W
P #2
ph. Chris Heads
in this issue
Jason Chong Morgy (Tepsic) Malisa Suchanya Meagan Kershaw esther tan Kenneth Tay Alene Tan James Murphy
my big hello
Feb 3, 2013 Admittedly this issue is late because it had been put on the backburner over the busy celebratory period of Christmas and New Year’s and moving back home from Melbourne to Singapore—but here it is nonetheless! As the cover promises, this issue is filled with people who inspire me and I had lengthy chats with them on what they do, although we did go down rabbit trails quite a bit. Feedback for the last one has been very encouraging and supportive and the previous issue garnered a total of 1959 views to date. I want to thank my friends who have especially encouraged me to continue with this second issue and to keep it going, and i dedicate this issue to them. I also want to specially thank Jamie, who really is my numer one supporter, albeit a quiet one. Much love and thanks, Alyssa
NOTE • interviews were done in Oct—Dec 2012. All subjects were interviewed personally by me. I edited interviews only for length and clarity. • This magazine is not for profit. Subjects interviewed are at my discretion and their availability.
Doing what you like is
freedom.
Liking what you do is
happiness. - Frank Tyger
JASON CHONG studying & working as an audio engineer in Melbourne, Australia.
Jason’s Soundcloud
I’ve always been into sound since I was young, like 8 years old, pulling the roll out of tapes. What got me into audio was when I was in church and it was the easiest thing for any kid to get into! They had this little mixer desk and I got into that. How I got into sound production In Singapore I did a diploma in Interactive Media Design where I majored in multimedia and animation, because film was a bit too much effort. I think the reasons were because they didn’t really have an audio course in Singapore so I did multimedia. I did a lot of audio for my coursemates’ films, so I handled the audio aspects on site when they did the filming. I also did music scoring for school projects and spent most of my time in the audio room. I don’t know how I managed time for my own projects as well but I did it. My lecturers thought I did a good job and recommended I do sound fulltime because I was pretty decent at it, and most of it I picked up by myself. When I finished my diploma I interned at a Hollywood postproduction and did a lot of radio jingles back home in Singapore. What I do and my inspiration A music producer basically gives creative direction to a track. Sometimes the producer can be the songwriter as well or just a creative directing the song, giving ideas to the artist. He shapes how a song sounds and he also shapes the sound of the artist. That’s part of their job. Most of the artists I work with are pretty new and they usually listen to what I say because they think I know everything! Generally artistes have a say in their music and it also really depends on the music contract. I don’t idolize any music producers but I have a lot of respect for them. One of my really big time favourites is Rodney Jerkins (aka Dark Child). He produced for Michael Jackson, Beyonce, Mary J Bilge and the other big names. He produces some of the most amazing melodies I’ve heard and he’s able to connect with the listener, and he knows how to work with the artiste.
Currently I’m working at a production company of three called Ammobox productions. We’re based in Melbourne and got together late November 2011. We’re basically a music production team and we write tracks. We started on a pilot project with 3 girls who were keen to do music, and they have a number of years of singing acting and dancing between them. There is no ‘Indian chief’ in the group so we all do a consensual agreement on things, but as producers we do exercise authority on music direction and songwriting, but not to the point where they have no say. As producers, we finalise the lyrics and melody. A lot of this is self-funded at the moment. We specifically targeted the Japanese market, partly because we’re fans of the whole Japanese market from pop to rock, and also because it’s the biggest music industry after America. We told ourselves it might
Talent doesn’t get you anywhere but resilence does. not work out and we’re facing really strong competition, but we wanted to give it a shot anyway. It’s a huge gamble and everything is in Japanese, and I’m learning Japanese right now! A recent trip to Japan resulted in a Japanese label keen to pick the girls up and we’re in talks with other labels for our music production because they really like what we do. It’s really hush-hush at the moment and we haven’t released demos or anything online because we want to make an impact when we debut—we haven’t told a lot of people about it, and nothing about it online.
The studio at home Jason shares with his housemate, Ben.
School and work The line between work and study is pretty blurred. School teaches you very little stuff; very theoretical and not really about experience. Technically a degree is quite academic and you have to write a lot of stuff, which is what I do and I find that funny. School is good for certain things; for the technical stuff like this electronics module I’m taking this semester. Work—you get to deal with clients and be in real-life situations. When I was working at the audio post in Singapore I dealt with high profile clients like CEOs for radio ads, and I got scared because they are quite powerful and I was afraid of messing up and getting sued, haha! School doesn’t teach you how to please a client and deal with stressful situations and people skills, which a lot of people don’t have but you learn when you work. In my industry, there are certain things seasoned veterans know but they don’t teach in school. I would say it’s competitive, but I won’t say it’s selfish either. Everyone has their
own tips and tricks when they work on music production to get effects they want, but there are no hard and fast rules for music. The music industry runs on secrecy, so while I can’t say much but I have something exciting going on next year. I’ve been spoken to in Melbourne to do some music production as well. On rejection One really important thing I learned from my production partner is that talent doesn’t get you anywhere, but resilience does. You can be really talented, but if you give up…you don’t go anywhere. A classic story is Savage Garden. 150 labels rejected them but only one music producer responded, and they were immensely popular. It’s something I’ve learnt myself too. Even in Japan my partners got rejected by a lot of labels. My oldest production partner has been through a lot of rejection so he takes it a lot better than I do and my other production partner, who’s Japanese and younger than me. Getting people saying, “No” in my face is something I have learnt to accept in life. —END
“I like people who have a sense of individuality. I love expression and anything awkward and imperfect, because that’s natural and that’s real.” — Marc Jacobs
MALISA SUCHANYA studying illustration at rhode island school of design
Where are you studying and why did you choose to study in Rhode Island? I’m majoring in Illustration at Rhode Island School of Design and I chose to study here because I desperately wanted and needed more exposure in order for me to grow in my art, and I had heard the RISD was one of the best places to study and grow artistically. I’ve been here for one and a half years and I’ve really enjoyed my time so far. The teachers, environment and classes offered are amazing! What were you doing in Singapore before going over to Rhode Island? Before I transferred over to RISD, I was studying Fine Arts in LaSalle College of Design and got my diploma, I loved the idea of Fine Arts and had a wonderful time learning about myself but I felt like it just wasn’t practical for me as an artist, I needed to train myself to be more flexible, clever and innovative in my art so I decided that Illustration would be the best route for me to take in order for me to be the most prepared for the working world.
