2016 Volume 3 Reverie

VOLUME three | reverie

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Reverie:rɛv(ə)ri/ noun A state of being pleasantly lost in one’s thoughts.

Your heavy heart Your foggy memory Your clouded vision The moments when you feel yourself slipping at the edges and into sleep. Concentrate on the empty air above your head - so thin and so without substance, a weightless dust cloud drifting without shape.

But habits start to form in its rhythm. Bias has a steady beat.

Your wandering thoughts are waiting to dance, but your quiet limbs – they just want to dream.

02

UTS STUDENT MAGAZINE : JUNE 2016

E DI TOR I A L A MESSAGE FROM THE TEAM The end of semester is approaching and we bet you’re getting pretty sleepy. Daylight is gone too quickly and there is a chill about your back. There will be moments when all you want to do is watch Harry Potter and eat hot popcorn until you become a blanket.

This volume is for floaters, drifters, and brooders. In the opening section we delve into personal essays: Vanessa Papastavros challenges the confinement of imaginary friends to childhood, Theresa Khoury recounts the devastating effects of the “silent killer” dementia, and through the eyes of Srisha Sritharan we confuse our reality with dreams.

Reverie is an escape into your imagination. In our showcase section, Sarah Maynard stirs light into space in her collection, ‘Luminescence’, whilst Helen Tran’s ‘An Ocean for a Home’ considers space in light of its absence. In her poem ‘Dear’, Aisyah Shah Idil constructs her identity by breathing urgency into her name:

This volume is a conversation about mental health. Shane Gillard ideates ways of challenging the stigma surrounding mental health through Australian policy reform. David Lt, university manager of batyr UTS, speaks about getting behind this idea on campus. As university students, we have a tendency to glorify the over-committed and to value achievement at the cost of being overwhelmed. Starting the conversation around mental health acknowledges that this cost should not be normalised. Recognising the value of rest and networks of suppor t will bring us closer to achieving gradual positive change.

Thank you to everyone who shared their stories: 95 people were involved in this volume. An enormous thank you to our design team and visual contributors, who continually nurture the fuzzy stuff that floats between our brows and bears it to an eloquent conclusion.

Love,

The ay requires your rapt attention, the shah is your breath out.

Jack Cameron Stanton manifests simultaneity in ‘The Roaming’ - you are in the front seat, you are in his head. With Jack, we slip seamlessly from reality to hallucination, and Joy Li’s cover illustration settles somewhere in-between.

OFF THE VOLUME : REVERIE PLAYLIST HELEN TRAN & SURABI ALAUDDIN Head to our website, utsvertigo.com.au, to listen along while you flip through the pages of Volume Three.

THANK YOUS

FUCK YOUS

/ LEMONADE

/ Soy triggering heat

1/

‘Joga’ by Björk

/ Wheat packs

/ Short notice

2/

‘Us’ by Regina Spektor

/ Jif

/ Itchy nipples

3/

‘Golden Ticket’ by Highasakite

/ Tom Holland as Spiderman

/ Vertigo office light

4/

‘Yes I’m Changing’ by Tame Impala

/ Dinosaurs

/ Opal

5/

‘Camberwell’ by #1 Dads

6/

‘Diving Away’ by Tricky

SHRUGS

7/

‘Honey (Medasin Remix)’ by KUČKA

/ Wang jokes

8/

‘Dream Fortress’ by Grimes

/ Skip bins / Fire alarms

CONTACT US :

Website

Enquiries

Submissions

utsvertigo.com.au

editorial@utsvertigo.com.au

submissions@utsvertigo.com.au

ED I T OR S FAVOURITE BEDTIME STORIES

Lauren Meola Editor-in-chief (Managing); Off-Broadway Editor ‘Little Dracula Goes to School’ by Martin Waddell.

Ling McGregor Editor-in-chief (Creative); Visual Showcase Editor ‘Tanglewood Tales’ by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Ante Bruning Proof Editor; Culture Editor ‘Are You My Mother?’ by P.D. Eastman.

Jennifer Worgan Copy Editor; Satire Editor ‘Funnybones’ by Janet and Allan Ahlberg.

Zac Blue Written Showcase Editor (Poetry); Lifestyle and Innovation Editor ‘Life After Death’ by The Notorious B.I.G.

Raveena Grover The Social Environment Editor; Lifestyle and Innovation Editor ‘The Faraway Tree’ by Enid Blyton.

Surabi Alauddin Politics Editor ‘Goosebumps’ by R.L. Stine.

Srisha Sritharan Online Editor Fav series was ‘The Baby-Sitters Club’.

Jessica Wang Online Editor ‘The Secret Garden’ by Frances Hodgson.

Kiên Lê Board Special Projects Editor Mum read us Harry Potter each night - it was magical.

Kimberly Luo Creative Director ‘Menu’ by Pizza Hut.

Wendy San Creative Director ‘Vertigo’ by Vertigo.

EDITORS

SUB-EDITORS

CREATIVE DIRECTORS

Surabi Alauddin Zac Blue Kiên Lê Board Ante Bruning Raveena Grover Ling McGregor Lauren Meola

Srisha Sritharan

Janette Chen

Beatrice Tan

Kimberly Luo

Jessica Wang

Olivia Costa

Helen Tran

Wendy San

Jennifer Worgan

Isaac Garcia Cameron Hart

DESIGNERS

Zoe Knowles

Jordan Evans

Enoch Mailangi

Rekha Dhanaram

Brittany Smith

Megan Wong A R T W O R K : K I M B E R LY L U O

03

04

UTS STUDENT MAGAZINE : JUNE 2016

Vo lu m e 3 CO NT R I B UT OR S WRITI NG

VISUAL

Baxter Atkins

Vanessa Papastravos

Natalie Borghi

Rachel Macpherson

Lachlan Barker

Alicia Prager

Isabella Brown

Sarah Maynard

Andrew Blunt

Isabella Puentes

Agnes Choi

James Alexander Meland

Gabriella Brakenbury-Soldenhoff

Mohamed Rumman

Annabel Cook

Rebecca Mills

Christopher Brett-Renes

Sambavi Seemaran

Judy Dao

Ryley Miller

David Burley

Aisyah Shah Idil

Lauren Fitzpatrick

Rachel Mjl

Janette Chen

Kieran Smith

Emilie Glasson

Stephanie Morris

Fabián Marcel Vergara DeLeón

Olivia Stanley

Josh Greenstein

Poppy Rodrigues

Taylor Ficarra

Jack Cameron Stanton

Addo Gustaf

Chloe Schumacher

Shane Gillard

Michael Tangonan

Luanna Han

Brooke Martin-Smith

Will Hall

Joanna Thyer

Alya Higgins

Angela Tam

Sophie Hawkshaw

Zalehah Turner

Erland Howden

Gia Vy (Susan) Truong

Sam Howes

Mona Abu Zalaf

Luci Huijer

Andrew Vuong

Sue Kang

Elizabeth Jung

Shay Xayalith

Theresa Khoury

Susan Keighery

Sylvia Zheng

Priya Kumar

Jenny Kim

Michelle Bae

David Lt

Kelly Lam

Chris McKay

Joy Li

Ismene Panateros

Nancy Li

Danah Pantano

Maddie Lumley

CREDITS Cover Joy Li

Section Breaks Kimberly Luo

Opening Page Michelle Bae (Illustration) Ling McGregor (Words)

Advertising Stephanie King

WELCOME TO COUNTRY

PUBLISHING

UTS acknowledges and recognises the Gadigal people of the Eora nation as the Traditional Owners and holders of knowledge for these places where our UTS campuses now stand at Broadway and Market City. UTS also acknowledges Elders past, present and future, including the contribution that Australia’s Indigenous people make to the academic and cultural life of the university.

Vertigo is published by the UTS students’ association, and printed by SOS printing, Alexandria.

- Aunty Joan Tranter, Inaugural Elder in Residence, University of Technology, Sydney.

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 consent of written copyright holders.

DISCLAIMER The contents of Vertigo do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Editors or the UTS Students’ Association.

COPYRIGHT

CONTENTS REVERIE 06

showcase 50

/ Personal Essay

/ Fashion

/ Imaginary Friends

/ Architecture

/ Vivid Dreams

/ Realism

/ Mindfulness Colouring In

/ Photography

/ Mental Health

/ Cover Artist / Fiction

politicS 14

/ Poetry

/ News / Policy

OFF-BROADWAY

/ Refugee Issues

/ Collectives

/ International Affairs / Media / Opinion

71

/ batyr UTS / UTS Services / The Graduate / Insearch

the social environment 30

/ SA Reports

/ Trending

/ Join the Club

/ Identity / Women’s Issues

lifestyle & INNOVATION

/ Language

/ Food

81

/ Fitness

Culture 38

/ Science

/ Tribute

/ Environment

/ Music / Books / Film

/ Gaming / Sleep / Sex

/ Live

rear window

94

/ News / How-to / Horoscopes

A R T W O R K : K I M B E R LY L U O

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r e v e r i e : P e r s o n a l E s s ay

P l ay P r e t e n d Vanessa Papastavros

Imagination (n.) the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses.

As children, imaginary play is encouraged. Parents humour us by dining on plastic cake and empty teacups. We personify our stuffed animals using funny voices and run around in capes and fairy wings, pretending to be creatures we are not.

I want to question why the domain of the imaginary is restricted to childhood. Why are imaginary friends and make-believe stigmatised when relocated to the adolescent and adult world?

From my experience, imagination is considered superfluous, even problematic. Playing pretend often makes you seem crazy. That hasn’t stopped me from playing, and it shouldn’t stop you. I’m here to advocate for pretend play, for detours into fantasy and imaginary friends.

At a basic level, there are two types of pretend play: fantasy play and sociodramatic play. Fantasy play begins at around two years old, when pre-schoolers begin to interact with other children.

This type of play involves the continuous verbalisation of a state of pretend, meaning the child cannot stay completely in character because they need to explain what they are pretending to be or do. Perhaps you have played pretend with a child before and noticed that they feel the need to direct or illuminate what it is that you’re doing. Maybe you’re a really shitty actor, but the more likely explanation is the child is sustaining and negotiating cognitive reasoning, an essential skill to develop.

Sociodramatic play differs in that the guidelines for the pretend storyline are set, and the child becomes immersed in this story without breaking character. Often, the guidelines mimic narratives and storylines that the child has been exposed to (acting out a fairy-tale for instance, or playing ‘house’).

Sociodramatic play was and is a big part of my own way to play pretend. In high school, friends and I would choose a theme and spend the day inventing scenes and characters. Once, we were

Barbara and Jolene from South Alabama in the 1950s, lamenting about our love lives. We would choose a scene and a character to embody in order to survive tedious school events. For instance: I was standing in the museum (the school gym), admiring the abstract ar t (the year twelve major works), when a handsome man approached me to start up some small talk (my friend Chloe, doing a convincing job of being an arty hipster dude).

This brings us to the psychological and social phenomenon that effects up to 65 percent of children, where a friendship takes place in the imagination rather than an external physical reality - more commonly known as having imaginary friends. I don’t admit this lightly, because people tend to freak out, but I still have imaginary friends (one in particular, who’s been a companion for years. If you know me well, I’ve probably mentioned Rick before).

These instances of make-believe were typical for us drama kids (evidently, we were freaks), and could extend into weeks of improvisation and fantasy play. We would spend entire history lessons impersonating Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, or English classes devoted to being Godotesque characters in an abstract apocalyptic world. To this day, when gathered with such friends, we will switch into the characters we once invented and spend ages moving through the motions of sociodramatic play. It is more sophisticated than the games two-year-olds play, but it’s still essentially child’s play. These are the same processes employed when adults act in plays or participate in improv, except there is no need for an audience and it is therefore an internalised experience.

None of us can really explain this phenomenon, but many psychologists have noted its benefits. Four-year-old children with invisible companions scored higher on emotional understanding measures. Many children stated that their imaginary friends served as a conscience in times where morality was questioned, but what fantasy play really allows children to do is find companionship when lonely, comfort when stressed, and authority when they feel powerless. It gives them a way to explore the adult world.

Adult - play builds positive emotional expression and empathy. Role-play is often used as an antidote to violent tendencies and is a powerful catalyst for positive socialisation. It also acts as a management tool for emotions, and it is the foundation for sound mental, physical, and emotional health. Play also helps us find our way, cultivate curiosity, take risks, discover talents, build social relationships, and experience new enthusiasm for life.

And while this is an acceptable practice as a child, it becomes unnerving to most adults. If you say you have an imaginary friend at the age of 21, people will assume you are crazy. However, the fear that imaginary friends are harbingers of serious psychopathology is often unfounded.

Imaginary friends differ from delusions or hallucinations (symptoms of psychosis) in that the child, or adult, knows they are not real and is in control of them.

As someone who often needs to create fictional characters for their work , this process of imagining people and engaging with them is helpful. I bring the character to life, have a conversation with them, walk with them, imagine the way they speak or move. This way, I can create them more realistically in my fictitious works. The difference between them, and Rick, is that Rick was not invented as a character for a story. He was invented as a character for me—someone to vent to, to bounce my ideas off of, to play make-believe with. I am aware he is not real; he is a manifestation of my own thoughts. That doesn’t take away from the role he serves in my mental cogitation.

I would encourage you to never stop playing, fulfil that craving to try on silly costumes, talk in funny accents, and live out make-believe scenarios. Restore the inner child, and play pretend to your heart’s content.

1. Taylor, M.; Carlson, S. (1997). “The relation between individual differences in fantasy and theory of mind”. Child Development, 68 (3): 436–458.

2. Hoff, E.V. (2004). “A friend living inside me - The forms and functions of imaginary companions”. Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, 24 (2): 151–189.

artwork : luci huijer

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reverie : PERSONAL ESSAY

C o m e F ly w i t h M e : Adventures in Vivid Dreaming Srisha Sritharan

Sleep (n.) a condition of body and mind which typically recurs for several hours every night, in which the nervous system is inactive, the eyes closed, the postural muscles relaxed, and consciousness practically suspended.

My final year of high school was strange: not because of the HSC tidal wave that was surging towards me, and not because I was a hormonal creature that semi-resembled a gremlin. The strangeness stemmed from the nightly happenings in my brain. I dreamed, oh boy, did I dream. I dreamed so damn often and so vividly that I constantly found myself repeating scenarios in real life.

My eyes close, my postural muscles relax.

I sleep. I sleep.

I dream. Restless.

Daytime consists of ‘doing’. Doing things, thinking thoughts, going places, voicing ideas - rinse and repeat. It’s a cycle of doing, and we depend on those hours of sleep to replenish the energy required to keep doing. But now I find myself constantly doing. I do not feel refreshed or rested. Waking up is a continual déjà-vu – I assume I’ve done things that I have not. These things have only occurred in my dreams.

My brain never switches off. Waking-state and dream-state become one, and I just keep on doing and doing and doing.

As much as the notion of dreaming every single night for an entire year was initially thrilling, once the confusion between my dual realities kicked in, I had had enough of repeating conversations. My Google searches read: “How do I stop dreaming?” and “Confusing dreams with reality”.

It seemed that keeping a dream journal could potentially cure me of my subliminal adventures. That morning when I woke up, I grabbed a pen, and only stopped three A4 pages later. I had notes in the margins with intertextual references, colour-coordinated characters, scribbles, asterisks, brackets. It was a beautiful riot. However, it failed to subdue the frequency of my dreams.

Method two inadvertently resulted in lucid dreaming. After reading about how pre-sleep meditation could potentially hone my deep-rooted psyche, I found myself slipping into a controlled dream-state. Method two was fucking cool.

I was a bird, I glided, and travelled dimensions. It was exhilarating, but alas, all good things must come to an end (cue Nelly Furtado). Eventually the lucid dreams wore off, and I reverted back to my annoyingly recurrent and equally confusing dual realities.

Method three is in its early stages. This is my fifth year of daily dreams - I’ve established a sleep routine around my daytime doing and figured that dwelling on dreams does nothing but cultivate wasted time and effort. Allocating time for yoga and meditation occasionally helps to reduce the intensity of doing and emphasise the rest amidst the restlessness. It’s a work in progress.

artwork : angela tam

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reverie : Mindfulness colouring

Kintsukuroi

Hikikomori

Japanese (n.) ‘to repair with gold’; the art of repairing pottery with gold or silver lacquer and understanding that the piece is more beautiful for having been broken.

Japanese (n.) an adolescent or a young adult who has withdrawn from social life, often obsessed with television, internet and video games, and rarely ever leaves one’s room.

L’esprit de l’escalier

Nakhes

French (n.) lit. “the spirit of the staircase”; the feeling you get after leaving a conversation, when you think of all the things you should have said.

Yiddish (n.) the satisfaction gained from life’s gifts; proud pleasure, especially in one’s children or grandchildren and their successes, however small.

Meraki

Jayus

Greek (v.) to do something with soul, creativity, or love; to put something of yourself into your work.

Indonesian (n.) a joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh.

Resfeber

Sillage

Swedish (n.) the restless race of the traveller’s heart before the journey begins, when anxiety and anticipation are tangled together; a ‘travel fever’ that can manifest as an illness.

French (n.) the scent that lingers in air, the trail left in water, the impression made in space after something or someone has been and gone; the trace of someone’s perfume.

Redamancy

Komorebi

English (n.) a love returned in full; the act of loving the one who loves you.

Japanese (n.) sunlight that filters through the leaves of trees.

Cafune

Alexithymia

Brazillian Portuguese (v.) the act of running your fingers through your lover’s hair.

English (n.) the inability to express your feelings.

Sonder

Saudade

English (n.) the realisation that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own - populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness - an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.

Portuguese & Brazilian Portuguese (n.) A deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone.

Associated with the knowledge that they might never return - a sense of emptiness, feeling the absence of something or someone.

Colour this and tag @utsvertigomagazine

artwork : rekha dhanaram

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r e v e r i e : p e r s o n a l e s s ay

Hiraeth

Theresa Khoury

(n.) a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, for familiarity which maybe never was; the nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for the lost places of your past.

I asked my grandmother a question the other day on the phone about how her appointment with the doctor had gone. I waited patiently for her reply, and after a few moments I thought that the line had disconnected, typical of international calling cards. Instead, I heard a suppressed sob. My grandmother asked me when I was going to come and visit her.

I hated when she cried, and even more when it was over the phone. I tried to explain to her that I had been there less than six months ago, yet she couldn’t remember that I had stayed in the village with her and my grandfather for five weeks. It was the first time I had seen snow.

During my spontaneous, borderline rebellious five-week visit, I had fought with her numerous times over simple things that I thought she would still know - that the powdered milk she used in cooking was white, and not the blue detergent that she tried to mix in with the food.

That the basket on the floor of the laundry room was not cleaned washing, but needed to be washed and not hung on the line with a shirt’s tomato stain for all to see, only to be picked up five minutes later, folded, and returned to the floor of the laundry room.

I told her in butchered Arabic, after years of speaking English, that God willing I would come back to visit her soon. She faltered for a second, and asked me about my brother - how he was and if he had star ted preschool yet. My brother Anthony was already in year one, yet my grandmother couldn’t remember, even though this was said to her only moments prior by my mother. She still remembered him as the baby she had visited several years ago who wore diapers big enough to cushion his numerous falls.

Sometimes I feel incredibly frustrated by my grandmother’s illness. It annoys me that she will never remember me as the young adult that I am becoming, but rather as the naive 12-year-old that had visited her in 2009, and had spent more time playing with rocks in the backyard than getting to know her. I am frustrated that I had wasted time instead of asking her questions only a grandmother could answer: What is the secret to a successful marriage? What is the best recipe for a broken heart?

Her dementia gets progressively worse with each year that passes.

She doesn’t remember my face anymore.

Dementia is such a beautiful killer, because on the outside she appears to be fine. She will engage in brief conversation, and will remember everything prior to 2012, but ask her about something that happened yesterday and she will stare back at you, blank-faced and confused. It is no lie that my grandmother gets stuck in bad habits. She often confuses the past with the present.

She is still fighting, and I hope that she will continue to fight for the next few years. I hope that the next time I go back to the motherland she will still remember my name.

artwork : GIA VY (Susan) Truong

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P OL I T I C S

Politics : news

Around the World in 80 Seconds: Global Political Snapshot

Surabi Alauddin The Middle East

Oceania

Syria: In the ongoing Syrian conflict, US and Russian diplomats have worked to extend a Syrian truce to include Aleppo, the divided northern city, where a sharp escalation of violence in recent weeks has left a ceasefire in tatters and torpedoed peace talks.

