took several mechanics, more than several hundred dollars and several months to come to that diagnosis. When your car continues to inexplicably overheat at the most inconvenient of times, I can’t be blamed for wanting to call time on our relationship.

The first time this problem presented itself I found myself watching my car being driven away on the back of a tow truck after I was so kindly told by my NRMA representative that, “I don’t know what’s wrong with it, but you definitely can’t drive it”. This was after the two hour drive from Muswellbrook to Newcastle had turned into an eight hour ordeal and I had already cried myself several rivers.

Another highlight was being so broke, downtrodden and desperate that I found myself (very riskily) driving around Newcastle with a sign on my back windscreen begging Fifi and Jules to ‘Swap my Car for a Suzuki Swift’. Safe to say I did not win that particular radio competition.

But to look on the bright side, when I first bought my lovely car from my friend’s next door neighbour for $1700, people thought we wouldn’t last six months. We’re now at four years and stronger than ever.

Lucy McLeod

My first car was my baby.

I was so proud of getting it all on my own, despite its dodgy paint job and kangaroo outline on the bonnet. I had paid for all of it and it was completely my own.

I have never been car savvy.

Ever. I was always under the impression that my Dad was being a champion and was serving my car and looking after all that junk under the bonnet.

Nothing puts you on the edge of your seat, gets the heart pumping and the hands clammy like turning up at wherever it is you may need to be and not quite knowing whether you'll be making it back home again.

Many of us students suffer the labours of the dodge-mobile, the shit-box or the rust-bucket. But rather than frustratedly pulling out your hair when that four-wheeled dump you are driving shudders itself to a stop, perhaps we should be appreciating the unpredictability our vehicles afford us.

There is nothing quite like the exhilaration of barreling down Newcastle Link Rd praying the electrics in your car don't short circuit and cut your engine, causing you to slowly roll to a stop in a roundabout and suffer the anguish of the rushing drivers behind you. Hey, who wanted to get to classes on time anyway?

An unlucky coincidence was that my gearbox had also decided to shit itself. Many tears, carless weeks and $$$ later I had my baby back. I drove him to work in the pouring rain and my windscreen wipers started to slow down.

Then my radio turned off. The lights dimmed and the dash clock disappeared. Then there was nothing. The engine died and I was stranded in the middle of nowhere particularly late for work. The alternator had gone. Just my luck.

ALHX continued to test the friendship for some time after that fateful day and when he finally died on Valentines Day I cried my eyes out. He caused so much heartache, but I still miss him to this day!

Emily Steele

Oil leaks, why not? Car overheating?

Been there. Epic fail of an excuse for power steering? Time to build up them arm muscles. Electrical failures?

Had that. Heck, my cars so fussy it refuses to run unless I put premium petrol in it!

But, I saved up all my hard earned dollars for the craptacular vehicle I'm driving. And then saved some more for all the mechanical debts I've racked up. And I know I will definitely appreciate when I finally get my hands on that brand spanking new automobile and can make it from A to B without fearing catastrophe.

We may complain when our cars are constantly hiccuping their way down their streets, but lets chalk it up to life experience. Oh, and give us a wave next time you see me roadside with the hazards on.

Kate Ellis

Yak Magazine - September 2013

Even with the wonderful tips offered by my fellow editors, sometimes you have to cut your losses and accept defeat. I had to do this just recently to my first car and the experience was traumatic to say the least, so if I can help brace you for the melancholy separation when your car gives up the ghost, my job is done.

Your first car is special. I was living at home, a raw, fresh-faced 17 year-old straight outta Parkes when I scraped together $2900 for a glistening, maroon 1992 Mitsubishi Magna which I duly dubbed Frank.

I was driving towards the intersection of Wallsend and Maitland Rd, Sandgate. The radio began to buzz, the wipers failed to wipe, the indicators faded, and hits of the accelerator pedal proved unresponsive. My car just rolled along.

I looked for somewhere to pull (roll) over. There was no space along Wallsend Rd, so I prayed I could make it into the Cemetery.

That was four years and many breakdowns and engine failures ago.

Our relationship reached breaking point when Frank died in peakhour traffic across the road from Broadmeadow McDonalds.

Like a cow put out to pasture, I sadly accepted that Frank’s time had come.

I knew it was very unlikely someone would buy the car off me, and in all honesty it would have been fairly dastardly of me to fob off the car and its problems to another person.

So I rang the proverbial Novocastrian scrap dealer. Scrap dealers don’t haggle. They tell you the price, and if you don’t like it, they’ll tell you explicitly where to go and what to do.

And so I sat outside and watched when they turned up and thrust two filthy fifty dollar notes into my hand for my car.

I whimpered as they smashed holes in the windscreen and hoisted him atop the flatbed truck, crunching it on top of another scrap car before chaining him to the spot like a Russian circus bear.

But time stops for no man. I’ve got a new car, a Ford Laser, without the mighty roar and rumble that Frank once possessed, but a bit gentler on the petrol around town. It’s only early days but our relationship is progressing and, whilst the memories of Frank will always keep me warm, I am looking forward to the adventures that change provides.

Lachlan Leeming

I brought my car to a stop on the grass. I was stuck in Sandgate Cemetery, and I was sure my car had come here to rest for eternity like ancestors past.

For the next three hours I experienced odd looks from funeral goers, a chat with a gravedigger, mosquito bites, a sunburnt nose, two visits from the NRMA, and another wallet shaking for a new alternator...

Tanya McGovern

09

Stranded by a flat in a petrol station parking lot, the only thing between me and admitting to an ex-girlfriend that I didn’t know how to change a tyre was a fortunate lack of tools required to change said tyre. Of course, I said something like, “If only I had the tools, my workweary hands’d have us outta here in no time,” then doodled some zombies in a textbook, while we waited for the NRMA guy to come and outman me.

Six months spent delivering pizzas without a spare tyre later, my driving time was a heady mixture of paranoia and anticipation. On one hand, I was worried: having driven on a knife’s edge for half a year without being marooned on a freeway between here and god knows where, surely my time was nearly up. On the other, driving became a fantasy: wherever my rubber busted, I’d have the opportunity to lie down on a warm bonnet, looking at the stars as I slowly, romantically thought up a means to get to where I needed to be. By some paradoxical perversion of fortune, however, I didn’t get a flat tyre until I had an immediate ability to replace it.

On my mother’s insistence, I grabbed a $50 spare from a wrecker and drove for an hour or so, delivering pizzas unable to entertain the possibility of stranded stargazing. Due to... something (it’s rare that the exact cause of a flat tyre is deduced) happening, though, my newly acquired spare had little time to prepare itself for the road. I surprised myself at how quickly I was able to replace it - a mere 15 minutes - but I still had to work an unpaid half-hour to compensate for the time I wasted.

A few neglects and misfortunes later, my 1990 Toyota Camry now sits outside, lawfully deemed undriveable. For those who don’t know what a ‘red defect’ is, imagine a car so poorly kept that it’s illegal to have it parked on the roadside.

