March of sanity

LOT’SWIFE

EDITION 4 2013

4 LOT’S WIFE EDITION 3 • 2013

ThanksTo all those who made it out on May 14 to the student strike.

CONTENTS

Lot’s Wife Student Newspaper est. 1964. Monash University Clayton, VIC.

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Cover ArtEmily McDonald

5. Editorials 6. Letters to the editors 8. National Affairs 16. International Affairs 18. Student Affairs 31. Science 33. Music

38. Film & TV 42. Performing Arts 44. Creative Space 51. Culture

National Affairs: Thomas Clelland and Elizabeth BoagInternational Affairs: Carlie O’ConnellStudent Affairs: Hannah Barker and Ioan NascuScience: Caitlyn Burchell, Shalaka Parekh and Nicola McCaskillMusic: Dina Amin, Augustus Hebblewhite, Leah Phillips and Steven M. Voser

Film & TV: Ghian Tjandaputra and Patricia TobinPerforming Arts: Christine Lambrianidis and Thomas AlomesCreative Writing: Allison Chan, Michelle Li and Thomas WilsonCulture: Hannah Gordon and Christopher PaseOnline News: Julia GreenhalfWeb Design: Choon Yin-Yeap and Jake Spicer

Section Editors

As you read this paper you are on Aboriginal land. We at Lot’s Wife recognise the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nations as the historical and rightful owners and custodians of the lands and waters on which this newspaper is produced. The land was stolen and sovereignty was never ceded.

Retraction In the Special Edition, page 11 and 28 featured

images which incorrectly stated that the Gippsland

campus is being ‘sold’. This is incorrect, the campus

is being transferred to the University of Ballarat.

Apologies In Edition Three, a piece ‘It’s nor just Steubenville’

appeared without a trigger warning. We sincerely

apologise to anyone who may have read the piece

and was offended or upset by its nature.

LOT’S WIFE EDITION 3 • 2013 5

EDITORIALWhen did it become cool to not give a shit? To not want to read? To

not want to learn? To not be informed? At what point was engagement

washed over by apathy? When did students become not only too busy, but

willfully ignorant of issues of importance, because it may not encroach on

them personally?

We’ve all been there: walking past the campus centre, to the library,

or by the bus loop, silently hoping we won’t be singled out and spoken to

by these parasitic pamphleteers. “I just want to get to the damn library,”

we think to ourselves. Sometimes we walk straight past them without

making eye contact, or – if we’re unlucky enough to have made eye

contact – take a pamphlet and chuck it in the nearest bin.

If there is only one issue students should be angry about and

interested in, it’s the recent federal funding cuts to the tertiary sector.

You may not give passing thought to Israel and Palestine, refugees, the

environment, Equal Love or any other campaign currently running, but

if you are a student, why would you not be interested in fighting the cuts?

As was asked in a Stalkerspace tussle last week, “Do you really want to

pay more for your degree?”

While most of the student body may see themselves as apolitical,

this is one issue that should politicise us all, as it will literally affect every

student who is planning to study in 2014. Funding cuts to universities,

such as Monash’s loss of $48 million are not figurative battles to be fought

sipping lattes and discussing political ideology.

This editorial is not meant to be a self-righteous, condescending

rant. We don’t claim to occupy any sort of moral high ground, and we’re

fully aware of how alienating some aspects of student politics/activism can

be. James Grout’s piece in this edition of Lot’s Wife (p24-25) highlights

the danger in assuming students lack the capacity to care; an attitude that

often manifests in needless contempt for the student body.

We won’t call you a sexist, racist homophobe if you don’t agree with

us and we aren’t being selfless when we march through the CBD calling

for an end to the cuts. Rather, we are being very selfish.

Why?

Science, Engineering and Law students might scoff at the idea that

their degrees would ever be touched, let alone axed at the rate we have

seen with humanities courses, the beginnings of which we have started to

see this university, but hardly comparable to others, like at LaTrobe.

There is, in fact, no way of predicting which classes and teachers

will be targeted.

But the cuts are already having an effect. We can see it with

professional staff, such as the 80 eSolutions IT staff, who were offered

voluntary redundancies last month. The department is facing the razor,

and these cuts were planned well before Gonski was even announced.

Monash is tightening its belt and we, as students, will bear the

brunt of it. If the planned 10% of eSolutions staff are sacked in coming

months we can expect even more difficulty navigating WES and allocate.

Lecturers experiencing technical difficulties will have even less support in

helping their lectures run smoothly. These insidious attacks foreshadow

darker days to come.

Being on the other side of the pamphlet has been an interesting and

sometimes thoroughly upsetting ordeal. People brush you off, smirk and

walk away. We’ve had people throw leaflets back in our faces, yelling “I

don’t want your fucking leaflet”. We get it, you’re stressed, you’re working

a 30 hour week to make rent and you have 6 assignments due. And yet

the angst seems disproportionate to what we’re you to do.

Stalkerspace (yes, we follow that loathsome forum) went crazy after

the Monash Education Action Group held a 10 minute speak-out in

the Matheson Library. Students couldn’t understand how disturbing the

sanctity of the library could be justified. They felt betrayed and frustrated:

understandably so if they were unaware of the attacks to our education.

But the hatred and contempt that ensued was a kick in the face to those

willing to take a stand. In the face of attacks to our education, our degrees

and our futures by the Federal Government, the Coalition and our own

university administration, the sense of betrayal and frustration has been

sorely misdirected.

Students together make up one of the largest social groups. Last

week, 2000 of us marched through the rain up Swanston Street for the

National Student Strike. The atmosphere was electric, but we barely

made the daily bulletin. At Monash Clayton alone there are 25,000

students. Imagine the power we could harness if they got together, with

students from across Victoria at the next rally to be held on May 30th to

coincide with Gillard’s visit to Melbourne.

MATTHEW CAMPBELL & FLORENCE RONEY

LOT’S WIFE EDITION 4 • 20136

LETTERS

LETTERSWe would love to hear from you.

Email your thoughts, grievances and marriage proposals to [email protected]

Dear Lot’s,

Having recently returned to Monash after a hiatus, my first stop was at

Wholefoods.

I ordered what I once was a single large meal that was now two

meals at the cost of $14 - this seems very expensive, especially given that

a similar quantity in the past would have been much less.

I struggled through the boring, standard and unimaginative food,

hardly changed since I was last here - but at least iIdidn’t need to go down

stairs to get another meal. I really thought Wholefoods would have made

an attempt to improve its food standard given how high the standard now

is on the rest of the campus.

Dhal, for instance, should not taste like boiled lentils - this should

be easy and inexpensive to change.

As someone who is not vegetarian and not particularly interested

in eating healthy food (but what ever happened to the range of healthy

drinks? - ie not solely soft drink), Wholefoods makes it very hard to like

vegetarian food.

Wholefoods does itself and its fellow students a disservice by serving

the same boring food. This isn’t 1999: people know what good vego food

is. In a world saturated with wankyness over good food, I would have

hoped this would have rubbed off a bit.

I love the philosophy of Wholefoods, and the space on campus is

the best student space I have seen in the country - but this isn’t enough

for me to continue forking out for food I don’t like. Wholefoods deserves

to amaze and surprise people with its food - not be some kind of function-

al equations of being broke, needing to eat and having few other options.

Wholefoods has had a fresh start this year, it is time to lift their

game.

-Anonymous

Dear Anoymous,

“In a world saturated with wankyness over good food, I would have hoped

this would have rubbed off a bit.”

But doesn’t this statement require inversion?

In a world saturated with “hiatussing” wankers complaining about

bad food, I would hope that the newly restored democratic mechanism of

the Wholefoods Collective (with its ethics of participation and hard-

work) would have rubbed off a bit, leaving such people with no excuse

not to get involved in creating the kind of service they need (or feel they

“deserve”).

Wholefoods is once again a Collective/volunteer run enterprise,

after control was wrested away from the MSA student politicians last year

through difficult struggle (while some were away on “hiatus”!).

A Collective enterprise is as productive, innovative and viable as

the people who participate in it, and participation is open to all - even

post-hiatussing, non-health food loving folk.

We do not need negative criticism from ‘Wholefoods philosophy

loving’ people.

We do need such people to demonstrate a preparedness to become

actively involved in Wholefoods: to volunteer, work hard, and make some

collective sacrifice with us to create a service that offers the best quality

and most affordable food and drink it possibly can.

If you want to pull your finger out and do some work you can

contact our Volunteers Coordinator ([email protected]) or contact

the Collective ([email protected]) and come along to the

next Collective meeting (advertised on Facebook/on blackboard in the

space).

You can join a menu working group, do the costings and make

proposals to reduce prices and improve the food quality.

As Captain Planet repeatedly said: “the power is yours.”

-James Grout

(Wholefoods Dishy and volunteer Collective member)

Dear Lot’s Wife,

In recent years there has been a lot of uncertainty concerning the

viability and future of Wholefoods as a student or worker-run venture.

Since Wholefoods began in 1977, the democratic principle of student

run/worker-control, embodied by the Wholefoods Collective, has been its

most distinguishing feature.

However, from 2006, successive Monash Student Association

(MSA) Executives sought to impose their own, more conventionally

hierarchical, management structure on Wholefoods. This meant that

students and workers were increasingly disempowered as the Wholefoods

Collective progressively lost control over prices, staffing, coordinators, the

menu, budgeting and the volunteer system.

This year, after winning back most, if not all, of the Collective’s

decision-making power over Wholefoods, many students are now

participating and working hard to restore Wholefoods to its former glory

and even push it beyond this.

7

LETTERS

We acknowledge and agree with the criticisms some students have

been making concerning Wholefoods’ prices and food quality.

This semester the Wholefoods Operations Co-ordinator, together

with our hard-working staff and volunteers, have undertaken to cost all

of the meals we serve with the goal of reducing prices wherever possible.

However, since Wholefoods hasn’t been Collective run for the past 2 - 3

years, we have had to redo the planning including the costing for our

meals, which is a tedious process. We intend to re-evaluate our prices at

the end of this semester and we expect to be able to reduce them given

increasingly skilled staff, the reinstatement of the Volunteering program

and potential changes of suppliers.

We are also currently reviewing the kitchen menu and are hoping to

improve on what we currently offer, while still keeping within budget so

that food stays affordable. Look out for some new items in the cafe next

semester, including roast veggie salads and the return of SOUP to keep

you warm against the bitter cold winds of Clayton.

Members of the Wholefoods Collective have been researching some

new drinks to offer, and will soon be reintroducing a range of juices from

a Victorian producer who makes lovely, 100%-sugar-and-preservative-free

apple juice. In the meantime, we still offer homemade chai, herbal teas

and organic, farmer-direct-trade coffee as always.

Things are looking up, but there is still a lot of work to do, as we

have highlighted in this letter. We need to improve on the consistency of

our food and ensure that Wholefoods is as exciting and delicious as it is

healthy and cheap.

However above all, as a community enterprise, Wholefoods can

only be as strong as the people who are involved. While we welcome

criticism, this is not enough. Having won back Collective decision-

making power there is now no excuse not to get involved and work

with us on the ongoing project that is the Wholefoods Restaurant. We

encourage everyone who shares the values of Wholefoods to come to a

Collective meeting, make concrete and constructive proposals and help

us decide how we will achieve our aims.

- The Wholefoods Collective.

For more information about how to get involved, email collectivelist@

wholefoods.org.au.

Dear Lot’s,

‘Before I Graduate’ an article from Lot’s Wife edition two, discussed the

need to live for today. “We only have one precious, outrageous, crazy mess

of a life” the writer exclaims, “so you’d better make the most of it!”. How

many have written on the ‘Before I graduate’ wall and actually attempted

to do more than just jot their dreams down?

Unhappiness seems to be a self-made thing (bar the occasional

natural disaster); how many times is it that we hear our friends and family

lament how much they hate their jobs or hate their courses? And why is it

that even though we sometimes read a book or see an inspirational movie

and decide to just quit law school and become a chef, a few days later, our

inner rebellion is all but quelled?

Many times the excuse takes the form of procrastination. “Next

year I’ll have more time”, or “I just don’t have enough money”, are some

of the things I hear the people around me say. I sympathise with them,

following your dream – especially when it is quite different from you

current life path – is risky and perilous. It’s so much easier to remain in

your comfortable and safe job that you hate (or, perhaps, that simply

doesn’t bring you joy). Things will always come up.

Yet excuses are vile little creatures. The more we delay our dreams,

the more they bury underneath our skin, making more sense, having more

power. The more we delay, the more difficult it is to break away in an

attempt to remodel our lives. The job, the mortgage, the kids. More and

more excuses pile up.

The human brain is quite a marvelous contraption when it comes

to convincing oneself of not doing anything or in persuading us that

life is about having a house, a bank account and a Louis Vuitton purse.

And when it can’t , it convinces us to think that we simply “aren’t good

enough” – so why risk it and get hurt?

However life is a battle not won by running away from difficulties.

As Leo Buscaglia says “Risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in

life is to risk nothing.”