Australia: Treasurer Scott Morrison released the Federal Budget. Major points include: tax cuts to businesses and earners between $80 000 - $87 000, $33 billion of funding for road and rail infrastructure, a crackdown on welfare fraud, an increase in the price of cigarettes by 12.5 percent per year for four years, and a new Youth Jobs PaTH program providing jobseekers with intensive workplace training.

Israel: Yosef Haim Ben-David has been sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years. The Israeli national was convicted of abducting and murdering Palestinian teenager, Muhammad Abu Khdeir, which sparked the 50-day Gaza war that resulted in the deaths of 2200 Palestinians and 66 Israelis in 2014.

Africa Somalia: Up to 500 migrants, mostly Somali, have drowned when their boat capsized in Mediterranean waters. They departed from the coast of Egypt and were heading for Italy. The survivors were rescued at sea by a merchant vessel and taken to Greece.

Ethiopia: The worst drought in 50 years has worsened the famine and malnutrition that the nation faces. In response, Ethiopia has signed onto the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative, which hopes to improve soil fertility, food security, and the quality of water resources.

Asia India: Hundreds of people have protested in the Southern Indian state of Kerala over the violent sexual assault, mutilation, and death of a 30-year-old female university student, who was from the ‘untouchable’ Dalit caste. Five suspects have been detained for questioning.

China: The last prisoner detained in connection with the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, Miao Deshun, is set to be released later this year after spending almost three decades behind bars. Anywhere from a few hundred to thousands of protesters were estimated to have been killed by Chinese military forces during the pro-democracy protests.

Indonesia: Hundreds of pro-independence demonstrators in the province of Papua were arrested by police after they called for an internationally monitored referendum for independence. Papua has seen a long-running and often violent separatist conflict since 1969 after being incorporated into Indonesia following a widely criticised UN-backed referendum.

The Americas Ecuador: A 7.8 magnitude earthquake has left at least 650 dead and thousands injured. Tremors and aftershocks have continued to rock the country, leaving 7000 buildings destroyed and more than 26,000 people made homeless. The cost of rebuilding is estimated to be three billion dollars.

Cuba: The first American cruise ship to arrive in Cuba in decades has received a warm welcome from Havana residents. They were gathered at the wharf in the old colonial city as hundreds of Americans waved from the decks of the vessel.

Europe Germany: Health Minister, Hermann Grohe, announced plans to legalise cannabis for medicinal purposes in early 2017, saying “our goal is that seriously ill patients are treated in the best possible way”.

Italy: Italy’s highest court of appeal has ruled that stealing small amounts of food to stave off hunger is not a crime.

A homeless man, Roman Ostriakov, was initially convicted of theft, fined €100 and sentenced to six months in jail, but has had his conviction overturned with the court ruling that, “the right to survival prevails over property”.

a r t w o r k : k i m b e r ly l u o

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politics : policy

The Personal is Political:

Australian Mental H e a lt h P o l i cy

Shane Gillard It’s 3am - you’re lying awake again for the third night in a row. There’s a drop of cold sweat on your brow as you slip into a panic attack, analysing and overthinking the day before. Your mind manipulates your thoughts and underestimates what you have accomplished, downplaying the small wins and pressuring you to always do more, be better, work faster, make more friends, and keep everyone happy. The list goes on - your thoughts wander.

Sometimes it takes a while to acknowledge that you can’t go on feeling like this every day. But where do you start? Who do you talk to? How do you talk to them?

You remember trying to tell your friends that you’re not okay, that you’ve become paralysed by anxiety, constricted by your own mind. They don’t know how to react. You’re not supposed to talk about these things. How many times have you been told to sort out your own problems in life?

The stigma around mental health is alive and well.

You might think this battle is more personal than political, but everything is political. Those who need equitable access to mental health care are our most vulnerable, including: the homeless, low socioeconomic status households, and people who have been exposed to traumatic events who are left suffering from chronic mental health conditions.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are particularly impacted by mental health issues which are compounded by economic and social disadvantage.

Mental Health Politics in Australia: What does the politics of mental health look like in Australia?

The Department of Health’s National Mental Health Strategy dates back to 1992, with various updates and recommitments over the last 20 years. The 2008 National Mental Health Policy was aimed at reducing the impact of the stigma surrounding mental health by ensuring that recovery pathways were as accessible as possible, so that individuals could participate meaningfully in society.

Alongside this was the Fourth National Mental Health Plan which acknowledged that positive influences on mental health were affected by factors outside of the health system. All of this was underpinned by the Mental Health Statement of Rights and Responsibilities which sets the standard of mental health care, consistent with our international obligations. In the last few years the policies of mental health have come under the microscope, with a full review into how services are delivered and the order of priority according to which they are funded.

The 2014 ‘Contributing Lives, Thriving Communities’ report found that there were no consistent national measures for delivering mental health care and suppor t services.

Basically, the system has been built up over time, adding new services, taking some away and reallocating funding all over the place. This lack of integration causes the fundamental problem faced by people who seek help: the requirement to constantly retell their story in every appointment they

make. Imagine having to relive every single detail, at every single session, with every single service provider. Recounting these experiences often leads to re-traumatisation. This is a major barrier in the system, we are shutting people out of seeking help. Over $10 billion a year is spent funding mental health care. There is a dire need for a consistently delivered national approach. The funding model should seriously consider a reallocation to prevention and early intervention services - because this is where mental health care and support can have the most significant impact.

In 2015, the government responded to the ‘Contributing Lives, Thriving Communities’ report by committing to putting individual care at the core of an overhauled mental health system. The funding levels would remain the same, but with $85 million reallocated for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health over the next three years.

However, there is more than funding at stake here. We need to consider a cultural shift in our organisations and our lives which tackles the stigma attached to starting a conversation around mental health.

Want to tackle the stigma? If you don’t like what’s being said - change the conversation Don’t be afraid to speak up and speak out. There is nothing to be ashamed of, and you aren’t giving up or admitting defeat. You are rising up with great strength to confront your mental health condition and tackle it head on.

If a few of us are willing to be brave advocates of the cause, then we can put mental health policy back on the government’s agenda. The economic case for this is clear: PricewaterhouseCoopers modeling states that for every dollar invested into a mentally healthy workplace policy, the returns average to $2.30 in regained productivity, reduced turnover, and annual leave time.

So let’s make this an election issue: a fully funded, fair mental health care system for every Australian. Together, we can be stigma free and support one another.

It’s never been a more exciting time to be an Australian, right? Well, let’s rephrase that slightly. It’s never been a more exciting time to take on the stigma around mental health. That’s an ideas boom I can get behind.

artwork : luanna han

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POLITICS : REFUGEE ISSUES

no place to call home Alicia Prager The Rohingya, Myanmar’s Unwanted Minority The sound of hawkers, bustling traffic, and laughter in the background make it difficult to hear Brights Hla Tin during our telephone conversation. The 25-year-old lives in Thet Kay Pyin, a camp for Internally Displaced People (IDP) bordering Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state in Western Myanmar. Its inhabitants are Rohingya, a Muslim minority in Myanmar with South Asian ethnic origins who have resided in Rakhine state for centuries. Suffering from political, economic, social disadvantage, and extensive human rights abuses, the Rohingya are one of the world’s most persecuted communities.

Brights Hla Tin attended school in Sittwe and planned to continue his education at university but when the 2012 riots between Rakhine Burmese and Rohingya Burmese broke out, in which almost 200 people were killed, his life was turned upside down. Following the escalated violence many Rohingya attempted to flee the country. Many others were forced into camps like the one where Brights Hla Tin lives today. Conditions in these camps are poor with a lack of adequate housing, sanitary and educational resources.

Food is only available through NGOs such as the World Food Programme (WFP) and access to drinking water is limited. Children get very basic education, leaving future Rohingya generations poorly educated with little prospect of a better future. A temporary medical clinic is only open for two hours, three days a week. The medical care provided is minimal, with doctors deciding who they will see and paracetamol often being the only medication available. “We are not treated like human beings”, Brights Hla Tin says.

The Rohingya are not recognised as one of Myanmar’s 135 official ethnic groups, but instead are regarded as ‘Bengali’, a term used to imply that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and not native Burmese. Obtaining Myanmar citizenship is close to impossible, leaving the community stateless. Neighbouring Bangladesh has intermittently taken in small numbers of Rohingya refugees , but overwhelmingly, almost a million Rohingya survive in a prec-arious, uncertain state, unable to obtain citizenship or form a state of their own. Being welcome nowhere, they are stuck in a situation which the International Organisation for Migration calls a “maritime ping-pong” between Southeast Asian states.

Brights is one of the 800 000 registered Rohingyas, of which 140 000 are living in IDP camps. About 700 000 more in Rakhine are not registered and therefore do not have access to support from international NGO’s such as World Food Programme’s supply, says Mohamed Ibrahim from the European Rohingya Council (ERC). Mohamed left Myanmar in 1990 to flee persecution. He sailed by boat to Bangladesh, and then to Germany where he lives today. He says that forced labour, arbitrar y arrests, forced relocation, land confiscations, and restrictions of movement were common abuses, starting in 1942 with the Arakan massacres, where communal violence on both sides erupted in the power vacuum left behind by the retreat of British occupation. The number of Rohingya who have fled Myanmar is unclear but the ERC estimates it to be approximately two million. Taking risky journeys over the sea, the Rohingya have become known as Asia’s boat people.

Aung San Suu Kyi: A New Hope In 2015, in a landmark moment for the nation, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was elected as the Head of State of Myanmar. For a nation that had been ruled by an oppressive military regime for decades it was hoped that this change in leadership would usher in true democracy.

While positive changes have occurred, this has mostly been for the benefit of the majority Buddhist population. The situation for the Rohingya has remained the same. “I don’t think that the government can change anything right now,” says Ibrahim, due to the ingrained racism against Rohingya people and the remaining power of the military.

The power of the military in Myanmar politics is enshrined in the nation’s constitution which mandates that 25 percent of the seats in both the lower and upper houses of parliament must be reserved for the military. This same document barred Suu Kyi from presidency, by its requirement the president must be someone who, “he himself, one of the parents, the spouse, one of the legitimate children or their spouses not owe allegiance to a foreign power” - Suu Kyi’s two sons are British citizens. Also, it requires that a president must have military experience - she does not have this. Yet, that has not prevented Suu Kyi from attaining power. She took the position of the State Counsellor, making clear that President Htin Kyaw, whom she appointed to office, would act as her proxy.

Although she has attained power, Aung San Suu Kyi faces a high level of political opposition. The precarious landscape in which she must operate likely explains her silence on the issue of Rohingya discrimination. Overt suppor t for the Rohingyas would be an extremely unpopular step and could weaken her position. In any case, real change will take time, not only for the situation of the Rohingya but for the country as a whole.

Nevertheless, the 2015 elections sparked hope within the Rohingya population. “Everyone in Myanmar has a lot of hope, also the Rohingya. Simply because we have suffered so much under the military governments,” says Mohammed Rafique, a refugee who fled Myanmar in 1992, spent 17 years in the refugee camp Kutupalong, Bangladesh, before resettling in Ireland. However, he fears that Suu Kyi will follow the voices of “a handful of public extremists.”

As the Rohingya community receives increased international support, nationalist Buddhist groups in Myanmar are becoming increasingly concerned about the possibility of granting more rights to the Muslim minority. In April of this year, hundreds rallied against international pressure in front of the US Embassy in Yangon, which had used the term “Rohingya” in a statement expressing concern following the death of dozens of Rohingya refugees at sea.

For Rafique, the demonstrations show the huge challenge the new government faces: “fighting racism and supporting reconciliation with the inclusion of people of all races and religion.” He does not expect to return to Myanmar any time soon.

ARTWORK : RACHEL MACPHERSON

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POLITICS : POLICY

Protest Laws: Curtailing freedoms, greater p e n a lt i e s, a n d t h e I n k l i n g s o f the Police State michael tangonan

Protesting: what are our rights?

Protesting is an essential part of any society. This is even more important in a democracy, as it is one of the main means the citizen is able to participate in the running of the state. The right to protest and freedoms of assembly and association are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, all of which Australia is party to. These documents do recognise the potential need to restrict these rights in the interest of national or public safety, public order, or in the protection of the rights of others.

Protest laws are currently being overhauled in NSW. The government wants us to understand that they are being changed to better protect protestors from harming themselves, but these laws would most benefit mining ventures by ensuring no protester is legally able to interfere with their operations again.

NSW protest laws: common wealth of the people or the new commonwealth of business?

On March 22 2016, the Governor of NSW gave assent to a new controversial law which will increase penalties for anti-coal seam gas (CSG) protestors who trespass on sites designated as mines. With its date of commencement still pending, this new legislation will raise fines from $550 to $5,500. In contrast, mining companies who have caused environmental damage face fines of only $5,000 for illegal mining.

The government has sold this law to the media as a method to protect protesters from dangerous sites like mines, and to protect mining sites. However this legislation was passed expediently through the Upper House in eight days with no community debate or scrutiny. The full title of the legislation is: ‘An Act to amend the Inclosed Lands Protection Act 1901, the Crimes Act 1900 and the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 in relation to interference with mining and other businesses or undertakings.’ Considering the large focus on mining and business, perhaps it would be prudent to question whether this law really serves the interests of the electorate.

This law effectively elevates the rights of companies and business interests over the rights of land owners and the general community. Changes also include expanding the definition of a mine to include: places where gas or other petroleum is extracted, or places where mechanical tools are used to explore for minerals imposing. The offence of interfering with activities at a mine includes a mandatory seven-year prison sentence. These changes also allow police to disperse protests if they believe that it is reasonably necessary, to search persons and vehicles, and seize items or vehicles without a warrant.

The President of the Law Society of NSW, Gary Ulman, has commented that these changes are a sign of continual and unnecessary expansion of police powers as there are already sufficient common law powers to restrain or detain people for their own, or others’ safety.

QLD: Bjelke-Petersen’s extreme These new NSW protest laws have been described as a step towards Bjelke - Petersen’s Queensland. In 1971, Premier Bjelke-Petersen outlawed demonstrations through a State of Emergency and in 1977 officially banned protests in Queensland through an embargo on ‘march permits’ as part of government policy. The Bjelke-Petersen regime stayed in power until 1987, now considered as a dark time in the Sunshine State’s history. Recent history however, has shown that the legislators of Queensland have yet to learn its lesson from the Bjelke-Petersen regime in passing anti- bikie laws under the Newman government. These laws are now set to be scrapped by the Labor Palaszczuk government.

Though Premier Baird is not suggesting that we ban protests altogether, this new piece of legislation does move a step towards this extreme example from Queensland: it is a measure to restrict the right to protest in NSW through excessive and arbitrary legislation.

VIC: A possible future outcome Victoria on the other hand, passed laws not too dissimilar to the NSW amendments in 2014 under the Napthine Ministry. The current Andrews Ministry announced a bill in 2015 repealing the amendments made by the previous Liberal government. The amendments in question were, like the ones in NSW, targeted towards farmers protesting coal seam gas mining.

The Andrews Ministry has labelled these laws as “draconian”, designed “to silence dissent and outlaw peaceful protests”, and as “an attack on the right of Victorians to have their say.” Current trends from two other states on Australia’s East Coast have demonstrated the lack of effectiveness of such laws and their inevitable repeal.

Protesting is a method of empowerment by those who otherwise do not have a voice. In restricting and effectively criminalising certain aspects of protest, the NSW government denies citizens their fundamental freedoms. These changes, along with others such as the lock-out laws, set a worrying trend of increased censorship, greater police powers, and more restrictions on the greater populace.

A R T W O R K : K I M B E R LY L U O

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politics : International Affairs

Does Palestine exist?

Mona Abu Zalaf From the refusal to acknowledge Palestine, to the continued occupation by Jewish settlers, Palestinians have had their homeland berated and obsoleted in a host of different attacks. Mona Abu Zalaf explores the difficult questions often asked of Palestine.

Does Palestine exist? Is Palestine a dream or a reality?

These questions came from an attendee of the symposium ‘In the Eye of the Storm: Palestine in the Media’ held

by Australians for Palestine in March this year. The panel members responded differently, unsure if the question came as a sneering denial of the Palestinian people, or a genuine inquiry as to the existence of Palestine.

To answer the gentlemen’s question – yes. Palestine exists.

Perhaps not in the same sense as Australia, Canada, or New Zealand, but without a doubt Palestine exists.

Officially, Palestine was recognised as a ‘non- member observer’ state by the United Nations in 2012, which is a status of statehood similar to that of the Vatican. Along with the UN, 136 countries have also recognised the Palestinian

state, including Sweden and the United Kingdom. Australia remains on the list that has not yet recognised Palestine, but this comes as no surprise when the Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, does not even acknowledge the occupation of East Jerusalem, which is a simple, uncontested fact under international law. But for those that have recognised Palestine, what exactly have they recognised?

Have they recognised the increasingly separated Palestinian cities and villages in the West Bank? The small enclaves of Palestinian communities left in East Jerusalem? Or the open air prison that is the Gaza Strip? And what does recognition of statehood do for two-thirds of the Palestinian population – the 5 million Palestinian refugees?

Arguing against a Palestine is easy, because it is almost impossible to define its borders. The ever-increasing Israeli land -grabs for the expansion of illegal settlements make Palestine difficult to pin down on a map. Over the past 50 years, the Palestinian Authority has exercised its very limited sovereignty within the confines of Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank. It’s fair to say, Palestine, in its current form, does not exist as a state.

and numerous wars on a caged-in population which has killed thousands of Palestinians including hundreds of children, they remain in Gaza because they insist Palestine exists.

Since the establishment of the settler-colonial state of Israel, Palestine has been disappearing from the map.

Despite receiving 56 percent of historic Palestine, Israel has continued to expand its borders, leaving around 20 percent of land for the ‘state’ of Palestine today.

Palestine is in: the mother who gives birth at a checkpoint, because the soldier wouldn’t allow her to pass.

So yes, Palestine may not exist as a sovereign state, nor as a viable entity on a map. But let me reassure you, as I would have reassured the questioner in the symposium, Palestine exists.

In cases of occupied territories, international law finds sovereignty not in land, but in the people. The people of Palestine, who have endured decades of injustice, have remained steadfast on their land, proving its existence.

Palestine is in: 1.5 million Palestinians living under a brutal siege in the Gaza Strip. Despite a near decade-long Israeli blockade that has restricted their freedom of movement,

Palestine is in: almost 4 million Palestinians living under a military occupation in the West Bank. It’s in the children who throw rocks at the military jeeps passing their schools every day.

Palestine is in: 1.7 million Palestinian citizens living under an apartheid regime in Israel, unable to gain nationality in a Jewish state.

Palestine exists in the hearts and minds of over 5 million Palestinian refugees , who have been holding on to their internationally recognised right to return to their homes for 68 years. Palestine is in the keys of their now stolen homes.

It is in the stories of dispossession and ethnic cleansing passed from generation to generation.

And above all else, Palestine exists in each one of us who values our freedom. Because surely, as the late Nelson Mandela said, “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

artwork : chloe Schumacher

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politics : media

Is the news really the news? Surabi Alauddin investigates unworthy victims and the human costs of war.

Surabi Alauddin The media blackout of civilian deaths during the Iraq War In the past 13 years in Iraq, approximately half a million innocent civilians have died violently, five million children have been orphaned, 70 percent of children have been left with mental health symptoms, a further five million have been displaced, and the infrastructure of a whole nation has been destroyed.

These are only some of the devastating consequences for Iraqi civilians, ever since the US-led Coalition Invasion of Iraq in 2003. While each and every death in the Western military is counted, mourned, and venerated by the Western media , there has been very little coverage of Iraqi civilian deaths. This media blackout has not gone unnoticed. Project Censored, a media research group, ranked civilian deaths due to the military conflict in Iraq as the number one censored news story within Western Media in 2009. Iraqi casualties are often ignored as ‘enemy propaganda’, or are only reported if they are associated with or ‘independently verified’ by Western organizations.

This media blackout was commissioned and encouraged by the US government, who sought to prevent media access to information associated with the human costs of the war.

For example, the government contracted Space Imaging Inc. for exclusive access to satellite photos from the war zone, preventing public and media access, and enabling the state to operate without oversight. Additionally, the immense cost of the wars, over $1 trillion, escaped media scrutiny thanks to the tactic employed by President Bush of funding the “ War on Terror ” with supplemental and emergency appropriations, thus keeping the price of waging war out of the annual budget.