But there’s no space for that here; it’s a story better suited to film than writing.

The moral of this story is, amongst other things, to remember that there are always cars out there that are in much worse a condition than yours, causing their owners much more frustration than you could ever imagine. Or, just think of me I’m not going anywhere.

Sam Rayfield DESIGNED BY ELLEN BENNETT

10 Yak Magazine - September 2013

dwards Hall, or Teds as it is known to the more acquainted, is the oldest residential college at the University of Newcastle.

Our university’s first college was named after George Alfred Edwards – a man who worked towards the independence of the university from its days as a small University of New South Wales (UNSW) teaching facility located at the Technical College at Tighes Hill.

Living in Edwards Hall is the closest experience to idealised dormitory living made famous in Hollywood college movies. With 383 students packed into its three sections, there’s bound to be some strong community bonds made.

Teds’ motto is Esse Quam Videri, meaning ‘to be rather than to seem’. The ancient Roman all-rounder Cicero (who dabbled in philosophy, politics and law to name a few), was the first to share this phrase in his essay, De Amicitia (On Friendship) in 44BC. This phrase literally means it is better to be something, say a person of good character, than to appear to be one.

George Alfred Edwards Image courtesy of the UoN Cultural Collections

Like Cicero, Edwards was also a bit of an all-rounder in the academic field, completing degrees in Art and Science at Oxford University.

Edwards started a career in the academic world as a lecturer at the famous King’s College, London.

He soon decided to pursue a career as a scientist, and was sent to Australia as local managing director for rayonmaking company, Courtaulds.

The Courtaulds factory at Tomago was a key player in the once flourishing Hunter rayon-making industry from the 1950s to 1970s. The factory produced synthetic fibres especially for motor vehicle tyres, and was a driving force behind the expansion of housing in Raymond Terrace.

Edwards was a member of the Newcastle University College Advisory Committee during our university’s early days.

After campaigning from the community for a university in the region, UNSW made the decision to move our university to its current location at Shortland.

Edwards was appointed by UNSW to our first council. The council worked on planning the development of the University of Newcastle from 1962.

During this era, he contributed significantly to our university’s independence, working towards the university’s relocation to Shortland and the creation of bylaws necessary for independence.

On the council, Edwards succeeded Lyon McLarty (whom the McLarty Room in the Shortland Building is named after) as Chairman of the Building Committee.

After independence, he became the first Chairman of the new University Council.

In 1966, Edwards was unanimously elected as our newly independent university’s first Deputy Chancellor. In 1972, Edwards Hall was officially opened.

Designed by Hannah Sunderland

12 Yak Magazine - September 2013

Lachie

Leeming

Waltzes down memory lane and recounts the 2013 Eastern University Games

I am currently a veteran of two Eastern University Games campaigns, the most recent one held impeccably by the wonderful city of Wollongong.

At the time of writing, I am still recovering from the week that blended a festival atmosphere with sporting camaraderie.

Indeed, reminiscing about the nightlife at Uni Games still sends me into rapturous guffaws, but it is a combination of things that make the week as a whole such a fondly remembered affair. And as much as I’d like to warble on endlessly about the after-dark activities, the other aspects of Uni Games deserve proper detailing and explanation.

The Eastern University Games is a lot of things to a lot of people.

A plethora of universities from around NSW and Canberra attend, and this is undoubtedly the defining factor of the unique weeklong event. Mixing with the oddballs and the brilliant of our fellow universities, whether it be on the sporting field or at the bar afterwards, is possibly the best part of the week.

Transport is awesome and removes much of the stress from travelling around town. Buses specifically run for the student competitors crisscross the major routes near student accommodation, making getting to the night time events a breeze.

about As much as I’d like to warble on endlessly of Uni the after-dark activities, the other aspectslanation .

Games deserve proper detailing and exp Another major plus is the wide array of sports offered.

Oztag, ultimate Frisbee, touch football, hockey and netball are just some of the team sports, with individual sports like surfing and tennis in the mix as well. Many of the sports offer both single-sex and mixed competitions, so there is an overabundance of choice to fulfil whatever you’re looking to get out of your time on-field.

The sport strikes a wonderful mix between the competitive and the casual, whilst the nightlife resembles Uni night in Newcastle multiplied by ten, every night of the week. This is where some of the unique features of Uni games come to the fore.

A lot of the teams make rules to obey, such as the Wollongong AFL boys’ call of “Doggies drop,” when

Yak Magazine - September 2013

13

One of the stand-out examples of a group imposed rule was a poor bloke from another university I met out one evening, who had to carry around a crudely-hefted 20-kilogram cement garden gnome all night, every night. subsequently they would all drop to the floor until the call was made to “get dangerous” and get back up. This call could go out at any time, whether it be at the pub, down the street, or even on the sporting field. Many other groups, including my own, had a few rules similar to this, such as no use of the word “mine” and no pointing. Such transgressions are punishable by 10 seconds of chin on the ground, no matter where you are.

One of the stand-out examples of a group imposed rule was a poor bloke from another university I met out one evening, who had to carry around a crudely-hefted 20-kilogram cement garden gnome all night, every night.

I can only talk of my own experiences, but I was member of a group of lads who fully embraced the motto of playing hard and partying harder. We possessed one genuine AFL player, a couple of natural athletes, and the rest of the participants (including myself) were the ones with very little ability. Everyday, through our hung-over hazes, we would arise from our comas with little to no sleep, for

battle with other similarly groggy peers.

Personally, I was keen to shed the dreaded “Jeffrey” tag, awarded to me at the EUG games last year for the worst on field. I found there is only so many times you can blame the wind or the sun in your eyes for missed catches and shit kicks.

Don’t worry, other sporting groups were much more supportive than our cutthroat group of buccaneers. The banter was part of the week.

In terms of results, Newcastle had a highly successful week. 193 competitors and 16 non-playing officials set off from our University, with the Newcastle Men’s Hockey team taking out the gold. Men’s tennis, surfing, football, and Women’s football as well as our own AFL group took out silver medals. Newcastle placed 8th overall and were runner’s up behind the hosting University of Wollongong by just 2 points for the Spirit trophy.

The best news for those who were left unfulfilled by their performances on or off the field this year, or in need a repeat dosage, is that there exists the Australian

University Games. Held in the month of September, the host location is the Gold Coast, in what promises to be another fantastic instalment in the history of the competition.

I fully recommend giving it a crack at least once during the course of your degree.

If you are interested in competing next year, you can either form your own team or join another. Simply go in and see the University sports officers at The Forum and they will be able to point you in the right direction. I’d love to share some more yarns, but fortunately they fall under the para-legal statute of “what happens on tour, stays on tour”.

In all honesty, going new places with your mates is the best. Being surrounded by a couple of hundred like-minded students, the party atmosphere and the on-andoff-field laughs all make the week a great advertisement for tertiary involvement.