-Ioan Nascu


NATIONAL AFFAIRS

Treasurer Wayne Swan has delivered his sixth

and likely final budget in a fraught election year.

As many commentators have observed, it is the

most unlikely of election year budgets, with vir-

tually none of the populist bribes that usually

transpire when governments face the people. It

is a largely responsible paper in the shadow of the

gravest financial crisis since the Great Depres-

sion that goes part-way to restoring a balance to

the federal budget absent since the big-spending

Howard years. Grand reforms, including Disa-

bilityCare and Gonski school funding will serve

as the basis for Labor’s improbable campaign for

re-election in September.

At long last, this budget should put paid

to the binary fatuousness of the “surplus good;

deficit bad” mentality that has pervaded Austral-

ian politics for the better part of a decade. Virtu-

ally no reputable economist has placed a great

emphasis on a return to surplus – especially the

wafer-thin one offered by Mr. Swan last year –

yet it has been presented as a test of economic

credibility by both major parties. Labor, goaded

by the Coalition to promise a surplus come hell

or high water, has more than likely sealed its own

electoral fate by over-promising when it was not

necessary.

Lies, damned lies and debt

Public understanding of the Federal Budget is

always an exercise in lowest common denomina-

tion. Note the various news media who wilfully

breakdown a $391 billion national budget into

a few bullet points under “Winners” and “Los-

ers”. In this Federal Budget, the “Winners” list,

at least for the average citizen of Heraldsunland,

is rather short. No Howard-era pork barrelling,

no generous tax cuts, just money for education

and the disabled. Again, not your usual election

year budget.

Even less well understood in aspirational

Heraldsunland is the concept of debt, at least as

it applies to the nation-state. Elements within

the Coalition, ably supported by Alan Jones et

al, have been successful in running a US Tea

Party-like campaign about Australian govern-

ment debt. To them, Australia is a Banana Re-

public on the brink of economic collapse thanks

to irresponsible government debt. They have

even adopted the Tea Party’s vernacular, renam-

ing the limit on the issuance of Commonwealth

Government Securities the debt “ceiling”. To

scare the populace most effectively, they have

divided billions of dollars worth of national debt

amongst the population to demonstrate how

those economic vandals in Canberra are respon-

sible for a “whopping $14,000 [of debt] for every

working Australian”. Wowee. If only Australia

was a global economy instead of a mortgage-lad-

en suburbanite. Oh wait. It is.

The problem for these antipodean dull-

ards is that Australian government debt is not a

major issue of concern for the global markets, as

evidenced by the country’s untarnished Triple-

A credit rating. A $19 billion deficit in a $391

billion budget is not going to undermine the na-

tion’s stability. Nor is $300 billion of gross debt

in a $1.5 trillion economy going to greatly im-

pact Australia’s economic pre-eminence. This

popular misconception of debt perhaps spooked

Labor to push for a surplus earlier than they oth-

erwise would have, with the resulting “broken”

Richard Plumridge

THE FEDERAL BUDGET


NATIONAL AFFAIRS

promise fodder for the Coalition in this perpetu-

al election campaign. Prepare to hear a surplus of

surplus soundbites on television and radio until

September 14.

The Aqueduct?

The echo-chamber of the commentariat follow-

ing the budget was fairly predictable: a lame-

duck budget presented by a lame-duck govern-

ment. The nation’s countless rent-seekers came

out in force, appearing in front of the cameras

where possible to vent their spleen. This budget

“offered” nothing for them. What have the Ro-

mans Labor ever done for us? We are all, after all,

rent-seekers in one form or another.

Small business owners, interviewed the

morning after the budget, decried the govern-

ment for not giving them money. Sorry, “assis-

tance”. One café owner wanted to “look after”

her staff, but complained she would have to pay

her workers more super. To cover these extra

costs, she now has to open Sundays, but also

then has to pay staff penalty rates. Working these

long hours, she argued, took away from time with

her family. Yes, well that is the reasoning behind

penalty rates. They serve to compensate workers

for working unsociable hours such as the week-

ends. These are the costs of running a business

and, as economic liberals constantly remind us,

life is a choice. It is the owner’s choice to operate

a business and open on weekends and, as a result,

pay the increased rates of pay.

Similarly, retailers from shoe shops to

clothing boutiques complained about the GST

low-value threshold, demanding the govern-

ment establish a “level playing field” by taxing

imports under $1,000. How this would help a

small retailer is anyone’s guess. Surely there are

far more pressing structural concerns for small

businesses. As many consumers know, even if the

GST was applied to all overseas purchases, many

imported goods would still be cheaper than their

local equivalents, placing a question mark over

the economic credibility of the campaign to “as-

sist” business by creating a “level playing field”.

The innovative retailers out there are using the

current economic times to their advantage and

using technology, rather than decrying it, to

reach new markets. Then again, they wouldn’t

be rent-seekers if they actually took a big-picture

view of the national economy.

In reply

Tony Abbott’s budget reply was much like any

opposition reply speech: big on rhetoric, short

on detail. This is not a criticism of the Coali-

tion’s policies per se, but indicative of the rela-

tive difficulty in which oppositions find them-

selves at budget time. They must formulate a

credible alternative budget with none of the

advantages of incumbency. Alas, Mr. Abbott has

been guilty of engaging in hyperbole, declaring

a “budget emergency” requiring the Coalition’s

superior economic management skills. Skills

clearly honed during the “profligate” years of the

Howard government.

“In this Federal Budget, the “Winners” list, at least for the av-erage citizen of Heraldsunland, is rather short. No Howard-era pork barrelling, no generous tax cuts, just money for education and the

disabled.”

As shadow treasurer Joe Hockey declared

at the beginning of March, “if there is no carbon

tax, there is no need for compensation”. Yet Mr.

Abbott still feels compelled to throw $4 billion

at taxpayers to compensate them for a tax that

will no longer exist under a Coalition govern-

ment. Some “emergency”. Not to mention the

unfunded and unexplained “direct action” cli-

mate change plan, which Mr. Abbott claims will

“reduce emissions with targeted incentives”. Os-

tensibly the opposition’s plan will replace a mar-

ket mechanism designed to raise revenue with a

government-planned scheme that will pick win-

ners and cost money.

To Mr. Abbott’s credit, he has been coy

on changes to the GST, promising a tax reform

white paper which may look at alterations to the

nation’s consumption tax. This is a substantial

improvement on Labor’s head-in-the-sand ap-

proach, which included establishing a “compre-

hensive” tax review so comprehensive that it ex-

cluded the GST from consideration. While the

nation needs another tax review as much as it

needs a political party led by Clive Palmer, there

is an opportunity for a future Coalition govern-

ment to complete the GST reforms begun by

Peter Costello. Any changes would be politically

fraught, but at the very least they might have the

potential to be possibly discussed at some point

in the indeterminate future. As Ken Henry, chair

of the most recent “comprehensive” tax review

has argued, governments will be forced to rely

increasingly on consumption taxes because “it is

one of the things that we can practically tax”.

Swan song

The tertiary education sector will be hit hard

by the $2.8 billion worth of cuts previously an-

nounced, despite protests from students, staff

and administrators. The cuts will have real ef-

fects on the students who are now the front line

of the end of the era of entitlement. Today’s uni-

versity students stand to miss out on the start-up

scholarships, first home buyers grants, baby bo-

nuses and much of the family tax benefits that

were available to Australians barely a decade

ago. While limiting these entitlements is eco-

nomically sound, it does create division between

the graduates of tomorrow and those of only a

few years ago, with an ever-increasing number

of the tertiary qualified entering a moribund job

market. Add to the mix that every previous min-

ing boom has ended in a bust and the relatively

resilient Australian economy could be in for a

rocky ride over the next few years.

Should this year’s budget end up as Labor’s

last, the government will leave an auspicious

economic legacy: managing to avoid the worst

of the Global Financial Crisis, presiding over

both low interest rates and employment growth,

retaining Australia’s triple-A credit rating and

keeping inflation low despite the mining boom.

In many ways, this budget can be considered

the first part of Labor’s election campaign, not

for 2013, but for 2016. Should the future Prime

Minister Abbott call a double dissolution elec-

tion, Labor will ensure the electorate does not

forget they are the party of disability insurance

and school funding reforms. Just as Labor har-

nessed the legacy of Hawke/Keating-era eco-

nomic reforms, don’t be surprised to see the eco-

nomic legacy of the Rudd/Gillard years front and

centre with the passage of time.


NATIONAL AFFAIRS

Ask a foreigner about their general idea of

the average Australian, and you will receive

a variety of bastardised stereotypes. Perhaps it

would be some sort of kangaroo-riding, bronzed

surfer with flowing golden locks. Perhaps it

would be a bikini-clad Lara Bingle, a beauty

asking “where the bloody hell are ya?” with

jingoistic fervour. Or perhaps the imaginary

Australian is the true blue, bonza, dinky-di

beer-swilling, blue-singleted blokey bloke. In

any case, it’s a shallow, barrel-scraping reflection

on the people of a nation that we all know to be

much more nuanced. But with the knowledge

that those absurd caricatures are a complete

misrepresentation, what then, constitutes an

Australian?

Jieh-Yung Lo wants to ask every Australian

that same question. Already quite involved

with engaging the community in his role as the

Deputy Mayor of the City of Monash, Lo was

recently made a National Committee Member

of the Australian Republican Movement

(ARM). He is playing a leading role in the

group’s Our Identity campaign: a grassroots

campaign which looks to question the public on

their identity as Australians – they way they see

themselves, and the way they want to be seen.

“It’s about engaging the community,” says

Lo. “It’s about asking the community, ‘what

does it mean to be Australian?’ What’s our place

in the world? And in the Asia-Pacific region?”

Of course, the question of what it means

to be an Australian is a personal one. For Lo,

born in Australia to Chinese parents, it’s the

ever-changing face of a multicultural Australia

that forms an important part of his motivation

to fight for an Australian Republic.

“When I think about Australia, I think

about the diversity. It’s a land of opportunity;

it’s a great multicultural society… I don’t

see the ties with the UK. Certainly, there’s a

historical tie, and let’s acknowledge that. It’s

important because it’s a part of our history.

But I think we’ve evolved and we’ve moved

beyond that. We are an independent nation,

with an independent identity, in a region

that is very diverse in itself as well. So when

I think about what it means to be Australian,

it’s about that multicultural facet, that diversity,

that inclusion. I’m very proud of it. I think we

should be celebrating that.”

“Perhaps, at this point in time, the only definable

characteristic of the Australian people is

the severe difficulty in defining them.”

The movement towards an Australian

Republic is by no means a modern development.

Both the Australasian Anti-Transportation

League of the 1840s and the Eureka Rebellion of

1854 were significant anti-British movements,

with the implication that succession from the

British Empire was a viable goal. The short-

lived Australian Republican Association was

also formed in 1887, in dissent to the perceived

unfairness of British rule at that time. One

attendee of the ARA meetings was so incensed

by the movement that he was motivated to

write his first poem, entitled, “A Song of the

Republic”. That poet happened to be Henry

Lawson, a man who would eventually became

a paradigm of Australian identity.

More recently, the Republican movement

reached an apex in 1999, with the Australian

public finally having the opportunity to address

the idea through a referendum. However, as the

question posed not only proposed a republic but

also the leadership model, many voters erred on

the side of caution. 54.87% of voters voted ‘No’

on the proposal, and for many, the issue had

now been put to bed. But has anything changed

since 1999? For Lo, the answer is a resounding

‘yes’.

“From a political perspective, Australia’s

growing out of its shell, and becoming more

active on the global stage,” he says.

“At the moment, our Head of State is

the Queen of England. But will the Queen of

England go out of her way to promote Australian

products overseas? No. We want an Australian

Head of State that does that. We want someone

to go out there and promote Australia. Promote

our identity, promote our products, promote our

opportunities.”

“What I’m asking the Australian people

to think about is our future, to think about what

we’re going to be like in fifty to one hundred

years. Do we want to be a major player in the

world? Do we want to be an influential nation in

our region? Of course we do. So I think having

an Australian Republic and an Australian Head

of State is not just a changing facet in Australia,

but also overseas as well.”

“I think we’re very unique in the world.

We have very unique values and a unique

identity, and I think by having an Australian

Republic, we will cap that off.”

*

Australia is a nation that has always suffered

an identity crisis. From a time when hundreds

of autonomous and culturally definable groups

of indigenous Australians covered nearly every

part of the continent and backwards into the

fog of pre-history, to its conversion into a shady,

imperial outpost. From its status a melting pot

of Protestants and Catholics operating in the

distant shadow of the British-Irish conflict, and

again into an emigration destination for people

of all nationalities and cultures worldwide.

Perhaps, at this point in time, the only definable

characteristic of the Australian people is the

WHO THE BLOODY HELL ARE WE?The Australian Republic, and Identifying Australian Identity

Bren Carruthers


NATIONAL AFFAIRS

severe difficulty in defining them.