More sinister than the media blackout, however, was the pro-war bias that found its way into the American media, completely silencing anti-war voice. The political rhetoric surrounding the conflict was heavily dominated by patriotic militarism, which espoused the need to protect the rights and liberties of the West from the supposed barbarism and violence of the Middle East. Numerous repor ters and

journalists were fired or reprimanded for expressing antiwar sentiment. They included MSNBC talk-show host Phil Donahue, and NBC correspondent, Peter Arnett, who critically questioned American actions while interviewing Iraqi officials.

Objectivity is dead: gatekeeping and the media In an age of 24/7 global media coverage and the Internet, you might wonder how media blackouts and such strongly biased portrayals of events are even possible. The answer is that the media is not the independent and un-biased entity of society that we are conditioned to believe, but it is influenced by the political and social milieu of the society in which it broadcasts. In communications theory this is known as ‘gatekeeping’. This is the process by which news stories are accepted or rejected for public consumption by media professionals who also determine the angle from which the story will be portrayed. From a reporter deciding which sources to include in a story, to editors deciding which stories are covered, the news that you consume is carefully assembled , edited, selected, and designed, and usually conveys and affirms the worldview of its targeted audience.

While some ‘gatekeeping’ is necessary on a practical level, news events happen everywhere, all the time, and the media cannot cover every single event. When gatekeeping functions to deprive the population of information which they have a right to and need to know, it veers into dangerous territory of propaganda and censorship.

This occurred prior to the Iraq War, when worldwide media discovered links between Saddam Hussein, 9/11, and the claim that Iraq was collecting weapons of mass destruction.

If these claims by the US Government had been investigated more thoroughly and critically by the media, the American public would probably not have been as alarmed or eager to go to war. This theory is supported by the decline in public support following the revelation that the Iraq campaign was neither as successful nor as necessary as the American media had suggested.

History is written by the victors The censorship and media blackout of civilian war casualties reveals that, at least in the eyes of Western media, not all lives are equal in value. Attacks in London and Paris receive global outpourings of grief and outrage, while hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths in Iraq go unnoticed. Through all of history’s many struggles it is the victor’s version of events that remains sacrosanct. Jonathan Schell , writing in ‘ The Nation’, recently marveled at the Obama administration’s claim that it did not require the approval of Congress for a war against Libya because US forces were not at risk, due to the use of high-air and drone technology. Schell wrote: “War is only war, it seems , when Americans are dying.

When the Libyans die, it is something else for which there is apparently no name. When they attack, it is war. When we attack, it is not.” The media portrayal of recent wars has placed the West as noble and righteous victors. The violence, death, and destruction of a sovereign nation is at best glossed over, and at worst lauded as the liberation of an oppressed primitive people.

A distorted democracy Within a true democracy, the media would report important news objectively and accurately from a multitude of perspectives , leading to an engaged and informed electorate that would hold its government accountable for mistakes and misdeeds. Unfortunately, social, political, and moral responsibility does not sell papers.

Ironically, the Iraq War was fought by the US-led Western Coalition on the justification of fighting tyranny and terrorism. Due to the willful silence of the media, most people have no idea of the true scale of protracted terror wrought in their name by Western-led wars in the Middle East.

artwork : Poppy Rodrigues

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politics : opinion

Solidarity forever from t h e m o s t u n l i k e ly p l a c e :

how turnbull is digging his own electoral grave

Tay l o r Fic a rra

Taylor Ficarra argues that the Turnbull Government-led Australian Building and Construction Commission is an ideological red herring which may backfire at the 2016 Federal Election.

In the lead-up to the election, Malcolm Turnbull announced that he might call a double dissolution, meaning that all MPs and Senators would face re-election on July 2, rather than the recommended August-September period.

The announcement was hinged on a bill that would reintroduce the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC). Turnbull has made it clear that if the bill was voted down in Parliament he would call the double dissolution.

The biggest question everyone asked was: why would Mr. Turnbull, a Liberal Party prime minister, be willing to pin an entire election on the building and construction industry?

The ABCC was originally established by the Howard Government in 2005 in response to accusations of crime and mistreatment in the industry. Initially organised in 2001 by the then-Minister for Workplace Relations, Tony Abbott, the ABCC saw a seven-year-long process of investigating union and building industry professionals. The ABCC concluded that while there was no organised crime operating in the construction industry, industrial action conducted by workers was hurting industry productivity.

At sixty million dollars of taxpayers’ money, the ABCC was one of the most expensive commissions in Australia’s history. Despite its hefty price tag, the operational period of the commission saw the productivity of the building and construction industry growing at a slower rate than other industries. Further, the banning of union officials on construction worksites saw deaths of construction workers hit a ten-year high; construction workers called before the commission were not allowed legal representation.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) have predicted that this re-ignition of the ABCC will be more detrimental for workers than the last. It will be a costly procedure without benefits such as new jobs or safer worksites. There are concerns that the commission will operate in secrecy, and that workers who are called by the commission for questioning will not be allowed to tell their partners or employers that they are being questioned. The CFMEU are also predicting that union members who wish to have their union involved in the process may face jail time.

Governments are meant to be the caretakers of a country – they are those who protect and serve its people. A Turnbullled ABCC is not in the best interests of Australians. The lives, conditions, and freedom of speech of workers will be put at risk. Malcolm Turnbull understands how unpopular the ABCC is , and he is willing to pin an entire election on the issue to see his ideological opposition to unionism accepted in Parliament.

The ABCC is symbolic of the battleground for workers’ rights and conditions that the next Australian election will be fought on. Whether it’s creating jobs for young people, protecting penalty rates, unionism, or the lives of people at work , the union movement is already engaging with the populace to convey its message that the ABCC is not beneficial for everyday Australians. Time may reveal that the Liberals have taken too large of a bargain as they may lose the election due to the ABCC’s unpopularity.

ARTWORK : SYLVIA ZHENG

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politics : opinion piece

the queensland crisis

enoch mailangi

Queensland becomes home to one of the biggest ever mining ventures in Australia’s history after Adani gets the go ahead.

If you have been living in Australia for more than five minutes, you are probably aware of our government’s stance on mining. If it has been less than five minutes, or you’re just blissfully unaware: it’s that the destruction of homes, land, native wildlife, and the environment is completely fine, as long it brings in the big bucks.

What you’re probably not aware of is Adani. Adani is a multinational mining company which has received the green light from the ALP Queensland Government to begin one of Australia’s largest-ever mining ventures. To put this in perspective, the mining site proposed by Adani is Galilee Basin in Central Queensland, which is approximately 50 kilometres long and covers 447 square kilometres.

Along with damage caused by the brutalities of open-cut mining, the Queensland Government has blindsided the Wangan and Jagalingou people of Central Queensland, the traditional owners of the land.

Establishing this project will result in the destruction of sacred sites and rivers, draining billions of litres of water.

This non-consensual ‘agreement’ between the traditional owners of the land and the Queensland Government isn’t a miscommunication.

It’s a sought-out plan to invest $21.7 billion dollars into the destruction of land – land that doesn’t belong to them to begin with.

“It’s really depressing that, yet again, Indigenous people (especially of that land) aren’t being heard at floor level,” says UTS Indigenous Officer Maddy Norris. “How do you expect us to believe you are taking Indigenous people seriously when you’re still destroying our land and culture?”

When approached, Adani refused to comment on the Carmichael mining site, claiming all the information was on their website which read: “Adani is fully committed to adhering to the strict regulatory and environmental approval processes that apply to all of its planned project”.

There seems to be a blatant disregard of what the land means to the Indigenous Wangan and Jagalingou people, especially when plans are set in stone to be rolled out during the next year.

Anthony Lynham, ALP mines minister of Queensland, has actively kept Wangan and Jagalingou people in the dark, instead pandering to the mining companies for superficial investment into an unsustainable future . One of the protestors against Adani, Adrian Burragubba, rejected the mega-mine stating, “They’re being racist. They’re not allowing our due process.”

The Great Barrier Reef has already seen bleaching affect 25 percent of its environment. There is no doubt that a mine would accelerate this bleaching process. The approval of this mine means that instead of investing in jobs around the Great Barrier Reef, we are seeing an investment in shortterm jobs and no prospects of growth in renewable energy.

UTS Environment Officer Terese Corkish stated, “We know that in order to keep global warming to under two degrees, we need to keep 80 percent of fossil fuel reserves in the ground. Coal mining is representative of the outdated thinking of our government (and the Queensland Labor government who approved it).”

As the demands for jobs and economic growth in Queensland supposedly grow, it seems our government has yet again taken an approach where we view the world and the land we stand on, as something for economic gain. It is not viewed as something that should be maintained and properly cared for. Maddy Norris emphasises the need for change in how we see the environment, “A need for jobs is never an excuse for ruining our already fragile environment. Our leaders should take a stance in encouraging sustainable energy by listening to actual professional academics in the field.”

Organisers against Adani, Adrian Burragubba and Murrawah Johnson, have released an online statement saying, “We have made it abundantly clear to the world – as we have been doing for some time – we put our culture before coal… When we say no, we mean no.”

The fight for the Wangan and Jagalingou people and their protection of heritage and culture is far from over. For more information, visit http://www.culturebeforecoal.com/ where you can support the campaign by making donations.

artwork : rachel mjl

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t he soci al en vi r o nm ent

SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT : #trending

unpacking white feminism raveena grover Our mainstream representation of women in media and political spheres often extends no further than surface-level stereotypes and political views, writes Raveena Grover.

White feminism is a one-size-fits-all feminism, where middle-class white women are viewed as the norm and issues that specifically affect women of colour are excluded.

It involves fighting for equality, but is grounded on the presumption that all oppression facing women is uniform.

It defaults the dominant white, heterosexual, cisgender ‘female’ (with a sprinkling of minority appearances in some situations), and assumes that all women experience misogyny in the same way.

The main goal of this movement is to eradicate genderbased discrimination and make the world a happier place for everyone. However, white feminism is grounded on the presumption that all oppression facing women is uniform.

This restricts the voices and representation of minorities, effectively shoving us into a mould that is more often than not built from stereotypes. It is represented in fashion, music, film, and journalism, where women of colour have to force their own inclusion.

In the context of white feminism, equality is substituted for equity, and minorities are tokenised. The term minority itself holds a complex meaning: in reality, we are minorities in representation but not in number. Twenty-three percent of the world’s population is Muslim. 1 in 4 people identify as sexually and/or gender diverse. Though I see myself represented in my social circles, I do not see myself represented in the media. It’s a relief when I can look at a character or a celebrity whose experiences are similar to mine.

White feminism extends far beyond the public sphere. In everyday life, it is omnipresent. Minority voices in peer circles are shunned or tokenised. They are chastised for talking about racial identity more than an acceptable quota, but simultaneously expected to calmly educate the ignorant.

White feminism is having the right to question minorities on their identities. It is the right to debate oppression, cultural appropriation, language, and believe one has the right to an opinion and free speech on issues of minority struggles. White feminism is being told what you are and what you aren’t – it dictates to minorities their oppression, experiences, and identity.

I am someone whose identity falls far from the default. My queerness, gender, and ethnicity are not separate identities.

I can’t detach my feminism from my identities to suit the mainstream idea of feminism – they are inextricably linked. I am as much queer and a person of colour as I am a woman.

White feminism doesn’t create the space I need to express these intersections together. Instead they are pulled apart, dissected, and questioned. They are scrutinised, making me question the validity and authority of my own identity. Being viewed as a shock factor and a token that deviates from the norm is an act of oppression.

ARTWORK : rekha dhanaram

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SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT : IDENTITY

DISPLACING MY IDENTITY PRIYA KUMAR

Priya Kumar offers an insight into the challenges of reconnecting with your cultural identity after fleeing your homeland.

It wasn’t until my early twenties that I began to question my cultural identity. I was part of an ethnic minority in my bir thplace, a minority that had been engaged in a bitter civil war for over two decades. My parents had fled from the conflict after my bir th like so many others, moving under the cover of night, trusting family and friends to smuggle them out of a war-zone, and into the safety of the capital. From there, it was an uncomfortable decade before our family finally began to feel settled in Australia. It’s a story many people around the world have experienced, displacement from your origins because of war or violence to an unfamiliar, often Western, environment. While I’d always known about my parents’ stories and their journey to escape, what never struck me was how final such a removal was. Final in the sense that it utterly and irrevocably changed the person I grew up to be, the cultures and traditions I learnt, the morals and education I received, and the instincts I possessed.

Displacement doesn’t end with physically fleeing your homeland to a new country, it is a continual process, reverberating throughout your life. The move to the West fundamentally altered everything for me, not in a way that feels like loss or sadness, but more like a piquant awareness that life would have turned out so differently if we had stayed put. Life in the West is great, don’t get me wrong - but as I’ve grown older, this unexplainable urge to know more about my cultural roots grows deeper. At the heart of it is a desire for human connection, for a link back to the heritages of my family, and to feel the embrace of acceptance as part of an identifiable group. The group’s stories become your stories, their griefs and troubles reflect your own, and fill the missing gap in your background. I grew up away from people of my ethnicity for most of my teenage years. While I had great friends from all cultures, I was always aware of a sense of something missing, though I did not know why. My identity was anglicised, and I tried my best to delete all traces of my ethnicity or ‘foreignness’ from my personality. The greatest pressure to do this came from myself; I felt too naked being marked with the brush of ethnicity in a homogenized, white culture. It wasn’t great to stand out. It was only after I started meeting people who were in the same community as me, that I slowly understood; this is what it feels like to share a history with someone. This is what it feels like to intuitively understand a person and know that their traditions, customs, and struggles reflect your own - that their family experienced what yours did too.

The process of displacement broke my ties to my homeland, and built them up again with new, unfamiliar bonds. Re-learning traditions and customs caused me to question myself many times. I often wondered, ‘can you adopt an ethnic culture or are you born with your cultural identity’?

Remember the consternation that Rachel Dolezal caused in 2015? Dolezal is a white, American civil rights activist who faked being ethnically Black American. Sometimes, I felt like her, with her conflicting sense of culture. I was like a coconut - white on the inside, brown on the outside. I would be rejected for being too Western, or be accepted because I could embrace my culture fully depending on where I was.

I’ve learnt that culture mutates - it has its own subdivisions.

It is especially evident in ethnic communities in the West.

The divide however, between the East and the West, the Orient and the Occidental, is breaking down. New customs and traditions are emerging in our generation that mesh together Western Anglo-Saxon and the various melting pot cultures of the East. For many first generation people of colour, being able to navigate both worlds is something we grew up reconciling with and adapting to, even subconsciously.

It will be interesting to see what the next generation, our children, see as their cultural identity. As the world grapples with the effects of mass migration and refugees seeking asylum, the issues of displacement and identity will continue to be a story retold and examined.

ARTWORK : rekha dhanaram

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SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT : WOMEN’S ISSUES

DON’T STAY HOME, DON’T GO HOME BEATRICE TAN Beatrice Tan explores the link between the closure of women’s-only shelters and the occurrence of domestic violence.

When I make my daily commute through Central tunnel, I walk past men sitting on the sidelines, holding plaques, asking for spare change. These men make up 68 percent of the homeless population: those who are sleeping rough.

They are the people we think of when we hear the word ‘homeless’. While men are the visible homeless, women make up a large portion of the group.

Women-specific shelters for the homeless were easily accessible only four years ago. Since the implementation of the ‘Going Home, Staying Home’ plan, however, seeking refuge in these safe spaces has become increasingly difficult.

The plan, which was announced in 2012 by Pru Goward (Minister for Women and for Family and Community Services under the Baird Government), focussed on reducing the incidence of homelessness, rather than providing support to those whose situation leaves them with no other choice but to leave home. This effectively leaves victims of domestic violence with few other options than to stay in their abusive environments.

One of the major short-comings of the plan was that it diverted necessary funding from 24/7 accommodation and care services at women’s shelters. In order to receive funding, there was a requirement in the scheme that women-only shelters must prove they could provide services to all homeless people in their area. The funding conditions put the grassroots organisations, which were specialised for particular demographics, in direct competition with larger organisations, and the former ultimately lost out. As a result, an alarming number of these shelters have been forced to close: 336 services have been consolidated into just 149. This resulted in the loss of 80 women-only shelters which had specialised in domestic violence, mental illness, drug abuse, youth issues, and Aboriginal and culturally diverse backgrounds.

The most marginalised in society are the most affected by these changes. Homeless women are now more likely to be directed to generic services rather than a safe and autonomous place. After experiencing domestic violence, women tend to be reluctant to seek help from non-specialised homeless shelters. These shelters can often be triggering and lack the kind of peer-support that was made available in women-only shelters.

The implementation of ‘Going Home, Staying Home’ effectively isolates the minority of homeless from seeking much-needed support. Statistically speaking, most women who seek refuge in women-only shelters are victims of domestic violence. As it stands, 1 in every 5 women will experience domestic violence over the course of their life.

No one deserves to feel unsafe in their own home, and without the security these shelters can provide, the risk of continued instances of domestic abuse increases.

According to the ‘Women, Domestic and Family Violence and Homelessness Synthesis’ repor t by the Australian Department of Social Services, women who are engaged in an abusive relationship are only likely to leave after they

have reached a breaking point; they often prefer to stay in violent environments rather than become homeless. This is a factor as to why the death toll for domestic violence is dangerously high: at least one victim of domestic violence died each week in 2015, and as of May 2016, 30 people have already been murdered as a result of domestic violence.

This is in comparison to the 89 deaths that occurred between 2008 and 2010.

When women do decide to leave abusive situations, their safety is not guaranteed. There was an existing demand for women-only refuges across Australia even before the string of closures. These closures have now only served to exacerbate the frequency of continued domestic violence.

Further, over-crowding is another very real consequence of this trend; today, as many as 1 in 2 people are being turned away from shelters due to the lack of space.

Homelessness is inextricably linked to the issue of security and safety. Homeless women, or those at risk of being homeless, continue to fight an uphill battle. Laurie Matthews is the CEO of Caretakers College which is a non-profit organisation that provides help to homeless or at-risk youth. Matthews illuminated the links between abuse and homelessness, “Women are more susceptible to abuse.

Women will sleep in cars and not sleep rough out in the streets and also put themselves in riskier situations by couch surfing. Women are generally more vulnerable and most women tend to deal with this vulnerability by putting themselves in safe, or seemingly safe situations.”

After escaping abusive situations people should be able to seek refuge without consequence; this is the benefit of women’s shelters. The defunding of women’s shelters means that an avenue for safety has been stripped from those who need it most. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to live, to be free, and to feel safe. Women’s shelters are integral to upholding this ideal and reducing the incidence of domestic violence.

artwork : lauren fitzpatrick

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SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT : LANGUAGE

B O Y S O N LY W A N T O N E T H I N G OLIVIA STANLEY

Olivia Stanley investigates the impact of victim blaming.

Trigger Warning: readers are notified this article mentions rape.

Regardless of your age, sexuality, or gender, chances are you’ve heard the phrase “be careful, boys only want one thing” or one of its more sinister variants. This message usually comes from concerned parents, careful friends, or nosy acquaintances who offer you this adage in a well-intentioned but misguided attempt to protect your wellbeing. These words are a worrying symptom of toxic gender socialisation.

This seemingly harmless message imposes a gender binary, and immediately establishes that by existing as a girl, you are submissive and perpetually protecting yourself against exploitation.

It says ‘you are unsafe.’

It says ‘you are naïve and unable to handle yourself ’.

In warning young girls in this way we swiftly define heterosexual relationships as inherently based on a predator-victim dynamic.

Before girls are even beginning to experience relationships for themselves, they are taught to expect an uneven playing field that is incredibly far from equal.

Where are the positive and encouraging messages? What makes society opposed to telling women we can be anything we want to be? Why are we not trusted? Why are we not considered capable of making decisions about our own bodies? Messages by family members which enforce a victim mentality on girls and women perpetuate these existing negative stereotypes. The endemic crises of self-confidence and low self-worth in teenage girls that follows on from this ultimately comes as no surprise.

The language is grounded in a cisnormative perspective. It teaches children that the desires of two binary genders do not align, and that girls do not want the ‘one thing’ boys so desperately chase. Here is your own mother implying you are not allowed a libido of your own. Rather, you are an object that the male libido is to be played out upon. And with those words, the recurring motif of objectification becomes normalised again.

The potency of these messages is compounded by the fact that they are coming from parents and role models in a child’s life. This increases their danger profusely, as they are accepted unquestioningly. They are added to the stack of subtle, yet constant lessons on how to conform to gender expectations.