Get keen, get a few mates together and I’ll see you there next year.

Designed by Elle Fennah

14 Yak Magazine - September 2013

Getting old can be distressing. Increased responsibilities, unexpected bowel movements and death are three amongst the many consequences of aging. It can quickly become apparent that life is not all fun and games.

But living can be enjoyable if you know how to vote in federal elections. Number those boxes 1 to however many with confidence, by following these simple steps.

Step 1 - Appreciate Your Vote With 14.5 million Australians expected to vote in an election with a budget of $113 million, every vote is worth about $8. When considering that it’s a taxpayer-funded event, if left unexploited, the election leaves you without something you might have spent $8 on and really enjoyed! Think - what would you spend that money on?

Furthermore, democracy exists for a reason. The equality and legitimacy of the many ‘democracies’ worldwide may be hotly debated, but at the very least, a ballot paper is akin to a voice, so vote loud and clear.

Step 2 - Turn Up at the Right Place If enrolling was difficult, you can now rest easily knowing that all you have to do is turn up at the right place - usually your local school, hall or church. But don’t chill too hard through Election Day - enrolling without voting carries, without a passable excuse, a $50 fine. Too, turning up at the right place can prove difficult if you find yourself... well, anywhere but your electorate.

Your electorate is where, based on your residential address, where you have been enrolled to vote. However, it’s not as simple as living in Kotara and going to vote at the Adamstown Public School because it’s closer than Kotara’s Park Hall. These Newcastle suburbs may neighbor each other, but Kotara is a constituent of the Shortland electorate, whereas Adamstown is a part of Newcastle. A Kotarian can, if they so wish, vote within the Newcastle electorate, but they must do so as an absentee - a process that requires one to fill out a form. Forms can be sometimes challenging, so rather than challenge yourself, amble down to your local polling place and save yourself further hassle.

Step 3 - Keep a Cool Head Now that you’ve arrived, near with caution. Remember that if you accept so much as one of the fliers handed to you by a lastminute party zealot that, because you’re a good person, you wont be able to bring yourself to deny any subsequent offerings from the next zealot and next zealot after that and so on and so forth so much so that it becomes a distracted, disjointed and unwanted adventure that never seems to end, very much like this sentence.

For your protection, politely decline the fliers. Enter the building and approach the desk, say your name and address when you are required to do so and be given two sheets - one small and green and another big and white - and proceed to a polling booth.

Here you’ll find a pen attached to a string, and maybe even a magnifying glass if the text is too small.

The two sheets require you to number the candidates in order of preference, but it becomes clear that one is much more complicated than the other. The green sheet, for the House of Representatives, pales compared to the white one. The Senate sheet is horizontally separated by a line, above which are listed the parties and below the parties’ candidates. You can choose to vote above the line for simplicity’s sake, or below if you’re getting serious. Crucially, every box must be numbered for your vote to count - but if you screw anything up, you can always ask for another sheet. www.aec.gov.au/voting/How_to_vote/voting_practice.htm for a nifty app to mitigate any potential mishaps.

DESIGNED BY NATHALIE SARUHASHI

WHAT’S ON EVENTS & GIGS Chinese Festival Monday, 2 September Auchmuty Courtyar

WEEKLY

Godfrey Tanner Bar 4pm - 5pm Every day of semester

5pm - 6pm Every day of semester* (except Wednesdays)

Trivia Friday, 6 September Bar on the Hill

WEEK 6 MONDAY 2

Bar on the Hill

1pm - 2pm, Fridays

Monday Movies by Moonlight at U Cinema

Bar on the Hill Gig Kingswood

Hero (M) 6.30pm, Derkenne Courtyard

TUESDAY 3

Cultural Awakenings Festival Parade of Nations

Tanner Tuesdays 6.30pm, Tuesdays Godfrey Tanner Bar

16 - 20 September Callaghan campus

Pool Comp

3pm - 6pm, Wednesdays

Trivia

SUNDAY 8

1pm - 2pm, Bar on the Hill

Tanner Tuesday Karaoke

Pool Comp

3pm - 6pm, Godfrey Tanner Bar

Cultural Awakenings Festival Around the World Party Global Health Information Hub Meeting at Hunter Medicare Local 7pm, King Street

Cultural Awakenings Festival

MONDAY MOVIES

BY MOONLIGHT

From 5pm, Wednesdays Bar on the Hill

FREE Mondays at 6.30pm, Derkenne Courtyard

2

Sep

9

Sep

16

Sep

Hero (M) Blow (MA 15+) Mary Meets Mohammad (PG)

Bar Games

1pm -3pm, Bar on the Hill

Are You Game?

3pm - 6pm, Godfrey Tanner Bar

GOALSS AFL Clinic

4pm - 6pm, No.1 Oval, Callaghan

Bar Games

1pm - 3pm, Thursdays Bar on the Hill

Are You Game?

3pm - 6pm, Thursdays Godfrey Tanner Bar

18+. Proof of age required. Student card recommended.

Federal Election

THURSDAY 5

Wind Up Wednesday

Bar on the Hill Doors open 7.30pm

10.30am, Auchmuty Courtyard

6pm, Bar on the Hill. Free entry.

Create 2308

Tix: U Members: $15 UoN Students: $17.50 Guests: $22.50

SATURDAY 7

WEDNESDAY 4 Wednesday, 11 September Bar on the Hill

Howarth St, Wyong

Cultural Awakenings Festival Welcome to Country

From 6.30pm, Godfrey Tanner Bar

Cloud Control

1pm - 2pm, Godfrey Tanner Bar

Wyong Race Club Gold Cup Race

1pm - 2pm, Tuesdays

Godfrey Tanner Bar

Trivia

Chinese Festival

9.30am, Great Hall

3 - 6, September

Kingswood

www.uonservices.org.au

10am - 2pm, Auchmuty Courtyard

Bar on the Hill

Cultural Awakenings Festival

Find out more at

The Studio presents National Campus Band Comp: UoN Campus Final 7.30pm - 11pm, Bar on the Hill

NRL Newcastle Knights vs.

Parramatta Eels 3pm, Hunter Stadium

WEEK 7 MONDAY 9 Central Coast Campus Lunchtime BBQ & music 12pm, Main Quadrangle

Monday Movies by Moonlight at U Cinema Blow (MA 15+) 6.30pm, Derkenne Courtyard

Ourimbah Movies by Moonlight 6.30pm, Main Quadrangle

TUESDAY 10 Trivia

1pm - 2pm, Bar on the Hill

Tanner Tuesday Debating

From 6.30pm, Godfrey Tanner Bar

WEDNESDAY 11 Pool Comp

3pm - 6pm, Godfrey Tanner Bar

FRIDAY 6

Bar on the Hill Gig Cloud Control

11am - 3pm, Bar on the Hill

Tix: U Members: $20 UoN Students: $22.50 Guests: $27.50

Cultural Awakenings Festival International Food Fair

Bar on the Hill Doors open 7.30pm

Yak Magazine - September 2013 17

september 18+. Proof of age required. Student card recommended.