What do you usually find yourself drawing? Anything organic really, I started out by trying to copy the anime style characters but as I grew, I created my own identity and style, I love drawing the human form, botanical subjects and animals. I’ve never been strong at environments and architecture but I’ve been trying to cross that line and been working to be more well rounded. But if I’m just drawing on my own free time, I love to just draw from my head and I usually gravitate to pretty, nude flower infested ladies. Where do you get your inspiration from when you have a project to tackle? Inspiration comes from anywhere and everywhere; you just have to be aware of it. When I have a new project to tackle, I just keep thinking about it day and night, I look out for things around me, I think about it before I sleep, I refer to the Internet, I doodle at star bucks and usually something will eventually surface. There really isn’t a solid method but one thing that remains very consistent is that
I love to telling stories that are simple and honest and hopefully inspiring to people of all ages. I would one day love to publish my own book and be an established illustrator. I’m also very attracted to the idea of freelancing as it Which illustrator that influences your work the gives me a range of things to work with so that every project would be a new challenge that most? would keep me on my toes. —END There are way too many illustrators to choose from but I have to say that the greatest influence in my work is Alphonse Mucha. His works have continued to inspire me to this day and even now, I can’t help but look at his drawings and paintings to learn more for more of her work, visit: about color, type, motifs, the way he handles • her website the human form and cloth. He really was the • facebook master of the Art Nouveau period and has made a great impact in my works. What’s in store for you in the future? I have a great love and passion for children books, comics, and any form of story telling. I often pray about it and commit the project to God, I feel like I come up with better and stronger projects with His help, but that’s just my personal opinion.
Esther tan STUDIES PUBLIC RELATIONS AND IS IN HER FINAL YEAR AT UNIVERSITY
I’m a 22 years old Communications undergrad and I’m the middle child in my family. I have an older brother who’s on his way to being a pilot and a younger sister who is very bright. I’m very proud of them both and I love my family all very much.
relations. This is partly because of my dad as well, because he thought that it was a more lucrative industry. I trust his diagnosis because he has been in human resource for pretty much all his career life.
But with my internship, I decided to dip my toe into online journalism with MSN (Microsoft) Friends would describe me as a crossbreed of and curated content for their technology and Goofy and Little Miss Scatterbrain. But I think I’m just a simple minded and easily contented sports channels, which I enjoyed thoroughly. person. I am inspired by spontaneity, freshness, I found it exciting to think of content that was relevant and insightful enough to capture music, life and creation. I am completing my audiences, and to chase down the “trending” last year in my Communications degree at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), topics of the day or week. I like how dynamic online platforms are; everything is fast-paced and I am specializing in Public Relations. and fresh and foresighted. There were ups Initially, I thought I definitely wanted to be journalist, but I got a tad bit intimidated by the and downs during my internship. Most of the downs were because I felt inferior with my competition in my school as lots of them can write really well, so I chose to go into the public ideas and writing skills. There were times when
I also felt tired and doubtful about whether I really had a nose for news. Thankfully I had an amazing supervisor who really believed in me and constantly inspired me to push for more in my work. I wouldn’t say I regret making the change to specialize in PR, although I do sometimes wonder how things would have turned out if I had pursued the journalism track more fervently. Things are quite flexible in my school curriculum so it still allows me to explore other modules apart from just the PR stuff, which is a relief because I have the freedom to try out things I’m interested in…Right now, I’m more focused on taking classes that I’ll enjoy and making the most out of my university life. I’m currently taking a News Writing module in my final year, and it’s definitely the most engaging and challenging class I’ve taken. Apart from that I’m also taking a media law and communication campaigns course, as well as a floorball elective that takes place
once a week for 3 hours, which is about all the exercise I get weekly. All my classes have been nicely packed into a 3-day week from Monday to Wednesday, which means my weekend technically starts on Thursday! I must say, so far it feels pretty awesome. The free days are meant for me to work on my Final Year Project, which is a major one that’s takes the entire fourth year to conduct primary and secondary research, engage sponsors, pitch, plan and finally execute. A lot of time and effort is poured into Final Year Projects in my school, mainly because it’s like the final product of our university life and we really have to prove our worth. I’m currently working on a campaign tackling parent-teen communication with 3 other group members and its taking quite a toll on all of us because there is really so much to do, along with the other regular school assignments. I would absolutely love to take some time off to travel, but only if I had enough money.