Another side of this discussion provides an equally disturbing look into the gender socialisation of adolescent boys. From the onset of puberty they are written off as a horde of horny delinquents with little control over their own impulses. They are pushed to conform to sexualised and gendered roles. It’s easier for them to believe they might as well be what the world is grooming them to be. There are no standards set in society for men to act differently. There is no encouragement to strive to be decent, and every excuse not to.

One doesn’t have to look far to find evidence of this culture. When Luke Lazarus was charged with anallyraping an 18-year-old woman in an alleyway behind his father’s nightclub in the Sydney CBD last year, he was not unanimously condemned. In some cases, he was even supported for his actions. The mayor of Waverly and the chairman of the NRL club the Rabbitohs were just two of the prominent figures who publicly supported Lazarus.

They came out in opposition to the charge, providing good character references to his case. The court heard Lazarus

lured the woman outside with promises to take her to the ‘VIP area’. Instead, he boldly abused her before forcing her to add her name to a list of female conquests in the notes of his phone. Ultimately, Lazarus’ verdict doesn’t detract from the fact he was encouraged for his abusive actions.

Toxic rape culture speaks volumes about the language and roles imposed on men by society.

The message to strive for sexual predation is ingrained, and destructive stereotypes are rife.

This is one facet of a culture that pushes men into a tight cage of expectations and accepted ‘manly’ traits. As femininity is subver ted, masculinity is distor ted, leaving little room for expression. A man who is not heterosexual, assertive and physical, with a constant and pronounced sexuality, falls painfully short of manhood.

The weight of expectation can be crushing. To deviate from these norms in mainstream culture can be dangerous, especially in the fragile stages of youth where belonging and acceptance are desperately sought. Predictably, many teenage boys take a path of pretence, often hiding certain aspects of their identities and personalities in order to conform. This is often a path fraught with risk. As Brownwen Clune, writer for the Guardian Online says, “If anger and aggression are painted as normal male behaviours, men are not inclined to find appropriate ways to channel their emotions”. From here, doors to self-destructive behaviours are numerous. Violence, substance abuse, and mental health issues can arise.

Messages like this not only reinforce negative stereotypes for binary genders but create malaise and mistrust. They generate feelings that are barriers to healthy relationship development between genders, and cer tainly are not constructive in encouraging unity in the quest for equality.

artwork : maddie lumley

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C U L T UR E

*For more access to events around Sydney, including giveaways and reviews, head to utsvertigo.com.au.

TYPOGRAPHY : WENDY SAN

TRIBUTE BY : ADDO GUSTAF

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C U LT U R E : M U S I C

VERTIGO CHATS WITH KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD HELEN TRAN Music sub-editor Helen Tran sits down with King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard front man Stu Mackenzie to talk about the band’s new album ‘Nonagon Infinity’, the world’s first infinitely looping album.

Dubbed by Rolling Stone as “one of the most compelling collectives of art-rock experimentalists in recent years”, seven-piece Melbourne rock band King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are no strangers to the music scene.

Formed in 2010, these guys have since released an impressive array of two EPs and eight albums.

Tran: Take me back to the start. How did the band form?

Mackenzie: We were friends before the band started.

At the time, we were all playing in different bands, and this was the low pressure band we put together as a loose jammy whatever thing – it was in flux for a long time.

Different people came in and out, but the group sort of naturally solidified.

Tran: And the name King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, where did that come from?

Mackenzie: We played under a fair few different names early on. I think this was the first one that was on a poster. We thought it was funny for maybe one night, a good name for maybe one show and then we’d probably change it again – but it just sort of stuck.

Tran: In six years you’ve released eight albums and two EPs, each with a different feel. Your last album ‘Paper

Mâché Dream Balloon’ was recorded using solely acoustic instruments. What’s the key, and the motivation , for getting music of such high quality out so quickly?

Mackenzie: There are different motivations for each album. We’d already finished almost three quarters of ‘Nonagon Infinity’ before we even started ‘Paper Mâché Dream Balloon’. It came to a point where we felt like we needed to put Nonagon on some ice. We’ve been playing the songs live for a long time, and I wanted to keep playing them live to allow them to keep evolving. We also lost concentration at points somewhere along the line. So we came up with this concept for a record which wasn’t going to interfere with Nonagon. We thought, “What’s the most opposite record we can make that’s not going to use any of the same ideas?” That’s why we did the acoustic thing.

Tran: Did working on two completely opposite albums help with the creative process?

Mackenzie: It definitely did. If we were trying to make two similar records it would’ve been much harder. It was cool to be able to put ‘Nonagon Infinity’ on hold and think about other records, and so when it came to picking it back up it felt so fresh.

Tran: What was the recording process like?

Mackenzie: We had recorded some early versions of songs like ‘Gamma Knife’ not long after our album ‘I’m In Your Mind Fuzz’. It wasn’t really planned at that point. But we did think to ourselves it was going to need a lot more thought. There was a lot of rehearsing, a lot of recording to make sure we would get the vibe right – a lot of things were improvised. The editing was very simple, it was the rehearsing that was hard.

Tran: You’ve mentioned that you wanted the album to be like a horror or sci-fi film, where did that inspiration come from?

Mackenzie: It was a lyrical thing that kept popping up.

I can be a bit of a sci-fi geek sometimes. I get really into cheesy, seventies science fiction, fantasy novels, and films.

Most of the songs are like some highly fantasised version of the whole world.

You can follow King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard on Facebook and Instagram at @kinggizzard.

A R T W O R K : K E L LY L A M

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C U LT U R E : M U S I C

SPOTLIGHT LOCAL KUČKA HELEN TRAN Perth musician KUČKA has released EP ‘HONEY Remixed’ and is set to play at Vivid Live this year.

Producing and singing cool, electronic tunes all the way from her bedroom in Perth, Laura Jane Lowther otherwise known as KUČKA - has skyrocketed into music scenes around the world ever since the release of her first EP in 2012. After winning Triple J Unearthed in 2014, this avant-garde producer was awarded Stoney Road’s Breakthrough Producer of the Year (2015) and the WAM award for Best Experimental Act (2015). Since then, she has featured on tracks by A$AP Rocky, Cosmo’s Midnight, and on Flume’s recent hit with Vince Staples, ‘Smoke and Retribution’. Fresh off playing alongside Flume’s set at Coachella and preparing to play at Sydney’s Vivid Live and Dark Mofo festivals this year, KUČKA and her three-piece band are set to encapsulate every corner of Lowther’s experimental soundscape in a visual experience that draws

on the themes of escapism and fantasy-like virtual reality.

A sultry yet bubbly mix of electronica, slow jams, and a sublime Björk- like voice , ‘ HONEY Remixed’, which was released on April 6 2016 featured three new remixes of her hit single, ‘Honey’. Featuring a string of emerging producers like 17-year -old Medasin, Jade Statues , and Time Pilots, the four -track EP is like cruising along a highway in space.

Whether you’re looking for a banger, a chiller, or something just quirky – KUČKA will have you covered. This creative synth-bug is a testament to the talent that can be found deep within Australia. All it takes is a young girl, a love for music, and a synthesizer.

You can follow KUČKA on Facebook and Instagram at @iamkucka.

SPOTLIGHT INTERNATIONAL HIGHASAKITE DAVID BURLEY Norwegian band Highasakite are gaining worldwide popularity with their songs hitting radio stations and climbing the charts.

In 2014, ‘Silent Treatment’ was Australia’s first taste of the Norwegian band Highasakite. This was an album where the five-piece band flew above the clouds with their dreamy pop tunes like ‘Darth Vader’ and ‘Since Last Wednesday’. In 2016, they’re back, but the kite is flying in stormy weather.

The upcoming album ‘Camp Echo’ promises to focus on darker themes, covering topics ranging from war to the Chernobyl disaster, while also managing to squeeze in a few love songs. Put all that together, and we should be in for an interesting nine-track album.

Highasakite has been known for their obscure lyrics and elegantly melodic choruses. The first cut of ‘Camp Echo’ came with the release of ‘Someone Who’ll Get It’, which showed off how well lead singer Ingrid Hâvik’s voice works with darker subject matter. The song begins with ominous synths and mysterious lyrical lines. Between her unsettling

ARTWORK : BROOKE MARTIN-SMITH

lyrics, a distorted, dissonant echo can be heard sweeping through the background. As the verse drops off to give way to the chorus, three gunshots are fired before Ingrid belts out the piercing melody, accompanied by heavy drums and a frantic, disjunct synth line.

‘Golden Ticket’ is the second cut from the album and it takes inspiration from a post-World War II poem, which translates as ‘Norway’s Funeral Blues’. Despite the depressing tone of the lyrics, the song is upbeat, features some beautiful, poppy motifs, and has a number of sparkly instrumental lines. ‘Camp Echo’ is set to be released on May 20 2016. Fingers crossed they’ll make the long trip down here to Oz to play it for us.

You can follow Highasakite on Facebook and Instagram at @highasakiteband.

C U LT U R E : B O O KS

BY DON LEE JANETTE CHEN $13.95, published by W. W. Norton & Company Published in 2001, Don Lee’s award-winning debut is a collection of seven short stories and a novella set in Rosarita Bay, a fictional coastal town in California. As a Korean American, Lee makes it clear that his interest is in the Asian American experience; his characters are Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino – they eat with chopsticks and can speak in Japanese. Yet the stories in ‘Yellow’ are also distinctly American. In ‘For the Price of Eggs in China’, the careers of two rival poets rise and fall with the strange sacrifices they make for love and art. In ‘The Lone Night Cantina’, Annie Yung’s post-breakup breakdown leads her to enter the “cheatin’ heart world” of Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline songs that play at her local cowboy bar.

The collection finishes with the titular novella, a story that spans twenty years in the life of Danny Kim, from being a teenage underdog and amateur boxer, to his climb up a Boston engineering firm in his adult years. Part American Dream and part dreaming-of-being-American, the novella highlights how the effects of racism – from physical violence to comments both insidious and innocent – poison Danny with paranoia.

Race is just one of the themes in this collection, in company with the relationship between man and woman, and the fear of abandonment. With an elegant economy of style, humour, and hear t, Lee offers an examination of the Asian American experience without self-righteousness or exoticism, and most of all, without hitting the reader over the head with the issue of race.

THE NOISE OF TIME

BY JULIAN BARNES DANAH PANTANO $32.99, published by Random House Books Australia Set in Soviet Russia, Julian Barnes’ ‘The Noise of Time’ portrays the life of an artist trying to keep their integrity under Stalin’s totalitarian regime. Dmitri Shostakovich’s constant struggle against power is revealed in a looping tale that starts where it ends: music.

The story is par titioned into thirds, with each section presenting defining chapters in the life of the famed composer and pianist. The fictional biography takes an introspective look into the man and his character. It asks the question: “How willing are you to kneel in supplication for your family? After all, when the Red Tsar denounces your art as ‘muddle’, a corrosive to the Russian culture, execution is imminent. How do you survive?”

With great subtlety, Barnes weaves a world kept in a persistent grip of terror so tenuous, its breadth is not fully felt until the narrative makes its way to New York. But no matter where the narrative is set, the narrator remains the same. So Shostakovich stews in a pot of anxiety, moral conflict, of fear and bravado and irony. With his essayist roots, Barnes utilises the character as a conduit through which he explores the emotional dilemma of maintaining one’s artistic integrity amongst the malicious cacophony of autocratic politics.

Perhaps courage disguises itself as cowardice, for it is no mean feat to rise from the ashes of who you once were and to face what you have become.

ARTWORK : JENNY KIM

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C U LT U R E : F I L M

The rock, the robin and the remake / Jumanji 2: Electric Boogaloo Kiên Lê Board Take a trip down memory lane with Kiên Lê Board.

‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, ‘Alice in Wonderland’, and ‘Ghostbusters’ – these are just a few of the titles that give me feelings of unease and apprehension. For those who don’t peruse IMDB.com as much as I do on lazy Sunday evenings, Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson has been confirmed to play a par t in the upcoming remake of ‘Jumanji’, iconic kids film of the ‘90s. That’s right, folks, the Hollywood remake express is chugging along at full speed. And while I’m as big a fan of the Rock as the next WWE enthusiast, I was a little concerned about the remake.

Will the latest recreation of a film I worshipped as a kid butcher a culturally significant cinematic masterpiece and mess up key film dynamics? Or am I just a washed up 20-year-old who is biased towards his favourite kids films?

With a sinking feeling that I might not like what I see, I dove back in to re-examine how ‘Jumanji’ measures up today.

Based on a book by Chris Allsburg, my favourite aspect of this movie is that its CGI game smashes it out of the park.

‘Jumanji’ doesn’t overload the audience with the latest visual technology, a mistake that a lot of modern movies make, but creates believability with its choices.

I should at this point mention that I have strong memories of watching and re-watching ‘Jumanji’ many times at after school care, perhaps because it was a G-rated, some-scenesmay-scare-young-children classic, and perhaps only because my carers didn’t have any other options. I also remember recreating scenes from the movie during playtime with Adam and Thomas, my year one besties for life, as we ran around the school, rolling rocks on the ground and turning into elephants as all seven-year-olds should.

Another point in its favour is the versatility of the late Robin Williams is in full flight. ‘Jumanji’ was one of Williams’ first appearances in children’s films and truly sets the standard for comic actors. Unlike many contemporary ‘funny actors’ who force jokes into a character (Adam Sandler), Williams is believable as a boy trapped in the body of a man and adds depth to the character through his own comedic style. It’s genuinely heartbreaking to look at Alan and consider he’d missed out on growing up with his family because he was trapped in the jungle.

Viewing ‘Jumanji’ today is, however, nowhere near as picturesque. It’s cliché and full of dated ‘90s tropes, which hit you over the head like Jennifer Aniston’s fringe. Call me a cynical millennial who sucks the fun out of life all you want, but this movie felt patchy. The concept, whilst neat, imaginative, and presentable to children, confuses who the main character really is, and comes off repetitive and a little tired. Apparently as a kid I also didn’t appreciate how cringe-inducing child actors truly are. I do now.

It’s cheesy, but as coming-of-age films go, there is a real sense that the writers knew what they were writing about.

There is much to love, and while it’s not exactly clear why I watched ‘Jumanji’ so many times all those years ago, I’m happy I did. On reflection I find myself actually welcoming a remake, since the original isn’t as technically brilliant as I once thought. I do think the movie is weak by today’s standards, but I think it does enough as a kids movie to warrant a positive review - from this kid anyway.

The story revolves around brother and sister, Peter and Judy (played by Bradley Pierce and Kirsten Dunst), who move into a massive, suitably spooky mansion with their aunt in suburban America where they discover a magical board game.

The game has trapped Alan (Robin Williams) in a jungle for 26 years and created other such havoc in the neighbourhood.

It’s up to them to finish the game and save the day.

Recommendation: 3 heated Facebook debates about the merit of remakes out of 5.

What’s your take on remakes? Vertigo has ten double passes to the remake of Ghostbusters. Head to utsvertigo.com.au and check out our Giveaways page for more details on how you can win.

A R T WA Or Rt Kw o: rSkH A: YW XE NA DY YA LSI AT NH

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The 63rd Sydney Film Festival: T w e lv e D ays of Captivating Cinema ZALEHAH TURNER The 63rd Sydney Film Festival is sure to delight, intrigue, and enter tain audiences across the greater Sydney area, from the opening night on June 8 2016 through to the closing night gala on June 19 2016. The festival line-up contains a range of artists, “from big stars and big ideas to small but perfectly formed stories”, presenting “a compelling selection of the best in features and documentaries,” according to Festival Director Nashen Moodley.

The 2016 festival offers cinema lovers over 250 films to choose from with an impressive array of world cinema as well as Australian premieres, including the opening night film, ‘Goldstone’: Ivan Sen’s sequel to ‘Mystery Road’.

Moodley confirmed that the festival was incredibly proud to open with the world premiere of Sen’s outstanding Australian film at the historic State Theatre. He added that ‘Goldstone’ “is a complex and layered work that comes together brilliantly in Ivan Sen’s signature outback noir style.”

‘Goldstone’ sees the return of the Indigenous detective Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen), who audiences will remember from ‘Mystery Road’, which opened the festival in 2013.

Once again caught between two worlds but feeling as if he belongs in neither, Swan finds more than he bargained for as he searches for a missing girl in the striking yet harsh and unforgiving land of outback Queensland. For Sen, the mythic town of Goldstone, filmed in Middleton, is a place where worlds collide. With one foot in each, Jay Swan has the power to connect those worlds. The multi-talented Sen, who wrote, directed, filmed, edited, and composed the score for ‘Goldstone’, stated that it is a “drama-charged thriller which moves to [the] beat of the sacred land it’s played on.”

In another festival highlight, past director (1966-83) and well-known film critic, David Stratton (‘At the Movies’) will

be hosting a tribute to influential director Martin Scorsese at the Art Gallery of NSW. With ‘Essential Scorsese: selected

by David Stratton’, Australian audiences will able to enjoy ten of the director’s most recognised and award winning films in 35mm, including ‘Taxi Driver’, ‘Goodfellas’, and ‘The Age of Innocence’. The retrospective is not just for Sydney audiences and is to be screened at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) in Melbourne from May 27 to June 12 2016 and the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) in Canberra from July 1 to 23. According to Moodley, Scorsese’s “ground-breaking films and gritty, meticulous filmmaking style are essential viewing for all film fans.”

The festival is sure to captivate audiences with a diverse range of features and documentaries from ‘The Commune’ by co-founder of the Dogme 95 filmmaking movement, Thomas Vinterberg to ‘A Journey of a Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers’ co-directed by award-winning festival attendees, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Geeta Gandbhir.

This year’s program definitely has something for everyone, with engaging films, in-depth discussions, and prestigious awards, including the Official Competition’s Sydney Film Prize for which twelve films will compete. This is cinema at its best.

The Sydney Film Festival runs from June 8 - 19 2016, with films showing at The State Theatre, Dendy Opera Quays, Art Gallery NSW, Event Cinemas George Street, the Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace Cremorne, Dendy Newtown, Casula Powerhouse, the Skyline Drive In Blacktown, and Sydney’s Town Hall.

Check out sff.org.au for more information on the program and ticketing.

You can follow @sydfilmfest on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

World of Women’s Cinema Film Festival Sydney SOPHIE HAWKSHAW

Sophie Hawkshaw discusses the World of Women’s Cinema (WOW) Film Festival, an all-female event that promotes and awards the mad talents of female directors, producers, writers, and cinematographers in the local and international film industry.

On April 28 – May 1 2016, the WOW Film Festival gave both emerging and established filmmakers the opportunity to share their uniquely female voices and screen their work.

The festival was comprised of feature film and short film screenings, Q&A panels with badass lady industry professionals, and hands-on workshops to hone in on skills.

negotiations with brands, and how to keep as many rights as humanly possible. They discussed how to speak the language of investors and put a price tag on your audience.

I walked away from the talk having learnt to be strategic, create a solid distribution and financial plan going into the project, and work with what you’ve got.

The ‘Pow-Wow’ sessions looked at social impact cinema, sexism on screen, alternative distribution, film packaging, online professionalism, and making movies and babies at the same time. After looking at the program, I knew I needed to get myself to the session entitled ‘Makin’ it Rain’, all about alternative funding models.

A major highlight of the festival was the shorts program, where female-led films were screened in thematic showcases, including international and Australian productions. The showcase themes ranged from: horror, comedy, personal stories, animation, Australian expats, vision & sound, and belonging.

The panel starred: Sara Gajic from Fulcrum Media Finance, Gayby Baby’s Impact Producer Hattie Archibald, Elle Curran from DWA Law, Director Louise Alston and Head of Production at ‘Jungle’, Chloe Rickard. These ladies jumped straight into discussing different ways to get some cash money for your projects. Branded content was salient: the concept of how to engage with brands in a way that didn’t create overt ‘advertising’ but subtlety displayed a message to your viewers. Rickard spoke of being savvy with your

It is hugely important that events like WOW Film Festival exist. As audience members we must validate the work of local and international female filmmakers. We need to authenticate the notion that female voices are important and powerful, and that telling their stories is worthwhile and of interest to viewers.

You can follow @wowfilmfestival on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

ARTWORK : JAMES ALEXANDER MELAND

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C U LT U R E : l i v e

VIVID LANDSCAPE ZALEHAH TURNER

Now in its eighth year, Vivid Sydney will light the façades of many of Sydney’s significant buildings with impressive projections surrounded by interactive installations that respond to touch, sound, and even text messages. The city will be transformed into an immersive, interactive, outdoor art gallery. From its initial beginning as a Smart Light Festival with a focus on sustainable energy in 2009, to the world’s largest festival of lights, music, and ideas with over 1.7 million attending last year, Vivid continues to expand in 2016 with new precincts, venues, and an additional five days.

