Issue One - 2014 by UTS Vertigo

Creative Directors

Advertising

Alex Barnet Emma Sprouster

Stephanie King

Editor in Chief

Creative Team

Rachel Eddie

Bella Ali-Khan Alex Glossop Darcy Green Samantha Louise Haviland Mitch Hockey Jacqui Lee Jacqui Levene Grace Mathis Gemma Stoner

Lachlan Bennett Patrick Boyle Lyndal Butler Ben Chapple Daniel Comensoli Anais Darling Rachel Dorn Jade Ellen Henrietta Farrelly-Barnett Ling McGregor Mina Kitsos Frances Mao Joe McKenzie

Editors Larissa Bricis Andrea Huang Tom Lodewyke Lachlan Mackenzie Lily Mei Nathalie Meier Hattie O’Donnell Nicola Parise Kristen Troy

Cover Design Emma Sprouster

Meet the Editors

News

Zoe’s Law Explained

Culture

Mapping out UTS

Rise of the Eco Warriors

A Brief History of the C-Word

The First Vaccination

Tech and Gaming

An Interview with Minna Gilligan

Spotpress Pty Ltd, Marrickville

Memorial for James Morgan

Showcase: Marian Park, Ling McGregor, Daniel Comensoli

Podcasts

An Interview with The Jezabels

Reviews

Quinoa: More Than Just a Hipster Fad?

The Defamer

Grad’s Guide

Competitons

Rookie’s Guide

UTS Students’ Association

Zinegeist

With Support from

Moving Forward: What Will Australian Politics Look Like in 2014?

Sugar Daddy

Fringe

Contributors

Tracey Lien June Murtagh Freya Newman Marian Park Harry Power Zara Selman Brittany Smith Jake Witchard Tish Worton

Puzzles (yay!)

Collectives and SA Reports

Vertigo is published by the UTS STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION Proudly printed by SPOTPRESS PTY LTD, MARRICKVILLE Email us at advertising@utsvertigo.com for advertising enquiries. Vertigo and its entire contents are protected by copyright. Vertigo will retain reprint rights; contributors retain all other rights for resale and republication. No material may be reproduced without the prior written consent of the copyright holders. Vertigo would like to show its respect and acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the Land, the Gadigal and Guring-gai people of the Eora Nation, upon whose ancestral lands the university now stands. More than 500 Indigenous Nations shared this land for over 40,000 years before invasion. We express our solidarity and continued commitment to working with Indigenous peoples, in Australia and around the world, in their ongoing struggle for land rights, self-determination, sovereignty, and the recognition and compensation for past injuries.

vertigo issue one - firsts

editorial It was the summer of ’13 and while you were(n’t) sleeping, Cory Bernardi wrote non-satirical satire, serious allegations made against Woody Allen were brought back to the fore, the Great Barrier Reef got screwed, Barry O’Farrell tucked you in at 3am, Triple J got told, and we ten editors tried our hand at making your student magazine. Welcome to our year in reign. The theme for this issue has been loosely (very, very loosely) shaped around the theme “Firsts”, for reasons that do not need explaining. Yep, this is our very first issue and it’s one that I’m proud of. As promised, we’ve tried to make sure Vertigo has something for everyone; it’s your mag, after all, and it’s paid for by your SSAF fees (sorry about that). It’s only fitting that you enjoy it. My only regret – aside from not really getting a holiday – is that you weren’t a contributor. We know you’re cool and interesting and thoughtful and smart enough to not choose USYD, and we also know that you wanna get your (amazing) stuff out into the world. Ergo, you should get in touch. Despite a few hiccups along the way, we have some killer content for you to peruse at your leisure. Personal favourites include our Zinegeist column – for which the amazing Vanessa Berry donated her words – our art interview with Minna Gilligan, the Sugar Daddies feature, and the over-achievers we’re showcasing from page 36. And trust us, we have more sass in store for Issue 2. To all the ‘lil baby First Years, welcome to Sydney’s University of Technology; sadly, we don’t always live up to our name with some pretty crummy wireless and teachers who aren’t great with the whole YouTube thing (they are many). But enjoy your time here. As someone who’s attended another University in the past (ew), trust that you’ve chosen a great one. If you’re an International Student, on exchange, or a regional kid living in Sydney for the first time, I hope the Tower Building isn’t too daunting. May your all-nighters be few. Happy 2014, happy studies, and happy reading; we hope we’ve made the best student mag possible.

Yours tirelessly, Rachel Eddie and the Vertigo team.

THANK YOUs: 2013 Editing Team Design Wizards Father Josh Mother Zara Jimmy

fuck yous: Office Jar-fly Gladys Berejiklian Scott Morrison Valentine’s Day

CALENDAR FEBRUARY MON

TUE

WED

THU

FRI

SAT

SUN

FILM: Yoko Ono Art and Life @ MCA, 10am-5pm - FREE ART: Film Cunst @ Brenda May Gallery, until 22/2 - FREE

MUSIC: St Jerome’s Laneway Festival @ SCA, Rozelle

FESTIVAL: Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, until 2/3

UTS KURING-GAI CAMPUS O’DAY FESTIVAL: Digital Writers’ Festival, until 24/2 FESTIVAL: 21st Mardi Gras Film Festival @ Event Cinemas George St - 7pm, until 23/2

UTS KURING-GAI CAMPUS O’DAY

UTS city campus o’day

UTS Union BBQ @ Tower Building, Level 3, 1pm - FREE

ART: Electroscape @ 107 Projects, 6pm-9pm - $15

MUSIC: Oliver Tank @ Metro Theatre, 7pm - $17

ART: Made in Australia @ Campbelltown Arts Centre, until 9/3 - FREE FILM: Back to the Future II @ Soda Factory, 8pm - FREE

TALK: Tim Flannery In Conversation with Anne Summers @ City Recital Hall, 6:30pm - $28

ART: A Queer Aesthetic @ The Pine St Gallery, until 3/3 - FREE WORKSHOP: How To Tie Knots @ Cowbell 808, 8:15pm-9:30pm - $12

UTS UNION ACTIVITIES DAY @ CITY CAMPUS

UTS UNION O’FEST @ CITY CAMPUS

THEATRE: Bite Me @ ATYP, 7pm-9pm - $30

FILM: Gremlins @ Soda Factory, 8pm - FREE

TALK: Queer Act/ing @ PACT, 4:30pm - FREE

ART: War is Over! (If You Want It): Yoko Ono @ MCA - $20 MUSIC: Soundwave 2014 @ Sydney Olympic Park, 11am - $185

AUTUMN SEMESTER CLASSES COMMENCE

MUSIC: Placebo @ Enmore Theatre, 8pm - $75

ART: By Day, By Night @ 107 Projects, 6pm, until 6/3 - FREE

PERFORMANCE: The Sydney Feminists - Variety Show @ The Red Rattler, 7pm - $10 MUSIC: Secret Garden Festival @ Undisclosed Location, until 1/3 - $120 MUSIC: PALMARAMA! ft. Palms & The Gooch Palms @ OAF, 8pm - $10

MUSIC: The John Steel Singers & Jeremy Neale @ Metro Theatre, 5pm - $12 MUSIC: Technicolor Psych-Night @ Frankie’s Pizza, 4pm-4am - FREE

psst: for a more indepth and detailed calendar head to utsvertigo.com.au

vertigo issue one - firsts

MEET THE EDITORS

worst first dates Meet the team, through their most uncomfortable and telling stories of their worst first dates. Happy Valentine’s Day…

Kristen: We went to a 4D theatre to watch a cheesy historical, virtual tour of Rome. The “4D experience” involved: (1) Creepy employees splashing freezing water on us to enhance our “tactile sensation” of the film, and (2) abrupt and crazy movements of our theatre seats that in no feasible way paralleled the on-screen happenings. I was wet, raging and retching from unanticipated motion sickness. My poor boyfriend (bless his heart) endured my ceaseless wrath of complaints for the next five hours.

Larissa: After weeks of pestering, I agreed to a “casual date” with a guy from my tute. This date took place in a shopping centre where the only thing duller than the suburban surrounding was the conversation, which mainly revolved around his cross-country running. The only time he seemed to remember that I was with him was when his hand grabbed my arse in front of an scandalised gaggle of elderly women. A real gentleman.

Tom: I rushed home after work to shower and arrived in town on time. It was a coffee date. I sat around contemplating the footpath for a good 40 minutes while she was stuck in traffic. By the time she arrived, all the cafés were closed. We got iced coffees instead and drank them in the park. We had our first kiss under the judgmental gazes of park-dwelling old people, who were no doubt jealous of our glamorous first date.

Nathalie: I’ve only ever been on one date and I didn’t know it was a date. We went to coffee. I was meeting a friend for drinks afterwards so I invited her to join me and the guy. Disaster. They spent the evening talking about My Chemical Romance and British TV. He drunk called me later to abuse me for having our date crashed. He then informed me that it was in fact a date.

Rachel: It’s a myth that you’ll get a rush of adrenalin in a near death experience. I know this because I almost drowned. On a kind of first date. He tried to save me. His friend tried to save me. Failing that, both might have watched my corpse float out to sea had it not been for the Lifeguard who saw us floundering outside the red-andyellow flags. It was a good date.

Hattie: He asked me out to dinner and the theatre, so I assumed we were going on a date. He brought his brother along. It was weird. The play was an amateur production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. For dinner, I ordered a curry that was as pleasant as a mouth full of wasabi swamp mush. As my mouth numbed, my nose began to drip uncontrollably. My attempts to politely stifle the tap were super graceful and not at all cringeinducing. What I learnt: always have an exit plan.

Lily: It wasn’t even a date, but we bumped into the guy’s ex who told me she loved my boots. Then, Mean Girls style, she turned around and texted him to say “Those are the ugliest effing shoes I’ve ever seen” and later, “She looks like a boy.” I wish her a life with many mangy cats and lots of cat poop.

Andy: Kids (cue How I Met Your Mother Ted Mosby voiceover), it’s cool to have non-existent worst first dates because you’ll save yourself ever having to write about what must have been an incredibly painful and embarrassing experience for the sheer (unguaranteed) entertainment of others.

Lachlan: I went to pick her up, but her extended family were playing street cricket so I was asked to bowl. I don’t do sports. I bowled a small child out and felt really bad. The only thing on at the cinemas was Little Fockers. Once seated she loudly complained about the rowdiness of the pensioner-filled cinema. I groaned, it was awesome. Feeling the failure of a shitty date, I instigated a make-out session in the packed theatre of disapproving onlookers.

Nicola: We had dinner at his squashed pad above King St. After that, we sat on his roof drinking whiskey and watching the happenings of Newtown at night. Then he turned to me and asked if I wanted to do something crazy. “Sure,” I said, “Why not?” As it happened, “crazy” involved dumping a broken washing machine in a rubbish pick up zone.

vertigo issue one - firsts

MAPPING OUT UTS Illustrated by: Jacqui Lee INSTAGRAM: @J_ACQ Annotated by: The Vertigo editors 1.

Tower Building: deceptively contains two buildings in one. Also, Vertigo lives here. 2. Greenery TBA. 3. Science Building: basically Walter White wannabes (we presume). 4. DAB Building: a giant Apple endorsement. 5. Bon Marche: brooding creatives who ignore desperate Vertigo Editors. 6. Central Park: food/shiny new thing. 7. Performance art piece. 8. Library: contains valuable resources youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll never use. 9. R.I.P The Abercrombie. May you slumber eternally with The Clare. 10. Nursing, Midwifery & Health: contains inanimate dummies that go into cardiac arrest. 11. The ABC: the shortcut we use to get from Harris Street to the Ultimo Pedestrian Network (i.e. the central tunnel). Plus, Tony Jones and Triple J headquarters. Call (02) 8333 5488 for tour enquiries: access subject to the governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mood.

vertigo issue one - firsts

REMEMBERING JAMES MORGAN 10 MARCH 1989 - 7 JANUARY 2014 VERTIGO EDITOR: 1 JANUARY 2008 - 31 DECEMBER 2008

James Morgan was a student of UTS, and an editor of Vertigo in 2008. On December 22, 2013, he was involved in a car accident. Two weeks later, he was taken off life support. He was 24-years old. When a former lecturer of mine recently asked me to write something about James for Vertigo, I was hesitant. James and I graduated from UTS some time ago. We hadn’t been near the publication – or any student publication for that matter – in years. Would anyone remember us? Would anyone care? Current Vertigo readers were unlikely to be familiar with the magazine we ran in 2008. I wasn’t sure if the current editors would want to kick off the new year by publishing an obituary of someone they never knew. In the days following James’ death, I found myself desperately trying to cling to every memory of him. I was afraid I would forget. I was afraid that if I forgot about him, then maybe the world would, too. I didn’t want that. So I decided to write this, because even if UTS doesn’t remember him, I remember, and I care. James was the first friend I made at University. We were introduced at an art show a few weeks before semester started.

Our mutual friend wanted to connect us because we were both majoring in French in our double degrees. I had never encountered anyone so excited to meet me. “We’re gonna go to France together!” he said, hands gesturing wildly. “This is awesome! I’ll see you in class, French friend! Team France! We’re going to France!” I had known this guy for no more than five minutes and he already made me believe I was his best friend. That was the magic of James Morgan. He had a knack for making everyone feel like they mattered. When he spoke to you, even if it was for the first time, you couldn’t help but feel like you were the most important person to him.