I’ve learnt that sometimes it’s good to challenge yourself. Though it’s hard sometimes to tell the difference between challenging yourself and going beyond your limits
After all these years of dependency, I feel very indebted to my parents for funding me through my education, and so I’d like to put their hearts at ease as soon as possible by securing a good job. I’m honestly still rather unsure about the specific job or line I want to go into. Although after my internship experience, I do know I would like to delve deeper into the digital media and online area, because that’s where I see a future.
But I just have to suck it up because it’s a commitment I’ve made. It also feels more painful when your other friends are making use of their free days to do other things that you wish you could be doing with them. There have also been frustrating moments when my FYP members start engaging in a discussion online at the same time when I’m at work and I can’t be as engaged in it as I’d like to be.
Another moment when I regretted my decision During my first week back school in my final was when my younger sister was having her year, I was starting to have some apprehension holiday week and I had no free days to take about my ability able to cope with both work her out on a shopping trip. I haven’t baked in and study, especially when I saw my school eons or had time to go for my weekly ballet workload coming in. I prefer to focus on one lessons, and most of my time spent with my task, get it done well and move on to the next. boyfriend is at his house where we slog away It’s a perspective I’ve adopted over time spent at our individual laptops. Thankfully he has trying to multitask and ending up frustrated been a great source of encouragement every and unsatisfied with the quality my work at step of the way. My studies have not been the end of day. I wanted to fully commit to my affected that much though, and I’ve been able final year project and my last year in university to contribute steadily to my Final Year Project. and was very tempted to quit my part-time job, Apart from when the monthly paycheck pops which is basically my internship that I decided into my bank account, there have been other to continue with. In the end, I convinced myself rewarding moments thus far such as when I that I could cope with everything if I put my know I’ve accomplished my load for the day or mind to it. I wanted to challenge myself with when I create a feature that I feel proud of. It my time-management and somehow felt also feels great when my editor thanks me or that coping with more would force me to not tells me I’ve done a good job. procrastinate as much if I had more time on my hands. I’ve learnt that sometimes it’s good to challenge yourself. Though it’s hard sometimes There are times when I really want my to tell the difference between challenging off-school days to work on my project or yourself and going beyond your limits, I believe assignments, or when I feel mentally and that deep down inside we know how to physically exhausted and am just dying for a differentiate between the two. —END break from staring into the computer screen.
KENNETH TAY Kenneth is currently residing in Pasadena, LA. He is doing a Bsc in Product Design at Art Center College of Design and at the time of this interview, was talking about his latest project.
Studying at the Art Center My area of interest in product design is consumer electronics, household products, as well as using design to create a positive impact on the world. Studying at the Art Center, I don’t really have much free time, but in the rare moments that I do I like to read and play the guitar. What I really enjoy most is just sitting out in nature, surrounded by plants, trees, while the birds chirp and the wind blows a refreshing chill—it’s moments like these I feel just so relaxed and recharged. The project I’m working on now I’m currently in this multi-disciplinary class, and we’re working with the city of Pasadena, and a few other organizations with the aim of reducing panhandling and the number of people experiencing homelessness. This is a project that I’m in the middle of, and we’re at the tail-end of the research phase. It’s just been a few weeks since the start of the project, my perception and opinion about people experiencing homelessness has been radically changed and it has kind of let me get a good look at the big picture of things. Before starting
this project, I had many preconceived notions about homeless people and people who beg and live on the street, especially coming from Singapore, where all of this is not prominent or may seem non-existent. After hearing the
able to produce substantial impact. It’s hard for me to be talking about the end result in this stage of the design process, but I feel this project is really something special compared to my previous projects, one of which was a
It’s not a desperate plea for donations, but rather how can we make these people without a home feel like humans again. stories of people who have lived on the street and lost their homes, you suddenly realise that they’re not any different from you. It’s easy to say to these people to get a job, but even applying for a job is difficult because you need an address, and washing clothes, etc is ten times harder without a home. And it’s not like they are lazy—it’s usually a whole bunch of other factors.
fondue picnic kit for couples—I just feel that it’s so shallow compared to this current one I’m working on.