Executive Producer Sandra Chipchase announced that this year’s Vivid would be the biggest yet with an “incredible program where art, creativity, and innovation meet”. She added that, “Vivid Sydney delivers the world’s leading light artists in Vivid Light, cutting-edge musicians in Vivid Music, and creative innovators in Vivid Ideas.”

Artist, Huseyin Sami and Paris-based collective, Dany Rose, explore a key concept behind Vivid Light at the Museum of Contemporary Art, with their aptly titled work ‘The Matter of Painting’. Treating the building’s architectural façade as a canvas, the artists use light, sound, and an impressive range of techniques to create a multi-sensory experience, which explores the physical nature of paint and the act of painting.

‘Songlines’, directed by Rhoda Roberts and incorporating the work of six Indigenous artists, will light the sails of the Sydney Opera House – an event that has been the highlight of Vivid from the first festival with Brian Eno in 2009. As the title suggests, the artwork draws from the First Nation’s traditional belief system - songlines, or the paths left in the land and sky from creator beings in the Dreamtime, are recorded in traditional songs, stories, dance, and painting.

Two of the new precincts that will light up for Vivid, Taronga Zoo and the Royal Botanic Gardens, are celebrating their anniversaries with ten giant multimedia light sculptures of endangered species at the Zoo, and the ‘Cathedral of Light’ at the gardens.

While the line-up at the Sydney Opera House is impressive, ‘Björk Digital’ at Carriageworks is certainly a highlight of this year’s festival and the Vivid Music program. Björk will curate two nights of music to open the world premiere of her experiment into virtual reality, after which the exhibition will be free to the public until June 18 2016.

The Vivid Ideas program is also extensive with the Game Changer talks featuring filmmaker, Spike Jonze, ‘House of Cards’ creator Beau Willimon, and ‘Orange is the New Black’ writer and creator Jenji Kohan. Chipchase says, “the 2016 Vivid Ideas program is a dynamic showcase of art, creativity, and innovation”, which focusses on the creative industries and technology, highlighting “Sydney at its cutting-edge best.”

Vivid Sydney will be lighting up the city from May 27 - June 18 2016. For more information, visit vividsydney.com.

New Order, the electronic dance band that formed after the death of Joy Division lead singer, Ian Curtis, headline this year’s Vivid LIVE program at the Opera House. The band will play four nights, two with the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

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s h o wc a se

Sa r a h May n a r d Ling McGregor Sarah Maynard’s graduating collection, ‘LUMINESCENCE’, has been on our minds for months. The collection forms stunning gradients of colour, and is a beautiful experimentation of space, density, and light.

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SHOWCASE : FASHION

‘LUMINESCENCE’ was inspired by the work of James Turrell, an American installation artist primarily focussed on light and space. His influence is immediately reflected in the concepts underpinning the collection, as Sarah has created vibrant and immersive garments which are dependent on the experience of the wearer.

The garments are made from 100% silk organza, an extremely lightweight and translucent fabric, which was specifically chosen for the way that it relates with light.

“I was so inspired by the ethereality of the fabric and loved that it interacted with light in such a beautiful way,” Sarah explains. “Silk organza can be layered and draped to build up areas of density, or conversely fade away to create a softness around the body; I played with this property throughout my collection to really emphasise the sense of movement within the garments.” Her technique of layering has created areas in which the fabric appears to dissolve against light, exquisitely contrasting sections of opacity with translucency.

The garments were also designed with enlarged outer layers to create space between each tier of material. This loose form around the body allows the pieces to drape and create movement, and means that the shape of each piece is always shifting. As a result, each garment forms individual patterns of light and space around the body, which are dependent on the way that the silk naturally falls and moves in look look six six layers around the wearer.

Astoundingly, the material was hand painted with fabric inks. Sarah mixed inks with water to create a smooth consistency, then painted each pattern individually after the fabric had been cut. The ink was layered in different amounts and in various shades to intensify the colour and achieve the final vibrancy. The colour palette developed through various processes of experimentation, as the tones varied greatly when layered and set on the silk. Sarah notes, “I could never see the final result of this until the colours had dried and were sewn into place.” As a result, Sarah made each piece in the collection at least five times in final fabrics, experimenting until the colours were most vibrant and balanced, creating a “colour hum” that she was satisfied with.

Sarah is currently a design assistant at a Sydney-based brand, where she designs pieces that retail both in Australia and internationally. She explains, “My aim is to gain as much experience as I can. Fashion is such a vibrant and exciting industry to work with, and I can’t wait to work hard and see where it takes me.”

Photographer: Mandy Mahn Assistant Photographer: Zoë Rollings Model: Sarah Jehan

PHOTOGRAPHY Mandy M PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHY Mandy Mandy MahnMahn ASSISTANT ASSISTANT PHOTOGRAPHER PHOTOGRAPHER Zoe Rollings Zoe Rollings MODEL MODEL Sarah Sarah Jehan Jehan

w w w. s a r a h m ay n a r d fa s h i o n . c o m

@ _ s a r a h m ay n a r d

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SHOWCASE : architecture

Rebecca Mills Artist Statement

Project Statement

I’m interested in designing spaces that are inclusive, sustainable, and adaptable. I primarily employ the principles of universal design, wherein design is accessible, convenient, and enjoyable to all regardless of age, ability, or stage of life. By incorporating the latest interior technologies, and blurring the lines between interior and exterior spaces, I hope to create projects that challenge why beautiful spaces are often earmarked for a particular segment of society but not all.

Tasked with creating a refugee camp in parklands of the well-established Sydney suburb of Balmain, I addressed the contemporary need for housing virtual connection points to allow all people to easily connect to opportunities, friends and family, and their sense of self.

0.1 P hoto- v oltaic f ab ric c anop y

0.2 Dig ital/analog ue liv ing wall

Homes connecting in A n a r k a , Tu r k e y.

0.3 Swarm of v irtual c onnec tions

Wo r k sh o p f o r kids from Balmain Public.

Connection through e-commerce to consumers i n t h e U SA .

V i d e o m e ss a g e l e f t b y Va n e s s a i n B u r m a .

Pa n o r a m i c st r e e t sc a pe i n S y r i a f o r t h e A m a d i f a m i l y.

V ir tua l b us ine s s m e e ting w ith inv e s to r in M e lb o ur ne.

Lo c a l t e c h c o m pa n i e s t a k i n g pa r t i n d i g i t a l st u d i o r o u n d t a b l e.

Connection to other ‘wired’ r e f u g e e c a m ps globally via.

c r y p to c ur r e nc y ne tw o r k

Pho ne c a ll w ith S a no b i in S ud a n.

0.4 Roof p lates

C on n ect i o n to t h e 3 3 Da r ling St. In t er n et Exc ha ng e.

V id e o c a ll to r e la tiv e s in I r a q .

0.5 Wall p anels

Too often refugees are stereotyped as tech-illiterate. In reality, many are digital natives, highly entrepreneurial with a desire to connect. To offer them a space with no digital connections of any form is to deny them of opportunities, and to separate them from their networks. In today’s hyperconnected world, spaces should cater to more than the basic needs of shelter – they should be dynamic and filled with potential.

The project involves a layering of technologies. The overhead is a photovoltaic fabric which acts as a giant solar panel to provide energy to the site. This energy is channelled to a ‘living wall’ construction that runs throughout the camp and provides structure for the housing and other spaces peppered through it. Typical of a living wall, it is populated by plants, but also by power points that allow residents to ‘power’ their existence. The plants offset the carbon produced by the camp’s energy production.

0.6 Framing and c hanneling

0.7 Vid eo mod ules

0.8 Floor p lates and p rog rammatic elements

D i g i ta l Agora

A host of modular pre-fabricated floor, wall, and roof panels are connected to the living wall. These give refugees and camp directors the opportunity to build spaces as they see fit. Varying components are included to accommodate functions deemed important to a digital native: virtual mailrooms, digital workshops, screening spaces, panorama video rooms, and charging trees.

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SHOWCASE : FASHION & textiles design

agnes choi In my design work I like to explore the interplay between a piece of clothing and the human body – how too often the form and silhouette of a garment dictates how we, and our bodies, should behave. I am inspired by the Japanese Three with their unconventional and experimental designs, as they challenge the conventional roles of fashion and dress in society, and in turn challenge social norms. As I continue my degree, I hope to push myself to use fashion to address important issues that concern all of us – from sustainability, to cultural issues, to sexuality.

SHOWCASE : realism

j o r dan e vans I was immersed within a creative culture from a young age. As a shy child growing up in Newtown, I spent my time quietly observing the incredibly diverse community around me, and striving to capture the unique character and eccentricity of these surroundings through photography and sketching. This experimentation led me to quickly fall in love with the world of art and design.

My current illustrations stem from a fascination with the intricate subtleties of everyday life, and an endeavour to highlight the beauty of seemingly mundane things. I enjoy the challenge of creating realistic depictions with the absence of colour, instead bringing the subject to life through simple black and white tonal rendering. I love to work with pencil, graphite, watercolour, and pen to capture an array of subjects including still life, portraiture, and the natural world.

@jordyevanss

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SHOWCASE : photography

Stephanie Morris

My earliest memories with a camera are by the poolside in the South of France – a disposable camera in one hand and a virgin creme de menthe in the other. It was the summer of 2000, I was six years old, and I had travelled with my family to visit relatives. My grandfather bought disposable cameras for each of my siblings and cousins. He would later give me my first digital camera. I started taking pictures that summer for the same reason that most people do: to preserve a memory and capture the details that were so important at the time. Of course, as a child untrained in the art of photography, this was all intuitive. What other purpose could a photograph hold? I remember we would argue over the significance of a particular photograph and whether or not it should be taken. Tears were shed over a wasted exposure. We were limited to the 24 images that our Kodak disposable cameras could capture.

It was not until I studied commercial photography at The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University that I came to realise the real power that photography has. Anyone can take a picture, so what makes someone a photographer? Photography is about observation.

The photographer can watch and record, but cannot interact. This is how a photograph can shock, because the photographer, while watching, sees a situation from a

perspective that no one else can. It is an entirely individual view, which through the photograph can be shared with those not watching. There is a unique kind of addictive power that comes from this.

Much like the way a critic writes their opinion and shares it with the world, as a photographer, I am constantly sharing my opinion. All of my photographs are my own point of view and I am in complete control over how I choose to share it. I make decisions on lighting, exposure, depth of field, and the precise timing to release the shutter. I take photographs as an act of preservation – to freeze a memory, a moment, an object in time and space. I believe these two desires go hand in hand, and that perhaps the invention of photography in fact stemmed from the need for preservation, the need to immortalise.

In 2015, I completed a Bachelor of Arts (Photography) from RMIT University. I am currently studying a Masters of Media Arts and Production at UTS. My architectural photography featured here was taken on my most recent trip to France in June-July 2014. This work has been previously published in ‘Footsteps of the Impressionists - Paris’ (2014) and exhibited at RMIT University.

w w w . s t e p h a n i e m o r r i s p h o t o g r a p h y. c o m

@ stephmorrisphoto

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SHOWCASE : COVER ARTIST

CHAT WITH OUR COVER ARTIST JOY LI

Artist Practice Digitally and meticulously handcrafted, Joy’s work contains a spirit of wistful imagination and suggests the poetic inclinations of a modern romanticist. Drawing as much inspiration from the past as from the future, she believes that art should delight the mind’s eye and invite a sense of nostalgia. Working predominantly with graphite, her pieces are a swirl of surreal detail and dreamlike characters. As a departure from her own thoughts, Joy has a penchant for dark period dramas and an overuse of commas.

www.joyli.com.au

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SHOWCASE : Fiction

the roaming Jack Cameron Stanton

A blotter is already dissolving on my tongue when Frankie picks me up from work. His busted commodore roars down the one-way street then pulls over at a green light, ignoring the frustrated honks of the traffic’s slugline. In the back Roach is holding hands with Justine. I consider asking if his girlfriend is coming along until he slaps my shoulders and gives me a heavy-handed massage. Justine doesn’t meet my eyes when she hands me a cold beer from the eski under her feet. I don’t say a thing.

An hour up the freeway Frankie pulls into a petrol station and asks for a blotter. I unroll the alfoil and only count sixteen. Thought I’d counted them perfectly, I mumble. We open the car doors, push back the seats, and pinch at the floor mat, thinking the missing tab has fallen somewhere.

My teeth grind together and whenever I notice I can stop it but then a minute later I’m at it again, grinding left and right.

My tongue rolls across my teeth and something flakes away.

I open my mouth and peel two disintegrated blotters off my tongue. A second must’ve been folded against the first. We all laugh, but no one is laughing as hard as me, still carrying on long after the others stop.

Roach disappears into the bush beside the petrol station and Justine stays in the car, on her phone. It’s almost eight p.m., quite dark now, and when I look back at the car I see her smiling, the phone illuminating her face. I wonder if someone back in Sydney is thinking of her. Frankie and I enter the petrol station and wander through the aisles of chips and ice-cream and out-of-date muffins, assuming a seemingly unbreakable silence. The store is fluorescent. I blink every three seconds, I think. It’s cold inside. The drug’s taken hold: the aisles swing back and forth, back and forth,

like endless pendulums. What did you want? Frankie asks.

Thought it was your idea, coming into this food aquarium, I say. Should we leave? I dunno. Maybe we should. Maybe we should. We exit like thieves.

I’m standing at the window for a good minute or so, yelling at Justine to please-turn-the-car-off, but she’s pretending she can’t understand me, sliding a hand behind her ear and mouthing the word, huh? She does this maybe fourteen times. The techno cuts as she turns the key in the ignition and the car engine dies. Frankie gives me a cigarette. Gotta find Roach, he says, turning toward the bush. Dunno where the fuck he is. Don’t leave me with her, I say. Justine is back on her phone, hair shadowing her downturned face like cobweb. I light the cigarette, pop open the petrol tank, and fill her up.

A minute later the shop assistant runs out of the store.

He is coming toward me, yelling, face ruddy and inflated.

Fear atomises my nerves, coils them into tight clusters: he knows, he knows. My unsteady hands drop the nozzle.

Petrol puddles at my feet. He storms right up to me, licks his thumb and index finger, then extinguishes the cigarette hanging between my lips, and I can’t stop laughing. Justine’s face, pressed against the glass, is contorted with laughter too.

. . . back on the road Frankie is looking a little shaky but not long now I think we’re gonna get there just fine, the cars are moving real fast on the freeway, like scuttling elephant beetles, and they’re hypnotic until I’m distracted by Justine and Roach playing the moo game, where they drive past the cows and yell out MOO and whoever gets the most cows to turn and face them wins – a cow equals one point – I think Justine’s winning big time but I stop paying attention at the freeway turn off, reach into my pocket, pull out my iPhone and plug it into the speaker, closing one eye to read the lambent screen, and I proclaim that I’m the ‘beats master’ even though I can’t listen to a song longer than ten seconds without getting uneasy and pressing shuffle, so Justine yanks the iPhone from me and connects the cable into her phone and, with creased brows, not meeting my eyes, she asks: are you okay? and I laugh and say I dunno, I dunno, I dunno.

A feeling has transfigured my organs.

It goes like this: lungs evaporate || my stomach is a helium balloon || the body is emptied || repeatedly say the words my body is empty to Frankie as he drives || heartbeats echo throughout the caverns || no sensation in fingers || knock elbow against car door, it doesn’t hurt || can’t feel a thing || feel more than ever before.

Stop laughing, Roach says. He uses a lighter to crack open a beer. I can’t stop laughing. Roach takes a long sip then passes the beer to Frankie, who accepts it without taking his eyes off the road. Then Roach kisses Justine. I know they’re kissing because he makes these dumb moaning noises, almost like moos, and I hear their lips slapping together, as if miniature versions of them are shagging inside my ears. I turn over and stare at them. Justine’s eyes are misty almonds, staring right back at me, and I can’t stop laughing.

artwork : josh greenstein

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SHOWCASE : Fiction

AN OCEAN FOR A HOME helen tran

It was a cold July morning when I received a notice in the mail that the house I had grown up in was set to be demolished and rebuilt as a beach villa, “a scenic location for tranquillity and romance.” I stared at the letter in shock, seeing that small, white-panelled house with overgrown vine leaves and ferns form on the paper in front of me.

Was it the breeze that swayed itself through my rotten window frames, creating that smell of wet worms and sour fish? Or was it the dog barking at the rooster’s crow each and every morning at the crack of dawn? Did I consider it my home because I had lain in a room and looked at its pale eggshell ceiling with black spots of mould every night and every morning for years? Or perhaps I must consider the way my eyes fluttered each time I awoke, tired eyes blinded by that single stream of sunlight that sliced through a gap in the blinds. I had broken that panel trying to reach the top frame of the window to hide a lolly.

And then there were those moments where I sought refuge in the ocean, water up to my knees, cotton pants soaked through and my slender sun-speckled back facing the house.

My arms spread wide like a seagull’s wings, I would feel the wind brush through my fingers and that tangled jungle of light brown hair. I would always run there whenever my parents fought, the sound of the crashing ocean waves and the shouting colliding violently with each other. Yet the ocean’s song always won.

The ocean was a source of serenity; breaking across the brittle sand, creating waves of magnificent green. I realise now after years of travel that I can feel just as at home in any ocean as I did in those days. I could stand, feet planted

firmly apart, arms outstretched and head back, lips apart so that I could taste the salty sea spray, letting the gust of wind take me. To be able to come back to myself and find I am still there, but changed. The ocean was a great abyss.

A never-ending world. A danger. A comfort. A merciless monster. A wondrous infinity. I owned the ocean, and the ocean owned me.

“What is your favourite colour?”

Sometimes I’ll choose the colour the inquiring person wore, just because it always seemed to give them a sense of pride – as if they had just done something right. They would shift, straighten their backs. Some would smooth down their shirts or pants. Blue. Orange. Pink. Brown. Grey.

Yellow. Purple. Then I started to have fun with it. Lavender.

Cranberry. Marigold. Off-white. Salmon. Those were the days I tried to find the happiness. Other days I would simply look around and say the first colour I saw. Once I blurted out “metal”. I became embarrassed and corrected myself – “I love a metallic silver”. I received a laugh and not a single passing thought at my mishap.

But thinking was all I could do that day. Because all I could ever really see was the eggshell with black spots. That’s my favourite colour, in its completely uninteresting glory. I could close my eyes and see it and feel like I was back there; a five-year-old who would cry and say there were spiders on the roof, a pubescent thirteen-year-old counting stars, a crying eighteen-year-old endlessly asking the eggshell with black spots why he didn’t love her.

I came across it once, when I was in India. The tiny hotel room was damp, beaten down and rotten, just the way I remembered my bedroom – second door on the right down that narrow hallway spotted with photographs of my family. Having been bored with my life in my early thirties I had come to India to experience an exotic new world, thinking that by enticing my senses with a new spice I would become enlightened and find purpose. But instead, I stayed indoors all day and all night for the entire three weeks, studying my new eggshell with its new black spots, recalling long lost thoughts and memories. It seemed like the exact same ceiling, cut and pasted right here in this hotel room thousands of miles away just for me. I have no doubt fate played a role in this. Just when I needed to remember what it meant to be alive, the universe gave me eggshells and black spots. I felt settled, for the first time in so long, like hot pumpkin soup sliding through my throat and warming my stomach. It sat right. It sat well.

I would always hear dogs and roosters call, but never as simultaneously as Busty and Mr Chook did. Mr Chook would call exactly three times before Busty would get up and start howling, and then their calls were suddenly in sync. It was brilliant to me. I still find myself waking up each morning at the crack of dawn expecting to hear their voices.

found out after his death that he took them to his wife’s grave. That young Asian couple who lived three apartments down always did their grocery shopping at midnight at the 24-hour supermarket. That middle aged Spanish man who wore a suit three sizes too large and trimmed his goatee in public, using the silver seats of the bus stop as a mirror.

I saw these people every day, and yet it was not until this exact moment that I realised how much I felt at peace with the noise, the pollution, the thousands of people I lived with in this town whom I did not know yet somehow did, as if I was standing in the ocean all over again. I owned the city, and the city owned me.

I looked back down at the paper, the edge of it crumpled tightly in my hand. The little black shapes made no sense to me at first, but slowly I watched as they rearranged themselves into letters into words into sentences that told me once again – “a scenic location for tranquility and romance”. I felt the high ocean tide softly wash off my shoulders, and I felt warmth on my shoulders, a basking sun of familiarity as I stood in my spacious apartment. I thought about when I was five, when I was eighteen, and when I was thirty. I thought about the ocean, Busty and Mr Chooks, and I thought about the eggshell with black spots.