THURSDAY 19

THURSDAY 12

Across Callaghan campus

Bar Games

1pm -3pm, Bar on the Hill

Are You Game?

3pm - 6pm, Godfrey Tanner Bar

FRIDAY 13 The Studio presents National Campus Band Comp: NSW Northern Regional Final

7pm - 11pm, Bar on the Hill

SATURDAY 14 Arj Barker

Create 2308 Bar Games

1pm -3pm, Bar on the Hill

Are You Game?

3pm - 6pm, Godfrey Tanner Bar

Newcastle Emerging Artists Prize Exhibition Newcastle Art Space

FRIDAY 20 Create 2308

Across Callaghan campus

Trivia

1pm - 2pm, Godfrey Tanner Bar

WEEK 8 MONDAY 16 Create 2308

Across Callaghan campus

Monday Movies by Moonlight at U Cinema Mary Meets Mohammad (PG) 6.30pm, Derkenne Courtyard

TUESDAY 17 Create 2308

Across Callaghan campus

Trivia

1pm - 2pm, Bar on the Hill

Quidditch Social league 4pm - Oval No. 4

Tanner Tuesday

From 6.30pm, Godfrey Tanner Bar

WEDNESDAY 18 Create 2308

Across Callaghan campus

Pool Comp

3pm - 6pm, Godfrey Tanner Bar

Wind Up Wednesday

from 5pm, Bar on the Hill

Afro Moses Ojah Band Ticket and Meal: $59 Central Coast Lizzottes

Akmal Saleh

Mingara Recreation Club 02 4349 7799 for tickets

SATURDAY 28 SUNDAY 29 Australian Uni Games Gold Coast

The Axis of Awesome Wests New Lambton 4935 1200 for tickets

MONDAY 30 Australian Uni Games

8pm, Civic Theatre

SUNDAY 15

FRIDAY 27

Zian - Anime Club 3 days, 40+ of gaming Friday 20 - Sunday 22 6pm, Brennan Room

SATURDAY 21 Lifeline Bookfest

Gold coin donation 9am - 3pm, Broadmeadow Basketball Stadium

SUNDAY 22 Lifeline Bookfest

Gold coin donation 9am - 3pm, Broadmeadow Basketball Stadium

Akmal Saleh

Newcastle Panthers 02 4926 6200 for tickets

Semester 2 recess MONDAY 23

Semester 2 recess Colours of Spring Festival

Runs up until 30 October 9.30am - 1.30pm, Adamstown Uniting Church

TUESDAY 24 WEDNESDAY 25 THURSDAY 26 Parkway Drive

7pm, Newcastle Panthers

Gold Coast

Work Integrated Learning nominations close

TUESDAY 1/OCT Australian Uni Games Gold Coast

WEDNESDAY 2/OCT Australian Uni Games Gold Coast

THURSDAY 3/OCT Australian Uni Games Gold Coast

FRIDAY 4/OCT Australian Uni Games Gold Coast

SATURDAY 5/OCT The Olive Tree Market

9am - 3pm, The Junction Public School

SUNDAY 6/OCT MONDAY 7/OCT

Labour Day Public Holiday

TUESDAY 8/OCT Semester 2 resumes

18 Yak Magazine - September 2013

2012 Heywire winner and UoN student Isabel Enks tells of her efforts to de-stigmatise Australia’s latest epidemic.

point of view of people who are extremely unwell, which does not happen very often,” Rossiter said. “If someone was to say to me ‘I think you may be suffering with depression’, I may be very well be frightened, and acquaint it with what the common idea is- like mentally ill people are dangerous.

“People are often scared of what they do not understand.”

I remember being a child and hearing about someone my parent’s age committing suicide and not understanding why- I simply looked at it in fear. I remember in high school when news of someone’s recently diagnosed mental In January this year, four girls and I began to develop the illness spread around the corridors like wildfire- with a initiative ‘The Green Room’ at the ABC Heywire Summit in large, fat stigma attached. I remember in my first year of Canberra.The Green Room aims to be a fun and interactive university when someone close to me confided they were mental health workshop, specifically targeted at years 7 suffering with depression, I listened in shock, then realised -10 in rural and remote areas. a few days later how obvious the signs had actually been.

This is when my eyes were Earlier in the year we presented “People are often scared of opened. Currently, one in four the idea to government officials of us will suffer from a mental what they do not understand.” at Parliament House, and have illness at some stage in our spoken on National ABC radio lives. And little do we know the leading cause of death in to further illuminate the stigma surrounding mental illness. young people aged 14 – 25 is suicide. This could impact Newcastle Headspace community development officer, your brother, mother or friend, possibly even the person Byron Williams, said the Green Room is a great concept to you are sitting next to on the bus. help get young people involved. “Too often in the mental health sector we get caught up handing out brochures Unlike the injury you got from Monday night’s touch game, and standing up doing presentations. “We really have it is very hard to see how someone is mentally feeling to challenge ourselves and be innovative in the way we unless they tell you. communicate with young people,” he said.

University of Newcastle student, Anna, was diagnosed with depression and anxiety in 2011 and began seeing a psychologist weekly. “I felt like I was just a cloud floating around, I would not notice anything around me or remember anything that happened because I was constantly stuck inside my head,” Anna explains. “It was frustrating at times when people did not understand that it was not just a matter of ‘snapping out of it.’” What Anna had to personally deal with is the large, negative stigma attached to mental illness- and this is where the problem lies. Unfortunately, some people still incorrectly associate depression as a sign of weakness, or a lack of personal character.

Masters of Mental Health Nursing at UoN, Rachel Rossiter, said the stigma has been embedded in our society for a long time and there are many myths associated with mental health. “We often think of mental illness from the

DESIGNED BY JENNIFER TODD

Yak Magazine - September 2013

The Green Room will reach out to school children in rural and remote areas as some may not have access to mental health services. So far councils and organisations, such as Batyr, have applied for a $10,000 grant from the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal to put our plan into action and help overcome this problem.

Minister for Mental Health, Kevin Humphries, said the consequences of mental illness are often more pronounced in regional areas. “A combination of isolation, a lack of services and environmental and social triggers has resulted in a relatively greater number of people succumbing to mental illness in regional communities compared to our cities.”