This project changed my view of homeless people and their situation Los Angeles has one of the highest numbers of homeless people in the US. In the first few weeks, we’ve had different panels of people coming in, and there was one panel of people This project is really different compared to the who were formally homeless that came in and previous projects which were more product talked to us. They were saying how people focused; this one addresses a real issue that is usually treat homeless people as “another right there in your face—when you drive up the kind” of human being—but nobody wants freeway, or take a walk downtown. Honestly, I to be living on the street without a home. don’t really know what the end result will be Prior to that talk, many of us in the studio yet, because the studio is still in the ideation were referring to the people on the street as and research phase. We don’t want to just do homeless and the fact is, those people are just something superficial, we really want to have like you and me. a positive effect on the Pasadena community. One thing that is certain is that the city of They were sharing that the same people Pasadena wants us to incorporate the parking whom you used to talk to treat you differently meter inside our design solutions. In Denver, once you are homeless, like you’re invisible. they refurbished parking meters and placed That’s when one of them mentioned that we them around the city, encouraging people to shouldn’t be referring to them as homeless, but donate to the parking meter instead of the rather as people experiencing homelessness. panhandler. They believe that 5 dollars given That was a really big epiphany for me. It’s so to a homeless service provider is going to be degrading to be sitting there and asking for of more help than giving to the panhandler. money as it is, and that’s really sometimes the That particular project in Denver was really last resort they have. Before, I was thinking, successful and many other cities have “There are so many services and shelters out implemented a similar initiative, so Pasadena there, why can’t they just go there and get wants in on this too. help?” But to access these services, it takes a whole day just to get food, queuing up for The parking meter is one of our deliverables, the ticket…even getting a place to sleep in the but as a class and studio, we all believe that shelter you have to get in line early to bid for a the parking meter alone would have to be place to sleep in the shelter. And even if you do
“One thing I’ve learnt is that you’ll never stop learning, and your ambitions and plans kind of evolve the more you learn.”
image by terabass
get into the shelter, it’s still as dangerous as out with solutions for the people experiencing in the streets, because there are people who homelessness. target you, rob you and beat you up. I might move back to Singapore or stay in It’s easy to say, “Why don’t you just get a job?” America after grduation But how can you look for work when it takes After I graduate, I would like to work in a almost the whole day just to get food and a design consultancy, hopefully in San Franscio place to sleep? And this is just one aspect of it; or the bay area, where a lot of good product there are many other factors and things that design firms are. I want to work in a multihappen that make you feel like as if you’re not disciplinary environment where we would get a human anymore. It really changed the way to work on a variety of project and not just one I looked at people on the street—these are specific type of product. Designing consumer people with a heart and a story, it’s easy to products like electronics, would be really walk past them and even eye contact seems exciting. The thought of designing something like too much to give. that can ultimately shape people’s behaviour and the way they interact with one another I guess now I’m more compassionate towards really inspires me. them, not just for the sake of compassion, but rather because I’ve been educated on In the long run, I do want to move back to their situation. That’s one thing we’re trying Singapore; there’s no place like home. But who to do in the class—to make the general public knows—I might get to do both. I’m keeping my understand the situation and give them a options open because I bet a few years down new perspective. It’s not a desperate plea the road, or even next year I might think of for donations, but rather how can we make doing something else. One thing I’ve learnt these people without a home feel like humans is that you’ll never stop learning, and your again. It might sound like insignificant, but ambitions and plans kind of evolve the more as a designer, that is huge in coming up you learn. —END
ALENE TAN JUST COMPLETED HER HONOURS YEAR OF FILM AND TV AT SWINBURNE UNIVERSITY
What were you doing before film? I did communications at RMIT so it was a big jump and steep learning curve. I came in wanting to focus more on producing—I did assisting producing when I was in Singapore before, so I thought that would be a path I would want to explore more.
Her film ‘Mid-Air’ The idea came from a really strange place. When I first started scripting, I thought a lot about my interest in old people. I have this fascination with them; they have all these years of life experience and so many stories they can tell, and lessons you can learn from them. So that sparked an initial draft of my script. This year’s had its fair bit of challenges, and lots It started out as a story of this old man who of ups and downs…but it’s been a really good was trying to reconnect with his son, and his lesson. You figure out like how you want to do son was going to get married. One thing led to things, and how you never want to do certain another and I ended up with this story about things ever that way again! You learn how not a father and son who lost the woman in their to do things by making a lot of mistakes and lives, the wife and mother. They are at a place I guess being in uni is the best place to make where the son wants to move on, but the dad mistakes and fail. wants to linger in the past. One day, they tune into the same radio show and they get affected I would never want to write, direct and by what the radio DJ is talking about—love produce all at once for a project ever again! It’s and relationships. Not necessarily pertaining too hard—because writing itself, it’s one set to family or couple-type love, but just love in of skills, and then directing and producing…It’s general. It’s quite packed for a short film. like putting on three different hats.
The film was mainly shot on Super 8, and it has a home-quality style and it’s really nostalgic, so it adds to the vibe of the film. What kind of films inspire you? The kind of films I like and the kinds that I would like to make are films that deal with life. ‘UP’, ‘Toy Story 3’ and ‘Marley and Me’ are the 3 films I absolutely love and always make me cry. They tug at my heart strings because they deal so much with life and it’s very real. It’s all about relationship and its ties, so I like contemporary films that deal with that. I also really like fantasy and film noir, and anything Steven Spielberg. Jurassic Park combined fantasy and blockbuster and is everything Hollywood stood for. Her love for writing and her childhood The film that I made this year is like my ‘debut’, in terms of directing, producing, screenplay— my first real project. In terms of style, I am still discovering how I make things. I do a lot of creative writing like poetry and I think that’s a good thing, to always be doing something creative. I do love anything to do with childhood, animation or fantasy. A lot of it has to do when
I was young; I had a really good childhood. All those moments you take for granted are what define us now. I believe the saying, “Who you are is shaped by the people you meet and the books you read.” The people I’ve met in my life have shaped me to who I am today and I remember just reading heaps growing up. I read a lot of fantasy, fairy tales and short stories, which might be one of the influences that has led me to write poetry and loving short films. People who’ve have helped and influenced her in life and creative work My parents are amazing and so supportive and I can never thank them enough. It didn’t matter when everyone was going to college and I was studying a technical diploma in mass communication. They’ve always supported me. They’ve always believed in me more than I’ve believed in myself and have the impression that I’m the best, like “Oh my daughter’s the best writer!” and stuff like that. It’s almost naïve but I appreciate it so much. A lecturer who really impacted me is Desmond Kon, who taught me book publishing in Ngee Ann Polytechnic. It was in the final year
I have this fascination with old people; they have all these years of life experience and so many stories they can tell, and lessons you can learn.