He had a knack for making everyone feel like they mattered. We ended up in the same French classes for the next three years. We would rearrange our timetables and even pick up night classes just so we could take French together. In Communications lectures I’d teach him how to write swear words in shorthand. Somewhere in one of my textbooks is the shorthand for “dickbag” scribbled dozens of times. Nearing the end of our first year, James had an idea. He wanted to run in the student elections. He wanted to edit Vertigo, so he pulled together a team of five people. There was Matt Carr, who has since gone on to become an award-winning police reporter; Sophie Tarr, who is now a journalist at a national news wire; Lena Rutkowski, who has spent the past few years gallivanting across Europe; and myself. I work as a news reporter in San Francisco. Of course, in late 2007, neither of us had accomplished anything, so we figured the best way to get people to vote for us was to run around campus in bright green t-shirts, shove flyers in people’s faces and promise the students of UTS that we would get Vertigo printed on stock that was at least a few notches above toilet paper. I would like to believe that we won off the back of that promise. Maybe people found us charming. Maybe flyer bombing lecture halls was an effective method of campaigning. Or maybe it was because we had zero competition (I don’t actually

remember if there was another team running for Vertigo that year). Whatever it was, we were in, and for the next year, James would keep the editing team together as we made Vertigo our own. There isn’t one particular Vertigo thing I can point to and say, “There, James Morgan was responsible for that. If it wasn’t for him, Vertigo wouldn’t have that thing.” His contributions were intangible, but undeniable. He brought together five very different people to make a magazine. He energized us. He was there for every single one of us as a fellow editor and as a friend. He got us excited about Vertigo, even when we were editing late at night, hours from deadline, and our Macs decided to beach ball on us just as we were sending the final pages to the printer. James loved Vertigo. He loved what it stood for. He did so much for the magazine, and he never asked for anything in return. Every fortnight (as per Vertigo’s then-print cycle), when crates of the magazine arrived from the printer, he would load up trolleys and deliver them to every UTS building (except Kuring-Gai campus – they could suck it). Whenever the Student’s Association needed anything from us, he was there to sort it out. If ever anyone got snippy with us or attacked one of our writers, James would be there, sometimes telling us it wasn’t worth getting upset about, sometimes out-smack talking our critics. I don’t know if James Morgan was the most important person to have happened to Vertigo. I’m sure there are former editors who would cagefight for that title. But I do believe that without James, Vertigo would not have happened in 2008. Many of our readers have probably long graduated from UTS and don’t remember the silly magazine or the silly people who put it out. But hey, James Morgan, for what it’s worth, I will always remember, I will always care. I miss you, I love you, I will never forget you. Tracey Lien Vertigo Editor 2008

0%, then 5 o t p u v e a Buy and s ven! e k a e r b o t ll e Res

NEWS

vertigo issue one - firsts

Facebook administration rights dispute Words by Lachlan Bennett

MANAGEMENT CHOPS THE HEAD OF(F) NTEU Words by Frances Mao

The former President of the UTS Students’ Association (SA), Lyndal Butler, has been threatened with legal action by her successor, Andy Zephyr, after Zephyr was unable to access administrative privileges to the SA’s official Facebook page. This allegation arises amidst reports of repeated conflicts during the informal 2013-2014 presidential handover. The Facebook page functions to provide information about essential student services and SA activities. Traditionally, the SA President, Education Vice-President, and Advertising Manager cooperatively control the Facebook page. However after SA elections were held late last year, not only have the 2014 representatives been denied these administrative privileges, but the 2013 representatives have all mysteriously been removed as admins of the Facebook page, leaving it to be controlled by some unknown figure. Zephyr spoke of the difficulty of being unable to access the page and said, “It’s just more stress on what I’ve had to do, which at this point is organising O’Week and O’Day to support new students. So to be honest all I see this as is working against the organisation.” Zephyr has also accused Butler of being deliberately uncooperative, and suggests that Butler may be withholding the admin privileges due to the pair’s differences in political opinion. Butler denies being uncooperative and expressed her dismay that, “the new President, and perhaps members of the Grassroots team, are spending time attacking the previous administration and blaming them for any issues that they may be having”, and stated that she had “no time or tolerance for defamatory remarks or accusations”. Facing potential legal action, Butler declined to comment on the Facebook page situation and did not explain how she lost her own administrative privileges or why they weren’t passed to Zephyr. Zephyr contacted Facebook management in early January to uncover the identity of the administrator, but did not disclose the outcome of this investigation. Zephyr did reveal that Facebook management confirmed that Butler’s account was used to strip the other 2013 representatives of their administrative privileges and to transfer these privileges to someone else.

TENSIONS HAVE escalated over the summer in the ongoing enterprise bargaining negotiations between staff and university management. The university’s suspension of a Union President from his job late last year has led to both sides invoking Fair Work Australia action, and is the first taste of the industrial action to come. On 10 December 2013, management suspended Simon Wade, the UTS branch President of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), from his position in the Audio Visual Services Department for alleged serious misconduct by, “handing him a letter in the corridor,” says the NTEU. The university has thus far maintained a blanket silence on the reasons for the decision, but NTEU representatives see the critically timed decision as being politically motivated. Mr Wade, as branch President, is the key negotiator in the talks over the staff’s new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA). This is the work contract that stipulates the pay, rights and working conditions for the university’s staff. “He is being targeted for his union activities,” said a union representative. Progress in the negotiations has stalled after Mr Wade’s suspension and management’s offer of a 2.5% payrise which was duly rejected by the Union. The NTEU also brought a challenge to the suspension decision to Fair Work Australia and in return the university criticised the NTEU campaign set up to support Mr Wade, claiming to FWA that it was exacerbating the dispute. The campaign set up to support Mr Wade, with the support of the UTS Students Association and Unions NSW, and has so far included a rally and an online petition that has received over 1400 signatures. Further industrial action seems likely this year as the EBA conflict continues, and it is probable that UTS might follow the path of our neighbours down the road. Last year, Sydney University was beset with strikes and heavy picketing action, as their staff’s EBA negotiations took a toll on the campus’ day to day running with campus shutdowns, cancelled classes and allegations of police brutality on student protestors.

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opinion

STRAYA DAY RANT

the short end

Words by Jake Witchard

Words by Brittany Smith

Australia Day is a day where our most ignorant white citizens dress up in Taiwanese made Australian flags, drink beer, enjoy a barbeque and harass anyone they deem to be ‘un-Australian’. In choosing to celebrate the invasion of Australia by Captain Cook as the ‘beginning’ of Australia, this government and a huge number of Australian citizens are effectively erasing the 40,000 years prior that Indigenous Australians lived here. I ain’t celebrating shit. I will not commemorate and honour the genocide perpetrated on our First peoples. I do not see white men invading this country, declaring it a ‘land belonging to no one’ and then proceeding to assimilate, steal and slaughter the entire population of original inhabitants as a day worth celebrating. I ain’t celebrating shit. “But it’s all in the past RYYTTE? It happened like 200 years ago so let’s celebrate anyway! YAY!” No. When Indigenous Australians no longer have a life expectancy 10 years below non-Indigenous Australians. When Indigenous babies no longer die of tuberculosis and when Indigenous Australians aged 10-17 are not 24 times more likely to be sent to jail – maybe then we’ll have something to celebrate. Oh and to all you white ppl on FaceyB complaining about how Kevin Rudd has already apologised to Indigenous Australians, you are completely right! Mr Rudd did officially apologise to Indigenous peoples and the Stolen Generations, after which he implemented the Northern Territory Intervention. This motion sent military units into Indigenous communities, robbed them of their right to self-determination and almost doubled self-harm and suicide rates. But, hey! It’s okay GUIZ! K.RUDD said sorry, remember?

On Tuesday January 14 I tuned into Channel Ten’s The Project only to see 2GB broadcaster, Steve Price, stand up against what he believed to be sexual discrimination. You might have wondered if he was representing White Ribbon, a foundation led by men to end the domestic violence that affects one in three women. Maybe he was shedding light on the gender wage gap, which in Australia is wider now than 20 years ago, with women earning 17.5 per cent less than men for the same full time work. If he wasn’t arguing about these, perhaps he was condemning rape culture for placing blame on victims of sexual assault. These are all examples of inequality, but none of these are quite what Steve Price got his trousers in a twist over. Price was actually complaining that men who work in an office are not allowed to wear shorts to work. Feel free to join me in an eye roll that this type of intense “sexual discrimination” was discussed on prime time television. Price’s complaints come from a position of privilege; he works in an air-conditioned office and the majority of CEOs who create dress regulations are men. Feminists often get a bad rep for sweating the small stuff, hating men and failing to achieve anything of substance. Sexual discrimination is supposed to be a failing from the last century and supposedly now men are more disadvantaged than women because they’re not allowed to wear shorts. This is make believe.

#rantover

vertigo issue one - firsts

discussing reproductive rights

ZOE’S LAW Words by Freya Newman and Zara Selman Legal research by Harry Power

A note on cissexism in reproductive rights: Non-cisgendered women are habitually excluded by the reproductive rights movement; this has compelled us to preface the article with a note on trans* inclusivity. Too often, issues of reproductive rights are framed as being ‘women’s issues’ only, ignoring the idea that many trans* men, gender-diverse and intersex people may be able to reproduce. A small but important step is shifting the language of our reproductive rights discourse. For this reason, we will refer to persons carrying a foetus in their womb not as women, but as ‘host parents’.

How did this bill even come about? On Christmas Day of 2009, thirty-six week pregnant Brodie Donegan was hit by a minivan after its driver, who was under the influence of multiple prescription drugs, veered off the road. Donegan was pinned under the wreckage for three hours, as paramedics tried desperately to keep her and her unborn child alive. However, just two hours after arriving at the hospital, the foetus’ heart stopped beating and doctors were forced to perform an emergency caesarean. The child, named Zoe, was stillborn. The female driver responsible was charged with dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm, a criminal offence under the Crimes Act NSW, for the injuries she inflicted on Donegan. In line with NSW case law, the death of the foetus was considered part of these injuries, as unborn children and their mothers are currently recognised as a single entity. Donegan and her family were distressed by the lack of legal redress available to them, which meant that the driver could not be separately charged with Zoe’s death. Enlisting the help of local MP Chris Spence, an amendment was proposed to the Crimes Act NSW that sought recognition of the existence of the foetus in criminal proceedings. The bill, known as Zoe’s Law, would instate foetal personhood for any unborn child over the twenty week gestational period or, if this cannot be reliably established, over 400 grams. This would

effectively make it an offence to unlawfully bring about harm to or destruction of a foetus past such an age or weight. The NSW government Lower House voted in favour of Zoe’s Law in November of last year, passing the bill with 63 votes to 26. But in order for the bill to become law it must pass through the Upper House in February 2014, where it will be sponsored by Christian Democrats leader and vocal pro-life advocate, Fred Nile.

So, what’s wrong with that? Many of the 63 parliamentarians in the lower house who voted ‘yes’ in favour of Zoe’s law did so on a supposedly ‘pro-choice’ platform. Undoubtedly, some of these politicians sincerely believe that Zoe’s law poses no threat to reproductive rights. However, granting foetuses ‘personhood’ status after they are of 20 weeks gestation or over 400 grams is problematic whichever way you look at it. A long list of legal and medical professionals have already aired their grievances over the proposed law. They include the NSW Bar Association, the Australian Medical Association (AMA), Family Planning NSW, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Women’s Health NSW, Domestic Violence NSW, Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia, Reproductive Choice Australia, the National Foundation for Australian Women and Children by Choice.

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Associate Professor Brian Owler, the NSW president of the AMA, pointed out in the AMA statement that ‘once you actually recognise the foetus as being a person with rights, it’s actually not possible for the mother, for instance, to give consent for someone to actually perform the abortion’. (http://www.abc. net.au/news/2013-09-12/abortion-fears-over-proposed-nswfoetus-law/4953926). President of the NSW Bar Association, Phillip Boulten SC, asked in a letter to Mr Chris Spence ‘Why should a foetus of 19 weeks and 6 days be treated differently from a foetus of 20 weeks for the purposes of the criminal law? Why should a foetus of 399 grams be treated differently from a foetus of 400 grams for the purposes of the criminal law? (www. nswbar.asn.au/docs/resources/submissions/spence_001.pdf)

Abortions in NSW already hold a tenuous legal status. Under the Crimes Act, medical terminations are still considered an offence which means that women and doctors can still be charged with what is known as an ‘unlawful abortion’. It is only under common law that abortion may be considered lawful, specifically in situations where a doctor believes on reasonable grounds that the procedure is necessary to preserve the woman from serious danger to her life, or physical or mental health. In recent years this has expanded to incorporate situations where socioeconomic or social stress may persist after birth, however, ultimately, whether or not a host parent can receive an abortion depends entirely on the doctor’s discretion.

How could there be legal repercussions?

As there is no legal definition of what constitutes an ‘unlawful’ termination, medical professionals and women in NSW are already vulnerable to prosecution under the current laws and it seems likely that, if passed, this law will only serve as a further deterrent for abortions to be performed. Abortion clinics, particularly the smaller ones, may be forced to shut down because they simply cannot bear the financial burden of entering legal proceedings. Many doctors could easily decide that carrying out such procedures is simply not worth the risk, given the higher likelihood of prosecution. Similarly, many women may essentially be forced into the decision not to terminate for fear of prosecution or because they have limited access to doctors that will perform the procedure - despite the potential negative impact on their wellbeing. Furthermore, there are fears that this new section could lead to the criminalisation of late term abortions and could have implications on the availability of RU486, as it is uncertain whether administering the drug would constitute a medical procedure.

There are concerns that the provisions could lead to unintended and problematic prosecution of persons that are seen to be engaging in conduct that could harm their foetus. This could include drug-taking or reckless driving, which means that the law could also extend to prosecution of the foetus-bearer’s partner or other family members if their behaviour behind the wheel was seen to endanger an unborn child. Proponents of the bill argue that the protective measures incorporated into the second incarnation of the law (which is known as Zoe’s Law II and was drafted by Donegan herself) should prevent this from happening, as medical procedures or anything done with the parent’s consent are considered exempt. However, the Crimes Act NSW provides no definition of what constitutes a ‘medical procedure’ and it is unclear whether or not host-parents will be able to consent to unlawful conduct. Which brings us to the central issue at stake: the very real possibility of this law limiting access to abortion.

vertigo issue one - firsts

“such a law will have far-reaching consequences for the reproductive rights of women in NSW by creating greater limitations in an already challenging environment, and by opening the doors for pro-life advocates.”