And I smiled.

When I moved to the city I did everything I could to forget that I was a small town girl. I sat in my office chair looking out the window to the bustle of cars and people. It was like a constant streaming of a thousand different movies running at the same time. That old man who walked past with a bouquet of yellow roses every Thursday morning. I

artwork : nancy li @nlianderthal

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written showcase : poetry

Mr. Sivalingam Srisha Sritharan

A vast ocean blankets infinite depth, infinitely broad.

Warm brine hugs his crevices, he wrinkles a laugh – silent yet heard.

Murmurs of its existence echo the lapping of brine in a tranquil serenity.

Dusk falls, night crawls a dark, star-speckled blanket is infinitely deep, infinitely broad.

In its midst, a lone boulder his stance strong, his façade aged yet youthful.

He is an entity of his own, casting his deep shadow as a fisherman casts his sweeping net into the blue expanse.

Seasonal acquaintances bade their temporary presence harsh winds menacingly growl at the boulder thunder threatens, a golden orb beats rays harshly upon his sturdy frame.

And still he stands.

The ocean embraces him, tight contact between lifelong friends.

Ripples dance within his rock pools, humming a gentle whisper, twirling amidst his generous comfort.

Strangers find shelter in his presence, a solace so pure, so calm.

And still he stands.

His eyes twinkle when he laughs, his chest rises when he rests.

His fingers trace delicate patterns, earnest thought, he chases a naĂŻve child, baby pink thread amongst yellow hay.

They throw their heads back and laugh, and laugha friendship engrained deep into unwritten years.

And still he stands.

artwork : erland howden

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written showcase : poetry

The Beach will hall

It’s dark in here, which leads me into a headstrong bout of doubt that wriggles and collapses.

Is it even sunny outside?

The hole in the ceiling seems to think not, Its helplessness is contagious.

It leads me to think once I’m there, the leaves, the stormwater, gull feathers, and thin plastic bags, will choke and soup up the water However, I do catch a glance, at the occasional stream of light, filtering into the back garden and encouraging warmth with its energy my plans to sleep, endlessly, and dream happily into the abyss are scattered by this rich sunlight and its promise.

I will wait, and soon – the beach.

artwork : megan wong

Saisonnière Cameron Hart

La nostalgie Closed doors hide shivers, black ice on a lost eyelash, and fingers chilled into frost-locked iron gates.

Her voice; dark and robust as six bottles of mulled wine mellowed by the fire in a quiet city a thousand miles away from home.

La rêverie The bruised sky wakes up all the space-dust, and these unfading constellations – our early dinner guests – shined like potential stolen from my open hands.

Back at the campsite, the tent was still too full of last year’s air, and your sunburnt face, starlit, gave me heartache; but maybe that was all you had to give.

Le vœu Slow as a rifle, the trap that snapped the rabbit’s neck, bounced on the ball of a foot just before jumping.

His lips curving, those shredded petals smell of resurrections: the hope that something good will come, once we have tired of all of this killing.

Le cauchemar As each leafy tree became carnage, the forest was a cabaret of smiling masks, (lips wide and tongueless) their blank stares reminiscent of a house of mirrors.

In afternoons, it seemed like some infernal carnival, but if this was truly hell then why did all of the devils suddenly look like me? artwork : megan wong

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written showcase : poetry

The Usual Aisyah Shah Idil Aisyah’s work was exhibited in the Islamic Museum of Australia. We are humbled by the chance to republish it here.

Dear, When the barista asks you what your name is You take the pen from him And say, ‘Aisyah Life.

A name of scholarship and of strength.

A name for the women before me, And those who will come after.

The ay requires your rapt attention, the shah is your breath out.

Take care with it, and give us what we are due.’

I am life-giver and life-singer and memories collect like gas and dust.

The ache in my chest must be a supernova someplace else because in this collapse comes brilliance.

It is so easy to forget this.

But baby, baby, baby never try to erase your whole from him.

Thought. Love takes work.

This is what all the writers say.

Love outward, and both inward.

Epiphany.

You are not so different, sweetling, from your husband.

The love you have for yourself cannot be that different either.

Breathe deep.

You are the choice of kindness.

You are every crack where the light shines through.

You are my second sunrise every morning.

You are a woman with a fine name.

What more could you ask for? artwork : megan wong

of f b roa dw a y

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OFF BROADWAY : Collectives

T he Womn’s Collective: T h e R oa d

Beatrice Tan Last year, when I became the convenor of the collective, I was warned that the task would be equal par ts rewarding and stress-inducing. My role is essentially about organisation - I facilitate meetings and organise events. I cannot deny that it has been a steep learning curve. I also can’t say that I haven’t cried because of it. Despite this, I regret nothing, and I’ve had the time of my life. I owe this to the mentorship of the previous convenor of the collective who trained me, as well as Heba Niem, the 2016 Womn’s Officer for the UTSSA SRC. This year has been game-changing. The roles of Womn’s Officer and the convenor of the Womn’s Collective are normally held by the same person, however Heba and I have shaken things up by splitting the roles. I could not be more thankful for this setup. Without Heba it is highly likely that I wouldn’t be writing this now. Although we went through different election processes, we had a similar perspective in regards to the collective. Our focus this year is on diversity and intersectionality, as both Heba and I are queer womn of colour. Our aim was to come to the end of our terms having

left behind a community of people: plain and simple. At the start of the year, we faced a membership dilemma; many of the older members that I met last year had either graduated or were no longer involved. We essentially had to build the collective up from scratch.

It is for this reason that O’Day was a massive opportunity for the collective. Since then, I feel that there has been a bit of an upswing, and our goals are well underway. We have weekly meetings that reach quorum, which was a big struggle last year. Hosting weekly meetings and watching everyone interact fills me with pride; throughout the semester I’ve seen people form friendships with each other and support one another. It has been amazing to watch.

Admittedly, there are a lot of people that can’t come to the meetings because of other commitments. This is okay.

It doesn’t mean that they aren’t par t of the community.

Their involvement comes from their online interaction or participation in other events held by the collective. Their involvement is significant because the Womn’s Collective is more than just a group of people who meet up once a week. We are a group of womn, both cis and trans, as well as non-binary individuals from a wide range of religious, ethnic, and political backgrounds. It is our passion for equality that unifies us.

This semester, Heba and I have undertaken huge responsibilities. There are times when we’ve wanted to cry and instead settled for making trips to Donut Time. Other than weekly meetings, we are running the ‘Talk About It’ campaign, which focusses on sexual assault on campus.

This is going well and has already produced some results.

I have been in talks with the UTS Counselling Service and the UTS Equity and Diversity Unit about what can be done to address on-campus assault and harassment. I was also invited to be a panelist during the UTS screening of ‘The Hunting Ground’ (2015), a documentary that reveals the proliferation of sexual assault across college campuses in the US. Our other major focus is the Network of Women Students Australia (NOWSA) National Conference. It is a weeklong student conference that runs from July 11-16 2016. NOWSA is a grassroots, autonomous network of university students (womn, cis and trans, as well as non-binary individuals). The conference is an opportunity for students to engage with personal, political, social, and cultural issues that affect us. It aims to bring together and empower students from various socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities, religions, sexualities, and abilities, by giving them an opportunity to network and to exchange information, skills, and resources. The theme for this year is EMPOWERMENT, DIVERSITY AND SAFETY. UTS won the bid to host NOWSA this year, and Heba and I are playing a large part in the organising committee.

We also run social events, including: yoga, Netflix and chill nights, picnics, crafternoons, and dinners. While we are an activist group, we are also a social group, and building bonds between individuals is impor tant in the maintenance of a functioning collective community. If I can leave behind a collective with a steady membership and strong community ties, I will know that I’ve done my job right.

artwork : jordan evans

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o f f b r o a d way : b at y r U T S

batyr U T S: Smashing the Stigma David Lt University Manager (UTS)

We all know we’re in the start-up boom, we hear about it all the time. But can you really start something and make it all about ending something at the same time? Are there things about our way of life that are so ingrained in our culture that it’s easier to just let them exist, than to try and resist the flow? We hear that the younger generation is the hope for solving issues in society, but is there really support for young people when they take that literally and try to fix problems by subverting the norm?

Enter the world of mental health education at UTS, batyr style. Instead of a professor in psychology, or a government health representative teaching students about why their mental health is important with a clip-art-heavy PowerPoint presentation, at batyr it’s UTS students who do the educating – and the results have been promising. batyr kicked off when a couple of uni students saw a problem in Aussie culture and found a really simple way to solve it. Beginning in 2011 with a charity run and a few believers, batyr has grown to become a movement involving both high school and uni students. Thirty-seven thousand people and counting have been reached through the power of batyr’s storytelling. UTS was the first university to commit to implementing the program long-term in July 2014. Here on campus, and now at several other universities around the country, staff saw the opportunity to connect the dots between counselling services and the students who needed it, but weren’t going.

Since then, almost twenty UTS student speakers have been trained to share their own personal stories of mental health resilience, and people are listening: 10,000 students have been to a batyr event on campus, in addition to an artwork : elizabeth jung

extra 4000 UTS-based attendees. Thousands of high school students all across Australia have also had a UTS student speak at their school. Not bad for an idea as simple as sharing a story. batyr is tackling the stigma surrounding mental health issues head-on – the reality is that Australia’s leading cause of death for those under 44 is suicide. It is empowering young people to practically solve some of the issues that affect almost 1 in 4 Australians at any given time. One of the most shocking statistics in Australia is that only 23% of students who suffer with a mental health issue reach out to a professional health service. That’s a lot of people suffering in isolation.

Becoming part of the force that is helping to change the way young Aussies see their mental health starts with a mindset shift. It isn’t about doing fundraising drives, volunteering, or going on expeditions - it’s simply about changing the way we have conversations. All it can take is one brave, honest story to change mindsets and empower people to think bigger, and this is often enough to get people talking and taking action. Besides stories and training, batyr also has a chapter of students who volunteer their time to drive the initiative from the ground-up. batyr is supported through the running of events, lobbying the university, and spreading the message that hope is out there, and a lot closer than we think.

Smashing the stigma isn’t easy or quick. However, one-byone, batyr’s message is reaching students, and the change is evident. By students and for students, batyr is a movement that isn’t just about linking purpose to action: it’s all about people, and in this case – students at UTS, just like you.

o f f b r o a d way : u t s s e r v i c e s

M u lt i - Fa i t h Chaplaincy Joanna Thyer

Whether you count yourself as religious, or choose not to prescribe to any faith, pastoral care exists to support students beyond religion, belief, and faith. UTS Multi-Faith Chaplaincy Coordinator, Joanna Thyer has all the details.

Many people have heard the saying that there is a basic unity that underpins human experience, beliefs, philosophies, and religions in all cultures. It has been referred to as The Golden Rule and embraces the sacred texts and ideas that underpin all the world’s major religions and philosophies such as ‘we are all descended from a single soul’, or ‘treating others as you would like to be treated’.

A Multi-Faith chaplaincy in any organisation is often trying to capture a similar universal ethic to that depicted in The Golden Rule: a harmonious guideline for mutuality and reciprocity when there are many beliefs and cultures operating together. At UTS, the university encourages dialogue, diversity, and creativity, for an intellectual exploration of ideas and ethics. Multi-Faith chaplaincy supports this goal and aims to enhance the personal and spiritual growth of students and staff in the university community, either as individuals or in a group setting.

Chaplains can support people of any faith or no faith. Some people just want to explore life issues and look at the big picture, or may be dealing with issues of loss or anxiety, and are finding ways to get through it. International students in particular, who are settling into a new environment may be seeking to connect with individuals or groups, explore ideas, or even just simply practise prayer or meditation.

Currently at UTS there are chaplains from diverse professional backgrounds in the major faith traditions: Catholicism, Anglicanism, the Uniting Church, Islam, Or thodoxy, and Buddhism. They are sponsored by their faith community and recognised by the university to support and provide pastoral care, both emotionally and spiritually, to students and staff on campus. Some chaplains work with student groups whilst others might help individuals (of any belief ) deal with issues of life, faith, or the highs and lows of academic life.

As Multi-Faith Chaplaincy Coordinator for the university, I come from a professional background that includes hospital chaplaincy, counselling, writing in the spirituality self-help genre, and working as a university medical educator.

In my role I am hoping to have forums and multi-faith events for any interested students and staff, to discuss values, human rights, inter-faith dialogue, or ethical or environmental topics that are of interest in our current diverse, multicultural, and democratic society. I am also hoping to have meditation groups that encompass input from all major faith traditions.

For example, at the time of writing I am planning to attend a weekend seminar on meditation and the environment in the hope of getting some ideas.

If you wish to get involved with a particular group, please contact the organisations, or the individual chaplains directly as listed on the UTS website. Otherwise, Joanna is available Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays, via uts.chaplaincy@uts.edu.au or joanna.thyer@uts. edu.au, and by phone on 9514 2523. Joanna is happy to see people individually or in groups, and is keen to take part in discussions to foster inter-faith dialogue and multi-faith forums on a variety of topics. artwork : jordan evans

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o f f b r o a d way : t h e g r a d u at e

Action Stations at the Australian National Maritime Museum In Pyrmont, behind the Australian National Maritime Museum and settled between a warship and a submarine, is an exhibition at the forefront of designbased curation. Lauren Meola, met with the museum’s director Kevin Sumption, to test run the museum’s latest attraction: ‘Action Stations’.

Lauren Meola For over 18 years, Kevin Sumption lectured at UTS in Design Theory and History with a specific expertise in digital and interactive media and their use in cultural institutions. Sumption spear-headed the creation of ‘Action Stations’, a project placing Australia on the brink of a designbased approach to the creation of major exhibits.

‘Action Stations’ is part of the ANZAC commemoration of 100 years of service. Visitors begin their experience in the Projection Room with an immersive, cinematic contextualisation of the history of the Royal Australian Navy. Next is The City View Room, an interactive ‘discovery and exploration space’ that is completely walled in by glass. The room is flanked by two separate accesses to the HMAS Onslow and the HMAS Vampire – a fully accessible submarine and warship respectively. Finally, the second floor’s Lookout is a rooftop space which boasts four 400 dpi digital projectors that transform the museum’s roof into an outdoor exhibition screen – the largest of its kind in the Southern hemisphere.

The present is an exhilarating time in the history of cultural institutions both in Australia and internationally. ‘Action Stations’ strays from a typical exhibit: its four distinct components were designed to be multi-functional spaces, and the entire project took a mere 18 months to complete.

Sumption speaks to this rapid approach: “the difference in the execution of this project from traditional museum projects is that it was a design-led process. Traditionally, exhibits are a curatorial-led process - where you come with something as an idea and a collection - a set of objects. Whereas, this started with FJMT [a Sydney-based architectural practice] working with the design team here to creatively come up with the concept. The research came later. This enabled us to rapidly prototype and develop the building, and also to imbue it with a lot of new technologies.”

photography : brett boardman photography

The project was developed with the aspiration of being visitor-centric, that is, to appeal to a younger demographic with an appetite for new media. Sumption speaks to the need for the technology to work experientially – for the series of experiences to “prime you before you go onto a large object which is a complex machine,” and argues that this can only be achieved with a design-based approach.

Of the vessels themselves, he notes that they have been very lightly interpreted. Apart from minimal signage and a Sydney Conservatorium composed musical soundscape, the vessels are placed as though the crew had only just left. Sumption highlights “a shift in museum practice from being object-centred to experience-centred. The museum is genuinely a world leader in the way it is using design to build experiences.” These sorts of digital and design-based approaches are opening up graduates to new opportunities within the more traditional space of cultural institutions like museums and memorials.

In particular, the skillsets being attained by graduates drive these innovative projects to get off the ground.

In this instance, the rooftop projections that play across the museum’s roof require a “ full suite of production skills,” including: projector technology skills; animation skills; keystoning, geometry and mathematical skills; all the way through to musical composition skills . The level of innovation in museum practice displayed by ‘Action Stations’ is indicative of the concentration of expertise and talent in Sydney. Sumption asserts that Australia’s capabilities in areas such as: digital media, architecture, and sound and light design are world-renowned. For us, as students, it is an exciting prospect that traditional cultural institutions are on the verge of major revitalisation.

o f f b r o a d way : i n s e a r c h

An International Journey from China to South America and Australia Andrew Blunt

Having to move or change schools is often difficult. For Merelien Wang it was even more challenging when her parents relocated their family from Hainan, China to South America.

Located on the northern tip of South America, the Dutch speaking country of Suriname is one of the smallest in South America, and is where Merelien spent most of her childhood.

“When I was eight years old, my parents decided to move to Suriname as one of my dad’s friends lived there and suggested we set up a business,” said Merelien. The change of country and cultures was difficult at first but she soon settled into her new life and made friends. “I can still remember crying and begging my dad to take me back to China during our first year as I missed it and wouldn’t have minded living by myself ”, she said. “Eventually I just forgot about China and as I made more friends I started to love my life in Suriname and was afraid that dad would send me back to China as I was enjoying it so much.”

In between helping her parents run a supermarket and practising her Dutch and English, Merelien would often find herself with friends on man-made beaches along the Amazon River, day-dreaming about her future. “Growing

up in a ghetto area of the capital of Suriname, I would often see a lot of single mothers with young children, struggling to find the time to raise or teach them,” she said. “Seeing them really motivated me to study at university to learn how I can help children and young adults in different communities.”

While many of Merelien’s friends decided to study in the United States or the Netherlands, she wanted to study social enquiry in Australia at UTS. “I’ve always been interested in society and cultures because I love people,” she said. “As an international student, the easiest way for me to study at UTS was to study at UTS:INSEARCH first.”

One of the highlights of her time at UTS:INSEARCH has been the oppor tunity to continue to meet people from around the world and welcome them as an Orientation Week volunteer. “I enjoyed volunteering during Orientation Week as I know how international students feel when they first come to Australia,” she said. “Adjusting to a new country can be daunting, but once you make new friends, regardless of where they are from, then you will overcome it without even noticing.”

Merelien is now in her second year of a Bachelor of Arts in Communication (Social Enquiry).

artwork : susan keighery

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o f f b r o a d way : s a r e p o r t s

president’s report

EDUCATION VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Sam Howes

Gabriella Brackenbury-Soldenhoff

Hey guys!

I hope you are all busy studying for the end of semester, and that this brand spanking new edition of Ver tigo is enough to soothe those cramming blues. The Students’ Association has had another busy few weeks. We have pulled together a National Day of Action, a new website, our budget for the year, and there has been chatter about the constitution.

First thing’s first: last year, when I became President, I had a million questions from students asking about the balanced teaching period system and the new academic calendar.

This semester, the Students’ Association has released a survey dedicated to polling your opinions about these issues. For it to be successful, we need as many responses from as many different faculties as we can. That means you.

Yes, you, reading this right now. Go to the UTS Students’ Association Facebook page, fill out our balanced semester survey, and have your say about the new calendar.

By the time this edition of Vertigo goes to print, the new Students’ Association website should be up and running.

So, find us on the interwebs to satisfy all of your SA needs.

I hope you have all had time to try out the night-time edition of the Bluebird Brekkie: Night Owl. If not, wander down this Thursday evening for some free dinner! It’s delicious, SA-sponsored food that will help you survive those nasty end-of-semester feels.

As always if you have any questions or concerns, mosey on down to our offices or shoot me a line at president@ utsstudentsassociation.org.

We’ve passed the halfway mark of the autumn semester!

This semester has definitely been a first for all students and staff at UTS as the balanced teaching periods have been introduced.

I have spoken with a lot of people about this restructure.

Many are very passionate about this topic as it’s clearly affecting students and staff. If you feel like there hasn’t been enough communication regarding the new calendar, or you just want to express your feelings about what has been effective and what has not, now is the perfect time to be loud and clear. The SA has put together a survey online to give you the oppor tunity to have an honest say about the restructure, and enable you to do something about it.

Apart from that, there have been two National Days of Action, the most recent one being a post-budget rally.

There have been talks of lowering the HECS threshold, deregulation, and 20 percent cuts to university funding, amongst many other things that would force a lot of students and graduates into a prison of debt.

If you would like to be more actively engaged in education policy beyond simply answering the survey, the UTS Education Action Group (EAG) meets regularly and we would love to have more students’ input. The EAG fights for accessible and quality education for everyone. Through the UTSSA, we are a major activist structure on campus.