of studies and he just changed my whole perception of English, language, writing, book publishing…everything. He changed the way I saw the creative process as well. Writing is so complex. People think poems are just words on a piece of paper, but there’s so much history that goes behind every word, the punctuation… writing is so beautiful, it’s amazing. Getting friends to help out I’ve been trying to get as many friends as possible to watch and critique my film. It’s been good to hear feedback from all kinds of people. You leave it to anyone and everyone to interpret your work. It’s kind of awesome because you never know what kind of reactions you’re going to get. When someone doesn’t ‘get’ my film, it helps me as an artist to better define my work, or figure how I can better say something to tell my story better. Passion with or without money All the trials I’ve been through this year has help me as a person and there are things I could have done better, but I’m glad I’m learning now rather than making mistakes later and have no one tell me. Someone asked me, “If money wasn’t an issue, would you be doing what you’re doing now?” That really made me think. I guess it’s kind of how I’ve been living this year, in terms of making this film. I’ve been so incredibly blessed to have my parents being so supportive financially towards my film. I feel like I don’t deserve it. Since money wasn’t the major issue, to me this year in regards to making this film was about the story I wanted to tell, and how I was going to tell it. It really forced me to think about style and story telling. As a director, the onus is really on you to tell it visually.
I would still do film even if I didn’t have the money. It is painful that there are so many people willing to volunteer on projects in the film industry. That’s the case in the industry at the moment and everyone has to start at the bottom. There are just too many advertised jobs for projects that are without pay, or very low pay. It’s painful and I hate it, but that’s how it is. I would say that I don’t want to be a director, but just because this project isn’t going according to plan at the moment, I’m not going to rule that out. I’m in the film industry not because I want to be a director—that’s not my main aim. I just love the whole process; being on set, pre-production, organizing things and seeing it happening, even if it’s not my project. Everyone plays a part in a project. Do things scared One thing I’ve learned is to keep doing things, and do it scared. We’re so afraid to step out, take chances and risks, and do something we like. At the end of the day, do you want to be fulfilled with your life? I want to live life with no regrets even if it costs me something. I would rather go to bed at the end of the day and say, “Oh that didn’t turn out so good” than think, “If only I tried that!” Just do things or make things, even if you have no experience and think you’re going to look stupid or ask that stupid question—just do it. It’s your life, no one is going to live it for you, and you sure shouldn’t live it from a person’s point of view. —END
MORGY
THE FOUNDER OF TEPSIC, A POSTER-SIZED PHOTO MAGAZINE OF MUSICIANS ON TOUR BASED IN OKLAHOMA, USA
morgy doodled on every order
Do you cut out any photos that some of the artists take? I may foresee some crazy shit that I may not agree with, but my mission is to present the best selection of photos to really show what it’s like to be on the road with these musicians. But some stories don’t always need to be retold. You have mentioned that you want to grow TEPSIC into an empire—what else have you got planned for TEPSIC? Maybe a music label? I have never thought about doing a music label. but if I were to have a label I’d just do 45’s of some raw fly-on-the-wall material. I’d like the brand to expand in many music related endeavors, but all I’m interested in the moment is making the best music magazine right now. Did you start TEPSIC on your own? Yep, I started it as an art magazine by myself using Apple’s “pages” app. Matt Stubbings out in Toronto has been the art director for both issues this year doing a great job at making that TEPSIC
exclusive preview of issue 2
vibe. My fiance (Ethaney) handles a lot of management because I’m really so awful at that sometimes and she gets all excited and I think that’s fantastic. I do pretty much everything else that needs to be done. What was the hardest part about starting, and making, TEPSIC? From the point the idea was conceived to the day it went to print was around six months. I learned a lot of things and worked hard to make it the best I could despite many speed bumps. That whole process was the hardest and most educating experience with this magazine so far. I had no idea what I wanted the magazine to look or feel like—I just wanted to print these pictures and do it in the coolest way I could. So learning how exactly I wanted that to translate into print took a lot of trial and error, but it was worth it because we need to go beyond what people are expecting to see in this magazine.
What makes TEPSIC worthwhile to you? I feel like i’ve been waiting to print TEPSIC for at least ten years now. It’s such an elaborate journey that lead to this magazine that I couldn’t feel better about seeing people with my mag and getting pumped on it. What would you say to people who are afraid to go after their passion? You only have one life to live, so you can either act like it or chill by the wayside while somebody else pursues their passion. My entire life I’ve been going after my passions; even though my passions in life have changed a lot over the years, it’s always led to something else. That truly excites me about life, all the different paths you can carve into, and you never really know where you’re going. But if you are working towards discovering the abilities you harness, you are making progress that more people should accomplish. To put it short, “Life is too short so you need to go for it.” —END
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誰があな たを励起 しますか? Who inspires you?