Yet despite these physical factors, people living in rural Anna has now recovered from her mental illness and areas are also less likely to reach out for help. Rossiter says depression did not make her weak, or any less of a says the stigma may be to blame. “If you have chest person. “If I did not have depression I would not be able to pain you do not go to the hospital until it is really bad. handle things the way I do now, I would not be who I am “As for talking to someone because you are struggling today,” she said. “With the help of my psychologist, I learnt emotionally, people are less likely to seek help,” she the importance of being mindful, of living in the moment said. “Many people, particularly farmers, have grown and taking everything in.” up with the sense of just soldiering on.” Headspace’s Byron Williams also Mr Humphries says if “Many people, particularly farmers, have recognises why some someone you know is individuals may be less experiencing feelings grown up with the sense of just soldiering on.” inclined to seek help such as isolation, in close-knit areas. “It distress, anxiety and, in some cases depression. “One of can seem more difficult in rural communities to reach the most important things you can do if you think someone out, as it seems like most people know what is going on is in trouble is to ask them if they are okay,” he said. There in other people’s lives. What is really important is that we is nothing wrong with mental illness - only the fact we really reduce this stigma surrounding mental health so we can’t openly talk about it. talk about it like we talk about a broken arm or a sprained * Not her real name. ankle,” Williams said.

Rossiter insists there are many factors that can make us more vulnerable to depression, and people do not need to run away from help. “If you have had a family history of mental illness, suffered child abuse, have a lot of stress, or experienced significant trauma or loss in your life you are more susceptible,” she said. “They are all contributing factors.” If you are feeling unwell, help is always out there.

If you need help you can get help at the Newcastle University Counselling Service is open from Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm. To book an appointment call 02 4921 5801.

DESIGNED BY JENNIFER TODD

19

that we can bring together that share those ideas about things, the better,” executive member Tilley Wood said. With many international students being unable to eat meat for religious reasons, the club is a low-cost, on-campus essential.

VNCU: Never a Missed Steak Sam Rayfield discovers the fun behind the pun at UoN’s vegetarian club.

Inadvertently wearing leather boots to an interview with three executive members of a university vegetarian club is a bit of a dumb one. Conceding that they’re your only pair of shoes will likely make you feel more sorry for yourself than them for you, but when speaking to the Vegetarian Club of Newcastle University, you’ll quickly realize that there’s nothing to be ashamed of.

“We don’t cut people out of the group because they eat meat,” asserts club President Liss Finney.

“It’s more about introducing the idea of vegetarianism to people and for them to have that other option.”

VCNU’s roots trace back to 1990, when the Hunter Valley’s Hare Krishna community began regular on-campus lunches for cashstrapped students seeking an alternative option. Enthusiasm amongst vegetarian students grew, and in 1995 the club was born. The club is considered one of UoN’s longest running student bodies.

“We’re all really passionate about the health, ethical and economic benefits of being vegetarian, and the more people

Despite being “low-key and stagnant” for a few years, 2013 has seen the lines at the Tuesday/Thursday lunches in the Auchmuty Courtyard grow week-by-week as the club’s ties with the Hare Krishna community at Cessnock’s New Gokula farm strengthen.

With cooking classes scheduled to begin at NUSA and t-shirts being printed in the near future, the VCNU operates on generosity and education rather than profit: a $2 joining fee scores you a recipe book full of exploratory recipes, all of which are bloody delicious.

So, before the lines get too long, get on down to the Auchmuty Courtyard, lunchtimes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. As they say, “the more the merrier!”

Search for ‘The Vegetarian Club of Newcastle University’ on Facebook to keep up, and look out for the t-shirts!

Designed by Jessica Rykers

Yak Magazine - September 2013

21

CAMPUS WHIP AROUND This month, Ourimbah and Callaghan folks spilled the beans on their favourite feeds around town – a mix of cheap deals, mouth-watering pub food and supermarket finds.

Shannen Aungiers Callaghan Campus

Selina Chapman Ourimbah Campus

William Gleeson Callaghan Campus

The Central Coast is full of amazing locations, which offer food options for everyone, catering for a range of taste preferences.

A hidden gem is the Tourism and Hospitality teaching restaurant, Preview, at the Central Coast Campus.

Only open for lunch or dinner on selected days during the semester, you can get a three course meal for lunch at $25 or dinner at $30. Drinks can be purchased from the bar. You do not choose your meal, however, dietary considerations will be taken into account.

Greek yoghurt is a reliable choice for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It’s ideal for the university student who is too busy with other duties, whether it be updating Facebook statuses, Snapchatting or napping during lectures. All of these activities leave little time for food.

For mouth-watering fish and chips, visit the Skillion at Terrigal, Monty’s on Gosford waterfront, or if you’re after a more scenic and relaxing area, Patonga Beach is the way to go!

For more wholesome meals, the Elanora Hotel located at East Gosford offer a variety of pub foods at affordable prices. Hogs Breath Café located at both Terrigal and Tuggerah have those famous amazing curly fries.

For restaurants where you can enjoy socialising with friends, head to Mojito Joe’s at Avoca Beach and share their unique food platters with a group. You can try cooking your own steak with a friend at Terrigal Pub’s famous 2 for 1 steak night.

For value for money, head to the all you can eat buffet located at Central Coast Leagues Club (near Bluetongue Stadium in Gosford), and enjoy their variety of foods for just over $20 a person!

If it’s just the sweet treats you’re after, head to Chocolateria San Churro in The Hive at Erina Fair to enjoy a wide range of chocolate goodness. Enjoy mixing up your own ice cream at Cold Rock Ice Creamery and then taking a stroll along the Entrance or Terrigal Beach.

Not only will you be supporting your local students, but you will have an enjoyable evening as well. I thoroughly recommend them for a great night out, at a great price. Call 4348 4536 for Reservations.

It is difficult to say where I prefer the most. However, there is one place which comes to mind.

This is a place that has great atmosphere and entertainment, from chilled relaxing to the more manic. You are always welcome.

The food is heart-warming and is usually accompanied with good conversation and a vino or five. It has great games; pool table, or darts and a fantastic fire pit outside.

The dress code is casual and they don’t ban you even if you put a hole in the ceiling from that tricky pool shot you made last time you were there.

However, as with all special places I want to keep this one to myself.

After sleeping in till 8.30am and facing the prospect of having to obtain a park three kilometres away your 9am lecture, Greek yoghurt can be thrown into a plastic container and chucked into your backpack in a matter of seconds, ready to hit the road. When 1pm comes around and your stomach turns hollow, your Greek yoghurt will be slightly warmer than fridge temperature but still tasty.

The first time round, most find that Greek yoghurt is too sour for their liking. However, upon returning to their usual yoghurt, they realise just how rich it is.

During round two, people learn to love the natural taste and appreciate the gluten and gelatine free goodness.

The health benefits will leave you feeling well-nourished and healthier with its high level of protein and calcium. It alone will get you through a day without fail.

Greek yoghurt can also get you more friends as it is believed to stop bad breath from occurring.

DESIGN BY ANNELIESE WILD

Autonomy Day 2013

Yak Magazine - September 2013

23

F E AT U R E A R T I S T

A

s a general rule, I am not a big fan of support acts at concerts. It’s not a reflection on the musicians at all; I am just impatient and have the leg circulation of an 86-year-old woman.