Surely then, a discussion about an

Australian Republic must in itself be a vital

part of Australian identity. To have enough

self-reflection to continuously re-evaluate and

re-assess ‘Australian-ness’ is demonstrative of

a kind of social and ideological freedom that

is not granted to so many other people on

this planet. Too many nations suffer from the

constraints imposed on them by their national

leaders – North Korea would be the most blunt

and prolific example of this – or through the

impasse that may stem from a deep cultural

heritage – consider for example the seeming

unwillingness of the American people to

concede their constitutional right to bear arms

due to a fiercely-held reverence for liberty; a

constitutional right that is virtually irrelevant

in a modern society.

However, a push towards an Australian

Republic is only one avenue through which

the Australian people can generate a sense of

fundamental, communal identity. The leaders

we elect, and the policies they put forward,

certainly have an impact on how the rest of

the world perceives Australians. The current

situation regarding the treatment of asylum

seekers, with bipartisan support for measures

that skirt and violate human rights law and

our responsibilities as a member of the global

community, is a considerable blemish on

our national character. But of course, our

international profile does not rest in the hands of

our leaders alone. Australian backpackers have

a burgeoning reputation for being boisterous

and offensive, and regular tourist haunts such as

Bali and Thailand, despite reaping the financial

benefits of tourism, also suffer under the force

of the Western cultural imperialism that these

tourists bring with them.

There is a strong case at hand to open a

public discussion on Australia’s role and identity

as a community, both internally and in a global

context. But it would be wrong to consider it

a progression towards a definable conclusion.

Instead, we need to remember to maintain that

self-reflection, to continue to evolve and be

willing to redefine the parameters that bind us

together as a people, besides the simple fact that

we all reside on one very large rock. Regardless

of our political stances or cultural backgrounds,

our leadership and representation, the idea

of a Republic, and the appropriateness of a

British Head of State, is a central aspect of that

discussion. There is absolutely no reason that

the discussion and the self-reflection regarding

these issues cannot begin now – and continue

well into the future.

Currently touring the country for the first time since

its inception, the National Republican Lecture will

be held on Monash University’s Caulfield Campus,

Building H, Lecture Theatre 1.16, on Wednesday

June 5 at 6pm. The event will see prominent author

and media personality Peter FitzSimons speak on

behalf of the Australian Republican Movement.

Entry is free.

Four ethnicities under one flag - but how is this reality represented in our Statehood and our natioanl and global identity? Image: DIAC Images.


SUBHEADINGCULTURE

For two years, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has

been floating around in Federal politics. This year it is expected to finally

come into effect on July 1.

According to the NDIS website, the scheme aims to unite services

for disabled persons across Australia, creating equal levels of support

for people in all areas and all states. Rather than allocating funds based

on budget allowances, they will be allocated on a basis of actual need,

related to the person’s specific disability. This is opposed to the current

system where some areas achieve success while others are desperately

underfunded.

According to a report recently released by the Organisation for

Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), out of the twen-

ty-seven participating countries, Australia is the lowest ranked nation for

quality of life for its citizens with a disability. Of these people, they are

twice as likely to be living near the poverty line or below. We are clearly

in desperate need of a change to our current - or lack thereof - disability

support system.

If this legislation can be passed in Government, the potential to aid

and help disabled Australians would be exponential.

Recently, Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced that in order to

fund the scheme, the Medicare levy will be increased by half a per-

centage point from the first of July next year, meaning the levy will go

from 1.5 per cent of taxable income to 2 per cent. For someone earning

$70,000 a year, this will roughly equate to paying a dollar a day to the

levy.

The opposition has argued that the Government has only given

details about half of the required funding, necessary to make the scheme

able to function. Tony Abbott stated that he would only give his vote if

the scheme is “responsibly funded”. However the Coalition has con-

firmed their support for the Medicare levy, despite demanding a parlia-

mentary committee be set up to oversee the implementation. With the

opposition’s support, it is likely to go proceed with minimal delays.

The recent rebranding, ‘Disability Care’, has caused controversy

with disability groups, many stating their offence at the name. According

to ABC news website The Drum, Lesley Hall, the head of Australian

Federation of Disability Organisations, says that they strongly advised

the Government against the use of the word ‘care’ in the scheme’s name,

as it reinforces the myth that those with a disability need to be given

charity and welfare, instead of solid support.

Whether the scheme can actually acquire the necessary support and

funding through the Medicare levy and other unknown means remains

to be seen. With Queensland recently committing to the full NDIS

scheme, Western Australia remains the only state to yet sign up.

Elizabeth Boag

DISABILITYCARE:

What will it mean for Australia?


NATIONAL AFFAIRS

Depending on where you work, a standard day on the job may consist of

answering phone calls, taking orders or booking appointments, perhaps

sweeping and mopping at the end of a long day, and leaving with the

exhausted gratification that your bank account won’t be land-sliding into

a negative balance at the end of the week.

A standard day for a taxi driver, however, can include an array of

delightful opportunities and a nebulous of ambiguity of what the day may

bring. Such joys include: your clientele refusing to pay or making a run

for it so you have to cover their trip out of your own wage; drunkards

vomiting in the back seat of the car, which you have to mop up; listening

to the bitter tirades of your customer, either unleashing abusive taunts

or complaining about your skills, ethnic background or that you went a

different route to what they would have taken themselves; going to work

every day, apprehensive of what dangers or violence may lie ahead; and,

Lisa Healy

JUST A CABBIE?

“With such poor work-ing conditions, are

questions not raised as to why taxi drivers seem

to also be taking so much flak from society, and why it is progres-

sively becoming normal for people to belittle or violently attack them?”

finally, for the cherry on top, finishing a tiresome seven-

teen hour shift with $300 in your pocket, only to have

to fork over half of it to your employer. Combine this

with no sick leave, no standard hourly rate, no superan-

nuation and no annual leave, and you must certainly be

living the high life. This may not sound like a riveting

experience, and perhaps many of us would want to have

a job that entails none of the above. Unfortunately,

for those in the taxi industry, this is the reality of what

their occupation demands on a day-to-day basis.

Alongside these grievances, Melbourne Airport’s

decision in May to axe the ‘short-fare queue’ system

was unsurprisingly met with unprecedented outrage and

highlighted further mistreatment. Instead of targeting

the few who bypass the system, every taxi driver is now forced to bear the

brunt of the restriction. Considering that Melbourne Airport is so depend-

ent on the taxi industry for transportation of passengers, it seems illogical

to treat those who abide by the rules and carry out local, cheaper jobs to

be equally punished.

With such poor working conditions, are questions not raised as to

why taxi drivers seem to also be taking so much flak from society, and

why it is progressively becoming normal for people to belittle or violently

attack them?

Conducting a Google search, I stumbled upon a Facebook group

entitled, ‘Giving taxi drivers unnecessary drunken abuse’. Has prejudice

against ‘cabbies’ really expanded to just become some cruel pastime for

the amusement of the great unwashed? I wonder how many Facebook

groups have gone viral with a similar premise, such as, ‘Giving florists un-

necessary thorn pricks’ or ‘Giving chefs unnecessary oven burns’. Obvious-

ly not a lot, but people seem to have stooped low enough to generalise a

whole occupation and degrade a person completely for merely carrying out

their job, rather than showing them the appreciation that they deserve.

Of course, you cannot dismiss all cases. I’m sure there are examples

of taxi drivers who are perhaps rude, perverted, arrogant, or offensive.

But isn’t this the case for all workplaces? In any job? No matter where you

work or what level you are at, there will always be some employee who

is, to put it politely, just an unfriendly person. But surely the minority of

taxi drivers who are rude, perverted, arrogant or offensive can’t be said to

represent taxi drivers as a whole.

According to an analysis by the Australian Taxi Industry Associa-

tion in 2011, almost 2 out of every 3 taxi drivers are born overseas. It

could be assumed, then, that that the ease of acquiring work as a taxi

driver is what attracts such a large proportion of migrant workers. So

is the figure released by the Taxi Council in 2011 of a

300% increase in assaults on taxi drivers in the past ten

years highlighting a racial issue? Is this confirmation of

a perpetually growing narrow-mindedness? Or are they

merely an easy target because they work alone and carry

cash?

One of the most worrying factors of this predica-

ment is that this understated ignorance is increasingly

being accepted as the norm. It is more common to hear

people launch vitriolic assaults on cabbies than to hear

someone voice a defence. It has become normal to label

taxi drivers derogatively; it has become normal to not

pay someone for their time and service; it has, appar-

ently, become perfectly normal to throw glass bottles at

someone and beat them with a baseball bat.

Why should someone have to endure such abuses in their job? A job

that allows someone to provide for themselves and their family, contribute

to their community and develop invaluable skills. It is a job that provides

us, as customers, a service that takes us from point A to point B. And it is

about us, as customers, generating respect for a person and the service they

provide

Perhaps next time you happen to take a taxi home after a smash-

ing night out, treat your driver to a bit of unprecedented excitement.

Give them a tip; engage them in a conversation that will make the thirty

minute drive fly by; and, maybe if you’re feeling extra kind, take a detour

through a McDonalds’ drive thru and buy them a large vanilla thick

shake. Because, when it comes down to it, the service taxi drivers provide

is one of the most underappreciated in Melbourne.


The last few decades have seen governments wage war on our

universities. They have cut public funding on a per student basis,

casualised the workforce and forced our fees up, mounting a sustained

offensive against both student and staff organisations. The results have

been devastating; compared to the era of free education in the 1970s, our

universities are in a sorry state. Obscene prices are charged for courses

which become narrower every year (before disappearing altogether),

and are taught by staff who are worked into the ground for increasingly

lower wages. Universities have become corporatised, and student

life and culture has become, largely, a thing of the past. This is what

neoliberalism has meant for higher education.

What is neoliberalism?

Neoliberalism has been economic orthodoxy across the world for the

last three decades. In Australia, the doctrine used to be called ‘economic

rationalism’ – a cunning phrase that carries the implication that any

opposition to it must somehow be ‘irrational’. The ALP introduced the

doctrine under Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Treasurer Paul Keating

in the 1980s. The agenda was quite simple: union busting, privatisation

of state-owned assets, and deregulation of finance and trade. The

ultra-wealthy and corrupt - such as now-disgraced and bankrupted

businessman Alan Bond - were put on pedestals as people to emulate –

they were “great Aussie success stories”.

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher summed up the

philosophy of neoliberalism in a 1987 interview in which she remarked,

“there is no such thing as society”. The neoliberal view is that the world

is made up of individuals, and that if every individual pursues their own

self-interest in economic affairs, then the greatest welfare will accrue to

society as a whole. It is a dogmatic ideology that is little more than an

attempt at a moral justification for the rich to get richer and for the poor

to be left to rot at the margins.

In the decades since Thatcher and Hawke, global market forces,

previously mitigated to at least some degree, have been progressively

unleashed on the population. No sphere of existence is now untouched

by the market; nothing is without a price. The result has been a greater

sense of loss of control, unease, uncertainty and displacement, all

exacerbated in Europe and the US by levels of unemployment unseen

in generations. Social policy and notions of public good are now

determined entirely by reference to what they imply for the Treasury.

The ethical good under neoliberalism is reducible to the

economic imperative of unhindered markets – but only for the working

class. So government intervention that might be of some benefit to

us – for example environmental protection controls and minimum

wages – is treated under neoliberalism as a form of moral corruption

to be eradicated. On the other hand, the neoliberals urge ever tighter

government regulation of trade unionism and the right to strike. And

while they might praise competition in the ‘labour market’ – getting

workers to compete with each other for scraps – they do their best to

protect the cossetted position of the banks and media cartels that reap

billions of dollars in monopoly profits every year.

Rights that were fought for and won over decades have been under

sustained attack. Entitlements have been transformed into ‘benefits’,

provisions into ‘services’, departments into ‘providers’ and citizens into

‘customers’. Every aspect of the world is expected to subject itself to a

cold ‘cost/benefit’ analysis. That is, unless you’re wealthy, in which case

the sky is the limit for tax breaks and government largesse.

Neoliberalism is the logic that sees poor and working class elderly

people who have worked their whole lives and contributed to raising

the next generation of humanity driven to despair and suicide because

of the never ending debate among the economists and politicians about

how ‘expensive’ they are to keep alive, how much of a ‘burden’ they

now allegedly are on society. But for the rich, the government can’t do

enough to shovel still more in their direction.

Neoliberalism and education

It is important to understand these latest cuts in this context. Education

has been at the front line of the neoliberal offensive. Our right to an

education is being turned into a ‘privilege’, and we are being turned into

‘customers’ rather than students.

What are some of the ways this has happened?

For starters, there are the government cuts to the higher education

budget. In the 1970s, the government provided over 90 per cent of

university funding. Today, according to the Grattan Institute, it’s well

below 50 per cent. Funding has gone up in dollar terms but has lagged

dramatically behind the increase in student numbers from around

400,000 in the mid-1980s to over 1 million today, further stretching the

Declan Murphy

EDUCATION

NEOLIBERAL ERAIN A

NATIONAL AFFAIRS


NATIONAL AFFAIRS

meagre resources available to teaching and research.