Why did you choose to study politics? I honestly didn’t choose it as my first preference. I was working and I wanted to go to university, so I applied generally for social science and arts, and got into Swinburne. Out of the different topics we could choose, politics was one that I was interested in. I did international politics in high school and I liked that. I really wanted to do history of archealogy, but Swinburne doesn’t offer that course so I did politics! It worked out really well anyway and I really enjoy it.
I like the history of politics; how the world turned out this way, what sort of events and people structured it. I also like that it’s a bit childish (laughs), like when you watch politicians go back and forth in debates like children. It doesn’t have any resonance in living, it’s so petty! Would you go into politics? No way. You think you’d go in there and help people or make the world better—I suppose they do in a roundabout sort of way. I think
MEAGAN KERSHAW from traralgon victoria, studying politics at swinburne university
I might go into academia. I know I sort of choose politics in an offhand way but I really like and enjoy it. Any plans to move or live overseas for a bit? I would love to live overseas and I’ve always would have liked to travel but I never had the time. I’d really like to do Vietnam and go for like a year or so. I’m just really interested in places like India, not really in Europe or America, just South-East Asia.
Right page, top: Cougar tattoo illustration by SHON
This gypsy with the word ‘hope’, it’s my favourite one and I really love it. I’ve loved it when I first got it and I still love it.
I even think about moving to a different city in Australia as well. And I’d probably have to go to Canberra for politics if I want to find work there. I wouldn’t mind it though, for experience. You gotta go where you gotta get a job, don’t you? Have you had any problems with your tattoos? No, I haven’t. I mean my tattooist in Traralgon has maybe nine on his face and his sleeves are totally covered and he is the loveliest person. He hasn’t got gang affiliations but if he’s out in Melbourne, clubs or bars won’t let him in. I’ve got another friend who’s got two sleeves done and his neck, and he’s not let in anymore either, but I would—maybe because I’m a girl. I don’t think there are stereotypes of people with tattoos anymore, I mean I really quiet and nice and I like to do knitting and do crafts. I have a whole stack of Frankie magazine next to my bed! When did you start collecting your tattoos? I got my first one (tramp stamp lower back) for my 18th birthday. I wanted sleeves when I was 15 but I waited till I was the legal age. My mom got it for me. I think my parents paid for my first tattoo to try and get it out of my system, so I wouldn’t get more. I think that was their thinking but it kind of backfired
I didn’t tell my parents I was getting sleeves. I got my lower back and then my feet, and then my chest. I got it in two sittings and it hurt really bad. And then I started my sleeves. But I didn’t say it, I just said, “Oh I’m going to get a new tattoo!” I got it done it little sections to like lessen the blow of it. I’m the only one in the family who has tattoos as well. I’ve had aunties come up to me and say, “You’ve made a mistake, you shouldn’t have done that” and “What are you going to do when you’re older? What are you going to do on your wedding or when you’re 80 years old?” I’m not going to wear a white dress and be really traditional—it’s not in my personality anyway. It doesn’t really matter in the end. I don’t care but obviously some people do, so I’ve had some negative conversations with family members. Did it make you doubt your decisions early on? No I like all my tattoos, I don’t have any issues like that. Also, I don’t care about what people think anymore. I mean when you go (into tattoos), there will be issues with some people. When you go get a tattoo, you think about it a lot and it’s not just a quick decision. At the start I used to think about it a lot and it had to have meaning behind it. Now that I have so many, I kind of like to have the random ones too. All of mine so far are quite
I’m really quiet and I like to do knitting and do crafts! (laughs). I don’t think they like it, but they don’t say anything about it. When I get a new one I show it to them and they say nice things about it, but then they go, “You’re not going to get more are you?” They’re okay with it, it’s fine, but if it were their decision, they wouldn’t want me to have this many. But they’re really cool with it.
thought out. I like the traditional tattoos—I’ve got anchors, pirates…I like quirky stuff...I don’t know how to explain it. I’ve got a third eye tattoo as well but I’m not really superstitious but I like to have it there just in case (laughs).
← This one is a monkey and it has a dagger through its head—it’s my newest one. It doesn’t have meaning behind it, I just like it because it’s funny! It’ll be coloured in soon.