To join the group, find us on Facebook at ‘UTS Education Action Group (EAG)’.

TREASURER’S REPORT

SECRETARY’S REPORT

Mohamed Rumman

Lachlan Barker

We’re not broke! After a few long weeks, and a few boxes of take-away, Sam and I were able to present our budget to the council. The budget outlined our plan for the Students’ Association in 2016.

Now well and truly towards the end of the autumn semester, the Students’ Association has been busy.

Standard operating procedures have come into effect, including passing finances for the odd conference, and ensuring collectives that are undergoing constitutional change are getting the support and assistance they require.

Our new website is ready to be launched this month, pending minor changes. We are also currently in the process of bringing on a new caseworker which will help to alleviate pressure from our staff. It will result in more one-on-one time for students who are struggling.

Vertigo has also passed its budget at the last council meeting.

So, if you’re reading this on 120gsm paper, which is slightly thicker (cheers, Ed!) you can thank us.

Once more, I’ve relied on qualities such as: • agility and speed; • carrying a portable phone charger; and • being aware of how to purchase pads, tampons, and condoms (NB: still need to actually find a nice balance between affordability and quality, please forward suggestions to secretary@utsstudentsassociation.org).

Minutes for each General SRC Meeting and Executive Meeting are available in hardcopies at the SA office or via our new website. Please email me if you want to be notified of when meetings are held as attendance is open to all! It’s a great way to get an idea of how some of the more practical things work.

artwork : emilie glasson

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o f f b r o a d way : j o i n t h e c l u b

ST R

D TH

O UN

E TWI

Ling’s circle

Drawing Circle

Kiên’s circle

Kiên Lê Board

Like all good HSC maths students, I feel I have the proficiency to complete an above average drawing of a circle without using a protractor or, god forbid, calculating the radius squared. When our Creative Editor-in-chief, Ling, suggested we review the UTS Drawing Circle, I jumped at the chance. How hard could it be? All they do is draw circles, right? For background research, I found a Wikihow article on how to draw a circle in 8 simple steps.

After a gruelling 45 minutes of reading, I was ready. Or so I thought.

On one of my lazier Friday afternoons, I stepped through a see-through glass door and entered a nicely lit room in the DAB that reeked of urban décor. When I usually step into a university classroom I am generally late, and filled with an overwhelming sense of dread and awkwardness after having again failed to complete the readings. However, when I arrived at Drawing Circle’s regular Etch and Sketch session I felt something wash over me. I think it was peace.

A group of people surrounded a couple of desks. They were chatting loudly and scratching all manner of doodles, scribbles, and images onto paper with a variety of colour.

Within ten minutes, I had asked what a zine was. This was met with amusement whilst trap music and memes of Ar thur and D.W. floated around the room, cour tesy of UTS’s interactive whiteboards. The activity was really simple - hang out for three hours doing whatever ar t stuff you felt like doing with people who were equally as passionate and interested as you.

As society president, Darryl Chen, explains, Drawing Circle is an outlet to channel your ideas about ar t in a different way to how you normally would at uni. “I think it’s especially helpful for non-design students, who are critiqued to be more ‘arty’, or to have their work be more

design focussed. We at Drawing Circle don’t really care.

We’re all happy to have anyone drawing anything and with us there are always opportunities to draw.”

I have a confession to make: when I meet someone who says that they are ‘terrible at drawing’, I immediately accuse them of lying and of being secretly the most amazingly talented person ever. The scribbles produced at Etch and Sketch, at least to my expert eye (I don’t want to brag but I won a colouring-in competition in kindergarten), are really something to look at. If you’re one of these people who regularly tells others, “Oh yeah I just do ar t for fun - no don’t look at it - no it’s really bad - oh my god stop”, then you’re exactly the type of person who should seriously consider joining Drawing Circle.

Drawing Circle does it all. They host industry professional talks. They design for ActivateUTS. They collaborate with MusCuts (the music society) by animating their concer ts.

They produce an artbook as well as a zine that anyone can contribute to.

DC (as no one except me has started calling it) is a friendly place. The focus is not on what you could do, instead, the club focusses on making new people feel welcome. If someone like me can have a fun time, then so can you.

Don’t be a square, join the UTS Drawing Circle.

Rating: 5 π / 5 Etch and Sketch is held on Fridays in CB06.6.106 from 3-6pm whilst Life Drawings at the Loft are held on Tuesdays from 2-5pm.

Follow them here: Facebook: utsdrawingcircle Tumblr: blog/drawingcircle

li fe s ty l e & in n o v a tio n

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LIFESTYLe and innovation : FOOD

a CULINARY MAP OF WESTERN SYDNEY Fabián Marcel Vergara DeLeón The Western suburbs are a mystery to many Sydneysiders. This monolith of urban suburbia stretches its concrete fingertips towards Blacktown in the north, Campbelltown in the south, and Parramatta in the mid-west. Of Western Sydney’s many amazing qualities, it is the food that I find most deeply enamouring. While the cuisine can be a far cry from the elegance and refinement that comes with eating in the inner city, Western Sydney offers a landscape brimming with diversity and some of the most authentic international food that Sydney has to offer. Here you can encounter Iraqi bakeries next to South American pastelerías and daily yum cha restaurants while being only a brief train ride from the best Halal snack packs in the city. These are just a few of the multicultural culinary experiences that Western Sydney offers.

King Kebabs, Campbelltown 2/171-179 Queen St, Campbelltown This Middle Eastern kebab house has rapidly become known acrowss the city for serving some of the most delicious Halal snack packs available. The snack pack (Snackie, HSP, meat box etc.) is a genuine one-plate wonder: hot chips seasoned with chicken salt lie underneath a dense layer of cheese and shawarma smothered in your choice of sauce. Opt for the classic mixed beef and chicken with the ‘holy trinity’ of garlic, barbecue and chilli sauces. The succulence and tenderness of the meat is balanced by the crunchiness of the chips. The precision and attention given to every snack pack at King Kebabs makes it an artisanal product, one worthy of your money and your praise.

Tan Viet, Cabramatta 100 John St, Cabramatta As the capital of the Indochinese community in Sydney, Cabramatta boasts countless Cambodian, Laotian and Thai restaurants. The Vietnamese cuisine is the most well-represented, with a wide array of eateries offering the classics of sugarcane prawns, phô (beef noodle soup) and bun bo hue (a spicy lemongrass-infused vermicelli noodle soup). Popular Vietnamese noodle house, Tan Viet, is renowned for its crispy skin chicken. The flesh is moist and perfectly cooked, and the skin gives a satisfying and audible crunch when bitten into. For the complete, authentic Vietnamese culinary experience, order a plate of tomato rice - the colour of sunset, steamed and mildly flavoured.

Vinh Phat, Cabramatta 1, 10-12 Hughes Street, Cabramatta The experience of a crowded dining room, waiters pushing along car ts with bamboo steamers stacked up high, and the choice to pick dishes as you wish. These are the highly alluring prospects which make Yum Cha one of my favourite culinary experiences.

The Yum Cha at Vinh Phat is a local favourite, serving up some of the best har gow (steamed prawn dumplings) and cheung fan (flat rice-noodles filled with mince prawns, rolled and steamed) I’ve had. Covered in light soy, the steaming leaves the outside of the noodle so tender you can part it with one chopstick. For the more adventurous, try the gelatinous and flavourful chicken feet. Satisfy your sweet tooth with the delicious mango pancake dessert.

La Paula 1/9 Barbara Street, Fairfield La Paula has been a significant feature in my life for as long as I can remember. As a child, my parents would take my brother and me to this pastelería. My earliest memories of the place are of me, knee-high to my mother, pressing my face up to the counter to stare at an array of traditional Latin American sweets. The classics include Alfajores, two vanilla flavoured cookies bound together with a layer of dulce de leche, a sweet caramel spread, and covered in coconut. Conejitos are a sweet dense eggy bread bun, slit open and filled with either vanilla, custard cream, dulce de leche, or chocolate. If you’re looking for something bigger, try the milhoja. Translating to a ‘thousand-leaves’, it is layers of semi-hard pastry and dulce de leche, dusted in coconut.

Al-Awafi 7 Breust Place, Punchbowl While El Jannah may have stolen the Lebanese charcoal chicken limelight, for me there is only one place to go when you’re craving a good Lebanese-style charcoal chicken with all the trimmings - Al - Awafi. For $8, you can get a student meal of a succulent quarter chicken , a mountain of golden chips, pickles, a basket of bread and a good dose of their toum (garlic sauce). The chicken is moist, the purple pickles are a mix of salty and sweet with a slight bitterness at the end. The star, however, is the smooth garlic sauce, perfect as a dip with bread, chicken, and chips.

El Rabieh Sweets, Punchbowl 769A Punchbowl Road, Punchbowl El Rabieh Sweets was first recommended to me by a classmate of Syrian origin. Walking in the Zdoor, you see the enormous counter, displayinga myriad of culinary brilliance.

The sweetmakers at El Rabieh are truly artisans, turning sugar syrup, pastry and crushed nuts into the best baklava you will ever taste. Another amazing pastry on offer here is the Znood El-Sit or Lady’s Arms. This is a thin sheet of pastry, filled with homemade clotted cream or ashtar and then deep-fried and soaked in syrup. The crunchy shell gives way to the sweet and dense centre. Sugar syrup permeates the inside of your mouth, resulting in a true melange of sweetness. One of my personal favourites is Knafeh; sweet cheese is pressed between layers of dense, crumbly, dark pastry, and then covered in syrup and garnished with pistachios.

ARTWORK : annabel cook

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LIFESTYLe and innovation : FITNESS

top 3 australian hikes to indulge yo u r d ay d r e a m s

sue k ang Neoliberalism has gripped our world - the belief that individuals have the ability to transform themselves, and make their lives the object of practices of self-shaping. So, whenever I hear people discussing hiking or exercising in general, it’s in the context of ‘getting fit’ and making yourself a HOT ASS THING. Beauty; being at the top of your physical form; getting HDs in all of your subjects; and being perfect is all touted to be attainable in this neoliberal world. Just try harder and you can HAVE IT ALL. How stupidly exhausting.

The constant pressure to have all of these thoughts and expectations running through your mind is just plain tiring.

I don’t go hiking to get fit. I go hiking because it lets me be free. There are no social conventions to abide by except maybe saying, ‘Hi’ to a passerby when you’re on a bushwalk.

That’s not a very stressful convention. When hiking, I can run if I want to, I can walk if I want to, and I can act like I want to. It’s nice to be able to run away from society for a bit. To exist in the wild, alone with my daydreams, abiding by my own rules allows me to put on pause the pressures constantly jabbing into my consciousness.

Here are my top three hikes for daydreamers:

Bouddi National Park – Coastal Walk, NSW Unlike the coastal walk at the Royal National Park, this one has less people. It’s only 8km and goes from Putty Beach to MacMasters beach. It’s an easy walk – you can whale watch as you go. You’ll pass five beaches on the way, so you’ll be spoiled for choice, and they’re all great for swimming. Just run free here, absorbing the sweeping views, feet touching the white sand.

The Castle Hike, NSW Situated in the Budawang National Park, this walk will take around 8 -12 hours , depending on how good you are at rock-climbing and hiking downhill. This is a seriously fun hike with creeks, ropes , caves , and one windy summit where you can see some amazing views . This walk is perfect for focus – it is a challenging walk, so you’ll be concentrating on what you’re doing. If you’re looking for something to do to distract you from inessential thoughts, this hike is the one for you.

Overland Track, TAS If you know what the Overland Track is, then you’ve done a bit of walking. It’s one of the best multi - day hikes in Australia. It usually takes six days and before you go you should probably be comfortable with walking long distances with heavy packs. But, don’t let any of that put you off. Be reckless and just go. There’s nothing out there to drown out your thoughts except adorable baby wombats that walk straight up to you because they’re not afraid of humans.

They’re so cute and chubby. Man, I love wombats.

My favourite part was when I did the side-trip to Mount Ossa. Lunch tastes good on top of a mountain. That’s the best part about multi-day hikes - you can plan it out and experience it with other people. Solo hiking has its good points, but on multi-day hikes, there’s nothing quite like camping with your friends or family, sharing treats, and taking in mountain and waterfall views with your closest.

Also, since the Parks & Wildlife Services of Tasmania limit the walkers that are allowed on the walk (60 per day), you’ll always feel like you’re alone in the wild with your group.

For more info on accessible hikes around Sydney that are perfect to hit up with your mates, head to my Instagram @suekang_ or my blog at www.lostandwild.com.

AWE INSPIRING MORE THAN JUST FEELINGS ISABELLA PUENTES

Awe (n.)

A feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder.

“They were both in awe of the vastness of the forest.”

How can a fleeting moment stir up emotions that can make us laugh or cry? How can you experience a sense of comfort and nostalgia at witnessing beauty, and simultaneously feel so small when faced with the vastness of life larger than us?

Awe is a concept that has always fascinated me.

Perhaps it fascinates me because I’m sentimental, or because I’m a little bit of a hopeless romantic. Whether it be looking out at the endlessness of the ocean, the rich oranges and pinks of a sunset, or something more humble like the wonder of jacaranda trees blossoming purple flowers, I’m often left gobsmacked by the diversity of our planet.

Whilst the feeling of awe may seem extremely personal, the sensation is an important universal experience that plays a crucial part in the collective function of human life.

Does this theory apply only after a moment of awe at the natural world? According to the study, participants who had been looking at a building in comparison to people who were looking at nature were less inclined to offer a helping hand.

I’m not one to argue with science, but I have to admit that I find the vertical garden at Central Park pretty awe-inspiring.

I am left in awe at the Sydney Opera House lighting up the city during Vivid. I revel in the intricate details of a Leonardo da Vinci painting. Awe doesn’t have to be restricted to the natural world. For me, the creativity and diligence of human skill and accomplishment offers the same appreciation for the possibilities around us. Awe brings you into the present, an enriching simplicity we often forget.

It just goes to show that in order to make the world a better place, all you have to do is look up.

A study conducted by the University of California (UC) has revealed that after we experience a ‘holy shit!’ moment, we tend to act more generously towards others. The study involved showing participants part of an episode of Planet Earth and then measuring audience reactions. It revealed how simply watching a five-minute video of water droplets prompted participants to behave ethically. Even recalling a memory of awe by looking at a photo or listening to a song, ignited feelings of compassion.

Paul Piff, professor of psychology at UC, believes awe is the pathway to development for interpersonal relations and human life. Piff suggests that the feeling of awe is usually accompanied by an awareness of something larger than us, triggering a feeling of smallness or a “small self ”. This is believed to prompt a greater desire to help others and share positive feelings. “Even these minute droplets remind you of the intricacy and complexity of the natural world,” says Piff.

ARTWORK : REKHA DHANARAM

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lifestyle and innovation : ENVIRONMENT

GlitteR and Oceans Ismene Panaretos Ismene Panaretos explores everyday products that are harming the marine ecosystem.

The planet is dying. The rate at which humanity is destroying the environment is so rapid that the effects of our carelessness towards the earth will be felt within our lifetimes. Our oceans comprise 70% of the planet, however our knowledge of them is limited at best. It is evident that the seas play host to incredible biodiversity. The following products, if introduced into the waterways, wreak havoc on the marine ecosystem.

Helium balloons Next time you contemplate releasing a plastic sack of helium into the void, consider that helium balloons kill marine life. Sea turtles in particular consume the balloons as they erroneously identify them as jellyfish, a diet staple.

After being ingested, the balloon blocks the digestive track, and the turtle slowly starves to death. Marine life can also become entangled in the plastic.

Glitter As it turns out, glitter is actually terrible for the oceans.

Why ? Glitter is made of microbeads , or rather tiny particles of plastic that are easily ingested by marine life. It is estimated that the ocean contains five trillion of these particles, amounting to 250,000 tons. To make matters worse, toxic chemicals that seep into the oceans such as insecticides and pesticides are absorbed by these microparticles and, when ingested, leech their toxins into the animals which consume them. These chemicals can alter DNA and cause other problems, such as deformities and cancers. They have the potential to block digestive systems and have been found to negatively affect the reproductive systems of oysters. Microparticles have been found in mussels, oysters, lobsters, and fish.

Releasing helium balloons into the atmosphere is illegal in some places in the world, including the Sunshine Coast.

Some companies claim that because the balloons are made of latex they are biodegradable. This is false. Latex in its natural form is biodegradable, however, the type used in balloons is highly processed with chemicals and dyes added to it. This can take years to degrade, in which time it has the potential to kill sea and bird life.

Microparticles aren’t solely a glitter problem. They are in many household products such as toothpaste, exfoliants, body washes, soaps, and more. Swallowing toothpaste may not just burn your throat, but also introduce tiny particles of plastic into your body. Yikes. Avoid using products that list Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP), Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), and Nylon in their ingredients. Woefully, there is a huge section of the market that needs to be replaced.

ARTWORK : JORDAN EVANS

Laundry detergents Phosphates found in cleaning products and laundry detergents are massive contributors to ocean pollution. High phosphate levels in waterways suffocate marine life by generating ‘algal blooms’. This is essentially algae slime so dense that it depletes the water of oxygen, leaving marine life gasping for air. These are referred to as ‘dead zones’, as thanks to the minimal level of oxygen, aquatic life is unable to be supported.

Triclocan, an antibacterial chemical found in products such as cleaners and hand sanitisers, is highly toxic. This chemical can change the biochemistry of marine life, affecting reproductive cycles and growth pattern, and can be fatal in large amounts.

The future of the planet may be grim, but consumers have the power to drive demand and make real change. If you are interested in the future of oceans that aren’t a soup of chemicals and plastic, consider your life choices and how they impact our planet.

LIFESTYLE AND INNOVATION : GAMING

losing control(lers) zac blue

Two things can make me cry: Britain’s Got Talent auditions and video games. Generally, I’m not an overly emotional person out and about in the real world. When I drink, most of my friends can’t tell the difference, and only two of them have seen me shed a tear. But sit me down in front of ‘The Last of Us’, ‘Journey’, or ‘Firewatch’, and I’ll cry till the river runs dry and Adani comes in to mine the salt off my cheeks.

I think, for the more introverted especially, video games push you over an internal barrier and force you to confront the emotions you’ve been storing up, as the characters you’re controlling run somehow parallel courses through life. I’m not talking about the classic shooters like ‘Call of Duty’, or popular games like ‘League of Legends’, ‘CS:GO’, and ‘Dota’, but games that resonate with you on a human level – with characters whose flaws mirror yours and whose trials and tribulations speak to your own.

For instance, ‘Firewatch’ is set in the Wyoming wilderness, tracking the life of Henry, a volunteer fire lookout struggling to cope with his wife’s early onset dementia. It is a tale soaked in loneliness, friendship, sacrifice, and paternal bonds.

Just as the fires of Wyoming consume the land, you find yourself wrapped in an innately human story that leaves you questioning your own relationship to yourself, your friends, and your family. Shortly afterwards I travelled to New Zealand to visit my grandma, who suffers from dementia, and ‘Firewatch’ helped me realise the importance of capitalising on the time you have with someone while they still embody themselves.

Some of the most important conversations of my life have been with my best friend, playing ‘Journey’ for the third time at two a.m. with the lights off. I catch a tear rolling down my cheek and he asks if I’m okay and the words flow just as fluidly. In ‘Journey’ you play as an anonymous character traversing desert and mountain landscapes in search of the missing pieces of yourself. Accompanied by a Grammynominated musical score , ‘Journey’ guides you through emotional crescendos into a story steeped in isolation.

‘The Last of Us’ combines nerve-wracking gameplay (shooting, stealth, and puzzle) with an intimate story of survival, failure, and desperation. Joel and Ellie are navigating the world after a zombie apocalypse, with Ellie’s blood the possible cure to the outbreak. While the story doesn’t seem overly original, the character development of both Joel and Ellie left me feeling personally invested in their wellbeing. I had to get my friend Jack to play one scene where Ellie is being chased through a burning building by one of the main antagonists because I was too scared to be in control of her fate at that point.

Games are increasingly targeting modern issues more than stereotypical violence, and they’re receiving a warm welcome. ‘Firewatch’ broke even on the first day and sold more than 500,000 copies in the first month of its release.

This has dangers in itself; games are becoming increasingly immersive, with virtual-reality technology and detailed graphics making games feel too real, in turn distancing reality as an accessory to the online world.

For some, sharing intimate experiences with a computer game might seem daft, and some may argue that emotion should be directed into the real world. For me, these games let me explore my emotions privately through themes that people are sometimes too afraid to confront. It’s similar to crying in a movie, but being personally responsible for the plight of characters gives gaming further emotional edge. In the end it boils down to being in touch with your emotions, and not being afraid to seem vulnerable.