Potential outcomes such as these are why experts from bodies such as the NSW Bar Association, the Australian Medical Association, and the Women’s Legal Service are opposed to the bill. They have the foresight to see that such a law will have farreaching consequences for the reproductive rights of women in NSW - by creating greater limitations in an already challenging environment, and by opening the doors for pro-life advocates to propose the introduction of laws that may further erode the bodily rights of women in favour of the rights of foetuses. Additionally, they, along with others, recognise that this bill is unnecessary - in fact, QC Michael Campbell found the existing laws surrounding the death of an unborn child to be completely adequate after undertaking a review in 2010. Criminal law already considers the destruction or harm of a foetus as an offence whether or not the woman is harmed, and is punishable by up to 14 years jail time. The charge will remain the same if this bill is passed, specifically grievous bodily harm, and is unlikely to mean greater penalties for perpetrators. The only difference is that the courts recognise the offence as committed against the the unborn child instead of the mother, which seems like an arbitrary, albeit dangerous, distinction because it has the effect of establishing foetal personhood. Put simply, Zoe’s law has the potential to abrogate the bodily rights of the women it seeks to offer symbolic legal retribution.

Zoe’s law situation in Australia One of the central themes of International Women’s Day for this year will be ‘Say No To Zoe’s Law’. The annual march, happening this year on 8 March at 11am, will be a continuation of efforts by several women’s, legal, health and human rights groups (including the UTS Students Association and the UTS Wom*n’s Collective), in 2013 to protest against the bill. Around this time, at UTS, a screening of the documentary ‘After Tiller’ will be held, to raise awareness about the toxic consequences of anti-choice rhetoric and legislation. Both of these events intend to reinforce the views of many reproductive justice groups in NSW and more broadly: that they are unwilling to accept the inevitable loss of life which comes as a direct result of restricting abortion practices. That there are often complex factors, rooted in systematically oppressive institutions, associated with the choice to terminate a pregnancy. That ‘personhood’ suggests autonomy, and is thus an inappropriate legal term to afford a foetus. That ‘personhood’ should not be defined under the law by abstract metaphysical criteria, and arbitrary biological landmarks. And that it is crucial that we continue to yield to the person whose womb is carrying a foetus, and not the other way around.

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MOVING FORWARD: WHAT WILL AUSTRALIAN POLITICS LOOK LIKE IN 2014? After a fiery federal election that appears to have made more people more unhappy, the Federal Government brings with it a slew of controversy and... um… conservative revolutions. Joe McKenzie breaks down the things to watch in 2014.

2014 Australian politics, on paper at least, seems less intense than 2013, whose endless machinations turned Canberra into Westeros with Floriade1. That said, just because our government seems less determined to tear itself to pieces does not mean that this year will be unimportant. In fact, those of us unfortunate enough to be fascinated by the endless melodramawith-actual-consequences might argue that some of the debates likely to come up this year are incredibly important for the future of this country.

Austerity One of the cruellest ironies of the 2013 election – and there were many cruel ironies – was that the Liberal Party ran on a platform of taking control of ‘debt and deficit’. Such tactics were effective for two reasons: (1) the Labor Party never successfully convinced the public that there wasn’t actually a budget emergency and (2) they never actually explained what they were going to cut in order to solve this apparent emergency. Instead the Libs formed a National Commission of Audit to decide how to get the budget back in order, stacked the board with their best friends from the Business Council of Australia and - apart from an interim report in January - are going to keep the recommendations a secret until the budget in May. More than likely they will recommend austerity measures, which means tax increases and service cuts, which the Liberals always wanted to do but couldn’t say they were going to do

because, as it turns out, raising taxes and cutting services is dreadfully unpopular. And what will they cut? Well...

The National Disability Insurance Scheme Although it wasn’t nearly as prominent or as controversial as the carbon tax, the National Disability Insurance Scheme was arguably the most impressive legislative achievement of Julia Gillard’s Prime Ministership; it was the largest expansion of the Australian welfare state since Medicare. And even though the Liberal Party promised to fund it, albeit with some reluctance on the part of Joe Hockey, the word is spreading that there are plans to privatise it as one of the recommendations of the Commission of Audit2. But the party should expect a gigantic backlash; the carers groups who lobbied for this legislation are incredibly active and well organised, and the former Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities who championed the NDIS is now the Leader of the Opposition.

Culture Wars Another institution apparently being considered for privatisation is SBS, the often-neglected broadcaster was one of the great beneficiaries of the Rudd-Gillard years. Similarly, gigantic cuts are anticipated to the ABC, including a move toward advertising. The Arts budget is also expected to be slashed, with the minister George Brandis apparently refocusing funding based on

vertigo issue one - firsts “These cuts are part of a broader culture wars- WHERE ASPECTS OF OUR CULTURAL IDENTITY ARE QUESTIONED AND POLITICISED, IN ORDER TO REPRESENT THE VIEWS OF ONE SIDE OF POLITICS.” ‘excellence’. These cuts are part of a broader culture wars- where aspects of our cultural identity are questioned and politicised, in order to represent the views of one side of politics. This will be most clear in the National Curriculum review, which is expected to be highly critical of the current History curriculum for failing to adequately celebrate ‘Western civilisation’.

State Elections Moving away from the Federal level, there are two state elections and, in a pattern that may be familiar by now, both of them look bad for Labor. In South Australia Jay Weatherill leads a government still weak after 12 years in power, and which only scraped by at the 2010 election. A few months ago it looked as if they were headed the way of Labor in Queensland and New South Wales, but more recent polls have some momentum going Labor’s way and Jay Weatherill has a handy lead as preferred premier. In Tasmania it will be down to the wire but all eyes are on the Greens, who governed in coalition with the ALP before being shunned at the polls. They lost a third of their vote at the Federal Election and a bad result in their home state could be devastating.

Climate Change 2013 featured Australia’s hottest day, week, month and year ever. Despite an abundance of evidence supporting climate change, the much maligned carbon tax (which technically isn’t a tax anymore) will be repealed by the Abbott government when the new parliament convenes in July. What will be interesting, however, will be whether or not the cross-benchers will want anything to do with Greg Hunt’s Direct Action plan. The current wisdom suggests that they won’t. What effect will it have on the climate change debate is kind of an unknown - perhaps the environmental movement will have a resurgence and change the political winds. All that we do know is that we will keep giving Clive Palmer far more attention than he deserves.

Asylum Seekers We will continue to make the lives of asylum seekers as miserable as humanly possible, though probably with greater and greater amounts of secrecy. We will continue to ignore Indonesia’s sovereignty, and their response will become increasingly frustrated. We will continue to see polls supporting this awfulness. We will all have to live with what is being done in our names. 1. Dragons = Skywhale 2. An odd little piece of history - this is exactly what the Liberals did to Medibank, the precursor to Medicare after Whitlam left office.

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Kaleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s left your local supermarket and found its way into the hands of underground boutiques. Nestled between Velvet Underground vinyl and bellsleeved shirts, organic kaleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the latest to come from the Surry Hills elite. Ms Dorn shows you how to rock it.

IMAGE COURTESY OF ALTER ECO-FOODS

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QUINOA: MORE THAN JUST A HIPSTER FAD Words by Tish Worton I first discovered quinoa (pronounced keen-wa, not qui-no-a as my mum originally called it) in the kitchen of a friend’s house. She had put a jar full of red, black and light brown seeds on the bench top and we were all trying to figure out the best way to cook it. Since then I have seen so many cook books, cooking blogs and Pinterest boards dedicated to quinoa alone-it’s a wonder we ever struggled. Quinoa is a grain that has become increasingly popular around the world, particularly in the last two years. It might be the slightly nutty flavour, the diversity of its uses, or the fun way it pops in your mouth as you eat it, but articles generally lend its popularity to its incredible health properties. Health benefits aside, quinoa’s popularity is a topic wrapped up in contentious economic, environmental and social matters. Since 2006 quinoa has risen three-fold in price, and in 2011 it averaged USD$3,115 per tonne, boosting the struggling economies that export quinoa, particularly Bolivia and Peru. In 2012 Peru tripled its revenue from quinoa exportation, gaining almost $35m, while Bolivia’s exports provided an income of approximately $85m. The United Nations recognised the potential for quinoa to assist in lifting communities out of poverty, and so declared 2013 the International Year of Quinoa. At the official launch UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon named quinoa “a key plank of the Zero Hunger Challenge.” The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation Director-General, José Graziano da Silva, further stated that: “Quinoa can play an important role in eradicating hunger, malnutrition and poverty.” However, the rising price fetched by quinoa has meant that farmers are more inclined to sell the grain than eat it themselves. They are instead turning to cheap and easily accessible Westernised fast food, which is negatively impacting their health. The grain, which was previously the food for cattle, has become too valuable even for the farmers’ consumption.

Dietary impacts are not the only concerns associated with the rise of quinoa. With greater demand, there have been violent disputes over the relevant arable plots. February 2012 saw dozens of people injured during particularly nasty battles over previously ignored land. Higher demand also means that farmers have abandoned traditional techniques in favour of faster, but less sustainable, methods. By using manufactured fertilisers, rather than the traditional llama fertiliser, the soil is being leached of nutrients. Furthermore, where previously the soil would be rested between harvests, more land is now being used continually, leading to greater desertification. While this is having little impact currently, there will be far greater long-term environmental damage. The supply-and-demand struggle is being met by other countries who have jumped on the quinoa money-making scheme such as Chile, Canada, and the USA. While this may reduce the environmental strain on Bolivia and Peru, it also reduces their flow of income. The Guardian recently published a controversial article titled, ‘Can vegans stomach the unpalatable truth about quinoa?’, which seems to be the main point of discussion across quinoa-related Twitter and blogs. The repartee bounces back and forth between defending vegans and quinoa consumption, and examining the significant negative impacts its recent popularity has had (adding that it’s not only vegans who eat it). There seems to be no clear, overarching conclusion either way. Nevertheless, these conversations do point to the importance of globalisation in today’s world. That I could sit on a stool at a friend’s bench top and eat an ancient pre-Incan grain, and have it affect the health of a family in Bolivia, or the soil in the Andes is something worth thinking about. It reminds me that I’m not just a UTS student in the Sydney bubble, but rather, that I’m part of a global network of people where each choice really does have a worldwide impact.

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IN THE WORLD OF ZINES, VANESSA BERRY IS A ROCKSTAR. SHE IS A WRITER, BLOGGER, VISUAL ARTIST, AUTHOR OF BOOKS STRAWBERRY HILLS FOREVER AND NINETY9, SYDNEY EXPLORER, LONGTIME MUSIC LOVER, AND OP-SHOP QUEEN… YOU GET THE IDEA: VANESSA IS LADY OF MANY AWESOME TALENTS. BUT WHAT SHE IS MOST KNOWN FOR – AND THE START OF HER CREATIVE LIFE - IS ZINES. SHE MADE HER FIRST ZINE IN 1996 AND TO DATE, VANESSSA’S MADE AROUND 140 ZINES IN DIFFERENT SERIES: PSYCHOBABBLE, LAUGHTER AND THE SOUNDS OF TEACUPS, I AM A CAMERA AND DISPOSABLE CAMERA. WHEN IT COMES TO ZINES, VANESSA BERRY IS PRETTY MUCH THE ENTRY POINT FOR MOST ENTHUSIASTS. ETERNALLY COOL, THE CREATIVE POLYMATH SHARES WITH Andy Huang HER EXPERIENCE OF DISCOVERING ZINES AS A TEENAGER IN THE 90S…

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How were you introduced to zine culture? I read zines for years before I made one of my own. I loved how odd and idiosyncratic they were, and in the pre-internet days it was unusual to encounter personal writing, so that struck a chord too. I made my first zine Psychobabble in a cut-andpaste frenzy one night - it was made up of clippings from books and magazines that I found weird or interesting, and I scrawled whatever came into my head in the gaps between the clippings. I kept making zines because I became connected with the zine-making community and found plenty of kindred spirits in it; I loved getting mail from readers, and loved the process of making them. I recently had a memoir published, (Ninety9, published by Giramondo) about growing up in the 1990s and discovering music and underground culture, and there is a section about zines in that. Writing that made me reflect on how much zines changed my life - it was the thing that made me feel connected to the world. I think this is a common teenage experience: finding something, no matter what it is, that connects you to the world. Sometimes this is a phase, other times it’s with you for life. For me and zines, it seems to be the latter - I’ve been making them for 18 years now.

Tell us about your zines… My current zines are I am a Camera and Disposable Camera. I started making I am a Camera in 1999 and I make it roughly annually. It varies in content but it is usually stories from my life. They’re personal but not confessional, looking out at the world through my eyes rather than looking inward. The last two issues have been about travel – issue 16 was about Ōkunoshima, or “rabbit island” in Japan, and issue 15 was about visiting Dunedin in New Zealand and my love of Flying Nun bands from the 1980s. Disposable Camera is the little sister zine to I am a Camera. I type it in one sitting on a typewriter and it is paired with a map that relates to the story - a memory map of Annandale is one example, teamed with a story about visiting goth houses in Annandale in the 1990s.

What’s next for you? I’m working towards an exhibition at Penrith Regional Gallery in March. Another one of my projects is a blog, Mirror Sydney, which is about unusual, forgotten or overlooked elements of the city and suburbs. I have a big list of places I hope to explore, and write about, this year.

Who: Vanessa Berry What: I am a Camera, Disposable Camera Where: The Rizzeria, Take Care Zine Distro, Etsy More: vanessaberryworld.wordpress.com

What’s in your latest issue? I’m working on a new I am a Camera, and this one is similar in theme, although with a more personal slant. My previous one was a split with another long-time zinemaker, Luke YOU, and it was about the 80s pop band The Housemartins. Luke lives in Melbourne and we sent the zine back and forth in the post as we worked on it.

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sugar daddy Sick of being branded as either feminist or victim, Anais Darling speaks of her experiences Sugar Dating.