So when I say I freaking loved The Kite String Tangle when they supported MS MR (stop looking puzzled and just check them out - you won’t regret it) at their performance at the Metro Theatre, you will know why.

As soon as I woke up the next day (I actually mean arose from my alcoholinduced coma) I jumped onto the Triple J Unearthed website and tracked down this musical dreamboat (he’s also a little cute...).

Truthfully, I am a sucker for dreamy electronica-pop with those sweet-ass, angelic vocals and boy, that The Kite String Tangle deliver.

Kicking off this solo project in 2012, Brisbane producer Danny Harley has taken Australia by storm already lining up performances at Splendour in the Grass, Parklife and Peats Ridge Festival (but no biggie right?).

He’s a little James Blake with choirboy vocals that mix with a Flume-esque electronica and earthly indie-pop beat, to create some deep, dreamy and multilayered sounds.

Triple J Unearthed offers three original singles (Given the Chance, Commotion and Tinder) for your listening (and downloading) pleasure. Given the Chance, his latest single, definitely stands out with steady percussion that combines with a new genre of experimental pop-electronica to create a wicked and unpredictable tune.

Dan Buhagiar from Triple J describes Harley’s 2012 track Commotion as, “a

great chill wave tune that takes lots of unexpected turns, throwing random sounds at you in slightly irregular rhythms. Like.”

Dan Newton from Heavy and Weird hits the nail on the head commenting, “There is a dedication to mood and atmosphere, but where other artists may favour the drone, The Kite String Tangle slip into the sunshine of structured of pop music.”

Through The Kite String Tangle, Harley creates an almost twisted and dark atmosphere that incorporates all the best parts of pop. It’s tumultuous at times but flows so well that you know your ears are in the hands of a mixing professional.

If you love a deep beat, techno pop and some transcendent vocals, then get up on this up and coming.

Currently you can download his stuff from the Triple J Unearthed website (free!) and honestly it’s pretty slick.

FIND THE KITE STRING TANGLE ON THE WEB: https://www.facebook.com/ thekitestringtangle https://soundcloud.com/ thekitestringtangle DESIGNED BY ANNELIESE WILD

Leaving a mark is a primal human impulse that everyone who’s ever doodled while listening to Centrelink’s hold music can relate to. From the kindergarten kid drawing his first ubiquitous triangle-roofed house, down to the anonymous Palaeolithic booty enthusiast who carved the Venus of Willendorf, visual art has been part of our shared human experience for the last 40 000 years.

That’s forty centuries.

Try to imagine what song, novel or film will still be iconic and intriguing in the year 42,013. Only visual art can communicate across time and culture on that scale - but I’ll gracefully concede to anyone who disagrees if they can read me a page of Beowulf. That shit’s written in English and one measly millennium later it’s indecipherable. But when Picasso visited the cave paintings in Lascaux, France, slap-bang in the middle of the modernist art revolution, he emerged and said: “we have invented nothing” (in a later interview he added that the caves were “pretty rad”).

These paintings are from before our species even figured out how to grow our own food! And they’re still communicating to people as some damn cool pieces of art. Google Lascaux and tell me you that you’d raise an eyebrow if your tumblr-fied housemate came home with a bison tattoo.

And that’s the thing about visual art - it’s bloody everywhere, even on our bodies. Without even taking into account the realm of “fine” art it’s almost impossible to rest your eyes anywhere where there isn’t an illustration, photo, symbol, pattern, logo, or graphic. (Unless, poor thing, you’re trapped in the Flowers reading room.)

Admittedly, the cute froggy print on your toilet roll isn’t going to last the test of time, but the point remains that an illustrator went to the effort of putting it there.

The driving force behind music is one of the most powerful things I can only mildly understand. Music is one of the most lucrative forms of production in existence.

In my entire life I have only ever met one person who claimed they do not feel the intense emotions most feel when we hear ‘that song’. ‘That song’ that makes us run faster, throw yourself into a sea of head-bangers, tap our toes, sway our hips, develop reasons for knee cartilage replacements, sing ‘til our lungs are sore, or air guitar through the house revealing to our neighbours whether we are a Bond’s or a Calvin Klein junkie.

Music also affects us subconsciously. For years my Dad thought James Bond, Midnight Cowboy and the woefully embarrassing Raise the Titanic were great films. However upon a 20-year anniversary and reliving these films, he quickly realised perhaps the films were not so great. But instead the film score ‘John Barry’ created for these films made the audience think they where watching high quality acting and cinematography. They were just subconsciously enjoying the film’s music.

When Trent Reznor and Atticuss Ross wrote the soundtrack to David Fincher’s The Social Network Reznor said he wanted to “ provide enough [music] so that it doesn’t get boring with people just in a room talking about stuff”.

Consequently, after viewing the film, I did not immediately obtain a copy of the film, but its soundtrack.

The list of film’s whose ass is carried by its music is endless: Air’s haunting sound in The Virgin Suicides, Simon and Garfunkel introducing the nervous Benjamin to Cougar Town in The Graduate, no one can walk down the street and just hold a tin of paint now without humming “Staying alive”.

Only Cat Stevens’ incredible voice can relieve us when 21-year-old Harold goes down on 76-year-old Maude.

Visual art, writing and film are all great for creating feelings of love and hate, but none of them play in our head (literally) and can evoke a million emotions. Long time groupie ‘Sapphire’ says it best in Cameron Crowe’s film Almost Famous: “Love a song, some silly little piece of music, or band so much it hurts”. Whatever the form of artistic culture, music has the final say.

But if you’re still not convinced that visual art reigns supreme, just let me remind you where you’re gonna find all the nudes...

Anneliese Wild

William Gleeson

Yak Magazine - September 2013

If you’ve seen 2001: A Space Odyssey, you already agree with me: film is great. If you have not, do whatever you’ve got to do to get a copy right now and begin watching. Now pause it.

Regardless of where you’ve paused, I implore you to simply sit and stare at the screen. It might be two warring clans of primates discovering conflict, a man in a spacesuit flailing in empty air, or a trippy stream of never-ending colors causing an undesired recall of all those hours spent playing Polybius in the 1980s. 2001 may not have been correct in all of its predictions, but damn did it look good.

Creative writing is the oxygen of the art world. It seeps in to many other art forms including music, film and visual art.

Films and plays have scripts, songs have lyrics, and visual artists often incorporate words into their pieces. Although creative writing can seem dull and lifeless to some, it can actually be the very thing that breathes life into the art form they prefer.

Mass Debate

Across all levels of artistry, film devours its competition literally - but it does something much more elegant than simply crapping everything back out. Every other art form can be incorporated into a film. Black Swan epitomizes all of what’s been mentioned, has an awesome soundtrack, and introduced me to something I never thought I’d appreciate (ballet, heh). For the George Costanzas of this world who are forever annoyed by their lackluster abilities to ‘get’ art, film doesn’t discriminate against the myriad backgrounds it can be approached from - there’s always something to enjoy, even on the most basic level.