ARTWORK : ISABELLA BROWN

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lifestyle and innovation : science

the consequences of convenience christopher brett-renes Christopher Brett-Renes explores the effects on the brain of harmful chemicals used in modern life.

The modern world would not be able to function without the utilisation of heavy metals and synthetic chemicals. Since the end of World War II, these agents have made the lives of billions of people more convenient, productive, and profitable. However, these chemicals and their by-products, many of which are used in primary agriculture and the production of everyday household items, have the potential to cause mild to severe cognitive and neurological damage to both adults and foetuses.

Many substances act as Persistent Bioaccumulative and Toxic Chemicals (PBTs) - toxins that remain in the soil, air and water for long periods of time without losing any of their potency. Many of these chemicals enter the food chain and become increasingly concentrated, potentially building up to fatal levels of toxicity. Airborne toxins, such as mercury, then settle on the surface of bodies of water, such as rivers and lakes, where they are consumed by aquatic microorganisms, and subsequently biomagnified as they ascend the food chain from fish to humans.

The brain is more vulnerable to toxins during its development as the blood-brain barrier protecting it from chemicals is not fully formed until around six months after birth. For the developing foetus, this means that any PBTs their carrier is exposed to may be passed down to them via the forming barrier, or during breastfeeding. This has the potential to cause damage to their developing brain. According to the Centre of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the USA, 17% of all children in the USA under the age of 18 experience, or suffer from, one or more developmental disabilities. These disabilities have an impact on cognitive function, sensory and motor function, emotional wellbeing, language or learning ability, concentration and memory, physical growth, and a variety of behavioural issues. PBTs such as lead, mercury, and arsenic have been shown to act as neurotoxins in foetal brain development and are linked to behavioural development issues later in life. Lead has been associated with neurobehavioral deficits; research has shown a link between a child’s environmental exposure to lead, whether it is through paint or air pollution, and the development of violent, aggressive and oppositional behaviour. Studies looking at children with elevated blood lead levels have found an increased risk of developing conduct disorder. It was once thought that there was a safe level of exposure to lead, however research is now showing that even at levels that were previously deemed safe, neurological damage can occur.

systems of humans. In a study of 50 Mexican children, 33 of whom lived in areas with high exposure to pesticides showed lower performance in gross motor skills and hand-eye coordination, and delayed recall. In another study of children in Mississippi and Ohio, children who were exposed to the pesticide methyl parathion showed decreased selective attention, delayed verbal memory, poorer motor skills, and behavioural problems. Nonrural communities in urban and suburban areas can be exposed to PBTs in many forms, such as in common household and gardening products. Pesticides can still be found in contaminated drinking water, air, dust residue from chemicals used in the production of fruit and vegetables, and contaminated meat, fish, eggs, and dairy products. Further, exposure to manganese, related to petrol combustion, has been linked to neurological impairment in children in Australia and Canada where manganese has been used an as ingredient in an anti-knock agent.

PBTs can act as direct neurotoxins by destroying or damaging neurons. Damage can occur to many parts of the neuron, including the axon, the portion of the cell along which impulses are conducted from the cell body to other cells. They can also degrade the myelin sheath, the insulating layer that surrounds the axon and increases the speed of conduction. PBTs can further disrupt neurotransmission between neurons, hormone regulation, and the immune system response.

PBTs can act as endocrine disruptors (chemicals which attach to naturally occurring receptors and block hormones from binding) which prevent hormones from performing their intended function. PBTs can also mimic the effects of hormones, in some cases producing estrogenic or feminising effects, which have been seen in biological and ecological studies of impacted environments. The findings concluded that decreased fertility, as well as demasculinisation and feminisation have been found in birds, fish, shellfish and mammals. In humans, they have been linked to an increase in breast and prostate cancer, a 400% increase in ectopic pregnancies, as well as a 50% global decrease in sperm count. PBTs have also been found to disrupt thyroid hormones which are essential for normal brain development, with studies finding that prenatal and neonatal exposure to thyroid-disrupting PBTs can cause significant neurological abnormalities including impaired neurotransmission.

PBTs can impact on a person’s cognitive function. In the USA, 500 million kilograms of pesticides are used each year, with three quarters being used in primary agriculture. Insecticides and rodenticides are designed to disable the nervous systems of insects and rodents, which are not significantly different from the nervous

The brain is a delicate and complex organ and it is clear that the brain is sensitive to, and can be damaged by, neurotoxic PBTs at any point in the life -span. Whether it is the loss of cognitive ability, or the burden it creates for the health system, the PBTs that make our lives more convenient can come at a significant cost for both the individual and society.

a r t w o r k : k i m b e r ly l u o

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lifestyle and innovation : sleep

let’s get lucid sophie hawkshaw Sophie Hawkshaw drank some juice and talked to herself in an attempt to have messed up dreams.

Lucid dreaming is the sensation of being conscious while dreaming.

Becoming aware while dreaming gives you the ability to fly over mountains, kiss randoms, and do the things you’d never dream of actually doing in real life. Lucid dreaming magically opens up a new world where you are conscious of the falsity of a situation, yet sensations beyond the laws of physics and logic feel inexplicably real. As a child, I lucid dreamed incessantly. Put it down to stress or puberty, but it has been years since I had one. I recently endeavoured to brave the mysterious and sometimes scientifically unreliable world of lucid dreaming.

Day One: Day one’s technique was to take reality checks. I spent the day reminding myself I was awake, despite my lack of caffeine. Routinely checking whether you’re dreaming while you are awake leads to a consciousness of your current physical state. By checking whether you’re dreaming a few times a day, such as by pinching your hand, your awareness of reality is habitualised and you are more likely to notice when something is different in a dream.

That night, I dreamed about going to the baseball, but was very convinced it was real. My lengthy one-day test period was potentially not enough time to fully utilise the benefits of reality checks, as experts say it’s the number one most effective lucid dreaming technique.

Day Two: The mnemonic induction of lucid dreaming involves the use of memory aids and repletion to rote learn your awareness while dreaming, which becomes an automatic habit. It sounded pretty good to me; all I had to do was repeat “I will be aware that I am dreaming” to myself a bunch of times before I went to sleep. I was really hoping this would work and that I could also transfer the technique to “I will start my assignment tomorrow”. But, alas, still no success.

Day Three: Badass neuroscientist and Stanford lucid dream researcher, Dr. Stephen LaBerge, says it’s all about the timing. By intentionally waking yourself up in the middle of the night, telling yourself “in ten minutes I will lucid dream”, and then going back to sleep, you blur the line between sleep and real life. Supposedly, your mind is tricked into letting you get lucid.

This technique uses a bit of repetition, which I’m on board with, but I was less keen to wake up in the middle of the night. I set my alarm and was sluggishly awakened. I mumbled something about lucid dreams and went back to sleep. It didn’t work but I did manage to have a dream that I actually remember having once before, which is one step closer to a lucid dream in my books.

Day Four: Binaural beats are tunes that deliver different sound frequencies to each ear. They make your brain hear the two waves as an audio beat even though there’s no actual beat playing. Mind-blowing science stuff!

Basically this does funky things to your brain’s electrical activity and may stimulate lucid dreaming. In high school people were convinced that listening to these weird songs online would make you feel “heaps high man”. I don’t think they were ever successful and I was never convinced by the idea, but by day four of the experiment I was getting a bit desperate so I was willing to give it a shot. I found an eight-hour track on YouTube and hit the hay. I want to say this technique worked, but I made it through an hour and a half and was still wide-awake. I ditched the music and instantly fell into a lucid-dreamless sleep.

Day Five : Potentially the most controversial of techniques is juice. Some dudes on the Internet reckon that natural fruit juice gives you mad lucid dreams.

As far as I can tell, there’s not a lot of research to back up this claim, apart from a bunch of hippies in online lucid dreaming forums saying, “yeah man, totes worked for me”. They swear by it, although science has its doubts. Supposedly, orange juice helps your mind stay active while your muscles sleep. I guzzled some juice (accidentally post-teeth brushing – would not recommend) and got my zzz’s. I really wanted this one to work because it would have been a #miracle. Sadly, I had normal, pretty unremarkable dreams. I did, however, eat doughnuts at one point, and if you’re eating doughnuts, you probably don’t want to be aware that they’re only dream doughnuts, so who’s the real winner here?

By the end of five days of an incredibly scientifically reliable experiment, my dreams had been anything but lucid. I’m not willing to claim that inducing lucid dreaming isn’t a thing, but this gal’s dreams were purely in the clouds.

Author’s note: Two days after I finished this experiment I finally had a lucid dream. I dreamed that I crashed my car, which is not ideal, but I was able to assure my passengers, “Don’t worry guys, this isn’t real”. No flying or making out with strangers, only minor road accidents because even my subconscious knows I’m a great driver (my license may or may not be suspended in real life). artwork : natalie borghi

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lifestyle and innovation : SEX

GREAT SEXPECTATIONS BEING YOUR OWN BEST FRIEND

AUNT AGNES THE AGONY AUNT This volume, Aunt Agnes answers some of your queries about masturbation, and how best to discover your own potential.

I’ve been around the block a few times. In fact, I’ve been around my own block a few times . When it comes to playing air guitar naked, I have no shame in speaking openly about it. However, not everyone is so inclined to be as verbal on the topic, and that is completely fine.

What you get up to on a quiet Thursday evening is completely your business. Nonetheless, let’s get down to busting some myths before you start clapping your clit.

Agnes, I’ve never been to a sex shop and I’ve never used toys on myself. I’ve been called ‘vanilla’ and ‘boring’ before. While I’m not terribly thrilled about being described as if I were an ice-cream, what really hurts is the suggestion that I am boring.

Am I? -Onescoopplease73 Let’s rewind, for a moment, to the part where anyone had any right to put a nasty label on you. You are not boring.

Rip that label off; you aren’t a jar of jam, you’re a human being. Any of your choices regarding masturbation are completely your own. If you’ve felt uncomfortable with the idea of sex toys in the past, maybe try talking to a friend who has had more experience with them. Going to a sex shop alone seems scary. The best way to approach these sorts of things (and most things in life) is with a sense of humour. The lovely people who work at sex shops are going to be able to answer some of your questions, so take someone you trust with you and just have a laugh . If all else fails, you might be tempted to buy one of those really enormous dildos that can double as a coat rack. Everyone loves homewares!

ARTWORK : REKHA DHANARAM

Agnes, I was wondering if you could help me. In my circle of friends, it’s pretty normal to talk about sex with our partners, however, when it comes to talking about masturbation, everyone gets pretty tight-lipped. Growing up, guys were always able to joke about it, and it’s still like that. Why isn’t it normal for girls?

-Mumbles99 Female masturbation is like a dementor: well-cloaked.

Shaming women for masturbating is some straight up bullshit. The reason why your friends are a little tight-lipped about it is because historically we’ve been conditioned to understand that female sexuality is not only dirty, but something to be hidden away, like that family-size block of chocolate your mum hides in the cupboard. The good thing about that analogy is that you will always be able to find that chocolate (suck it, Mum). Be proud of how you explore your body. Masturbation is relaxing, enjoyable, and it lets you understand what your body wants and needs. That being said, your level of comfort when discussing matters of a sexual nature is and always will be your own prerogative.

I’m not about to suggest that it is always better for you to exclaim off rooftops how best you like to fiddle with your diddle. Just do what feels right and know that what you’re doing is 100% A-Okay.

REAR WI N DO W

*Rear Window is Vertigo’s satire section, and it is not intended to be taken as seriously as other medications.

By Baxter Atkins People frequently tell me, “Long hair looks great on you, but I’m just not sure I could pull it off.” Hogwash. Anyone can pull off long hair, and I’m going to tell you how. All it takes is strong forearms and a high threshold for scalp pain.

Use a comb – get it all tangled up in there and then, well, just do it!

Don’t be afraid to take your time.

Pulling off long hair is a difficult procedure, and if you need to do it strand by strand, commit – only time will show your dedication.

Remember to be responsible with all that hair – maybe consider giving it to charity. To do this, just

1

Many people fear they won’t be able to pull out their hair, so they don’t bother trying.

Just grab on to the locks and yank – see how much you can rip off!

2

A problem shared is a problem halved, so get them to pull some of your hair out with you.

3

throw the locks of hair down the Vinnies clothing chutes. They’ll know what to do with them.

Just ask them to refer to step number one and go for it.

ARTWORK : WENDY SAN

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SECOND COMING KIERAN SMITH Former students from a suburban Sydney high school were left shocked this week , after the revelation that the guy they all hate for posting narcissistic Facebook updates is in fact the second coming of Jesus Christ. James Wayne, who took Geography with our new Lord and Saviour, fronted a packed media scrum to express his surprise on behalf of his classmates.

“Yeah, we just thought Garth was a total wanker,” Wayne said. “I mean the shit he used to post, the dude was just a grade-A egotist. But obviously if we’d known he was the Son of God we would have paid more attention.”

Wayne went on to admit that Garth’s posts about the time he helped the girl whose car had broken down, and the time he stayed with the boy who had lost his mum at a Westfield, made a lot more sense as biblical teachings , instead of as the self-aggrandising behaviour of a 20-year-old yet to make a significant contribution to society. “ Why the fuck else would he post about the time he helped an old lady with her shopping with the caption, ‘You never know what you’ll learn when you listen’?” Wayne said. “At the time we just thought he must have written all of his posts whilst naked in front of a mirror, but obviously it was scripture.”

Wayne, a once-proud atheist, admitted he wasn’t sure how the revelation would affect his faith. “Well, I suppose I believe now,” he said, while expressing potential interest in viewing Garth’s sermons, which are preached live over Facebook video. “ Praise be to God for sending another white guy though, hey!” said Wayne, without a hint of irony. He then vowed to post on social media each time he showed even a shred of common courtesy or human decency.

Garth did not return Vertigo’s calls this week, but did change his Facebook profile picture to a still image of the time he was on Deal or No Deal, with the caption “life is not about winning or losing, but about the journey you take.”

According to the Deal or No Deal website, that journey led Garth to $23.

ARTWORK : JUDY DAO

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C A T S L I N K E D T O D I S E A S E , B E C A U S E O B V I O U S LY Chrats McGrood Cats: long considered the worst of all pets, have been linked to increasing rates of diseases like tuberculosis, asthma, and even risks of bubonic plague. While this is far from the worst thing that cats (who are terrible) have ever done, it is also not out of character for these ultimately substandard animals.

Scientists disagree on exactly why cats, whose holier-than-thou attitude makes them wholly inferior as pets, companions, and comrades, would become so utterly, utterly filthy. Some believe that their interaction with rats, mice, and other vermin, all of whom are better as creatures than the cats themselves, may expose them to small amounts of the disease. The disease then becomes dangerously contagious. This could be due to the cat’s poor hygiene , which is ironic since they make such a big deal about cleaning themselves. Or it might be be-cause cats deliberately want to spread disease on account of how they are terrible creatures.

Cats seem almost unique in their ability to spread diseases, but despite this people still seem to refuse to accept how disgustingly inferior they are to all other forms of life. Dogs, who frequently have to share top-spot in studies about people’s favourite pets, have been shown to increase the immune system of children they interact with, and studies suggest they may even be able to identify cancer.

However, scientists were also quick to note that, for all the scratches, dead animals, and diseases cat owners need to go through, cats are still the funniest animal when filmed for a few seconds and put online, obviously balancing it all out.

S y d n e y c a s i n o s t o b e e x e m p t f r o m l a w o f g r av i t y CHRIPS MACGO A report released last week by the NSW State Government has increased the number of exemptions that will be made for the Star Casino and Barrangaroo, including a controversial decision to excuse them from following the law of gravity. The law, which states that any two bodies in the universe attract each other with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them, will not apply within the floating walls of either casino.

Business owners, protestors, and physicists have been incredibly critical of the decision. Indeed, since being proposed by Isaac Newton in 1986, the law has proved controversial and unpopular, and this most recent decision to provide selective exemptions has led to accusations of corruption within the Government. Bryce Fergus, director of Keep Sydney Falling, described the decision as, “Clear proof the government has subverted the rules and regulations that underpin our society and our universe.”

This is not the first time the NSW Government has changed the law in relation to the casinos in the state’s capital. Sydney’s controversial lock-out laws will not affect them, nor will the laws of attraction or thermodynamics. Comedians who have been hired to perform at both venues have been warned that their acts cannot rely on the law of threes or the law of diminishing returns.

The government is also expected to announce immunities to the law of averages which, many concede, flies in the face of the purpose of a casino.

Murphy’s Law is expected to still apply.

Winnie the Pooh to receive reboot Crats Marvue Cinephiles across the internet are celebrating last night’s announcement from the Walt Disney Company that popular children’s franchise ‘Winnie the Pooh’ will finally be getting the realistic, grounded reboot it deserves. At the press conference, where Disney announced a fourth ‘Tron’ film and a seventh instalment of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, President Michael Angus Deaton showed a teaser trailer for their teaser trailer’s teaser trailer’s trailer for ‘Hundred Arce Woods’, which Deaton described as a “prequel reimagining” of the beloved story.

The film will focus on the first time Christopher Robin discovers the Hundred Arce Woods after the death of his parents in a mugging . Here he meets a cast of colourful characters including Pooh (Matthew McConaughey), Piglet (Cate Blanchett), and Eeyore (Christopher Walken). Pooh is here depicted as a “more unique and lifelike character”, according to Deaton, who “struggles with his place in the world , and whether he can achieve the goals his parents want for him”. While the film is based on the story ‘The Very Blustery Day’, it will be only loosely inspired by the source material. During the course of the film, Piglet is blown away by the Blustery Day (voiced

by Benedict Cumberbatch), causing Pooh to embark on a desperate quest for revenge and salvation.

Fans will have no shortage of time to spend with Pooh and Friends (at least those who survive the first film), with Blanchett confirming that she is also signed on for a sequel ‘Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too’.

The sequel will see Tigger travel to the Hundred Acre Woods, after deciding Pooh is too dangerous to be left unchallenged. The sequel is expected to lead into a cross-over with the ‘House of Mouse’ Netflix series and the upcoming ‘DuckTales’ reboot. It is shaping up to be a great year for film!

A r t w o r k : A LYA H I G G I N S

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HOROSCOPES ARIES

LIBRA

Throughout the day you may get the feeling that something has changed. It has!

There are now toxic chemicals in the air.

Buy a gas mask and consider permanently relocating to a mountain village.

Today is another passionate day in a series of passionate days! You have finally come to realise that your commemorative spoon collection is the real love of your life. Enjoy these moments - stroke your spoons lovingly under soft lighting.

TAURUS

SCORPIO

You can relax a little at last! Your aerobics competition is finally over.

Now is the perfect time to rebuild the relationships that were shattered by your overwhelming desire to win.

If you come across someone who is a little strange or eccentric today, judge them immediately and try to publicly ridicule them. If you can, throw something heavy at them. This will bring you self-actualisation.

GEMINI

Sagittarius

You’re interested in better understanding yourself and your reactions to the world around you. Well, Gemini, today you will not have any success. The self is a construct and reality is a myth. You must eliminate the ego to finally reach a state of contentment.

You need to take time out to take care of yourself. Do this by eating soft cheese at dusk and whispering sweet nothings to yourself. Record them and play them loudly whenever you are in public.

CANCER

CAPRICORN

This is the perfect day for falling in love!

Try and use the romantic energies at your disposal today to meet the right kind of person - not like last time, or the time before, or the time before that.

Today, you might find that it is time to start planting some new seeds . Your options are these: go to Flower Power or become pregnant . You will either gain offspring with double-jointed elbows or a thriving crop of zucchini. Either way, you win.

LEO

AQUARIUS

Today, you’ll be in the limelight. Take some time to investigate why somebody close to you has decided to make a light out of limes. Suggest a new hobby to them.

All the elements are there to ignite your creativity, so sign up for a macramé class and finally get started on that tea cosy!

Neptune is smiling on you this week, so looking into felting and cross stitch could also be fruitful for you.

VIRGO

PISCES

If you’ve been feeling a little under the weather lately, today’s special on Manchester at Target will make you feel a lot better. The stars have never looked down more kindly on the prospect of you buying linen as they do right now.

Perhaps you’ve been feeling that you don’t have enough freedom. Regardless, shoplifting is a crime , no matter how much you need a plastic fork. In time, you will find the situations and people you need to liberate yourself, and you can borrow real cutlery from them.

ARTWORK : ANDREW VUONG

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