I first thought that Sugar Dating would be glamorous: lonely man, heavy pockets, New Year, new money… diamond shoes, a few hundred bucks, Prada handbag, and all the old men I want for nothing at all. My Seeking Arrangement profile (the official Sugar Dating website) specifically stated that I wanted somebody to pay my bills in return for lightweight sexual promises (“bite-size, delicate Lolita waif”). The first response I received on Seeking Arrangement was from a man in California, L.A., who had a fetish for being dominated. I met up with him once a week over Skype (exclusively audio) and verbally insulted him until he came. He

Sydney to see me: a forty-something Italian man from South Yarra, who was single, busy, rich (short and fat, with an obvious limp). On the harbour, by moonlight, I kissed him once on both cheeks. He reeked of cheap cologne, but he said, “You’re sweeter than sugar, honey!” and it felt kind of salty, a little sleazy (he was promising me $300 for dinner and some company). He bought me an expensive four-course dinner: a $15 glass of red, $35 main dish of MahiMahi. I didn’t know what Mahi-Mahi was, until I was wedged between a leathercushioned seat and a pristine white table with a middle-aged man’s tanned, stubby hand touching my knee beneath the

“I TOLD HIM I WOULDN’T SUCK HIS DICK ON THE FIRST DATE (DEAL WITH IT). HE GAVE ME $150 FOR A CAB RIDE HOME.” paid me $200 a session for two months, which successfully paid all my bills and left a little extra. To be honest, I enjoyed our little Skype sessions: he was nice to me, always respectful (he called me “Mistress”, and I’d make him punish himself if he didn’t). Sugar Relationships begin with the potential of being longterm, unless stated otherwise, but I had to end our arrangement because he started to ask for things I was uncomfortable with, and I found sweet liberation in saying “no.” My first real Sugar Date was with a man from Melbourne, and he flew to

tablecloth. He stuffed his face with crumby deep fried seafood and kept calling me “gorgeous.” When he invited me back to his hotel for the night, I told him I wouldn’t suck his dick on the first date (deal with it). He gave me $150 for a cab ride home, which I spent on beer and a new shade of red lipstick (and didn’t call him back). Sugar Daddies are at my mercy. I found liberation in saying “no.” There was an instance where I was sitting on a king sized bed in a penthouse apartment in Darlinghurst, smoking a

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free joint with another girl’s hand on my thigh. We were both muses, just sitting in lingerie, trying to fuel a man’s creativity to make another film, finish another court case, and talk about philosophy and literature. Sitting across the room he – dark blonde hair, black-rimmed glasses, black and white striped shirt – told us he wished he could film us together in our black lacey lingerie, but his wife couldn’t find out. That’s what sugar dating is about; lonely married men looking for discretion and secret kisses. Not always, but sometimes. I accompanied him to work parties and our own private film screening for five thousand dollars a month (and sometimes free cocaine). Sometimes, on a date, I’d try to imagine a Daddy’s fat fingers inside me and my mouth would go dry. My body is a medium in an exchange of false affection – superficial love that can be bought from a performance– in exchange for wealth from somebody who wants to be cared for, to fuck; to pretend that “yes, I am closer to the height of intimacy if I can only buy it how I want it.” Misconceptions about sex work often fall into one of two categories: that women involved in the industry are tragic victims selling their bodies, or that it’s an empowering feminist issue. Both are true and both are false: but they both don’t accurately represent the spectrum of experiences that occur within Sugar Dating. After each of these encounters, I didn’t feel more or less empowered; I

didn’t feel cheap or threatened or more or less of a woman. I only came to the conclusion that power lies between my legs and in the folds of capitalism, objectification and the possibility of long-term love in the spaces of shortterm narcissistic pleasures that manifest themselves in the complexities of sexuality. If a man can use his body to make a living, why can’t I use mine?

“Sugar Daddies are at my mercy. I found liberation in saying “no.””

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a brief history of:

Inga Muscio writes in her 1998 book, Cunt: A Declaration of Independence that, “Cunt is the crusty, disgusting bottle in the city dump pile that is bejeweled underneath and has a beautiful genie inside.” Zara Selman explores the obscenity to discover its history, and if it really does have more to offer.

The C-Bomb. James Blunt. Charlie. The word Germaine Greer believes to be the most powerful in the English language. The perpetually bleeped and asterisked lexical pariah. Take a deep breath and say it with me: Cunt. Now let’s explore its etymology. The origins of the word are somewhat murky, with variations of it used as far back as ancient times. When looking at cultures during this period it becomes evident that the prefix ‘cu’ or ‘ku’ has always been synonymous with notions of femininity; from the Latin cunnus, meaning vulva, to the kunta of the Near East and Africa, meaning woman or female genitalia. Sometimes this was extended to a title of respect, referencing priestesses, witches and various goddesses. The English language usage of the word is said to derive from the Old Germanic ‘kunton’ which, rather symbolically, referred to a cliff or valley that bore flowers every four weeks and fruit every nine months. After being introduced to Britain by the Anglo Saxons, the word retained its socially acceptable meaning as a term for female genitalia and sexuality for several centuries until Shakespearean times. After this period the word was designated as an obscenity, which many feminist historians believe is because of the prevailing patriarchal notions of women’s sexuality as being dangerous or dirty. Indeed, when Francis Grose published A Classical Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue in 1785, he listed the word as “C**T: a nasty name for a nasty thing”, denoting its reviled and obscene status in society. Standard dictionaries avoided listing the word altogether until 1961, when Webster’s

Third New International Dictionary included it with the comment “considered obscene”. In modern American usage, it is considered a derogatory epithet used predominantly against women to invoke serious offence. As Liz Lemon laments on 30 Rock, “There is no male equivalent,” after calling a male colleague ‘fungdark’ to little affect. However, in many other countries like Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom the word can extend as an insult to men too, as well as a term of endearment, general expletive and intensifying modifier: ‘mad cunt’, ‘sick cunt’, ‘funny cunt’, ‘cunting’, ‘cunty’. Despite its diverse usage and connotations, what becomes evident is that the word cunt could certainly never be considered passive. While ‘vagina’ – a Latin word literally meaning ‘sword sheath’ – merely signifies the inner entrance to the reproductive system, and is often used to reduce female sexuality to a passive receptacle for the penis; cunt refers to the sexual organs in totality. As a collective descriptor for the vulva, clitoris, labia, and canal, cunt implies an active sexuality rooted in pleasure and orgasm. It is with this distinction in mind, together with a desire to reclaim the word, that Western feminists began embracing it in the 1970s. This is why the word is so important. Simply put, cunt may be one of the few truly potent and empowering words left to describe female sexuality when used correctly. Forget the diminutive pussy, forget the deferential vagina, forget the weird childish terms your parents taught you. Cunt is where it’s at.

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Rise of the Eco Warriors The latest documentary by Dr. Cathy Henkel examines environmental degradation, questioning what is at stake, and what we can do about it. Lyndal Butler elaborates. I’m always surprised by how many fellow activists came to the movement, inspired by environmental documentaries. Films such as Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth have had a profound effect on audiences instigating change in the pursuit of environmental justice. In fact, it was this film that sparked Dr Henkel’s interest in environmental justice: “that was a monumental shift for me. I then thought there’s no point in making films about anything else.” Australian producer Dr. Cathy Henkel’s past productions include Heroes of our Time, Walking Through a Minefield, Losing Layla, The Man who Stole my Mother’s Face, I Told You I Was Ill: The Life and Legacy of Spike Milligan and The Burning Season. “There’s so many great stories in the world. I see myself as a story-teller” Dr. Henkel explained her entrance to documentary film production, “I discovered that what’s going on in the real world is as interesting, if not more interesting than made up stories.” The Eco Warriors is Dr. Henkel’s newest venture, in which a group of young people embark on a 100 day quest to save the forests of Borneo and the local endangered orangutan population from destructive palm oil companies. Palm oil companies systematically level rainforests to set up palm oil plantations, endangering the lives of local species such as the orangutans and the livelihoods of local communities. The Eco Warriors built an orangutan rehabilitation centre and returned Jojo, an orphaned baby orangutan, to her forest home. They sought the help of local communities to protect the forest, engaging school children to use a satellite monitoring system called Earthwatchers to the test when the bulldozers moved in and were threatening the future of a nearby community living in a traditional longhouse. Microsoft Partners in Learning, a company geared towards educating young people, approached Dr. Henkel to make the film with school students, following their progress and connecting with them online.

Ben Dessen is one such Eco Warrior, a passionate advocate for the environment and animal welfare. Ben said The Eco Warriors project was the chance of a life-time, something he had been “working towards [his] whole life.” “I think we were all changed… There were times when we felt hopeless, but talking about the issues and the hope in seeing Jojo grow, I think that’s where the power comes from…When you see the orangutans and their resilience, and the local people and their passion, it inspire others.” Dr. Henkel explained that scriptwriting is “really important to focus on” because otherwise, the product is “sprawling and broad.” A documentary requires the “prime tools of storytelling” because things need to be planned out to determine “which stories you’re telling and how to tell [them].” The Eco Warriors will be showing in cinemas soon. Dr. Henkel is also in the process of developing a school educational package. Dr. Henkel has worked extensively in producing companion education programs alongside her films, with her previous film The Burning Season being studied in various schools. “We’re heading in the complete wrong direction in managing our natural world.” Dr Henkel believes that it’s young children who can change this. Dr. Henkel said that the school children “played a role in the film by raising money for the orangutan centre, and using the ‘Earth Watchers’… and were able to provide the information that a big company was in this community.” “Every individual matters, every action counts”. With the threat of catastrophic climate change, deforestation and species loss looming over us, The Rise of the Eco Warriors should inspire us to keep focused on solutions and fight for change.

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vaccination THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SMALLPOX, MILKMAIDS, UNHEALTHY COWS AND CONTEMPORARY VACCINATION INITIALLY SEEMS NONSENSICAL, AT BEST. ILLOGICAL APPEARANCES ASIDE, IMPORTANT ORIGINS OF MODERN IMMUNOLOGICAL MEDICINE BLOSSOMED FROM THIS HAPHAZARD COMBINATION. KRISTEN TROY ELABORATES.

The reign of smallpox The European Middle Ages were plagued by epidemics of smallpox, an often-fatal viral disease. It was common knowledge that smallpox survivors exhibited subsequent immunity against the virus; nonetheless, groundbreaking remedies to the malady were anything but directly forthcoming. That was until Lady Montague came along…

The new epoch of vaccination Although it took many more years, confirmatory research papers, and fruitful experiments, Jenner’s vaccination ultimately became widespread across most of Europe by 1800, and replaced variolation in 1840. Jenner’s labours represented the first scientifically grounded attempt to control infectious disease by the methodical implementation and investigation of vaccination. Although Jenner strictly was not the very first person to uncover vaccination’s potential (google Benjamin Jesty) it was his work that conferred scientific status to the technique, and that inspired and spurred on the development of vaccinations specific to other diseases. As Francis Galton once famously proclaimed: “In science credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not the man to whom the idea first occurs”.

Images courtesy of the American National Library of Medicine.

Lady Montague popul arises variol ation Lady Mary Wortley Montague (1689-1762) was a wealthy smallpox survivor whose formerly famous beauty was marred by the blistery, pustule-riddled rash. She pledged herself (and, more importantly, her social status and disposable income) allegiance to combatting the virus’s ugly reign. Determined to spare her children from the same scarred and pockmarked fate, she plagiarised drew practical inspiration from a smallpox variolation technique she witnessed at the Ottoman court in 1718. She ordered that her young son be inoculated, and saw that he contracted only a mild version of smallpox and incurred minimal scarring. Infused with confidence, Montague asked the embassy surgeon, Charles Maitland, to inoculate her 4-year-old daughter in the presence of Royal Court physicians. The inoculation was successful, and Dr Maitland thereafter obtained a royal licence to perform (decidedly unethical) variolation experiments upon state prisoners and orphaned children. Luckily, Charles’s experiments worked. Physicians soon performed the variolation technique on a massive scale throughout England in response to the huge public demand for smallpox protection. An 8-year-old boy named Edward Jenner was among one of the thousands of children inoculated against smallpox during 1757. He would grow up to be the figure hailed for the discovery and promotion of vaccination and the eventual worldwide eradication of smallpox.

the milkmaids’ trade secret Edward Jenner was a scientifically inclined youth who worked as an apprentice to a country surgeon at the tender age of 13. It was during his apprenticeship that he overheard a milkmaid pronounce, “I shall never have smallpox, for I have cowpox. I shall never have an ugly pockmarked face”. Jenner reasoned that prior exposure to cowpox imbibed dairymaids with natural protection against smallpox, and concluded that cowpox could be transmitted deliberately from one person to another as a defence mechanism. He harnessed his rationale in 1796, and used the matter reaped from the fresh cowpox lesions of a young milkmaid to inoculate James Phipps, an 8-year-old. Apart from falling mildly ill for a couple of weeks, Phipps appeared fine. Ten days after the initial inoculation, Jenner inoculated Phipps again, but this time (ethically unadvisedly) with fresh material from a live smallpox lesion. Phipps did not contract smallpox as he otherwise would have, and the cowpox inoculation treatment was deemed a success. Jenner named his new procedure “vaccination”, a term which he derived from the Latin words vacca for cow, and vaccinia for cowpox.

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vertigo issue one - firsts

tech The Best Bits of the Consumer Electronics Show 2014 The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is an annual event that gives tech companies the chance to show off their prize ponies. It’s a private event, but thanks to the magic of the internet we get a look-see too. A lot of the showcased products are items you’d have in your home if you were Oprah rich, so they’re pretty cool. Lachlan Mackenzie brings you some highlights.