Of course, for films like The Guilt Trip or The Green Hornet, pausing to appreciate film photographically is not advised, as Seth Rogen’s face is not a work of art. Rather, films such as these serve as social godsends: what chance of lasting beyond a month would a teenage infatuation have if not for the back row of a cinema, or if films like these were actually engaging? They’d have both lost interest in each other when the slightest hint of a worthwhile plot was witnessed and bam! Relationship over, and all they’ve got to talk about after ‘going to see a movie’ (said they to their parents) is the movie itself.

Everyone can pluck an E chord or call a stick figure self-expression, and it’s easy to craft a story in which the protagonist (subconsciously you) gets the girl, but rarely will you find a talentless douche scraping together double feature-length sci-fi epics with shooting ratios of 150,000:1.

Film separates the men from the boys, but gets the boys the girls as well.

Many other art styles allow for intense self-expression, however, none are more simple or accessible than creative writing. You could write in a notebook while sitting in a café stalking your ex, on the wall of a building, or your friends face. As long as you have the right tools, a sharpie, a paintbrush, chalk, sometimes even just a stick, you can write whatever you like, wherever and whenever you like.

Perhaps, most importantly, writing is a celebration of language, communication and the mind’s ability to form ideas. It allows us to express things we may not be able to say out loud. The audience isn’t left guessing the meaning behind creative writing, like they would a painting, the symbolism of a statue, the themes of a film or the chords of a song; an author can write whatever they like, and we get it. If we don’t get it, it’s because the author doesn’t want us to…or it’s in another language… or it’s just plain nuts.

Creative writing gives the audience input other art might not, allowing what appears to be one piece of art to turn into millions of original pieces. The author passes their piece to the audience, willing them to make their own creations and allowing whole worlds come to life from pieces of paper.

If you can write the alphabet, you can write creatively. In fact, even if you can’t write creatively, you can still write a novel, or a poem, a break-up letter, anything you like, just let the words flow from your mouth. By taking pieces of your imagination and transcribing them on paper, you’re producing art. Creative writing proves that anyone has the ability to create art, even if they’re not ‘artistic.’ As long as you can dream, feel and imagine, you’re capable, making creative writing a diamond amongst artistic gems.

Roll the credits on this dispute, editor.

Sam Rayfield

Susan Boyd

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26 Yak Magazine - September 2013

Ever considered yourself to be artistically challenged? Feel like your imagination just will not expand itself to allow the ability to create? Problem solved.

Create 2308 is an initiative of UoNs that brings together the campus community in a collective collaboration of creation. Festival coordinator Craig Foot describes the event as a chance for everyone to get involved.

Create 2308 gives the “opportunity for a mathematician to show a creative side,” he said, and “let off some steam before the break”.

The event will run from Monday 16th September and will take place all across Callaghan campus. Both staff and students will be creating works that will be “popping up all over the place”.

Many of the artistic collaborations will allow by passers the opportunity to becoming involved in the creative process, through observation participation and by creating something themselves.

Create 2308 will bring together aspects that “wouldn’t happen elsewhere,” Craig said.

You can drop into the ceramics studio and decorate a tile that will become a piece of a wall mural, for other students to appreciate for years to come.

The Quoto Booth will allow you to write down your thoughts about creativity and you will be able to take away a photographic memory of the day.

Other things to watch out for across campus are pop-up musical cabarets, bee sculptures, post it piñatas (yes it is exactly what you’re thinking), Latin dancing classes and many other cool, exciting, weird and whacky wonders.

The piece de resistance, in my opinion? The Chameleon Sight Backpackers.

You can hold two cameras that will result in in full 360 degree perception, 180 degrees in each eye. The backpack allows you to roam freely amongst onlookers. I don’t think I fully get it but I will definitely be tracking this beauty down for a go.

Keep an eye on the UoNs web page for more information about the event and where you will be able to find works, but remember to keep an eye out on campus for popup creations that you won’t be expecting. www.uonservices.org.au

DESIGNED BY HOLLY FARRELL

Yak Magazine - September 2013

Lachie Leeming previews the upcoming U Cinema Movies, provided to you for free by UON Services.

Mary Meets Mohammed A documentary feature film, Mary Meets Mohammed is an often-confronting work that highlights the deep chasm in religious and social differences between a group of Australians, and Afghani refugees. It opens with the news that the Australian Government has announced plans to build the first detention centre in Tasmania, statistically Australia’s least multicultural state.

There is some heated commentary from local residents voicing their displeasure at this, which is headed by the film’s main character Mary. As she ends her tirade, in which she calls Muslim men “cowards” and “heathens,” she is asked has she ever actually met a Muslim man, to which she unabashedly answers “No.” It is amongst this backdrop that Mary, a staunch Christian and member of her community’s knitting group, has her life and beliefs changed forever. When the knitting group agrees to knit beanies for the newly settled detainees, Mary dislikes the idea but agrees to help deliver them to the 400 men at the detention centre.

After spending one hour at the centre with some of the refugees, Mary unexpectedly finds herself in regular contact with Mohammed, a 26-year-old Muslim Hazara asylum seeker. What follows is a journey of self-discovery as Mohammed challenges Mary’s views on asylum seekers and the world as a whole. A terrific independent Australian film which is particularly raw considering the current political landscape.

Screening September 16th, Derkenne Courtyard 6:30PM

Blow In the late 90’s and early naughties, Johnny Depp was pumping out a host of weird and wonderful roles. These varied from the wonderful Hunter S. Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, to the charming gypsy in Chocolat, and then to the drug trafficking George Jung in Blow.

Based upon the book Blow: How a Small Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellín Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All, by Bruce Porter, the movie was released in 2001.

Arguably a cult classic and still packing plenty of punch, Blow follows George as he attempts to build a drug transportation empire by exploiting the financial and legal loopholes between Colombia and America. Blow unfolds as a tale of multiple betrayal and the soulless nature of a group of people who are all for the get rich quick scheme.

Depp is aptly assisted by bombshell, Penelope Cruz, who is painfully unaware of her hubby’s drug exploits.

The movie reaches a fever pitch when George heads to Colombia to meet the head of Medellin Cartel, none other than Pablo Escobar.

With an R18+ rating though, it’s probably not one to take the kids too. However, if you are after a terse adrenalinebuster that outlines the dangers of greed, I’ll meet you there.

Screening September 9th, Derkenne Courtyard 6:30PM

27

2 sep

Hero (M)

9 sep

Blow (MA 15+)

16 sep

Mary Meets Mohammad (PG)

14 oct

Not Another Teen Movie (MA 15+)

21 oct

The Cabin in the Woods (MA 15+)

28 oct

9 (M)

4 nov

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (MA 15+)

Yak Magazine - September 2013

I remember my first video game. It involved a friendly bandicoot by the name of Crash, who jogged amicably through the jungle, spinning like a top to rid himself of the unpleasantries in his life, like spiky armadillos and brightly labelled boxes of TNT. Fast forward a good decade or so later and gaming has changed to reflect the ageing demographic that was first acquainted with our old mate Crash. I played Grand Theft Auto 4 for the first time this year, despite it being a relatively old game (according to the holy grail of all knowledge, Wikipedia, it came out in 2008.