Top right-corner: Rose tattoo illustration by SHON
(About the dots filling her sleeves) The dots are a traditional way to fill in space, and to mix it up a little bit I put hearts, diamonds and stars. Sometimes I’ll bring in photos of other tattoos and my tattooist will use all three and make one of this own. I usually take in a folder of inspiration, and we’ll work it out and see how it’s fit for me. Do all your tattoos have some sort of significance for you? I think it’s a bit of both. I have some tattoos which have significance to me personally, and I have some that are symbols of luck (the number 13 and the horseshoe) and I have some that are just funny! I’d never do my face or the front of my neck. I’ve said I would never do my hands, but now I’m thinking of my knuckles. And I’ve also thought I would never do my legs, but now I’m thinking of getting them done as well! I get stares at the moment so imagine when I’m covered in tattoos! On stares in public I used to cover my tattoos, but now I don’t. At the start I was really insecure about it. I like them on me, but after people looked at me I thought maybe they didn’t like it or what they
thought about me, but now I just don’t care and I’m used to it. And people touch and yell at you across the road and want to talk to you. I started my sleeves when I was 19 and I was really young and insecure and with people always in your face, I used to hate it. Now I don’t care and I like to talk to them and stuff like that, it makes me feel good. Not when they are in a van or a truck and are driving on the highway and yell at you, that’s awful. But I wear t-shirts when I go to work in the supermarket where it’s really busy and people come up to talk to me everyday and that’s fine. I’m going to get my back of my neck done next year, and then I’ll finish colouring in my second sleeve. I want to have a really big long one on the top of my left thigh as well, up to my ribs. What’s one tattoo-related thing you would not do? guess I wouldn’t do colour blocking. I also really hate the healing process—putting the antiseptic tattoo cream after you get one done, it smells like babies and oils and stains your clothes. —END
↑ I’ve known Murphy for over a year—first when we worked together on a student magazine titled The Wild Boar, which we then left shortly after and started on The Swine, another student magazine
where he was the Editor-inChief. I respect and admire his work ethic and I thought he’d be interesting to interview, and he shares his experiences travelling alone and what he’s got planned for the future.
JAMES MURPHY STUDIES POLITICS, ECONOMICS & PHILOSOPHY
I’m from a seaside town called Mornington. It’s about an hour and a bit from the center of Melbourne. I moved into the city when I was about 19 and pretty much as fast as I could—I didn’t really like Mornington Peninsula that much. I liked my high school and I made some good friends, but I felt a little suffocated in the outer, outer suburbs and I wanted to be where the action was. I was pretty keen to get out of there and come to the city and find a little bit of home, youth culture and stuff like that. I love going back to Mornington for the scenery but not the people (laughs). It’s a bit of a stuck-up vibe up there. People move out to the suburbs to have their own plot of land, and go to the local supermarket and not talk to people…I think Mornington’s just in that horrible sweet spot between affluent people who want to live on the edge of the city and in kind of small communities. When you go over to the other side of the Mornington peninsula to Flinders and Merricks Beach, you find all those beautiful little communities where everyone knows each other—you go down to
the beach and everyone’s talking to each other and finding out what’s going on; on my side of town, no. It’s quite private—people like to keep to themselves. There is a little bit of community there but it’s for older people, not for young people really. Living in Melbourne and studying overseas I am quite in love with Melbourne and I fall more in love with the city the longer I’ve been here. You’d think it’d be the opposite—you think you’d become disillusioned with city life but no I’ve really come to love it. When I was first living here and started university, I was thinking I’d love to get awesome marks and get a scholarship and go study in London or New York, or one of those global cities and get like this world class education. But the more I fall in love with Melbourne, the less inclined I feel to leave. At the moment I still think I’d like to go overseas but I don’t know, I could almost get a worldly education in Melbourne. I definitely wouldn’t stay overseas longer than to do a
Masters course. I want to live in Melbourne my whole life. I have been overseas but I’ve never lived overseas so I don’t know what that’s like. I travelled by myself to South America and I loved the experience, but I wouldn’t do it again. I got very lonely.
That trip really changed me I think, and gave me a certain sense of self-confidence that I could survive and adapt and make do but also that I did actually need people. I did get really lonely and I couldn’t do everything by myself, and realized how much I love talking to people. Even having a chat with the bartender or One of the weirdest realization of travelling someone who’s making my coffee. So yea that alone overseas and coming back was that there really made me value community, friends and are these things that no one will ever be quite companionship, so I don’t think I would travel able to relate to me about…I could tell people alone again, which is part of the reason why about it, but they weren’t there. And part of it I’m panicking about thinking whether or not was like, I felt like I was my own person then. I I’d go and live overseas for two years to study. had stuff that was sort of mine. It didn’t belong The thing is the countries I’d go to for study to my whole year level at high school or my are English-speaking so I’ll probably be able family—it was just mine. I felt like I came back to make friends; I’m a lazy English-is-my-firstmy own person. I went to Argentina, Chile and language person. Bolivia. Bolivia I did with a little group tour because I thought I’d get kidnapped and die. I was very shy when I was young, not so much now. I’m terrible at forcing myself to meet new Did you speak Spanish there? people, thus South America on my own was a Haha not much! I got by on English and learnt bad idea on one level because I was terrible at survival Spanish. I went to Spain because meeting people by myself, so that was hard. I everyone was going to Europe. I had already did drama all the way through high school, in been to Europe but I always wanted to go plays and musicals and that really gave me a somewhere else. I’ve been to Japan for a lot of confidence. I was a bit of a class clown as couple of weeks, Hong Kong for a couple of well and I could perform for an audience, but days…I think I would like to go to Asia but I’d not like in a social group of five. pick my places carefully. I’d more inclined to check out India than Thailand or Vietnam… What did you study and why? there’s such a strong touristy-trade going on I major in politics and minor in philosophy and between Australia and those countries to the economics at Swinburne. I’ve been described point it seems like people go because that’s as ambitious, and I am. I chose to do politics what you do, and not going there for any because at some point in Year 12 I was sick of intense experience. all the pressure and do something at university that would give me a ‘career’. So anyway I went to BOLIVIA. I was there for 10 weeks. It was a long time away from home Pressure from whom? and I stayed in hostels. I got stranded over New Not my parents, they were pretty chilled out. Year’s Eve in one town because there weren’t I suppose the expectations put on me by the any buses leaving. I got kicked out of my hostel high school teachers and by my peers and by because my booking ran out, and I booked other people’s parents. Even though it was myself into this place that was seedy as all hell. a fairly chilled-out private school, it had a The people that owned it spoke zero English. I reputation for being one of the ‘hippy’ schools. ended up booking two nights in a 5 star hotel It wasn’t, but it was…well fair enough. I felt like on the beach. It was pretty cheap and I was there was all this pressure to do something and like, screw it I’m going to stay there (laughs). get a degree that would give me a job straight
I had someone in the industry tell me that I’d be good at advertising and I thought, “I don’t want to be this brutal, cut-throat guy!” So naturally I stuck to politics since then, which is probably as evil half the time! away. I loved studying history and English and the humanities. I was really interested in politics and stuff like that, and for a while I was going to study advertising and did work experience at some ad firms.