SONY’S 4K Ultra Short Throw Projector This bad boy is the interior decorator’s stylish home cinema solution. The shiny credenza can project a 147-inch image onto your wall when pressed up against it. It’s the dream, and with its 4K display, an ultra high-def dream at that; because why have 1,080 pixels when you could have 4,000? It also has a conservative number of HDMI ports (4) and, of course, 3D. The good news is it should be available for purchase mid-year; the bad news is it costs approximately an arts degree to buy. I’ll leave it to you to judge whether your education or your cinema experience is more important. THE STEAM MACHINES A few months ago Valve announced the creation of a new operating system, SteamOS, and they invited any and every tech company to create units to house this system. The existing Steam consumer pool (>65 million users) has attracted a lot of companies to manufacture these ‘Steam Machines’. They will make the Steam library accessible on your TV, and because they are essentially gaming PCs dressed up as consoles, the combinations of graphics cards, processers, cooling units, and more are pretty much endless. The products at CES ranged from about $500 to $6,000, offering plenty of choice depending on what games you’ll be playing and how pretty you want them to be. Whether the Steam Machines will be a threat to console gaming, however, is still up in the air. Samsung’s Bendable TVs Have you ever wanted to watch television on a concave surface? Me neither, but apparently it’s a thing now. It’s basically a huge, ultra high-def screen that starts off flat but bends with the touch of a button. Apparently the curving is supposed to reduce glare, but at the moment it just seems like one of those gimmicky things that may or may not become standard, just because. The best thing to come out of the bendable screens was Michael Bay’s train-wreck of a presentation at Samsung’s press conference (because they change and, like, Transformers) where his AI chip failed spectacularly. Kind of funny, pretty cringe-worthy, but thankfully he walked off-stage soon after his breakdown. Audi Piloted Driving Because we should be worried about how disconnected technology makes us from real life, Audi has unveiled an automated driving system that can take over in traffic less than 40mph (approx. 65km/h). It does actually work pretty darn well (as Audi showed off in a live demonstration), responding to road hazards and maintaining safe speeds and distances. Unlike previous autonomous prototypes, the Audi A7 just looks like a regular pretty Audi, and although this kind of technology is still a long way off being available for consumers it pulls off the ‘the future is now’ angle pretty well.

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tech

gaming 16th Annual Independent Games Festival Seamus McNally Grand Prize Finalists Each year the Independent Games Festival (IGF) showcases work from independent developers, putting them in the spotlight at the Festival Hall in San Francsico. At the expense of two or three jugs of cider, Lachlan Mackenzie checked out a couple of this year’s nominees for the Seamus McNally Grand Prize.

THE STANLEY PARABLE

Papers, Please

This was the grand-daddy big show of the nominees. Originally released as a HalfLife 2 mod in 2011, The Stanley Parable was remade and released on Steam late last year via Steam Greenlight. The original modder, Davey Wreden teamed up with William Pugh to build on the initial concept, update the graphics, expand the story and develop what I think is a pretty amazing gaming experience. The game is about simple choices and why we make them. In a lot of ways it could be an art school graduate’s final piece: it’s very meta, making comments on game design, storytelling and the nature of choice as you play out every imaginable possibility in the game. It takes you places, in the game and in your head, and it makes you actually think about your choices. You care because the game remembers your selections. The more you try to figure out how it works, the more the game rewards you, and the more it tries to get in your way. It’s fun, it’s different and it’s great.

In Papers, Please, gamers play a unnamed border checkpoint officer , an unnamed character, in a fictional Eastern Bloctype country following a fictional World War scenario. The game consists of you doing your job: you check passports, documents, tickets and passes, and accept or deny entrants. At the end of the day you get your salary depending on how well you did and then manage your expenses to (hopefully) keep your family alive in the struggling economy. That’s it. It’s a slow burn and the game drops in different elements to keep you on your toes, requiring you to check the validity of worker’s permits, entry passes and the like. Some characters approach you asking you to reject or accept valid entrants, which you can do at the personal cost of your salary. Sometimes you mess up and let a terrorist in. Other times, you let in a man with a woman’s passport; we all make mistakes. It’s a dense game, and strangely addictive for something that is equivalent to working at the NRMA.

Dominique Pamplemousse in “It’s All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings” “And now for something completely different,” is a pretty good way to summarise Dominique Pamplemousse. Of all the nominees it’s the least like an actual game, being kind of a point and click adventure, but also, not really. It’s a stop-motion, black and white, claymation, musical-comedy detective story. I say it’s kind of a point-and-click game because it’s far easier and more linear than they are traditionally. Your role is to play out the story set before you, and it’s the best story about a gender-neutral detective chasing down a missing pop star I’ve ever played. It’s a short experience, but it’s cute, extremely quirky and charming and made with a lot of love. If you’re lacking in attention span or you hate musicals however, this may not be your thing because you CANNOT skip the singing.

vertigo issue one - firsts

Minna Gilligan, of Rookie Mag fame, chanced upon an international audience when Tavi Gevinson scouted her blog. Gilligan’s most recent exhibition, Memory Motel, beautified the walls of TCB art inc., to explore “the nature of sighinducing, fond, rose-tinted memories,” as “a nod to the last track of the Rolling Stones’ 1976 album Black and Blue”. Memory Motel sadly won’t make its way to Sydney, but the Melbourne girl still found time to chat with Rachel Eddie about her experiences in the art world.

Have you ever encountered snobbiness by (obviously clueless) people who do not appreciate your naïve style? Not really, I think people generally find my work really accessible because it does look rather naive and childlike. Most people get some sort of joy from it; I think they can generally relate to it. There is a funny story though: I was in an exhibition at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art and at the opening this dude was like chatting to me and asked how much my large, framed prints cost. He sort of said, “How much ya charge for one of these? Fifty bucks?” I found that really funny, actually.

You’re a known Martin Sharp fan and have even shared an exhibition space with him, how did it affect you when he passed away? I was really disappointed because I never got to meet him or tell him how much he influenced me and my practice. Not that it’s all about me, or whatever, and I’m sure he knew how much of an important artist he was, but, you know. I like finding parallels between his career and mine (not that mine is that old yet). But he illustrated for Oz magazine and I’m illustrating for Rookie, two

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on left page: Lotta Love, 2013, acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 52cm x 62cm. on right page: Often as I May, 2013, acrylic on paper, 25cm x 30cm. Sunshine is a friend of mine, 2013, texta and coloured pencil on paper, 23cm x 30cm.

kinds of alternative publications for their time. And he walked the line between fine artist and illustrator, which is something I want to achieve. Like him, I want to have both shows at galleries and drawings published alongside big interviews or articles. I like the reach of commercial work, the impact. I like the romanticism of fine art, and I want both, and Martin taught me that there’s no reason you can’t have that.

me of an ex-boyfriend or something, sometimes I literally have to turn it off; the associations are so strong. It’s all powerful. I want to explore songwriting more. I’m in a band called Pamela with two friends of mine, who are also artists in their own right – Jon Campbell and Georgina Glanville – and I’ve written the lyrics to a song called ‘Art School’. I intend to do some more writing with Pamela this year!

If you could get stuck in an elevator with anyone, who would it be? And what would you ask them? I’d be stuck in an elevator with Madonna. I don’t think I’d ask her much, but I’d just tell her how much she influenced me as a young girl and how important I think her existence has been for like, feminism. My favourite quote of hers is: “I’ve had the same goal since I was a girl, I want to rule the world.” But for me it’s about like, ruling your own world, and being in charge of your empire. I love the idea of that.

A lot of your art – and even your style – seem inspired by past decades. In the same way that having a crush on someone is more exciting than actually dating them – would you really want to live in that decade? Or is it more the nostalgic construction of it that you really love? Totally. I wouldn’t really want to get in a time machine and go permanently back to the ‘60s or ‘70s. It’s exciting to me because it really is a curation of all these memories I’ve borrowed from other people, into like a big amazing idea of this paradise with beautiful graphic patterned curtains and pastel pink motels, a paradise that didn’t really actually exist. It’s a romantic imagining, one that, if I did go back in time to the ‘60s and ‘70s, wouldn’t actually be there. So yeah, it’s like Andy Warhol said, “Fantasy love is much better than reality love. Never doing it is very exciting.”

Despite being, like, successful now, do you still get the same insecurities the rest of us do? Yeah, I think at whatever level, even the level of Madonna, you still have insecurities and times when you’re unsure of what you’re producing. If I didn’t have any insecurities I would question if what I was making was challenging enough, or interesting enough, so I think they’re really important for creative people to acknowledge and overcome.

You’re also in a band, what relationship does music have with your art-making? Music is a really big part of my practice as it’s so conducive of memories and nostalgia. I have strong relationships with particular songs, as everyone does, and you know, if it reminds

I actually own your zine A Million Pieces Take a Long Time to put Together and a line in one of your poems – ‘shouldn’t have been so sure of my sadness’ – I found particularly moving. They are such amazing poems! Are you still writing, or are you concentrating solely on your art? Oh my gosh, that’s amazing, thank you for getting a copy of that! I wrote that poetry zine in, like, a state of angst after it *didn’t work out* with this dude I really liked. I am actually really proud of the poems in there, and it was a helpful sort of therapy at the time. It’s hard to read them again now because they’re really emotional for me, more so than looking back on a drawing could ever be, because words can be much less abstract. ‘Shouldn’t have been so sure of my sadness’ is a line that was me being like, don’t expect to be sad all the time, don’t accept it as the norm, if you really think about it, maybe you’re not even sad at all, kind of thing. I’m glad it was helpful to you. More about Minna at minnagilligan.com and rookiemag.com

vertigo issue one - firsts

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ART

MARIAN PARK:

The first time I drew a face, I wasn’t really sure what it was. Coming from a fashion background where it’s all about the elongation of the figure and symmetry in the perfect oval face, my drawings of scrunched up faces that are more abstract and unrealistic became an unexpected outlet as I dwelled on the kooky contours of an anonymous face. These miscellaneous figures then became the protagonists of my miscellaneous thoughts, textile prints and ideas.

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vertigo issue one - firsts EXTRACT -

The Protagonist’s Search For Love

Words and art by Ling McGregor

Unaware of the murder that is to occur in sixty pages, the protagonist (a struggling writer and just generally struggling) has awoken. Much to their discomfort, they have been pulled from their sleep by an insistent clattering, and made to participate in this story. The clattering that awoke the protagonist is the most significant contributor to their abysmal personality, as constant noise within the apartment building leaves them irritable and unsociable (and with a certain sensitivity about the dark circles beneath their eyes). One source of noise has been instigated by particular legislation, which states that property owners do not have to pay tax until their buildings are complete. As a result, the proprietor perpetually hires faux workers to prolong the site’s development.

left contribute to the wartime-Bollywood-construction-site soundtrack with an animalistic countermelody of their own. The protagonist sulks through their usual morning rituals of stumbling, mindlessly drooling, and checking that their elbows retain feeling (quantified by hitting them periodically on door frames). Now at a desk, they cross off a line on their TO DO list and look to the next task.

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN CONSTRUCTION WORKERS IN THE APARTMENT DIRECTLY ABOVE

03:27

BUILDER ONE: Everyone, it’s 3:27am. Time to start hammering. BUILDER TWO: What are we hammering? BUILDER ONE: Absolutely nothing; we just need to hammer the walls with as much force as possible. BUILDER THREE: Should I get the leaf-blower? BUILDER ONE: Yes! Lean it against that wall and let it run, then you can get to work throwing spanners repeatedly against the floor. BUILDER TWO: Should I start the cement mixer? BUILDER ONE: Make sure you run glass through it. We also need to empty the drums of ball-bearings, and crates of scrap steel. BUILDER THREE: Where should we unload it? BUILDER ONE: Oh, go ahead and drop it everywhere. We can take a break as soon as the person living downstairs leaves the building. BUILDER TWO: This is great. BUILDER THREE: I agree. BUILDER ONE: Let’s never stop.

DATE SCENARIO ONE: The protagonist has been seated alone at a table-for-two for just over an hour now, and long ago grew tired of the superfluous decor and expensive menu. A persistent waiter demands that an order be placed, as he has a hair appointment in half an hour. The waiter refers to his hair as a mullét, which informs the protagonist that he, like the restaurant, is a classy fucker.

The apartment below the protagonist holds regular and extremely populated dinners which consistently end in blazing Bollywood karaoke, leaving the protagonist frustrated enough to utter the political(ly incorrect) statement, “This is why we need to stop the boats,” each evening. The apartment to the right contains a musician who practices the French horn nightly; an instrument which reminds the protagonist endlessly of war and sepia films. Meanwhile, the couple in the apartment to the

“!” they exclaim, fixing a bow-tie. “I really don’t want to do that today,” they protest, tying suede shoelaces. “I’m tired and hungry,” their complaints fade as they exit the apartment. WEDNESDAY wake up to shitty reality after night of minimal sleep find potential love interest

Finally, a potential love interest appears exclaiming, “Sorry I got stuck in traffic and realised that I left one of my shoes at home so I had to go back and then I needed to fix my hair - have you ordered me a drink yet? Hi, I am Cassy,” The protagonist sits quietly as Cassy informs them that (among many other incredibly exciting things) she recently got into the fashion industry. Her eyes skirt around the room and, as she speaks, she has the constant need to affirm her existence by checking her reflection every thirty seconds. Thankfully, the waiter informs the pair that he must leave to get his hair trimmed, and the protagonist decides to leave too. That works out well, Cassy explains, as she needs to get back to work because the industry is just so demanding. Where do you work? The waiter asks. Targét. Before she flutters off, they momentarily bond over their mutual use of acute accents. DATE SCENARIO TWO: The protagonist is introduced to Sky (the kind of person who knows how to pronounce quinoa and

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kohlrabi). Sky has chosen to meet in the most natural reserve in the city; a makeshift park with chairs and children covered in graffiti, and more shards of glass than grass. Aghast, she yells “50,000 litres of water goes into carving up every kilogram of that poor defenceless cow you’re eating!”

writing

Ling McGregor is a second year Communications/Law student who owns some pencils and a moderate amount of hand-eye coordination. She reads lots and occasionally writes and hopes for the best. More of her artwork can be found at Facebook/lingmcgregorart or on Instagram (@lingmcgregor).