Doesn’t that seem like that long ago!). To justify my lateness, a couple of years of living on college here at our grand university made video games a distant second to other activities, such as Wednesday nights in town.

So when I was reacquainted with the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) franchise, I was taken aback by the encapsulating storyline and the seemingly endless geographical boundaries one can now play within. If you are familiar at all with the commercially colossal GTA series you would know that the games are based on a tried-and-true successful recipe of kneecapping pimps, running over hookers and robbing banks (none of which I personally endorse outside of the digital realm). Throughout my alternate adventures however I consistently repeated to the lads that I live with how inappropriate this game would be for a young child. The way I personally saw it is children are inevitably going to be exposed to swear words and other adult themes, which are increasingly present in video games. Gift wrapping them in game form for an eight-year-old is probably a bit soon, I feel.

A level of debate still exists about the validity of Australian video game ratings, with our country only relatively recently acquiring the R18+ classification.

29

However, as your lecturers and tutors will tell you, your opinion is worthless unless validated by an individual with expertise in that field. In regards to that, I turned my queries to Patrick Ng, a fellow student at University of Newcastle who is currently completing a PhD revolving around the influence of sound in videogames. When I inquire about the current ratings system and the need for the R18+ classification, Patrick holds a firm stance. “I think it’s absolutely essential,” he said before highlighting some key points in the debate.

“For starters the average age of a video gamer in Australia is over 18. Most news about games in the media often stigmatize gamers as young boys between the age of 12-17,” Patrick reveals, saying that it makes sense to have games that cater towards this relatively older demographic and a rating to match them.

Patrick also cites consistency among media formats as another reason for the R18+ rating. “If a film is rated R18+ it would prevent minors from purchasing contents which aren’t suitable for their viewing. The same logic applies to the purchase of video games. By having the R18+ rating, you can control what games minors can purchase at a games shop”.

The final point Patrick makes is the lucrative black market that arises when games are banned. “When you ban something, you make it more appealing for people to try and access it. So by legalizing these games with an R18+ rating, you reduce the number of people trying to illegally download or acquire the games from other means.”

It would seem that even with the Government amending the laws of video game classification, the onus still rests on the parents of younger players. R18+ ratings have given older gamers more access to the games that reflect their age, whilst protecting younger gamers from early exposure.

DESIGNED BY BRANDON BIDDLE

30 Yak Magazine - September 2013

With Matthew Hatton

A

nd so it came to pass that, once again, everyone who has had something nasty said to them by some random on the Internet has decided that it is trolling and that Twitter or Facebook or whoever should step in and stop them and they’re mean and stop it and feelings.

There is one big thing that has been irking me about it. And that is people who have been saying that we need to create special laws to ‘stop the trolls’.

We do not need special ‘stop the troll’ laws. We have laws that deal with this already.

In the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Telecommunications Offences and Other Measures) Act (No.2) 2004, there are a number of sections that deal with “using a carriage service” to do various things the government has decreed that you shan’t be allowed to do.

In particular, section 474.15 makes illegal to use a carriage service to threaten to kill and section 474.17 makes it an offence to use a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offense. There are no specific definitions for what

“There is one big thing that has been irking me about it. And that is people who have been saying that we need to create special laws to ‘stop the trolls’. menace, harass or cause offence means under the Act. In fact, it all depends on what “reasonable persons would regard as being, in all circumstances, menacing, harassing or offensive”.

So there is a lot of room for interpretation.

One thing to remember is that ‘carriage service’ relates basically to the phone lines – the physical wires that carry the Internet into and out of your house. It does not relate to Twitter, Facebook or any site on the Internet.

The other problem I have with calls for there to be special laws written specifically for the internet and internet-related issues is that they are often written in a hurry and more often than not they tend to suffer quite badly from the Law of Unintended Consequences. Just ask Frenchman Alain Prevost.

Yes, people say nasty things on the Internet. Yes, they should probably be stopped. But stopping and considering things for a moment, before launching off and inadvertently causing more harm than good.

O

ne thing that catches my interest about the asylum seeker debate in this country is the moral tags that seem to stick with one policy or another. Deterrent approaches like the ‘no advantage’ principle and now Rudd’s Papua New Guinea arrangements have come to be frequently referred to as tough or ‘hardline’ approaches, even by their own advocates. Their opponents go as far as to call them cruel, and frequently refer to alternatives as the more ‘humanitarian’ or ‘compassionate’ approaches.

Such tags make little sense to me, and seem to be based on an out-of-sight, out-of-mind concept of humanitarianism, in which you only need to be compassionate towards those you’re legally obligated to deal with.

“What is the basis of calling a policy that is fairer and spares hundreds of drownings inhumane?”

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has estimated that in 2010, around 80,000 refugee resettlement places were offered by participating countries, but the demand remains for approximately 800,000 more. No matter what side of politics you’re on, you have to admit that it is not possible for us to resettle those 800,000 in Australia. And it follows, surely, that the ‘humanitarian’ approach is not to favour those who have the means of getting to Australia over those who don’t.

We are frequently, and quite rightly, reminded that we can’t imagine what some of the people who arrive on our shores have been through. But there are also hundreds of thousands in refugee camps throughout war-torn, poverty stricken countries for whom the prospect of getting to Australia by boat, or living in a place like Papua New Guinea, is a distant and unattainable dream.

So-called humanitarian policies like timely on-shore processing, favour one group over another. Then there is the slight inconvenience of hundreds dying at sea as a consequence.

What is the basis of calling a policy that is fairer and spares hundreds of drownings inhumane? The only thing I can think of is that when we lock someone up for years or send them to a country of far less economic prosperity, we are the perpetrators, but when a boat sinks or a civil war breaks out in a distant country, that was the fault of Mother Nature or a corrupt government, and we’re off the hook. Yay. Seems to me a pretty naive view of humanitarianism.

Bravo to our leaders for taking the ‘hard line’.

Yak Magazine - September 2013

31

THIS month we asked the kids on campus...

What is your favourite lolly and best dress up?

Name: Laura Bradley

Name: Sima

Name: Lily

Name: Brooke

Degree: Communication

Degree: PhD Chemical

Degree: Education

Degree: Education

Fav Lolly: Red Frogs

Fav Lolly: Red Frogs

Best Dress Up: 1950’s

Best Dress Up: 70’s Disco

Fav Lolly: Sour Straps Best Dress Up: Sailor Moon

Engineering

Fav Lolly: Chocolate Best Dress Up: Sport dressing up

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Just email us at yakmedia@newcastle.edu.au.

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