It’s not just universities that have been targeted – TAFE colleges

have been under the hammer by conservative governments across the

Eastern states with dozens sold off and thousands of staff sacked or put on

short term contracts. All of these cuts have been justified by employing

neoliberal catchphrases about ‘fiscal responsibility’.

The burden of paying for education has now fallen overwhelmingly

on individual students. Gone is the idea of free education provided by

a society that values learning, replaced by the cold, inhumane logic of

‘user-pays’. So the corporations that benefit from the labour provided by

trained graduates also benefit from the fact that the graduates themselves

have had to pay for the training – as opposed to higher corporate tax rates

to cover the education.

The cost of an undergraduate degree in Australia is anywhere

between $14,000 and $35,000 per year. Most students leave university

weighed down by a crippling debt of between $25,000 and $30,000,

which plagues them for years after they enter the workforce. It’s a

system that openly favours students from rich families, deterring

the poor with ominous fees. And with each funding cut from the

government, the Vice-Chancellors (who are paid handsomely) get the

excuse they need to jack up the prices even further.

Neoliberal restructuring of the university sector also provides a

pretext to ‘reform’ a whole range of aspects of university life – cutting

courses deemed unprofitable, making class sizes bigger and library

hours shorter and shutting down whole departments. Things like on-

campus child care entitlements for students who are single mothers are

turned into services that have to be paid for. All of this undermines

our education – it means more distance between students and their

teachers, less feedback, less access to resources and less assistance.

The huge debt and the high expenses associated with studying

at university have also helped contribute to a much broader problem

of student poverty, which has reached epidemic levels in Australia.

In 2005, more that 60 percent of Australian students lived below the

poverty line. And yet the Gillard government has no qualms in using

the latest cuts to further cut student scholarships, which provide an

essential livelihood for some of the poorest students in the country.

It’s not just the students who have suffered. Neoliberalism has

shafted university workers as well. The corporatisation of universities

has seen thousands of workers providing an essential service thrown on

the scrap heap. At Sydney University earlier this year the equivalent of

7.5 percent of all academic staff were sacked. And this at a university

which last year posted the third largest profit in Australia and invests

tens of millions in useless advertising and capital projects yearly.

University workers whose jobs survive are faced with the spectre

of casualisation. Casualisation makes it easier for Vice-Chancellors

and university boards to force up their staff ’s hours while paying them

less, sacking those who fall foul of the intensified tempo of the work.

It means that stressed academic staff rush from class to class, trying

to keep up with relentless demands from management. Some analysts

estimate that last year roughly 50 percent of all undergraduate courses

in Australia were taught by casual academic staff. It goes without saying

that this undermines education – how are educators supposed to help

their students learn when their own time on campus is incredibly limited

and their own livelihoods are constantly at risk?

A vital part of the neoliberal offensive against higher education

has been the weakening of student and staff collective organisations.

Governments have always recognised that student unions and the NTEU

stand in the way of attempts to trample over our rights. That’s why a key

priority for both government and university administrations has been to

undermine these organisations.

Another way...

Neoliberalism is sold to us as ‘common sense’. But it is premised on lies –

that the market is efficient, that individuals are all that matters, that we

are all little more than consumers, and that ideas of collective strength

resulting in social good are morally and economically barren.

Yet neoliberalism has failed in practice. Leaving rich capitalists

to pursue their own self-interests has seen global inequality increase

dramatically. Rather than the greatest welfare accruing to society as a

whole, we witnessed a global financial meltdown in 2008 that workers

and the poor have had to pay for, while the rich who caused the crisis got

off scot free – and with government bailouts!

We need a different path – one in which education is a right and

where learning is valued as a social good.


The tragedy that befell Sandy Hook Elementary

in Newtown Connecticut late last year is one

that needs no introduction; a massacre that

left 20 young students and six teachers dead. It

shocked and saddened the entire international

community, and ultimately left one topic welling

in the minds of many: American gun regulation.

In the immediate wake of this heartbreaking

event, President Obama made an emotional

appeal to the American public, stating that,

“we’re going to have to come together and take

meaningful action.” What ‘meaningful action’

would equate to was unclear and as the months

passed by, it seemed as though Sandy Hook was

to become just another statistic.

However, in late March during a press

release delivered to an audience of parents who

have lost their children to gun violence, the

President assured the public that the promise for

‘meaningful action’ had not been a meaningless

remark.

A number of reforms were put forward,

including compulsory universal background

checks for anyone buying a gun, tougher

penalties for anyone who buys a gun and then

sells it to criminals, and measures to keep high-

capacity ammunition magazines off the streets.

“None of these ideas should be

controversial. Why wouldn’t we want to make

it more difficult for a dangerous person to get his

or her hand on a gun?”

“Why wouldn’t we want to close the

loophole that allows as many as 40 per cent

of all gun purchases to take place without a

background check?”

“Why wouldn’t we do that?” he asked his

audience.

However less than a month on, those

questions are left ringing in the ears of Mr Obama

and gun control lobbyists, after a watered-down

version of the proposals failed to pass through

the Senate, revealing how ingrained and never

ending this debate is among the America people,

and within American politics.

The measure fell six votes short of the 60

it needed to advance in the Senate, resulting

with 54 in favour and 46 opposed. Of the 46

votes that opposed the measures, five were from

Democrats, four of whom face re-election in

North Dakota, Alaska, Arkansas and Montana,

all of which are considered more conservative,

and “gun friendly” states.

This outcome is also a reflection of the

unyielding power and influence of the National

Rifle Association (NRA) and their prominent

self-described role as “America’s foremost

defender of Second Amendment rights”.

Over four million members strong, the

NRA provides training courses for gun owners

and educational programs for primary school

children in gun safety, but what they are

more prominently known for is their political

influence, which in the lead-up to the Senate

vote, was in full swing.

According to Reuters, NRA members and

officials made an unwavering stream of calls to

Republicans and conservative Democrats in the

lead-up to the vote. In particular they urged

swing votes such as Democratic Senator Mark

Begich of Alaska, to go against the measure.

Which he did.

It is a heavy blow for gun control allies and

Mr Obama’s second-term agenda, who, in the

wake of the announcement, was with Newtown

family members.

“It came down to politics. All in all, this

was a shameful day for Washington,” he said.

According to the United States Centers

Carlie O’Connell

AMERICAN GUN CONTROL: EMPTY PROMISES?


for Disease Control and Prevention, there are

more than 11,000 gun homicides and nearly

19,000 gun suicides annually in America.

Other statistics stand out.

Children aged 5 to 14 in America are 13

times more likely to be murdered with guns as

children in other industrialised countries.

More Americans die in gun homicides and

suicides in six months than have died in the last

25 years in every terrorist attack and the wars in

Afghanistan and Iraq combined.

A gun is 12 times more likely to result in

the death of a household member or guest than

in the death of an intruder, which is particularly

concerning when it is considered that 47% of

Americans say they have a gun in their home or

on their property.

They are alarming statistics among many

more, from a six billion dollar industry.

At its core it is a debate that boils down to

two conflicting rights. The right to have a gun in

conjunction with the Second Amendment, and

the right of the public not to be unduly exposed

to the dangers imposed by the widespread

availability of guns.

Within the United States Constitution,

the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights

specifically states, “A well regulated militia,

being necessary to the security of a free state,

the right of the people to keep and bear arms,

shall not be infringed.”

Written after the revolutionary war in the

1700s, the Constitution is the most holy of US

documents, and it is this particular sentence that

is the crux of the debate for many Americans.

As DJ Cisek, 24, from New York

explained, to enforce too many restrictions on

guns would be in direct violation of the Second

Amendment, and thus the rights and freedom of

American citizens.

“It’s a fundamental right that the

government is subservient to the people and

you see that through the Second Amendment

because, god forbid, if the federal government

became too powerful, you always have the force

of the people and the states,” he said.

“You would argue that today the

likelihood of that happening is slim to none

and I would tend to agree with that, but at the

time they wrote that in the constitution it was

really possible, and as such it has become a very

important right to the American people.”

Jordan Johnson, 22, of South Carolina,

agrees whole-heartedly with this notion.

“The Second Amendment was put into

the constitution to resist tyranny, and the way

we see it is that tyranny is not between two

people, tyranny is the government against its

people.”

“When you’re going to threaten to take

guns away, something that I am using to protect

myself, or my family, and then you’re saying rely

on the government, because they have guns, I

don’t think that’s the right thing to do.”

Johnson bought his first gun just after he

turned 20, a hunting rifle, and since then has

also purchased a shotgun and a handgun.

The former two he bought for recreational

purposes, and will occasionally take them to a

shooting range, but he keeps the handgun in the

glove box of his car for safety and self-defence

purposes.

John Nguyen, 24, who grew up in

Michigan but currently resides in Memphis,

Tennessee, sits on the other side of the fence.

“With any amendment, nothing can ever

be set in stone. Things have to be allowed to

change and evolve, which is true of any law or

rule,” says Nguyen.

“An easy example is sports. There are

always going to be changes to the rules of any

sport, from American football to tennis, because

technology is constantly evolving.”

“I don’t see any issue with going back and

reviewing and revising.”

Perhaps the most prominent new proposal

by President Obama was “universal background

checks for anyone who wants to buy a gun so

that criminals or people with severe mental

illnesses can’t get their hands on one.”

In Australia, buying a handgun involves

a 28-day waiting period, while in Canada

potential gun owners have to provide the

support of two people who will vouch for their

legitimate reasons of purchase.

Even with background checks, currently

a citizen in America can in most cases walk in

and out of a store on the same day with a gun.

Despite this there are many, including

Johnson, who feel that even this revision would

not have much of an impact on crimes involving

guns, but rather just punish the vast majority of

gun owners who respect the powerful nature of

guns and use them safely.

“You’re never going to be able to stop

people from selling guns to each other; there are

always going to be illegal guns. I think you need

to stop putting so many regulations on citizens

that abide by the rules,” says Johnson.

He continues, “Everyone that goes into

a store to buy a gun, they know they’re going

to get checked out. Criminals don’t go into a

sporting goods store and try to buy a pistol, they

know they’re going to have to get checked, so

they go to the dude down the street that’s selling

pistols out of the back of his car. They know

they’re not going to be checked and the gun

isn’t going to be registered to anyone.”

DJ Cisek, while in full support of the

Second Amendment, feels that curbing the

number of people affected by mental illness who

can access guns is a step in the right direction.

“There are always going to be loopholes

with people using guns that aren’t registered

to them, or people with severe mental health

problems that aren’t documented, but I think

it’s an additional part of the process that is

essential and to a certain extent, achievable.”

Ultimately, if any regulation could put

even a small dint in the statistics quoted at

the beginning of this article, then in the eyes

of citizens such as Nguyen, it’s a sacrifice worth

making.

“Increased gun control would prevent

more of these massacres from happening. I’m

not going to say it’s going to prevent all of them,

no it wouldn’t. But would it prevent some of

them? Yes. Would it prevent at least one out of

100 of them? For sure. And that’s enough for

me, it really is. If it saves the life of one innocent

child, it’s totally worth it,” Nguyen says.

Back in March the President assured that

the lives lost in Newtown last December had by

no means been forgotten.

However, with the Senate failing to pass

the reforms that were proposed by Obama

in that same speech, many are left begging

the question; if 20 children slaughtered in

their classrooms isn’t going to be enough for

evolvement in gun safety, what will be?

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

18

STUDENT AFFAIRS


Can’t keep track of on-campus demonstrations? Here’s a quick summary of what

the MSA and the Monash Education Action Group (EAG) have been up to.

Earlier this year the Monash Education Action Group was created to

get students from various political affiliations all working towards a common

goal: fighting the Gillard government’s recently announced $2.8 billion cuts to

tertiary education, and standing side by side with staff and the NTEU during

their struggle for better wages and conditions.

So, I hear you ask, “Why campaign on Campus when the issue is clearly

with Canberra?” Well, part of the EAG’s philosophy has been to keep a presence

alive at a campus level, and we’ve done this through a series of peaceful, but

controversial protest actions over the last month. Our rationale behind this is

that on-campus activities keep the message alive by pushing students to engage

with and take notice of an issue that will directly affect them; their education.

Too often, organizations start with a noble cause and plenty of ambition

but die a quick and lonesome death because of a lack of activity. Instead, by

remaining active with weekly events we hope to maintain a healthy pulse and

constant opportunities to bring new student activists into the EAG fold.

Furthermore, these protests put the Monash Vice Chancellor and others

from the senior administration on notice, demonstrating to them that they

won’t be able to use these federal cuts as an excuse to sell students and staff down

the river without a fight

Don’t get us wrong though, it’s not all about on-campus activities. This

ongoing campaign will require cooperation with universities all across the state

and nation, and coordination with bodies like the NUS and the newly created

Class Action to use our collective voices and numbers to force this issue into the

mainstream. So far the parliament has let us down. This needs to be a long-term,

mass struggle; only then will we have any hope of winning back what we’ve lost.

Dare to struggle, dare to win!