While offering nuts, she informs the protagonist that they will feel much more pure if their staple foods were tofu, kale and flax-seed. As it turns out, Sky is so eco-friendly that she recycles her phases of political activism, and (big surprise) also tends a wheatgrass garden. “Once you start seeing all others as the self,” she says, “there will be no reason for conflict, but right now we are just giving importance to a system created for imbalance and the illusion of freedom, when really we could all just coexist”. And, as she reaches for her flask of beetroot juice, the protagonist glimpses a dolphin tattoo just below the hairline of her halfshaven head. Their conversation contains an overwhelming repetition of the phrases: ‘these days,’ ‘modern society is to blame,’ and the incorrect use of the word ‘ironic.’ Whilst Sky unwillingly breathes the pollutants of monstrous corporations with every word, the protagonist longs for the quarantined steak, and is instead forced to consider the benefits of sun-gazing and meditation. The only ideal state that they believe Sky could achieve is a mixture of her watered-down aphorisms and air-headed ideologies: evaporation. The protagonist is rubbish at science and confrontation though, and listens to her stir a vat of simmering wank merely hoping that she will be discontinued as a love interest. Or discontinued full stop. Eventually, as Sky fishes (this is not the right word though, as she is morally opposed to fishing) for the last dried goji berries, she informs the protagonist that (with their negative aura, dependence on technology, medicine and money), they are really irritating her. “And anyway,” she says, “I usually only talk to people made out of hemp”. As they check their TO DO list, the protagonist decides to fill the remainder of their life with commercial products, unethically sourced from the non-biodegradable leather of vegan skin. 13:48

find potential love interest relieve construction workers from break

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nightswim

Words by Daniel Comensoli

it was sweet to see the sleep on the flowerbeds. to see the suburbs resting their heads on each other. it was sweet, writing names in the concrete. [enter: everyone] switchblade guitars light a serrated evening. a nation wakes on the minimum wage. drinks clink on a ribcage. quiet love swims in adjacent lots, sorta bends and cuts a channel in the spine. hard luck’s on the heart line. burn scars on the mainline. we’re alight, mad for nothing. we move someplace else. do the same thing. see the stars? apocalypse arms are legs (post-heaven). we should be conjoined twins with a knot in our limbs. this city’s a firstborn, or a newborn or a part-time resurrection. nights are delivered by C-section.

poetry

is your inner creative trying to get out?

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submit to vertigo at submissions@utsvertigo.com.au

vertigo issue one - firsts

Three podcasts you should start listening to today FREE TO STREAM AND DOWNLOAD, PODCASTS ARE AN EXCITING PLATFORM FOR STORYTELLING (AWESOME SOUND EFFECTS, ANYONE?). IN THEORY, THERE ARE PROBABLY MORE PODCASTS THAN YOU HAVE TIME TO LISTEN TO, SO WITH PLENTY OF THEM OUT THERE, WHERE SHOULD NEWCOMERS BEGIN? ANDY HUANG HIGHLIGHTS THREE OF HER FAVOURITES. The Podcast That Will Win Everyone Over, Every Time *Interlude* A Short Note From A Sad Adult Chances are, you will spend more time being alone than being with people, and that’s okay. In fact, it is not unusual for a large portion of your uni life to be spent alone: eating alone, drinking alone, studying alone, and waiting alone on the platform for that inevitably delayed and overcrowded train. The key is to look busy – and cool – while you’re doing all these solo activities. But it’s hard to concentrate on that strategically bought Penguin classic with all the grumbling from squished, sleep-deprived (and probably sweaty) commuters on public transport. Listening to loud music can only distract you for so long, before one day, when you least suspect it, your eardrums burst. Podcasts, on the other hand, entertain you with stories that don’t need to be listened to at full volume – they’re compelling enough that you don’t need to pretend to pay attention, and new episodes are sure to keep boredom at bay. Here are three excellent podcasts to start you on your way to being a bona-fide audio-geek:

This American Life – Episode 504: How I Got Into College Broadcast: Monday, 9 September 2013 As a podcast about ordinary people doing ordinary things (going to summer camp, babysitting children, trying to get a discount at a store), you’d imagine “ordinary stories” would be a hard sell. This American Life has been around for more than 10 years and is consistently one the top podcasts on iTunes, so you know it’s going to be good. Each episode is framed around a main idea that connects each of the “Acts” (stories). In How I Got Into College, we hear about the misguided intentions and lengths parents would take to get their kids into a good school, plagiarising as punishment for plagiarism, and Emir Kamenica’s incredible story of how he got in to Harvard, which began with a stolen library book.

culture The Podcast That Has The Coolest Best Friends The Organist – Episode 10: Thundershirt Broadcast: Wednesday, 8 January 2014 Produced by the savvy folks at Believer (an arts and culture magazine published by indie publishing powerhouse McSweeney’s), you can bet that this audio venture, The Organist, is brilliant. Unlike regular episodes – which feature a mix of radio plays, reviews and news stories – this one, the season finale, is a conversation between Lena Dunham and Judy Blume (who sounds like the greatest grandma ever). The two chat about writing (otherwise known as fictionalising a book to be written about in a school report), feminism (yes, Miley and slut-shaming) and growing up, with Blume providing some wonderful quotes about… erm, the sexy stuff young people did to each other way back then. When The Organist returns this year, it will be in a weekly (rather than monthly) format – all the more to anticipate and enjoy. Still, the archives are worth raiding. Previous cool friends contributors have included The Julie Ruin frontwoman Kathleen Hanna, Park & Rec’s Nick Offerman, Sarah Silverman and Jesse Eisenberg.

the Podcast That Will Make You Feel Better When You’re Sad Welcome To Night Vale – Episode 1: Pilot Broadcast: Friday, 15 June 2012 Imagine if Alan Partridge moonlighted as a beat poet, lived in Twin Peaks and read out public service announcements that could’ve been written by Stephen King. Welcome To Night Vale. This is one those podcasts you’ll want to be a part of from the very beginning. It’s absolutely mesmerising. Even the ads that ask you to kindly donate are creative, and every bit as dark as they are delightful and funny, from ransom calls to questionable curses. Within a relatively short space of two years, Welcome To Night Vale went from obscure niche serial to a show that now rubs shoulders with the players like This American Life and Radiolab (another great radio documentary podcast). Framed as a community radio station in the fictional friendly small desert town of Night Vale, this is the kind of place where hooded figures, seedy government agents, angels and faceless old women who sift through photos of you and your loved ones, come to live. Here, weird is normal, if not oddly endearing.

*A Friendly Public Service Announcement* Did you know Vertigo has a website? It’s great. If you’re alone right now, and in possession of a device that connects to the net, you should visit utsvertigo.com.au. This is where all the recommended podcasts can be found in one convenient place, for you aural pleasure.

These tunes from UTS natives Ghost Talk should get you through the semester, just until you figure out your optimal napping schedule and which lectures to skip. Their five track recommendations include: ‘Out of the Woodwork’ - Courtney Barnett ‘Covered in Chrome’ - Violent Soho ‘Baby’ - Devendra Banhart ‘Lung Capacity’ – A.D.K.O.B. ‘Sundown Syndrome’ - Tame Impala Ghost Talk, the winners of last year’s UTS Band Competition, have a self-proclaimed eclectic sound. Think dreamy guitar chords, funky bass riffs, and slamming drumbeats. You’ll be dancing and swimming in sweat. The trio have pretty solid musical roots; ‘Stadium Arcadium’ by The Red Hot Chili Peppers and ‘Spice Up Your Life’, by The Spice Girls were among their first albums. Tim (drums) was “Little Anthony” on The Wiggles TV show, and in charge of the “Ba-Dum-Tshh” sound. His love of drums sprouted from there, despite the sound of the cymbals hurting his ears. Man, are we glad he persevered. Ghost Talk is currently working on a new EP. You can find their music at ghosttalkband.bandcamp.com

In the pilot, a new dog park opens. Dogs are not allowed in the dog park. People are not allowed in the dog park. A beautiful scientist named Carlos – with this beautiful hair and his beautiful face – arrives in town (Why here? Why now? What does he want?). Also, don’t give Gatorade to your children. More, to be continued.

vertigo issue one - firsts

THE JEZABELS Back With The Brink Fresh from their travels, indie favourites The Jezabels return in brilliant form with new album The Brink. Ahead of their Laneway show, guitarist Sam Lockwood chats to Mina Kitsos about breaking hearts, enjoying the little things in life and making pop music that’s cool. For every pined over, tear-jerking sentiment, The Jezabels have crafted a soul-wrenching medley (see: “Hurt me, hurt me, hurt meeeee” from track ‘Hurt Me’). It’s this boldly melancholic brand of pop that has seen the Byron Bay quartet break-up with small Sydney bars in favour of an international arena-scale romance, touring with the likes of Depeche Mode and The Pixies and relocating to ol’ London town. Thankfully, our prodigal offspring were back to pummel hearts at St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival ahead of the release of sophomore LP The Brink. Already vaunting an impressive discography of three EPs and debut album Prisoner, guitarist Sam Lockwood says they were unfazed by the Curse of the Second Album. “We’ve always put a lot of pressure on ourselves … We felt that we had certain expectations because it was the first time we’d done an album with any label involvement, which was kind of different but it also wasn’t as hard as we thought it’d be. [Bands often] do their first album as their lifetime of recordings ... all of your best ideas, and then when your second album comes out, you’ve only got one year to draw on with inspiration. We’d already been through that.” A major ripple in the sea change was bouncing ideas off a new producer – Grammy award-winning DJ Dan Grech-Marguerat, who has previously lent his sonic mastery to the likes of Lana Del Rey, The Vaccines, The Scissor Sisters, and The Kooks. Even with that jaw-dropping CV, The Jezabels approached the shift with caution. “That’s something we were really worried about. You choose the person you work with based on the kind of person that they

are, and Dan is the same as Lachlan [Mitchell]. They’re really, really clever and have a great musical brain, but they also have to take on project manager / counsellor / psychotherapist / musician / everything.” Collaborating from a motley of musical backgrounds spanning country to classical, the ‘Bels have found clashing conducive to success. Sam explains: “That’s been our major problem, but I think it’s also been a major engine for actually making music. The conflicting tastes create something interesting in the end. With this album, I think it’s something that we’ve worked out better … Obviously, our music is just pop music, but because we have that

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independent perspective, it gives us a different angle. I think there was a massive anti-pop movement in the ‘90s and early 2000s, now it’s kind of cool to be pop. Hopefully, we can ride that wave.” Having been on the tour circuit together since 2007, and playing near 200 shows last year alone, Sam concedes sanity is a struggle. “You sort of do go crazy. It’s like riding waves; you’ve gotta keep your head above the negativity that you can put yourself into. I think now that we know the reality, we know how to keep ourselves comfortable. We’re getting better at it.” As for the prize money from their 2011 AMP victory, Sam says it was a

saving grace. “That was amazing. Little things like that make it so much easier for us. You can enjoy it a bit more,” he laughs. As vocal spearhead Hayley Mary trills over a fresh set of stunning melodies, manic rhythms and pulsing riffs, The Brink unveils a trickle of silver lining absent from previous releases. Lead singles ‘The End’ and ‘Look of Love’ possess an unbridled optimism that we can expect to see when they hit the stage this month. “It’s gonna be good,” Sam chuffs. The Brink out now through Waterfront Records More: thejezabels.com

vertigo issue one - firsts

REVIEWS BAR

BAT COUNTRY The “Best Drink In The World” is a fine choice and the “Hollywood Sour” is rock n’ roll. Bat Country is a real cultural experience. Latitude -33 55’ 13.8498” S Longitude 151 14’ 35.34” E, Randwick. These guys want you to stop here, even though it’s bat country. If you missed the reference, it’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The bar is Hunter S. Thompson themed. It looks small but it packs out. Randwick doesn’t have much of a nightlife and that’s why these guys have set up shop just across the road from the Ritz Cinema. The place manages to balance coffee, food and drinks because they’ve got a renowned head chef (owner Tim Dengate), a sophisticated barista (owner Aidan Morrison) and a Milk and Honey alum bartender (owner Colin Perillo). And they’re real estate shopping to open another bar in the coming year. Their demographic draws from students, employees at the hospital, and cinema go-ers at the Ritz, encouraging the local scene. The music in itself is worth the trip. They capped the playlist at 1975. Hunter S. Thompson wrote during The Stones’ core years so this is the sound you’re getting. They sourced old amps and speakers to complement the tone. The music’s designed to play the way Hunter S. Thompson would have listened to it. There’s been an almost famous revival starting up in Sydney (think Shady Pines) and Bat Country are following suit. The names of cocktails are inspired by films and books; “God’s own Prototype”: rum, chartreuse, maraschino, lemon and angostura, is another reference to a scene from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. There’s a general emphasis on chartreuse and absinthe which are balanced surprisingly well. Then there’s the bourbon, Wild Turkey and Chivas, from Kentucky because that’s what Hunter S. Thompson drank. It’s a classic looking back bar with Smirnoff because that’s America’s original vodka and the vodka Hunter S. Thompson probably drank… There are cocktails for those who haven’t had cocktails. And, while they stock boutique beer, there’s the classic American Budweiser and Miller’s available too. Colin believes that the

biggest events in your life occur at a bar and he wants to enhance those memories by creating an exciting and relaxed environment. His theory is that you’ll meet your life partner in a bar or on your way to a bar, that you’ll have your first kiss in a bar and go on dates at bars… His life at least revolves around bars. The food is rustic Australiana (try the salt and pepper squid). And Colin spoke of Tim as a ‘local hero in the kitchen.’ The food is wholesome, filling and happy food, sourced locally with a preference for organic. You know, minimal carbon footprint. It’s the real cocktail bar scene however it may stretch the average uni students budget. Also, the menu’s hard to read.