on the telly and we didn’t get any money for it or weren’t even told they were going to use our ad. And I thought, “Shit man. An industry that would rip off a year 10 kid’s idea is pretty brutal.”
I think you’re too honest to do advertising. Well that’s the thing. At the second ad firm (CLEMENGER BBDO) where I did work experience at, I was in year 10 with a friend and I wanted to be a advertising creative, like a creative director. It seemed glamourous— lots of money. So while I was there I wrote an ad with my mate, for the ad firm’s client. We pitched our M&M’s ad and anyway we did lame stuff like photocopying for the rest of the time we were there. A month later the ad was
I had someone in the industry tell me that I’d be good at advertising and I thought, “I don’t really want to be this brutal, cut-throat guy! I don’t think I’m cut out for this evil industry!” So naturally I stuck to politics since then, which is probably as evil half the time! But it seemed kind of noble. I felt so relieved picking something I like—being passionate about this and knowing that I’d be good at it because I really loved it. I studied economics originally because it is a really intense part of politics, and I wanted to understand the jargon. The concepts, words, theories and stuff like that because it’s crucial to politics and at Swinburne, they didn’t really teach much economics with politics. What do you want to do after graduation? I’m going to do my Honours in politics and philosophy here. I think that I want to be an academic, but I also want to be a writer. Not writing fiction, but essays and arguments. I wouldn’t mind doing research for an institute or something like that, like a research institute on public policy. But I would love to be a critic, speak and write in public about what’s going on. For quite a while I wanted to join a politic party and I was deciding between the Greens and the Labour Party, and the more I’ve experienced party politics, the more turned off
← Running across the Uynni Salt Flats in Bolivia
technically. That made me really depressed but I needed to know. But what was good about that was that I learned some climate science, which was awesome and learned about geology and geography, evolution and biology…having a basic understanding of all these different fields really helps to have a general appreciation and understanding of the world. I really love learning things from all over the place and incorporating it into what I’m trying to do. I love to have a general broad understanding that’s helpful in every day life. I can stick with a topic and read a book for a long time and think deeply on something for I’ve been. I really don’t want to be a politician a while, but it doesn’t come intuitively to me. anymore. I think I would hate it now. I’ve had a I have to put a bit of effort into concentrating bit of taste of that through the student union and rewarding when it does. A short attention and gone off with a few of them to conferences span is a cultural problem as well I think, we and fund raisers and…I don’t know, it’s all a bit manufacture it. MTV won’t show a shot that gross (laughs). lasts more than five seconds without moving. The only reason I don’t want to be a journalist is because I think the state of journalism is a sorry one. I think affecting change is one of the roles of being a critic and writer, and that’s why I don’t want to be a journalist. I don’t want to be running for The Age (Melbourne newspaper), and reporting, “This person said this and this, and this other person was involved and said this and this.” I don’t care for that really detached and uninvolved view. I want to have a view about it and argue about it in public. What I think about this and why it’s good or bad. I want to try to change things and not just report on what’s going on. What I study is all related, it’s just that Swinburne doesn’t teach it all together, but I think a lot can be said from learning from lots of different fields. Technically, I don’t have a minor in Philosophy. I did three units of philosophy and one unit of climate change studies, which was under Engineering…
I’m very good at getting rid of my free time and filling it up. I need to make plans probably two weeks in advance when I’m at university! Sometimes I do give myself way too much to do and it stresses me out massively. Have you ever had a burn out? Yea. I hit a certain threshold of ‘busyness’, at which point I start to get acute anxiety and can’t deal with it. I’m not sure where that line is yet—where I can work out from whether I’m really happy because I’ve got lots of stuff on and being productive and where it rolls on to become something that can make me anxious. It does happen and a couple of times with The Swine magazine, only because it was in combination with other deadlines and stuff like that. I definitely rely on the help of other people to help at when I’m at that line.—END
ありがとう。
Thank you.
ph. Billy Kidd