So here’s a quick run down of events over the last few weeks.

The campaign started with an MSA speak out and BBQ days after

Gillard’s cuts were announced. But the EAG’s first real action took place on the

30th April when we held another speak out and then ramped things up a notch.

Arming ourselves with banners and megaphones, around 100 of us marched

through both levels of the Campus Centre during lunchtime chanting and

rattling fruit tins. We addressed our fellow students chowing down at Meeting

Point and then headed for the Administration Building where we finished up

the afternoon.

The EAG also was thrilled by the hard work of all the students (from

both inside and outside of the EAG) who played a part in putting together the

first Student General Meeting (SGM) in eight years, held the following day.

We were heartened to see over 350 students out engaging in MSA governance

and condemning the cuts. We really hope to see another SGM held early

next semester; the last one was good but could be better next time with more

students engaged, voicing their opinions and taking part in the decision making

by voting on official motions to be carried out by the MSA.

The following week the EAG ramped things up another notch. Gathering

on the Menzies Lawn, we again heard from speakers then headed toward

the Matheson Library. It was a bold move, but we are proud of it. It’s true the

responses to this move were mixed; many felt it was deeply inappropriate to

disrupt students in a learning space like the Library. Some were so enraged that

they likened it to setting off a firearm in a church. However, to them we’d point

out that long term cuts to the funding of their university will be much more

disruptive than 15 minutes of of study time lost in the library. If the disruption

got people talking then we think it served its purpose exactly as intended.

We finished this action once again at the Administration Building.

However, this time we added a little bit of theatrical flare, and in a move echoing

that of Martin Luther we presented a list of demands to the Administration and

sticky taped pages and pages of student petitions to the doors and windows of the

building.

All of these events served to promote the Student Strike and central rally

the NUS had called for May the 14th. I think our efforts paid off. On Tuesday

the 14th we spent the morning leafleting and chalking and managed to gather

over 120 students into pre-booked buses to form a Monash Contingent and

another 50 or so Monash students joined us on our arrival. It was a gloomy and

wet day, but the atmosphere was electric. The feeling of marching side by side

with over 2000 students, staff and even high school students for a common cause

was heart warming and genuinely elating.

If you would like to get involved with the campaign, the EAG will be

holding a video and information session on Wednesday May 22nd, at 1pm in

H6. Here we will discuss student activism throughout history and how we can

build a strong student movement.

The next major NUS event will be held to welcome the Prime Minister to

Melbourne. A speak out and rally has been called for at 4pm on May 30th at the

State Library of Victoria.

For more information on upcoming actions, join the Monash Education

Action Group on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/groups/NTEUsupport/

Thomas Whiteside

WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE ALWAYS PROTESTING?

THE FUCK’S GOING ON TODAY?

Images: Daniel Taylor and Glen Haywood

STUDENT AFFAIRS

SUBHEADING

20

A mechanical watch can contain over 100 parts. Each one is connected

together in perfect balance to carry out the simple task of keeping

time. The attention to detail required of a watch repairman is difficult

to comprehend. Each piece must be expertly removed with tweezers,

lovingly worked on under magnifying glass and then replaced in its

correct spot. A single moment of distraction could ruin the balance of the

pieces and render the watch useless forever.

Why is it that we find this skill so remarkable? It’s not only because

of the incredible skill required, but also because of the perfect focus and

undivided attention that must be devoted to the task.

Being ‘focused’ has traditionally been admired as an enviable

characteristic. We are intuitively impressed by someone who can devote

their entire self to achieving a particular aim. It’s natural to be amazed

by someone who has spent their life researching a particular disease,

or writing beautiful poetry, or even becoming an expert on the mating

habits of Himalayan mountain goats. We value this because, though it

requires considerable self-discipline, focus has led to society’s greatest

achievements.

Yet I get the sense lately that we are being duped. We are being

slowly convinced that, instead of revering focus, we should celebrate

distraction. We are told we should want to see emails and texts while

attempting to study, and take a quick peek at Facebook during our shift

at work. We should gasp in amazement at someone who can finish three

assignments in one night while watching The Voice, tweet about it and

make two-minute noodles all at the same time. Though multitasking

is an impressive skill in itself, ‘focus’ is loosing its rightful status as an

essential part of life.

But don’t be fooled, this cultural shift is not a natural progression. It

has arisen deliberately, caused by those who need us to think differently.

This shift is the work of the technology behemoths who have infiltrated

the most intimate areas of our lives; the Facebooks, Twitters and Apples

of this century who have a vested interest in making us want to peek

at little screens 500 times a day. Let me be clear, this is not an anti-

consumerist rant; I am an avid user of these services myself. Humanity

has encountered immeasurable advantages thanks to technological

progression. But this doesn’t negate the fact that we are being sold the

vision of an Augmented Reality Utopia; a world where technological

products will play a part in every facet of our lives, purportedly improving

the experience of living. This is a world where switching off to focus is

not considered normal at all.

Such a vision is epitomized by Google’s new product; Google Glass.

It’s a pair of glasses that puts a tiny screen in the corner of your vision at

all times, keeping you connected no matter what you are doing. This is

their vision for the future, a vision shared by many other companies who

never want you to disconnect.

Let me use Facebook to illustrate my point. Being focused

fundamentally undermines Facebook’s premise. This is because Facebook

is not built as a standalone activity. It is meant to be the secondary

thing you are doing. So where does this leave Facebook if you just want

to focus? If you don’t want to check Facebook while you are doing

homework, Mark Zuckerberg is evicted from that part of your life. If you

don’t want to check it while in bed with your partner, you are telling

Mark to get out from under the covers and leave you two alone. What if

you don’t want to read your News Feed when you are at work? Or having

a conversation with a friend? Or spending time with your family? If you

chose to fully focus on all these moments, Facebook could find itself

walled out of your life altogether. And if Facebook is out of your life, then

Facebook can’t show you advertisements, its business model falls apart

and Mark Zuckerberg’s head implodes into a black hole, tearing the fabric

of space-time to shreds.

The same line of logic can be applied to almost any technology

company because ultimately, your engagement with their product leads

to profit and your disengagement causes their empire to crumble. Exhibit

A - MySpace. Once these motives are stripped bare, it quickly becomes

apparent that these companies couldn’t care less if they are selling a

vision for the world that actually decreases productivity and happiness, as

long as it increases engagement with their product. The CEO of Google

doesn’t care if watching videos of lolcats on YouTube grinds your study to

a halt.

So where does that leave us now? I’m not ashamed to admit that

I love my iPhone with a passion and I’m not going to throw it away in

pursuit of focus. So I propose an answer that is far less dramatic than

ridding yourself of all technology. Why not remind Mark Zuckerberg and

his friends that they don’t get to choose the order of priorities in your life.

They don’t get to decide when you need to see what your third cousin had

for lunch or a selfie of your acquaintances from Saturday night. Take back

control of when you engage and more importantly, when you disengage.

Become the master of your technology, not the servant. There’s no

replacement for dedicating every neuron in your brain to achieving one

task, concentrating without distraction. Don’t let the technology industry

convince you that focus is a dying art, because an Augmented Reality

Utopia is nothing more than a profitable myth.

THE ART OF FOCUS

Samuel Blashki


STUDENT AFFAIRS

Good news, everyone! Meditation isn’t just for

hippies!

Chances are you’re not aware of many of

the programs that are run through the Health

& Wellbeing Hubs across all Monash campuses.

Aside from complimentary counselling services

and assistance with financial, housing and

childcare difficulties, student support facili-

ties at Monash also include a variety of health

and management services and occasional short

courses to help improve physical, mental and

academic performance.

One of these programs, which has just

finished running for this semester, is called

Mindfulness for Academic Success. Conducted

as part of a research study by Dr Richard Cham-

bers, with the assistance of student counsellor

Rebecca, the course consists of one hour a

week over five weeks, and aims to introduce

participants to the practices and advantages of

mindfulness meditation.

Mindfulness essentially means paying

attention in a particular, purposeful way. It aims

to cultivate an appreciation for the present mo-

ment and openness to whatever you might be

engaged with at that time.

This could mean formal meditation ses-

sion to get in touch with your body and see

how you’re feeling, or monitoring your own

breathing during class. It could mean actively

paying attention to your five senses as you walk

to your mate’s house, or it could mean avoid-

ance of multitasking so that any one duty has

your full attention. It could also be as simple as

sitting down to consciously enjoy your toast in

the morning instead of devouring it manically

as you run around the house packing your bag.

The long-term benefits of regular mindful-

ness practice are actually quite profound. With

as little as five minutes of focused awareness at

the beginning and end of your day, continued

practice nurtures a greater awareness, clarity

and acceptance of all moments of your life. It

reduces stress by taking your attention away

from looming deadlines and redirecting it to

actually writing a decent assignment (with-

out even feeling the need to check Facebook

at regular intervals). It lessens the chance of

procrastination by allowing you to rationally

prioritise what needs to be done now and what

can wait, and teaches you to identify times

when you’re blatantly shunning something that

needs to be done.

Mindfulness also promotes healthy rela-

tionships by helping you to be aware of people

around you, how they’re feeling, and how to

extend a more compassionate outlook toward

them. Most importantly, according to Professor

Jon Kabat-Zinn, by facilitating investigation

into our actions and perceptions through careful

and systematic self-observation, mindfulness

leads us to a life with greater satisfaction, har-

mony and wisdom.

Maybe it still sounds a little too much like

new-age self-help, or a bit too Zen.

It’s true that mindfulness meditation is

indeed intrinsically linked to certain Buddhist

practices, yoga and Zen. However if this is not

your usual forte, rest assured that over the last few

decades Western scientific

study has been becoming

progressively more support-

ive of Eastern philosophy

and medicinal practice.

In fact, there’s been

quite a bit of imperative re-

search conducted in recent

years which has proved that

regular mindfulness training

can actually cause physical

changes in the brain and

immune system, including

heightened immunity to the influenza virus and

increased thickness of the regions of the brain

that control self-awareness and sensory process-

ing.

Besides, there’s no harm in trying some-

thing which, when used effectively, promises

to reduce anxiety and depression, increase

happiness and creativity, and improve relation-

ships, lengthen attention spans, and enhance

academic performance.

Wouldn’t it be nice to smash through

those assignments and exam prep at a 100%

concentration rate? There’d be so much more

time to not have to focus on study afterwards!

The Health & Wellbeing Hub at Clayton

offers guided meditation sessions in the Narthex

Room, Building 9, on Wednesdays and Fridays

between 1:15pm and 1:45pm. Anyone is wel-

come to join, and the sessions are completely

anonymous.

There is also a locally produced iPhone

app called Smiling Mind, which is freely avail-

able to help guide you through the basics of

mindfulness practice. Android uses are advised

to use the companies website.

Hannah Barker

MIND YOURSELFHow To Conquer Your Exams With Your Eyes Closed


Many people attended the national student

strike and rally against the federal funding cuts

to the tertiary education sector on Tuesday May

14th at the State Library; myself included.

In its aftermath, some of my fellow

protestors and I are now wondering why we

sometimes feel a creeping doubt about whether

our protests can really achieve what we hope

they will. Are they not always, already doomed

to failure? And where does this doubt come from

and can it be dispelled?

Part of the answer may be found in

considering similar protests in the recent past,

such as the anti-war in Iraq demonstrations of

2003.

In the lead up to the invasion of Iraq,

protests against the war were the largest in

human history, as measured in the sheer number

of people who took to the streets, as well as

opinion poll figures. Worldwide, tens of millions

of people protested, opposing the US and other

governments’ decisions to invade and occupy

Iraq.

On Friday the 14th February 2003 in

Melbourne alone, an estimated two-hundred-

thousand people marched in the streets to

oppose John Howard’s Liberal Government

decision to join the US in invading Iraq.

AND YET... Howard was not dissuaded.

The Australian military was deployed at the

behest of the Bush Administration. The war

was waged. Iraq was invaded and occupied and

thousands upon thousands of people were killed,

maimed and traumatised for life: men, women

and children, soldiers and civilians.

So these mass protests failed to stop the

war and thus achieve their ostensible aim, but

was this their only purpose?

During the height of the anti-war protests,

former US President George Bush made the

following comment: “You see this is why we need

to invade Iraq and bring them our democracy, so

that the Iraqi people can also hold such protests

when they disagree with their government”.

Rather than dismiss this comment as

idiotic, I believe that Bush offers us a valuable

insight here into how these protests successfully

functioned on a deeper level: their true

(unconscious) purpose.

As the philosopher Slavoj Zizek has

observed (himself a participant in the anti-

war movement), in a strange way the protests

satisfied both the protestors and those in power

who they were protesting against. That is, the

protesters felt good about publicly expressing

their opposition to the war, and the politicians

felt good about how their democratic society

allows for the public right to free speech/criticism

of government, etc. Everybody was able to “save

face”, maintaining “democratic appearances”

despite what was essentially unaccountable,

powerful, profiteering elites engineering another

catastrophic war.