Hours: Monday- Sunday 6am for coffee, 7am for breakfast with food available until close, midnight. Words by Lily Mei

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REVIEWS FILM

ART

SHORT TERM 12

CHANCE

NOW SHOWING AT SELECT CINEMAS

Chance raises more questions than it answers as Boltanski explores notions of death, memory and loss in a technological age.

Destin Daniel Cretton’s latest work Short Term 12 is charming, passionate, sensitive and powerful. The story follows Grace (Brie Larson), a young supervisor with a big heart who works at a care facility for at-risk teenagers. Throughout the film, Grace’s primary goal is to nurture the children and provide them with an environment that they can feel safe in, protecting them from their past experiences that have driven them to this point. However, things become increasingly complicated when a troubled teenager by the name of Jaden (Kaitlyn Dever) is introduced into the home. Grace bonds with the child and elements of her own troubled past resurface. Meanwhile, her relationship with partner and co-worker Mason (John Gallagher Jr.) leaves her struggling to fit the pieces of her life together. The film opens with a light hearted interaction between the four supervisors at the care facility, whereupon the tone and style of the film is set. The conversational manner in which Short Term 12 is written and directed almost reflects that of a Woody Allen film. It’s naturalistic and comfortable, placing the audience member as an observer to the action taking place. The film appears to be shot using a hand held camera that moves in and out of focus as subjects move, furthering the organic feel. While the film has many highlights, Larson and Dever’s acting are standouts, with emotive portrayals of Grace and Jaden. As their relationship develops, it delicately ebbs and flows through the emotional complexities within the well-constructed narrative. The film is superbly directed by Cretton, wonderfully constructed and beautifully performed. The exploration of human nature’s frailty and strength is fascinating and gripping. Short Term 12 is a must-watch for anyone who loves a good quality drama.

Christian Boltanski 9 January - 23 March Carriageworks, Eveleigh in association with Sydney Festival Free The scale of Boltanski’s piece necessitates the vastness of Carriageworks’ main hall. Though his Sydney version is far smaller than the original in Venice, size remains its most effective element. A crude scaffold of steel construction frames encompasses most of the work, compressing audiences to the relative size of cockroaches. Its immensity, coupled with large digital counters that tally the births and deaths across the globe in real time, is dauntingly illuminating, reinforcing Boltanski’s ultimate theme: that each of us are a small part of a growing global community whose lives are determined by the rhythm of chance. Chance is more thought provoking than inspiration for profound epiphanies. Throughout the central structure, Wheel of Fortune, stretch long rolls of film that depict the faces of newborn babies who pass through the structure via a conveyer belt system. Boltanski’s extensive use of machinery, photographs and interactive displays critique society’s attempts to manufacture humanity. Boltanski accentuates that these attempts contradict the ultimate truth; that life and death are both products of chance that remain beyond the reach of human control. It proves to be a disturbingly relevant concept that questions what we do in social media, building our online profiles and constructing our virtual selves. While interesting and worth a visit, I would hesitate to say that Boltanski’s installation is a concept that has not already been widely explored.

Words by June Murtagh

Words by Ben Chapple

vertigo issue one - firsts

REVIEWS GIG

BOOK

HALF MOON RUN

We Need New Names

The Standard - January 11 Sounds like: Mumford and Sons harmonies meets the indie rock of Alt-J, with a little of the folk sounds of Jinja Safari thrown in.

NoViolet’s debut novel, an extension of her Caine-prize winning short story “Hitting Budapest”, is ostensibly adorned with a stamp of approval at the outset – it was shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize – and rightly so.

Following the success of their 2012 debut album Dark Eyes, Montreal-based Half Moon Run recently landed in Australia to round off their world tour, before heading back home. Playing a short time after their stint at the Woodford Folk Festival, the band performed their distinctive brand of folk-infused indie rock to an enthusiastic Sydney crowd. The brooding electronics of Nova Heart kicked the night off with haunting tunes made up of simplistic yet atmospheric guitar and breathy, feminine vocals. Particularly noteworthy was the addition of an absolute powerhouse drummer, which created a contemporary, if slightly abrasive, sound. Meanwhile, Tigertown performed comfortable indie-pop tunes that were upbeat and enjoyable. Headliners Half Moon Run performed a tight set of chilled out, swaying numbers and fast-paced songs accompanied by their trademark soaring harmonies and unique percussion. Crowd favourite, ‘Call Me in the Afternoon’ featured three separate sets of drums, with the primary drummer keeping time one-handed while simultaneously playing keyboard. This multi-instrumentalism carried on throughout the show with a constant swap from one instrument to another. The effect was evocative and had the crowd dancing. After the encore, Half Moon Run took to the stage with only an acoustic guitar and a mandolin to perform a Pink Mountaintops cover, ‘Vampire’ – without the help of microphones – to a hushed and completely awed crowd. The song was raw and a foot-stompand-clap-along had the audience eagerly joining in. Then it was back to microphones and keyboards for an as yet unreleased song ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Life’, that ended the night on a resounding high note. The band’s performance was energetic and textured. Half Moon Run appeared humbled to find that the music has been so well received by people living halfway around the world.

This coming-of-age story is narrated thoughtfully by its protagonist, Darling, in the context of Zimbabwe’s recent declaration of independence from British colonial rule. Darling episodically describes the childhood that she shares with her rambunctious gang of unusually named friends (Bastard, Chipo, Godknows, Sbho and Stina) in a spirit-crushing ghetto called Paradise. Within the book’s first 100 pages, the trauma unfolds thick and fast, as Darling and the other children endure a multitude of Africa’s socioeconomic and cultural problems. For instance, Darling speaks matter-of-factly about her experiences with suicide, AIDs, street children, political violence, rape and abortion, just to list a few. Interestingly however, Darling’s Paradise escapades constitute the highlight of the novel: she and her friends thrive upon stolen guavas, war games and giving NGOs and the BBC a hard time. NoViolet writes with a compelling verve, and Darling’s narration at times is almost breathless with flurried excitement. For Darling, her internal overseas haven and future home is America. She is eventually plucked from the ghetto, and whisked away to Detroit. The author powerfully and often painfully highlights the stark contrasts between Darling’s preconceptions, and newfound reality of, America. Darling’s sudden sense of cultural dislocation is strongly projected on the reader, as she attempts to assimilate into American convention. NoViolet’s authorial finesse shines through her subtle social commentary and acute powers of observation, as she underlines the eccentricities of Western culture, relative to Darling’s old African lifestyle. Darling reminisces about Paradise, and simultaneously grows increasingly further from it.

Words by Kristen Troy Words by Jade Ellen

FRINGE

NOW 98% FACT FREE

february 2014

Words by Patrick Boyle Ambitious first-year Josh Huckle took to Facebook late Monday evening, offering his friends a critique of Disney’s latest animated endeavour Frozen. Josh applauded the “innovative use of animation and physics” and admired “complex characters like Olaf The Snowman.” He was however, left disappointed by a “somewhat pedestrian plot line” and the “repeated use of overly-whimsical dialogue.” Josh’s bold critique has garnered international attention on social media, elevating his sense of self-importance to new heights. Having finished high school three months ago, and with no experi-

Words by Nicola Parise ence in the film (or indeed, any) industry, it certainly came as a surprise that anyone gave a shit about his opinion. Defamer spoke to Josh regarding his new online-following, “I’m starting my communications degree this year, so I would say that my friends know and respect my observations about film.” Josh’s last four status updates, all regarding new cinematic releases, have received upward of 15 likes each. When asked why he tallied Facebook likes, Josh refused comment. Writer and co-director of Frozen, Jennifer Lee, responded publicly to Huckle’s critique. “Naturally, I am disappointed by Josh Huckle’s

comments. Both myself and everyone here at Disney will be taking his insight on board for all future films. I admire Josh’s confidence to voice his opinion, ignoring the risk of his looking like a colossal douche.” Douchedom pending, Josh claims to have a foot already planted in the door of the industry. “My uncle is a set carpenter for My Kitchen Rules, so I already have some pretty good contacts to work from.” As for the future, Josh has realistic plans to write and direct his own feature films after graduating: “Probably in LA, or wherever feels right, you know?”

ous likelihood of landslides, blizzards and a localised nuclear winter. Fortunately for staff and students, the underground passages of UTS were designed to accommodate such an event. The original archi-

tect of the tower provided a short comment, “I’m excited to see my baby finally get to withstand the nuclear fallout she was designed for.”

Words by Nicola Parise In the wake of recent extreme events, experts are predicting 2014 will see an increase in the frequency of wild weather. Following the floods and chemical spill of 2013, scientists have warned of the seri-

Thousands of students across Sydney are mourning the loss of the iconic, tartan-clad, beer-soaked Abercrombie Hotel. On January 9 2014, the Abercrombie Hotel served its final beers and shut its doors for the last time. The kitchen may be closed, but the memories of deep fried goodness from mac n’ cheese balls to Golden Gaytimes and pizza will live on. It will be fondly remembered in the hearts of many as the birthplace of rave juice in a zip-lock bag. Once home to indie favourite Purple Sneakers and more recently S.A.S.H, Strange Fruit and Picnic Parties, the Abercrombie left quite the music legacy. Friends and family of the venue will be pleased to know that its spirit will continue as the acts that once called the Abercrombie home find new haunts. Its cheap grub, sweet beats and messy vibe will be sorely missed. Vale Abercrombie Hotel (1938 - 2014). We’ll miss you and your beautiful jugs.

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rookie’s guide

Going through a quarter of the year with only a tentative commitment to your shitty casual job, a need to have travel stories to make friends with, and generally living the Peter Pan lifestyle that university allows (if not encourages) can put a big drain on your budget. LARISSA BRICIS investigates some ways to fill the giant hole in your wallet with free food. Lots of food.

Settling back into the uni groove is hard. You remember fondly the long holiday that was undoubtedly filled with raucous, oftshameful behaviour, many #YOLOs, and splashing way too much cash. Your holiday antics have left your job on shaky ground (your boss saw the Facebook photos), and now you’ve got $1.50 to your name. It’s dawned on you that a large sum of money, much like an iridescent unicorn that shits peanut butter Oreos, is something that you desperately want but is largely unattainable. Lucky for you, I’m a freebie scavenger. Welcome to #studentlyf.

Second point of call is your workplace. Workplace lunch rooms always have plentiful stocks of teabags, ground coffee, packets of biscuits, and loaves of bread. If you work for the company, surely they owe you a slice of bread, or fifteen? I mean, you’re their money-maker. They should be buying groceries for you! In line with that logic, help yourself to the pre-prepared lunch of your least favourite colleague. Just make sure to make it discreet, or you’ll get fired. Then you’ll really be on struggle street, won’t you?

O’Week is freebie central

Sourpuss

Orientation is as much about getting acquainted with the concrete monolith that is UTS as it is about snatching at as many free goodies as possible. Pro tip: Treat O’Week like Halloween. Bring a bottomless bucket to keep your treasures safe. Fancy dress is also encouraged. Fill this bucket with UTS paraphernalia – pens, pencils, erasers, rulers, mini-calculators, balloons, novelty hats, diaries. You won’t need to stock up for another three years if you’re tactical. O’Week also features a tonne of free food – sausage sizzles, fairy floss, froyo, etc. Unfortunately, UTS is very secretive about free food so you might need a Marauder’s map to find anything.

This could potentially blow your mind, so please make sure you’re sitting down in a comfy chair before you continue reading. Most products come with a guarantee of a replacement or refund if you are ‘unsatisfied’ with what you’ve consumed. This means that you can pen a letter complaining about the lack of crunch in a chip, or the uncomfortable acidity of your dark chocolate, or the unappealing presence of a beetle’s leg in your Nutella, and can almost always expect a profitable outcome. Check your mailbox the next week and, sure enough, 50 magical samples of [insert product name here] will be yours to keep. For the record, I’ve scored lots of free books through this method. Happy complaining, sourpusses!

Bluebird brekkie bar I don’t know if there are two words sweeter than ‘free breakfast’. From fresh fruit to golden brown toast, you’re guaranteed a healthy feed and a full stomach. It’s also got some sweet-as décor. Check it out! Bluebird brekkie bar operates between 8:3011AM every Tuesday in the Law Courtyard, and every Wednesday in the Tower building.

Be resourceful Don’t be afraid to use and abuse your inner social circle. First requests for help should be directed to parents and/or friends. These people love you the most and can’t bear to see you go hungry. They’ll open their pantries and wallets for you, all in the name of love. They’ll take you out for fancy dinners, and bake you cupcakes with your name on it. They’ll wrap your food in airtight bags, and have it ready before you leave the house. Don’t get too greedy though, or they’ll understand what a penniless food vacuum you really are. That’s when the love dries up, like old raisins.

HENRIETTA’S GUIDE TO #CORPORATEGRADLYF SERIAL SELFIE SNAPPER, UTS LAW GRADUATE AND ALL-AROUND BABE, HENRIETTA FARRELLY-BARNETT, GIVES US THE LOWDOWN ON WORKING FULL-TIME IN THE CORPORATE WORLD, AND ADVISES US WHY VISITING AN OPEN BAR IS ALMOST ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA.

Where do you work, and what resources did you find useful in landing your job? I started as a graduate at Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) in September 2013. Somewhat conventionally, I also clerked at HSF during the summer of 2011-2012. Did you start full-time work straight after graduation? No, I took 10 months off and moved over to London to study art history at Sotheby’s. While some people I’ve met since have questioned why I’d ever return to commercial law, I found that the space and time really helped me refocus and refresh. Ten days in Ibiza didn’t hurt either. Why did you pick corporate law at the end of your degree, and what has your experience with it been like so far? I don’t think you could say that I had a strong commercial law drive during my degree; I took full advantage of the straight LLB to study everything from Family Law and Criminology to Environmental Law and Criminal Sentencing. Indeed during my last semester I took Animal Law, Slavery and Human Trafficking Law and Alternative Dispute Resolution. Unsurprisingly these are not essential to practicing commercial law in Australia (though Animal Law in particular provides ample conversation starters). I did enjoy Corporations Law though, particularly the parts on directors duties. I now work in Head Office Advisory – a specialised corporate governance group which advises 40% of the ASX100 and 60% of the ASX20. The work is very much a blend of legal and commercial – not only do clients want to what the law requires, but also what best practice is, and where they sit against that in the market. I think being able to inform and shape the directions of some of the biggest corporate entities is pretty cool… but then I’ve always been a bit weird. Outline your typical ‘networking night’ strategy. Designated ‘networking nights’ are really only a clerkship thing. Which is brilliant because as delicious as the canapés are, attempting erudite conversation with total strangers while navigating a glass or two of champagne is a stressful experience. Especially if you – like me – don’t know anyone else in attendance. Luckily, all my experiences with networking (or rather, socialising in a

professional setting) since then have involved other people that I know. It is endlessly reassuring and means I no longer feel compelled to hide in bathrooms (in my defence it only happened once). Generally these days I try to start off in a conversation with people I know and then gradually drift around the room; usually past the bar. Going to the bar – for any beverage – is a great way to swap a couple of words. Alternatively, if there’s a particular person you want to meet I’d recommend going over and striking up conversation. It takes courage (Dutch or not), but the person you’re approaching knows this and will almost certainly appreciate the effort. Most people are genuinely flattered by others showing interest, so it’s unlikely to go badly… and if it does, there’s always the bar. Any interview tips? The best tip I was ever given is to put yourself in the shoes of the interviewer and write down all the questions you’d ask you… and then swap back to your everyday sparkly gold studded flats (if you’re me) and write down your answers. It may sound silly but it allows you to identify potential stumbling blocks ahead of time – and believe me it’s better to be lost for words your room than in a boardroom. What’s with the elevator selfies? Ahah oh my. My mother told me they’d come back to haunt me. Basically I enjoy playing/clashing print and colour in my work outfits and this – coupled with my latent narcissism – led me to share my sartorial choices on Instagram. Of course, being a law firm, there is an unsurprising dearth of full-length mirrors, so I resorted to taking sneaky shots in the elevator… there are few things more awkward than being caught by a colleague taking a photo of your shoes (again, in my defence, it’s only happened once… so far).

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competitions

Thanks to the Australian Tattoo and Body Art Expo, Vertigo is giving away 2 double full day passes to the expo, 7-9 March.

Thanks to Harper Collins Publishers, Vertigo is giving away 5 copies of Gabrielle Tozer’s recent release The Intern.

For your chance to win, email submissions@utsvertigo.com.au with ‘Body art expo entry’ in the subject line. Please include your name, phone and student number with your entry and tell us, in 25 words or less, a horrific “tattoos gone wrong” story.

For your chance to win, email submissions@utsvertigo.com.au with ‘The Intern entry’ in the subject line. Please include your name, phone, student number and postal address with your entry and tell us, in 25 words or less, a funny story about your experience interning or working.

Entertainment at the expo includes tattoo contests, motorcycle stunts, live music, an Inked Girls model competition, burlesque performances and pin-up pageants. There will also be a custom bike bar, air-brushing, live bands, children’s entertainment, car and motorcycle displays and a range of stalls selling everything from tattoo supplies to the latest in alternative fashions.

Praise for The Intern: “The gloss, the glamour... the treachery! Tozer nails the bittersweet world of women’s magazines in this sassy comingof-age story.” - Jessica Parry, Cosmopolitan Deputy Editor.

For more information, including information on celebrity guest appearances, head to www.tattooexpo.com.au

Thanks to Virgo Productions, Vertigo has 15 double passes for a special preview screening of Rise of the Eco Warriors in Sydney, this March. Screening details to be advised. For your chance to win, email submissions@utsvertigo.com.au with ‘Eco Warriors entry’ in the subject line. Please include your name, phone and student number with your entry and tell us, in 25 words or less, why you want to see this film.

Please note: stories do not have to be factual. Exaggeration and poetic license is encouraged. Terms and conditions: 1. Only one entry per person 2. Australian Tattoo and Body Art Expo competition commences 10 February 2014 and ends midnight 2 March 2014. 3. The Intern competition commences 10 February 2014 and ends midnight 2 March 2014. 4. The Rise of the Eco Warriors giveaway commences 10 February 2014 and ends midnight 27 February 2014 5. Winners of the Australian Tattoo and Body Art Expo and The Intern competitions will be notified by 3 March 2014 6. Winners of the Rise of the Eco Warriors competition will be notified by 1 March 2014 7. Winners of the Australian Tattoo and Body Art Expo hold the responsibility to collect their prizes by 7 March 2014 from the UTS Students’ Association reception 8. Winners of the Rise of the Eco Warriors competition hold responsibility to collect their prizes from the UTS Students’ Association reception by 7 March 2014 9. Entry is open to all UTS students with a valid UTS student number 10. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into 11. Prizes cannot be transferred for cash

vertigo issue one - firsts

Puzzle 1 (Medium, difficulty rating 0.54)

Puzzle 2 (Medium, difficulty rating 0.50)

puzzles 7 4 9 9

5 6

3 4

9 2

3 4

4 5

4 2

9 3

2 7

1 4 2 9 4

Puzzle 2 (Medium, diff

5 6

3 8

9 2

Puzzle 2 (Hard, difficulty rating 0.74)

6 7

5 1

1 5

5 3

6 1

7 9 2

Generated by http://www.opensky.ca/~jdhildeb/software/sudokugen/ on Thu Jan 23 08:22:07 2014 GMT. Enjoy!

5 5

2 1

3 7

rating 0.70)

Puzzle 1 (Medium, difficulty rating 0.54)

5 7

Generated by http://opensky.ca/~jdhildeb/software/sudokugen/

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COLLECTIVE REPORTS

Kate Alway - Postgraduate Officer Hi, I’m the new Postgraduate Officer. UTS hasn’t had active postgraduate representation for a while so I’m keen to make 2014 an exciting year. Establishing a Postgrad Department this year is one of our primary goals, and we’re off to a great start, having already affiliated to the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations before the year even began! We’ve also supported the postgrads at Macquarie Uni, whose organisation has just been shut down. Most importantly, I’m looking forward to meeting as many postgrads as possible this year, seeing what you need and want out of your representative organisation and working to make things happen. To say hello, find out more or get onto our email list, contact me at utssa.pg@gmail.com or find our Facebook page.

Welfare Officer – Jess Xu Welcome to a new year of learning, avidly defending the aesthetic value of our tower, and a crippling student debt! How fun does that last bit sound? No? Chances are, with two thirds of students living in poverty, you probably aren’t too keen on this. So that’s where we come in. We are here for you - to do the best we can for your wellbeing. Welfare isn’t a hand out that a generous bureaucratic body gives to lazy, undeserving people. Welfare is the health, happiness, and fortunes of a person or group. That’s what we’re working for, and you can too, by getting in touch via email: utssa.welfare.2014@gmail.com.

Indigenous Officer - Jake Witchard My name is Jake and I’m your Indigenous Officer for 2014. It is my role to represent fellow Indigenous students on the university’s Student Representative Council. This year we face many concerns regarding Indigenous education. The Liberal government’s cuts to higher education are already threatening Indigenous university enrolments. Startup scholarships are being replaced with loan systems – loans our Indigenous university students simply cannot afford. 2014

will be a tough year for us ATSI kids, and it will be through the Indigenous Student Collective (ISC) that our concerns will be raised and our voices be heard. If you would like to find out more about ISC or get involved you can send me an email at: indig.at.uts@gmail.com

Freya Newman – Wom*n’s Officer The UTS Wom*n’s Collective is a student-run group affiliated with the UTSSA, open to all wom*n –identifying and genderminority (intersex, sex and/or gender diverse) persons. We organise, debate and discuss issues and ideas around gender discrimination at university and in the wider community. We meet weekly in the Wom*n’s Room, tucked away behind some musky lockers near the Concourse Café. We also chat and organise events online at facebook.com/groups/utswom.nscollective/. Both the Wom*n’s Room and the online group are autonomous; if you identify as a wom*n or gender-minority person, you are welcome to come along and/or make a request to join online. We also hope to publish a Wom*n’s edition of the UTS magazine Vertigo – you can take a look at the Wom*n’s Vertigo (‘Her/ZirTigo’) of 2013 at issuu.com/feministcollective/docs/ womyns_vertigo. If you have any questions, would just like to introduce yourself, or find out about events, feel free to email utswomenscollective@gmail.com.

Ethno Cultural Officer – Jennifer Pham Howdy! My name is Jennifer Pham and I am the 2014 Ethnocultural Officer. The Ethno-cultural Collective brings together students who have experienced racism and discrimination based on their cultural identity, whether they identify as a person of colour (POC) or are part of a marginalised culture. Our space is autonomous, supportive and full of discussion. If you want to know more, have suggestions, need some support or want to join in on our Collective fun, send an email to ethnoculturaluts@ gmail.com.

vertigo issue one - firsts

STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Welcome to UTS, I wish you a safe and fulfilling semester 1. The UTS Students’ Association is your student union - we aim to find ways to change the university structure to better suit our needs, whether they be educational or personal. Remember that without unions, students and workers would be susceptible to horrible conditions, higher fees and general manipulation. We stand together, so that students have a voice in how this university is run - for us. If you’re struggling to find where you fit at UTS, the Students’ Association has your back. We are an organisation made to tailor to student needs. We currently have 10 collectives; large, flat groups of people who come together around similar ideas and identities. We also have a small array of Political, Education, Religious or Cultural (PERC) clubs, and I’d like to welcome the students behind the Resistance Club, GAMSAT Peeps, Students Thinking Outside Borders (STOB) and the Atheist Society for rejoining us in 2014. Check out the UTS Students’ Association Handbook for 2014 for more info on these groups you can be involved in - as well as pieces on the diverse services at UTS, the different campuses, and the challenges we face in 2014. As a union we take up issues that are political. Last year, members from the Students’ Association were involved in organising national refugee actions, fighting for marriage equality and reacting to the anti-abortion laws being pushed through parliament. As a political organisation, we will stand and fight for the rights of people, as they require support. We are also committed to supporting students who come from disadvantaged groups. At the end of the day, you can justify almost anything by saying, “This would affect at least one student on campus”, but that is not the aim. We do what is right for the student population,

because we believe in the push for left-wing alternatives over conservative structures that benefit the few instead of the many. This year, we have a few key battles on our hands. The staff of our university have already faced attacks from university management in regards to their working conditions. Further, the Liberal government, headed by Tony Abbott, have set up to tear apart the tertiary education system, our healthcare and the rights of individuals. This year, you will see more movement from students in regards to organising actions and campaigns to fight against the conservatism that fucks over staff, students and especially those from minority groups. Always know, that the SA is here to listen and fight with you for better conditions. Pop in, and have a chat. Andy Zephyr President UTS Students’ Association

sapresident2014@uts.edu.au

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STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION

Education VicePresident Report

Secretary Report

A new team of scummy politicians is in power. A new Vice-Chancellor is taking over UTS. A new team is running the Students’ Association, for the first time in 8 years. UTS is changing faster than you might think. These changes are an opportunity – if we push them right, we can restore the role of education as a hub for the great social movements of our time – the fights against racism and imperial wars, for feminism and queer liberation, the fight to save our fragile environment, and of course the never-ending struggle for economic justice. However those in power would prefer students were little more than numbers on a page generating a profit for corporate universities, providing docile workers for an ever-expanding system of consumption and production, in which we all work as wage-slaves in jobs we don’t like producing crap we don’t need, ruled over by bosses we detest. UTS students are not apathetic – did you know in 1997 hundreds of students forced their way through police to occupy the offices of management for three days, until police sledgehammered their way in and released attack dogs on students? UTS has always been a hub for social change. Together we can fight for what we’ve got and for the people that come after us. Come meet us in the Students’ Association, attend a student assembly, come along to an action, join the Education Action Group. With your help, we can win anything!

What is your SRC doing? Hi, I’m Andie Yates, the Secretary of the Students’ Association (SA) for this year. I call SRC meetings, take minutes, and keep track of SRC documents. The minutes will be made available in full at http://www.sa.uts.edu.au/SRC . I also keep track of what the President and Education Vice President are doing and help them out however I can. All students are welcome at SRC and SRC Executive meetings; notices of meeting dates are displayed at the SA (building 1, lvl 3). At our first meeting, we elected the Education Vice President, Chris Gall; Assistant Secretary, Lauren Cairns; and Welfare Officer, Jess Xu. On December 3, there was an Executive meeting. The agenda included re-affiliation of the Atheist Club, Queer Collective spending, Wom*n’s Vertigo spending, NUS National Conference registrations, and T-shirts for the collectives. Hopefully by the time you’re reading this there are students around campus in some cool collective-repping threads. There were also SRC meetings held on 16 and 19 December, the details of which can be found online. Agenda points covered within these meetings focussed mainly on O-Week preparations, conducting the remainder of our internal elections, and discussions with numerous student interest groups and collectives (for more information on any of these groups, check out your SA handbook). A Budget Committee was also elected, and Vertigo and collective spending was approved. Our most recent meeting (at the time of writing) was January 21. Agenda items included endorsing invoices for the design of Collective T-shirts and the NUS Presidents’ Summit, spending for Vertigo’s attendance at NEWS Conference, and a donation to the International Women’s Day Organising Committee. If you have any concerns you would like to bring to the attention of the SRC feel free to send an email to students. association@uts.edu.au and our Office Manager will put you in contact with the relevant people.

Chris Gall Education Vice-President UTS Student’s Association

uttsa.evp@gmail.com

Andie Yates Secretary UTS Student’s Association

utssa.secretary.2014@gmail.com

vertigo issue one - firsts

THATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S A WRAP

Free Brekkie For Students UTS STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION’S

Brekkie Bar Tuesdays, 8:30 - 11:00 AM Haymarkets Moot Courtyard Wednesdays, 8:30 - 11:00 AM Tower Building Foyer www.sa.uts.edu.au