My concern is that the “self-righteous

psychosis” phenomena which characterised

opposition to the war in Iraq, could be uncannily

similar to what was occurring during the

National Student Strike and Rally on May 14th.

Are we not also (unconsciously) maintaining

“democratic appearances” and therefore playing

into the hands of those we oppose?

Though it was exciting to close down traffic

for half an hour, march together in a large crowd

and chant our slogans, it seems unlikely that this

will stop the cuts any more than the protests

managed to stop the war in Iraq. It would seem

that our doubts about current methods of protest

may have some real justification.

This is a worrying thought, especially when

many leading activists and student politicians

seem content to repeatedly call everyone to

“strike and rally” every time there is a pressing

political issue, knowing full well that every time

the result is similarly ineffective. Effectively,

our current leadership appear to be practicing

an insidious cynicism of which we should all be

cautious of becoming complicit in.

As I understand it, the cynicism of the

student leadership comprises a disbelief in the

capacity of ordinary students to understand

and care enough about their own plight (and

the plight of others) to do something about

it. This attitude is encapsulated in a guiding

mantra: “Students/people are apathetic.” For

student politicians, this attitude manifests in

bureaucratic tricks employed to restrict student

participation in the decision-making processes

of their union such as holding Student Council

meetings “in camera” (in secret). For activists,

the attitude manifests in their cynical efforts

to ‘mobilise’ students to the cause by postering

misleading information to trick students into

thinking that “classes have been cancelled”

therebyfooling them into not attending, and

thus unwittingly striking.

Cheap tricks aside, the cynical attitude

is most problematically manifest in the

executive decision-making processes of our

student unions at the campus and national

level which purposefully exclude student public

participation. “Students are apathetic” provides

the rationalisation for making decisions at an

elite level, rather than involving the student

body in the process. These decisions then

(inevitably) result in vain calls to always already

ineffective action, such as the most recent

strike/rally called by the National Union of

Students, which further reinforce the notion

that yes, students are mostly apathetic, and so

the cycle continues...

James Grout

MAY 14TH NATIONAL STUDENTSTRIKE:

Effective Action or Self-Righteous Psychosis?


STUDENT AFFAIRS

In summary, the current student leadership

seems to have very little faith in the student body

to make important decisions about their own

plight such as how to respond to federal funding

cuts or the hijacking of public universities by

unaccountable Administrators and the financial

mismanagement this entails.

Just like their idols in the State and

federal parliaments, most student politicians

only believe in representational democracy,

meaning the people have the opportunity to

vote once a year (or three), and in between

they have a right to be merely surveyed. And

just like their idol(s) in the Russian Revolution,

many activists only believe in the revolutionary

vanguard to enlighten and lead the currently

(unconscious) masses.

So our protests in their current form

may be ineffectual and our leaders infected by

cynicism, but are there any alternatives? What

is to be done?

I imagine the activist/student politician

rebuke: ‘Well that’s all well and good to criticise

the strike action and rally we have organised,

but what is your positive, constructive,

alternative model for organising against de-

funding, increased prices for less quality courses,

staff sackings, etc.? These problems are real and

they still require some kind of a solution.’

I believe this is a fair retort, so I will

attempt to sketch out a tentative answer.

In the first instance I believe that the

best thing we can do in response to anti-

social government policy such as the funding

cuts is not to immediately (re)act to what we

assume is the problem, but rather (re)think the

problem. Otherwise we run the risk of wasting

our energies reproducing the same kind of

ultimately ineffective actions that have marked

our movement to date and which seem, in fact,

to reinforce existing power structures (from our

student union executives to our governments).

It might be helpful to start critically

thinking about our predicament and our

potential courses of action by considering the

example of our brothers and sisters in Quebec

and Chile.

The students who play key organising

roles in Quebec and Chile do not appear to

waste their time staging futile, cynical protest

actions that are bound to fail. Instead they

build empowering and effective movements,

mobilising literally hundreds of thousands of

people towards achieving concrete political

outcomes and structural change in their

societies.

In 2012 the Quebec students defeated

a 75% fee-hike policy proposal by forcing a

change in their provincial government (roughly

the Australian equivalent of Victorian students

bringing down the Liberal Napthine State

government and replacing it with a Labor

government).

“The only thing that stands in the way of reinvigorating and implementing this organising

model in Australia is the prevailing cynicism of the existing student political leadership which

has no apparent faith in the capacity, power and passion of the

general student public.”

From 2010-2012, the Chilean students

constituted a similarly effective political force

but on an even larger national scale. Their

nation-wide protests shut down entire cities

and are applied immense pressure on their

government to reform the public education

system, winning concrete concessions.

Both of these student movement struggles

are ongoing, but both have already achieved

significant outcomes for the public education

system which benefit all members of society.

The question is why are they so effective?

What makes them so much more successful

than their British, American or Australian

counterparts? After all, they too appear to be

utilising the tactics of striking and rallying. Is

their success simply a product of their political

heritage?

The advice of student leaders is pertinent

here. Rather than explaining the success of the

Quebecois in terms of their ‘Frenchness’ and

thus something that we ‘Anglo-saxon’ societies

cannot emulate, Gabrielle Nadieu Dubois,

spokesperson of the Quebec student union

federation called CLASSE, suggests that “The

key principle of success in Quebec is exportable,

because it’s our mode of organization.”

This certainly seems promising. What

Dubois means by ‘mode of organisation’ is

empowering people through collective decision-

making or what is sometimes called ‘direct

democracy.’ In Quebec, all major decisions

(such as whether to go on strike) are not made at

the executive union level by student politicians

and activists. Instead these decisions are made

in public decision-making forums or ‘general

assemblies’ at the university campus level, or

even at the faculty level. Our equivalent public

decision-making forum at Monash is called a

Student General Meeting (SGM).

An SGM constitutes the highest decision-

making body for our union and about two

weeks ago, the first SGM in 8 years was held

at Clayton (as reported by X in this edition of

Lot’s). 350 Clayton students attended and had

the opportunity to vote and decide how we

should respond to the recent federal funding

cuts among other issues (albeit at a meeting that

was administered in an overly bureaucratic and

somewhat disorganised fashion!).

Now this model may not be perfect; it may

require extensive fine tuning. It may be useful

to begin developing SGMs on a Faculty, rather

than a campus-wide level. But the principle that

such a forum seeks to embody, that of direct-

democracy where all students can participate

in the decision-making, is vitally important

in terms of building an effective student

movement which can counter the anti-social

policies of State and Federal governments as

well as University Administrations.

The only thing that stands in the way of

reinvigorating and implementing this organising

model in Australia is the prevailing cynicism of

the existing student political leadership which

has no apparent faith in the capacity, power

and passion of the general student public. Of

course we should not expect to create a mass

movement overnight, it will take many months

or even years of building which will certainly

involve many failures along the way.

But if we can confront and dispel the

cynicism there is hope.

In the immortal words of Samuell Beckett:

“Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”


Monash’s unofficial history, University Unlimited, released last year, refers

to student activism as part of a long bygone era. It reports crudely what

it views as a monolithic change in student culture, from mass idealistic

engagement with ideas of University as a place of debate, knowledge and

activism to the 21st century ‘customer’, buying training in the corporate

University ‘supermarket’. There is a vested interest in this ‘unofficial’

history that tries to cleanse over the dark stains of stubborn dirt behind

Monash’s brilliant façade. Here I attempt to block some of this blinding

brilliance to sketch only some of the many events over the last 20 years,

which demonstrates placidity is conveniently superficial.

Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU) was a key flank of Jeff

Kennett’s (Liberal) 1993 Victorian election campaign. Up until then

students paid an amenities fee, which went towards funding the student

union and student services. Victorian VSU proposed to remove the

ability of the amenities fee to go towards the political function of student

unions, who previously decided where the amenities fee went. A Student

General Meeting—a forum where all students had equal votes to decide

MSA motions—was attended by 650 students on March 4 1993, passing a

motion condemning VSU, followed by mass protests Victoria wide.

VSU was a disaster for the stuff we take for granted today – Lot’s

Wife, Student Rights Officers, the Women’s department, and even many

clubs were seen as too political to be funded in line with the legislation.

On the back of thousands of students protesting, the Federal Labor

Government put student unions on life support with funding from

1995-1996. When funding ran out, Lot’s Wife shut for three months. In

response in May 1996, 1500 students rallied against the closure of Lot’s

Wife. Eventually the MSA was left to negotiate with the University for

scraps and Lot’s Wife re-opened.

With the election of the Howard Government in 1996, there were

further cuts to Higher Education and HECS fees increased. Monash

University decided to introduce up-front fees in 1997. A quarter of

courses could be funded by lucrative full-fees, creating an incentive for

the University to ramp up vocational and high-esteem courses attractive

to rich students and International students. This meant the University

shifted from a place where you would pursue further learning to one

limited to a narrow career outcome. The Arts and Science faculties

suffered cuts while the Business and Engineering faculties expanded.

On July 1997, the MSA held its ‘Corporate Free Day’ and a ‘tent

city’ was constructed on the lawn outside the Administration building,

continuing for much of Semester 2. Open day was heavily disrupted.

Graffiti abounded on campus, particularly on the concrete walls of

the campus centre, including ‘UNIVERSITIES = A PLACE FOR

LEARNING NOT EARNING’, together with elaborate murals. The cuts

were not just at Monash, and activism was co-ordinated across multiple

campuses, with occupations seen at Melbourne University and most

notably at RMIT for 19 days.

In response to cuts to University courses, especially a restructuring

of the Arts faculty, on September 23 1998, staff and students occupied the

administration building, before being violently evicted by police.

In Semester 1 2004, over a thousand students protested HECS fee

rises of 25% on campus. There was a failed attempt at occupying the

Administration building but successful occupations of the former Vice-

Chancellor’s residence (Marketing and student recruitment building)

and Monash International building (now Monash College). In late

2005, students occupied Sir John’s Bar, forcing the University to give

up on their effort to turn the space—that the student union had 49%

control through Monash’s now defunct commercial arm MONYX—

into a University function room. A recurring theme here was that the

official channels of negotiation had been exhausted—the University

administrators were not interested in reasoned argument.

The last Student General Meeting (before the one held recently

on the 1st of May) was held on the 20th of April, 2005. It discussed

the Howard government’s push for Federal ‘Anti Student Organisation

Legislation’, which finished off the Victorian VSU, by completely

abolishing the amenities fees that funded student unions. The last

motion passed called on students to effectively go on strike, which in

practise failed to gain momentum. Despite this defeat, the fact that

there was grassroots support for student organisations allowed the Labor

government to introduce the Student Services and Amenities Fee, still

limited by its failure to reverse Voluntary Student Unionism. In 2011,

there was a little-known uproar over the School of Music at Monash,

with staff cut by the administration as well as the entire course on

classical music. Students prepared to boycott exams and collectively fail.

Under pressure, Monash ceded to many of their demands.

Overall, there is a structural problem for Universities as there

has been no funding increase in real terms since 1975. Furthermore,

during the same period, inequality in the University has widened as

the salary of the Vice Chancellor now reaches over a million dollars.

In the end, students and staff are the University rather than the upper

administration, whose only interests are neoliberalism, rationalising an

education ‘supermarket’ while lining their pockets. Resisting attacks to

education is a struggle with no guarantees of success, but without students

taking direct action a student controlled restaurant and this paper would

not exist today.

Liam Molenaar

MONASH ACTIVISM OVER TWENTY YEARS


STUDENT AFFAIRS

There’s nothing like a good kick in the guts from ‘the powers that be’ to

bring the student left together. We’ve seen it from Gillard and boy is it

about to get worse under Abbott. That’s why it’s so exciting to announce

that students from across the country recently formed an activist network

to share skills and ideas, in the hope of building a long term national fight

back against the constant threat of a neoliberal agenda to education.

In the last 18 months universities around the country have seen

attacks on almost all fronts. First with the inadequate redistribution of

the SSAF, then with cuts announced to teaching staff and administrative

support staff, and thus to units and courses offered. There has been talk

of deregulating student fees- which would inevitably lead to price hikes

for students - and whole departments have seen their very existence

threatened by the university and government’s penny pinching razor

gangs. It goes without saying that the latest attack, in the form of Gillard’s

recently announced $2.8 billion cuts to the tertiary sector to fund the

Gonski reforms makes the picture seem pretty grim indeed.

But the news is not all bad! Across the nation the student

movement seems to be slowly awakening from its long slumber.

Already there have been significant fight backs organised out of Sydney

University - where last year a broad left coalition of students waged a

largely successful campaign to roll back of their VC’s proposed cuts to

Humanities staff -, and at John Curtin University in Western Australia,

where the entire student union has been greatly radicalized ). Out of

the Sydney success story, an exclusively NSW organisation dubbed the

CCEAN (Cross Campus Education Action network) has emerged to

bring other universities from across the state facing similar issues into

the fold. This in turn sowed the seeds for the creation of a nation-wide

network for student activists to share skills, knowledge and tactics.

And so, at the second Edufactory, “a radical education activism

conference in Australia” held at Sydney University for four days over

Anzac Day weekend, students from different universities and different

political persuasions came together to formally create an autonomous and

radical activist network they dubbed ‘Class Action’, to operate outside of

- but when possible, in collaboration with - the peak representative body,

the National Union of Students.

So what is the network exactly? Tim Scriven, a student activist

and anarcho-syndicalist from Sydney Uni who played a leading role

in Class Action’s creation describes it as a “network that’s been set up

by education activists to fight for free, quality education. Anyone can

participate and everyone is encouraged to.”

Jason Ray, a senior figure from ASEN (The Australian Student

Environment Network, a grassroots activist group that split from the NUS

in 2005 but last month played a leading role in Class Action’s formation)

goes further, “With Class Action we have the opportunity to circumvent

the traditional layers of representation in student politics that dilute and

alienate the average student from having a direct stake in the quality of

their education. Hopefully wider student participation in this growing

issue will engender an understanding and resentment of the underlying

‘logic of the market’ that is deteriorating not only our education but social

welfare and environment”.

However, despite historical tensions between the NUS and

members of the more radical student left, Clare Keyes-Liley, the NUS

Education Officer and member of the National Labor Students (Labor

Left), has expressed a genuine willingness to engage and work with

the fledgling Class Action body. As she puts it, “it is excellent to see

the left mobilising on education activism nationally. We’re currently

looking down the barrel of a deeply conservative and reactionary Federal

Government come September, the left in student activism needs to

remain focused on the fight and united as a group”.

The creation of Class Action is hopefully a sign of bigger and

better things to come. Let’s leave the last word to Casey Thompson,

the Education Officer and member of the Sydney Labor Students at

Sydney Uni, “Class Action will be a great thing for the future of student

activism and more importantly for the future of education in Australia.

It will be a unifying and guiding body for future struggles and allow our,

often-divided, movement to come together and seriously challenge

the neoliberal project attacking our universities and schools. The

establishment of Class Action gives me hope. We can look to the future

and see the presence of a strong force fighting for students and their

fundamental rights – free, quality education”

To get involved visit the following page – and don’t forget to join

the Monash Education Action Group.

http://www.facebook.com/classactionaustralia

CLASS ACTION FORMED

Thomas Whiteside


SUBHEADINGNATIONAL AFFAIRS

The Monash Stand Up Team

Trigger warning: This piece contains referenece

to sexual violence.

Sexual violence is receiving more widespread

media attention in recent times. Coverage of

Jill Meagher, the Steubenville High School

students, the Adelaide physiotherapist who

was accused of raping a patient during home

visits and the gang rape of a 23 year old Indian

student in Delhi all point towards the growing

attention sexual violence is receiving in the

community. Public reaction to these cases -

particularly the Delhi incident which caused

widespread protest - has taken the form of an

increase in campaigns and public support for

a transformation of how people view sexual

violence.

What seems clear is that the issue of

sexual assault is not going away any time soon.

The most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics

(ABS) Personal Safety, Australia Survey

(undertaken in 2005) recorded that over

100,000 Australian women and almost 45,000

men experienced an incident of sexual assault

in the 12 months prior to the survey.

The same survey found that 29.5% of

people who had experienced sexual violence in

the past 12 months were between 18-24 years

old.

It was also found that there is little to

no difference in rates of sexual violence across

socio-economic groups, indicating that it is

as prevalent in privileged – often university-

educated – communities as it is in more

disadvantaged communities. This makes the

issue directly relevant to university students.

Sexual violence statistics show rates are

not declining . Similar to the 2005 survey, the

1996 Women’s Safety Survey indicated 100,000

women had experienced sexual violence in

the 12 months prior to the study. We can only

assume rates are relatively stable for other

victims as well. Thus it is clear the structural

issues inherent in our society that cause sexual

violence have not been adequately identified or

addressed.

Recognising the need for greater public

awareness of this issue, a group of students have

launched a campaign aiming to raise awareness

and to put an end to sexual violence in our

community. Stand Up is a campaign designed

and implemented by a group of students

involved with the Environment and Social

Justice Collective at Monash University. The

official week of the campaign was held during

week ten of semester one. You might have

seen some of the posters around Monash. We

encourage you to share the images online and

talk to your friends about them.

It is often not acknowledged that the vast

majority of incidents of sexual assault occur

by somebody the victim already knows. The

stereotypical image of the man in a trench coat

waiting in the bushes doesn’t actually match up

with reality. The campaign seeks to highlight

the fact that these things happen in our

communities, at our parties and to our friends

more often than we might think, and that we

must do more to stop it from happening. We

want to raise literacy about what kinds of acts

constitute sexual violence, behaviour ranging

from sexual harassment, unwanted kissing or

sexual touching, through to sexual pressure,

coercion, or forced sexual activity, and to create

conversations around acceptable alternative

behaviours.

Instead of victim blaming, we need

to take both individual and collective

responsibility for how we interact with others

and how we as a society treat and support

survivors of sexual assault. Questions that we

often ask ourselves working on this campaign

is: would we know how to intervene if we

saw something happening? Would we be able

to confront our friends? Would we be able

to confront a stranger if we thought that the

situation was urgent? These are conversations

that we will need to start having if we are

serious about preventing sexual violence and

creating safer communities.

For counselling and support for those

who have experienced sexual violence or know

someone who has, contact CASA house http://

www.casahouse.com.au or call the Victorian

Sexual Assault Crisis Line 1800 806 292.

For counselling, support and advice on campus,

you can visit the Health & Wellbeing HUB’s

counselling service http://www.monash.

edu.au/counselling/ or contact the Safer

Community Unithttp://www.adm.monash.

edu.au/safercommunity/. Both are free and

confidential.

For more information about our campaign visit

www.stand-up.org.au

MONASH UNIVERSITY STANDS UP AGAINST SEXUAL VIOLENCE


SUBHEADING

Dear Type A’s,

As we head towards the final assessment stage of semester one it is

tempting to buy into the straight HDs hysteria. I should know, because

I normally do. However after three years of disappointment from falling

short of ‘practically perfect’ (Mary Poppin’s ain’t real people) this time

around has been different. Perhaps it is being on the verge of becoming a

sagacious post-graduate or maybe it is just because all the 21st celebrations

have finally caught up with me, but I cannot seem to muster the gut

wrenching anxiety over what I will or will not achieve. Its mysterious

disappearance is most plausibly explained by a recent tutorial discussion.

We were asked: who do we write and study for? Surely not for a two-

digit number at the end of July and December or a piece of paper and

fancy ceremony - though those silky robes do look extremely comfortable.

Completely going off stereotypical type A characteristics, if you

do not study for the grades, the envy and esteem of yours peers and family

then what for? After long nights spent with the MBA referencing system,

it is easy to over look the simple joy and privilege that is learning. Of

course good results are something to be proud of. Yet, so is any effort, no

matter the scale, that is made to learn new and different things about

yourself and the world in which we live. In retrospect, the most memorable

experiences I have had at Monash come from trying and failing and trying

again. As with most wonderful and tricky things in life, every mind-to-

word attempt will always be a ‘work in progress’. So as the blank page

starts to seem obnoxiously spartan, remember that you can only give it

your best shot and try to learn from it. More than not from falling short,

you often fall forward.

FAILING TO SUCCEED?Caitlin Sinclair

NOT A YOGA MASTER?

Amy Clyne- Activities Office Bearer

I don’t meditate, in no way am I spiritual or anything remotely close – and

I don’t even practice yoga once a week. But I want to let you in on a se-

cret. YOGA IS THE BOMB. It’s the freakin’ bomb.com. Yoga is ahead of

Australian Rules football on the list of the most popular physical activities

in the county, and looking at the pros it is easy to see why. Anxiety, depres-

sion, blood pressure and respiratory rates all decrease, while your attention,

energy, mood, sleep, and memory improve dramatically. Don’t meditate?

Fine. Not spiritual? No worries. Don’t exercise? That’s okay too. Yoga is

whatever you make it, and the MSA is making it totally free.

The MSA holds free yoga classes every day on campus, so come

along and try out for free what could be the best thing in the world for

both your study routine and yourself. Classes are for everyone, at all lev-

els, and newbies are particularly encouraged. Every time I go I feel about

10 times taller (for all you shorties out there), I have about five times less

to worry about and about a zillion times more focus. And it’s not even

hard. I still can’t even touch my toes (we’re talking mid-shin reach here)

but I can both participate and find great enjoyment in a little light yoga.

If you can’t afford a gym membership, or don’t have time for regular

exercise between work and class and study – whatever your obstacle –

starting feeling great is never easier than a light stretch with some friends

after class. We have enough yoga mats for everyone, just bring some

comfy clothes, your lovely self, and make those bodies sing!

Classes run from 5-6pm daily in Wholefoods Restaurant.


STUDENT AFFAIRS

In the wake of university funding shortcom-

ings, clubs have the potential to pick up some

slack with their diverse methods of engaging

students. The Society of Chemical Engineers,

better known as SMUCE is exemplary in

providing such an outreach. SMUCE’s activities

centre on linking students to the professional

world at large with strong industry, alumni and

academic partnerships.

SMUCE has more than a few reasons to

boast. Their awesome moose logo is a start, not

to mention the enviable office they occupy in

the engineering precinct, as well as an unpar-

alleled industry rapport. However, boasting

is certainly not something the hard-working

SMUCE committee will be found doing. Not

least of all because they are too busy working

on running a proactive academic club with an

ever-growing calendar of regular activities to

organize for members, with new ideas con-

stantly in the pipeline. For a club of fewer than

150 members, the overwhelming majority of

whom are chemical engineering students, their

presence on campus is disproportionately larger

than their membership base might suggest.

SMUCE committee members are driven

by genuine compassion for the collective plight

of students to successfully transition to life

after study. In reality, such a feat is not auto-

matic even with as taxing a degree as chemical

engineering under one’s belt. To accomplish

this objective, SMUCE reaches out to indus-

try, forging partnerships that offer returns to

students, companies and Monash University

alike. For several years, the SMUCE industry

seminar series has been gaining momentum, of-

fering students the chance to listen to and meet

representatives from diverse employers in fields

relevant to their studies. This year, a full suite

of weekly industry representatives were locked

in as far as 6-months in advance. The willing-

ness of industry representatives to engage with

students through SMUCE is evidence of the

esteem with which it is regarded by the profes-

sional world. 2013 also saw the publication of

the SMUCE careers guide.

“SMUCE committee members are driven by genu-ine compassion for the col-lective plight of students to

successfully transition to life after study. In reality, such a feat is not automatic even with as taxing a degree as

chemical engineering under one’s belt.”

The careers guide, which provides infor-

mation about transitioning into the professional

world, is an invaluable supplement to academic

life, and the pride of hardworking SMUCE

committee members who devoted their summer

to sourcing content from industry partners.

SMUCE also works closely with the

Department of Chemical Engineering. The

relatively new concept of mid-semester unit

evaluation was the brain-child of the 2009

committee. Unlike end-of-year evaluations,

mid-semester evaluations offer tangible returns

to the students reviewing the subject, since they

equate to improvements in the current term of

study. The concept has caught on so well that

SMUCE reps aren’t able to obtain feedback fast

enough to satisfy academics, who are hungry for

feedback on the quality of their teaching.

The social element of club life is not lost

on SMUCE either. A little thinking outside the

box has seen the addition of annual lawn bowls,

sustainable laboratory beer tasting, BBQ’s, the

September academic dinner (which is heavily

attended by faculty staff) and more recently a

trivia night at Sir John’s bar.

How does one club achieve such pro-

activity? Undoubtedly, this culture has been

inherited. But it continues to attract innovative

students who enjoy putting their organizational

skills to use in improving the quality of study

and career prospects for their fellow students,

while working with a team of equally motivated

individuals with support and recognition com-

ing from many levels of the university institu-

tion.

Of course, academic clubs are by no means

more relevant in supplementing the university

experience than recreational, cultural or welfare

clubs. Each offer their own valuable opportuni-

ties for students to engage with each other and

the world at large; with the advantage of uni-

versity recognition meaning clubs can benefit

from funding, venue hire and support to foster

such activities.

So, after learning a little about SMUCE,

let’s just see if their membership base continues

to be biased towards ChemEngers….

Laura Aston

29LOT’S WIFE EDITION 4 • 2013

STUDENT AFFAIRS

MSA OFFICE BEARER REPORTS

President: Freya Logan

Hi everyone, it’s coming to the time of the

year where the days are shorter but the

essay pile is getting bigger. At the MSA we

are working on a whole range of things for

students. I have been working hard to ensure

that if the proposed cuts to tertiary education

go ahead that Monash University will consult

with students and student representatives. It’s

important that you let the University know

what you think is important we will be starting

a new campaign focussed around you, the

students, telling us what you think is the most

important part of your university education.

Look out for that!

Also if things are getting a bit tough

with essays and exam prep, remember you

can always check out our Student Rights

department who are there to make sure you get

through it all.

Good luck with exams and I look forward

to seeing you all in Semester two!

Treasurer: Samantha Towler

Hi Everyone. It’s the time of semester when

exam prep and final assessments become

pretty consuming, and there just don’t seem

to be enough hours in the day. Despite these

commitments there has been an outstanding

level of activism and involvement from the

student body at the SGM and in the ‘Stop

the Cuts Campaign’. In addition to helping

run these events and campaigns, I spent a

lot of time with the Ed Pub and Women’s

department helping to run Blue Stockings

Week promoting women within higher

education, as well as the usual expenses and

signings. Best of Luck to everyone for exams –

keep going, keep studying, keep fighting!

Secretary: Ben Zocco

Hey everyone! I’m not sure whether it’s the

cold weather or the intense studying that is

keeping everyone away from Clayton, but the

campus seems quieter and quieter every day!

Your MSA is working harder than ever, with

the announcement that the federal govern-

ment intends on slashing $2.8b out of higher

education funding, which will cut universities

literally to the bone financially. I have been

assisting with office-bearers to sort out the

logistics of the campaign, and coordinated the

recent Student General Meeting where we had

more than 300 students vote against the cuts!

As always, I have spent a great deal of my time

coordinating the day-to-day management of

the MSA and working on some key projects,

including the policy review and by-elections.

Feel free to contact me if you have any ques-

tions about my work or about the MSA in

general!

Education (Academic Affairs): Ben Knight

Hey everyone! I hope you’re bracing yourself

for exam study mode. Make sure you find out

when your exams are by logging onto the Web

Enrolment System (WES), as the timetables

have been released!

By now most of you should have handed in

your last assignments for the semester. Remem-

ber, if you are unhappy with the feedback your

tutor or lecturer has given you, you have the

right to request a consultation session to go

over everything.

Recently the University announced they

will be implementing 50, $2000 scholarships

for interstate students to ease the burden of

University transition, and is also improving

access to wireless around campus – these

are more wins for students! If you have any

academic concerns that you feel the University

needs to listen to, make sure you get in contact

with me.

Make sure you stay updated on the 24-hour

library campaign, e-mail me at ben.knight@

monash.edu to get involved in the campaign;

quality education doesn’t stop at the class-

room!

Education (Public Affairs):

Sarah Christie & John Jordan

Greetings, readers! How time flies? It seems

impossible that the semester is nearly over

already! So much has been happening around

the department since the last edition that

its hard to know where to start. Ed(Pub) has

been working overtime on the campaign

against the cuts to higher education. This

involved the establishment of the Monash

Education Action Group (which any student

is encouraged to join). Actions have been

held on campus every week- involving speak

outs, marches, etc.- in order to explain the

issues for students and to encourage everyone

to get involved and to fight to protect their

education. As I write this we are going

into week 10 and the release of the federal

budget; this day will coincide with our

biggest action so far! Hopefully many of you

took the afternoon off from class to join us!

In addition to this campaign, Ed(Pub) was

involved in Blue Stockings Week, which

saw the celebration of female engagement

in higher education and the sale of those


STUDENT AFFAIRS

infamous cupcakes! Additionally, we have

been working closely with the Ed (Ac) Officer

to secure 24 hour-libraries on campus during

exam cupcakes! Additionally, we have been

working closely with the Ed (Ac) Officer to

secure 24 hour-libraries on campus during exam

time. Furthermore, our Student Representative

Network has been working hard to develop

the skills to be a successful activist! If you

would like to get involved or want any more

information please email us at msa-education@

monash.edu. Best of luck with exams and we

hope to see you next semester!National Day

of Action against those cuts. For information

on how you can get involved in these efforts,

email [email protected]

Environment & Social Justice: Rory Knight & Tamara VekichHa, ha, ha! Hey, hey, hey! Hee, hee, hee!

Ho, ho, ho! Huh, huh, huh! Wah hoo!

Male Queer: Asher Cameron Queer Week was an incomparable success!

I would like to warmly thank all those who

attended any of the events during the week for

their support and energy that helped Cam and

I through everything. The Sex and Gender

diversity panel attracted over 45 attendees, and

has been recorded for people who were unable

to attend the session, and Queer Ball sold over

100 tickets, a first for the event.

Right now we’re preparing for the Queer

Collaborations conference (July 8-14) which is

being held in Sydney and we are currently sub-

sidising 26 delegates from Monash Clayton to

attend, a record number from a single campus

of a university. We have a few more potential

spots open for anyone interested in attending

the conference, but places are limited.

The next big thing is the Queer Lounge

renovation, happening during the semester

break. Come back in 2nd semester and see the

amazing changes!!!

Female Queer: Cam PeterThe Monash Queer Department ran an

exciting queer week – jam packed with exciting

events, workshops and capped off with the

amazing Queer Ball – Nautical at Sir John’s

Bar. It was an exciting, shenanigan-fuelled

night and that set records for attendance and

rowdiness. The week and the ball have set new

standards and a goal for what Queer Week

aspires to achieve and the amount of queer and

ally students we aim to engage with.

The Queer Department are continuing

their fundraising efforts later in the semester

with our #procrastibake sale that will take

place later in Week 12. An abundance of

vegan, gluten free and delicious bake goods will

be on offer to raise money for our contingent

to annual conference, Queer Collaborations in

Sydney. We hope to see you there!

Welfare: Alexandra BryantHi all, Getting to the end of first semester now,

hopefully the assignments haven’t completely

crushed you spirit. If you are ever feeling

stressed and need a talk feel free to drop by.

Also don’t forget if you haven’t got the time to

cook on Monday nights in semester you can get

a free dinner in Wholefoods at 7:30pm.

Otherwise I’ve been getting on with the

Cookbook and getting signatures for the NUS

Welfare ‘Support a Student, Support Our Fu-

ture’ Campaign, hopefully you got a chance to

sign and if not you still can until May 29th just

stop by the MSA reception desk.

Finally good luck for your exams, and enjoy

your break.

Women’s Department: Adria Castellucci & Sally-Anne JovicThe Women’s Department is currently wrap-

ping up this semester’s activities and getting

ready to start new projects for next semester!

We’re currently getting closer to our Women’s

Room refurbishment, meaning that the space

will be slick and shiny for next semester, as well

as trying to finish off our current campaign such

as getting Trigger Warnings in course content.

We’re also preparing for Network of Women

Students Australia (NOWSA) Conference,

open to all female students, a great opportunity

to meet talk with other women about what is

important to our lives! If any of this sounds in-

teresting, shoot us an email at: msa-womens@

monash.edu

Activities: Amy ClyneExams. Can’t wait til they’re over?

Neither can we. Because we are sure

that this year’s After Exams Party will most

definitely blow your minds, or what’s left of

them following the exam period. We have a

new venue, amazing drink specials and surprises

galore to give all Monash Clayton students the

best possible start to a well-earned break.

Grab your ticket before they are all gone

at MSA reception or any of the MESS, SAS,

Biomed or MSS offices.

Upon return in Semester 2, be ready to

fight for the glory of your faculty in the Monash

Clayton

Campus Games. Capture the flag, condi-

ment twister, dodgeball – your faculty needs

YOU for all these fun events and more, so

let’s REPRESENT (Woo! Go Arts!). Held in

Week 2, the fun won’t stop at sundown with a

different party held on every night of the week

of Campus Games: Monday – Sir John’s Bar

Night, Tuesday – Brazilian Carnival, Wednes-

day –Trivia Night, Thursday – Faculty Nott

Night

Stay up to date by liking the MSA

Facebook page, or simply talk to your faculty

societies for more info.

Campus Games. May the odds be forever

in your favour.


SCIENCE

SCIENCE LESSONS FROM…

Christopher Pase

PHILIP K. DICKPhilip K. Dick’s short stories have been turned

into some of Hollywood’s greatest sci-fi films;

Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report and

The Adjustment Bureau to name but a few. In

Blade Runner android ‘replicants’ of humans are

commonplace in a futuristic Los Angeles. This

world might not be as far away as you would

think. Robots can now play soccer, navigate

obstacle courses and mimic a range of human

movements. Furthermore, the Pentagon is well

underway in developing an android soldier to

replace human troops on the frontline. The

ability to copy human expressions already

exists, with androids rapidly becoming more

and more lifelike.

While lifelike in appearance, these

androids are far from thinking and expressing

emotion on their own accord. Some of Dick’s

replicants were unaware they were robots,

programmed with human memories and even

able to love one another. Dick questioned

what it meant to be human. What set us apart

from these replicants? He blurred the line

between human and android with their ability

to care for one another, and I’m sure he had

loftier dreams for androids than fully replacing

brothel workers by 2050. While this current

conjecture may rid the sex trade of many of its

dangers and traps, it’s crude to think the media

seems to enjoy talking about android brothels

as much as android applications to medicine

or more common day-to-day services. Given

Dick’s ability to make robots human, let’s hope

that android technology progresses beyond the

grime of the sex trade.

Some of Dick’s characters are unaware

they are androids or that their memories

have been wiped and they’re living another

life. It’s a recurring theme in his stories, the

main characters with little control over who

they are or what they are able to do. Arnold

Schwarzenegger’s character in Total Recall

learnt that he was leading a second life, his

memory wiped and a new one inserted to hide

his life as a secret agent. Today, there are pills

with the ability to remove certain memories.

While they have only been tested - and proven

- on rats, the pills removed one memory whilst

leaving all others intact. This has valuable

application for sufferers of Post-Traumatic

Stress Disorder, with one pill able to remove

haunting images and suffering at the hands of

stress and anxiety. There are obvious ethical

questions about the use and misuse of these

pills, but the chance to live a life free of great

trauma must be a tantalising prospect for

sufferers.

Dick was a great visionary, and many

of his dreams may just come true in the near

future. This author can only hope he is not

subjected to an Adjustment Bureau style

hijacking of his life, or a memory wipe and

a false life. For all I know, I may have always

been a replicant. I may have no idea that all my

memories have been implanted by an engineer.

It’s a short way off, but it’s still a scary thought

that in the future we may not be able to tell

the difference between human and android,

between a new life and our old one.


Kevin Pimbblet- Senior Lecturer in Physics at Monash University

Amateur astronomers in Russia made a discovery recently any profes-

sional would envy – it seems they may have identified the remnants

of the ill-fated Soviet Mars 3 lander, 30 years after it lost contact with

Earth.

Photos taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment

(HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) in

2007 show what appears to be the parachute, heat shield, and retrorock-

et of the Mars 3 lander.

But finding objects as small as an 11-metre-wide parachute on

the surface of Mars takes a lot of work, especially as the most promising

photo contains 1.2 billion pixels and requires 2,500 computer screens to

view the entire image at full resolution.

The possible Mars 3 lander hardware was found by a group of Rus-

sian citizen enthusiasts. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

This is the most recent example of how citizen science is blossom-

ing – and getting results – within the field of astronomy.

There is a wealth of amateurs who pursue backyard observations as

a hobby and their efforts make headlines worldwide.

Some have historically contributed to science by finding comets,

tracking asteroids, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)

program, and monitoring stars.

One of the most visible citizen-science projects in astronomy and

astrophysics is the “Zooniverse” which invites members of the public to

analyse data ranging from determining the shape of galaxies to trying to

detect if any planets outside our solar system orbit stars.

The Galaxy ZooThe Zooniverse project grew out of the Galaxy Zoo project which was

set up to determine the shape, or morphology, of galaxies.

Galaxy shape is a useful visual indicator to professional astronomers

about the state of the galaxy and the physical processes which may be

going on inside it.

While there are many types of galaxy shapes, bright galaxies usually

fall into one of three categories: spiral, elliptical or irregular.

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey, an internationally funded project to

map the sky, photographed and mapped more than 930,000 galaxies over

eight years.

Faced with an overwhelming amount of data to sift through, as-

tronomers conceived of the Galaxy Zoo idea to ask the general public for

help to look through all the data and classify the shapes of galaxies.

Since this requires little background knowledge, any member of the

public can help so long as they have an internet connection.

Using a simple, clickable interface, users can say whether galaxies

are rounded, have spiral arms, have any unusual or distinguishing fea-

tures, or whether they want to discuss the objects in more detail.

This is especially important in a data-rich field like astronomy:

users can sometimes be the first human being to actually look at a galaxy

since most of the processing of the images they examine have been done

by computers.

Getting the numbers upFor all the excellent work done by the general public, there will

still be disagreement about the exact classification of galaxy shapes – and

this, fundamentally, raises questions about data integrity.

This is why the Galaxy Zoo project aims to have at least 20 people

attempt to classify each galaxy.

To use the data in professional research, astronomers have to look

for disagreements between members of the general public.

Taking a threshold level is one way to solve the problem. If, say,

80% of respondents say a galaxy is a particular shape, that is a reasonable

way forward and is perfectly suitable for some analysis purposes.

The cost of this may be that there is a high number of “unclassi-

fied” galaxies where there is large disagreement, perhaps caused by very

few individuals having looked at a galaxy.

And the results are …There have been a healthy number of scientific publications arising

from the Galaxy Zoo project team, including the relationship between

galaxy colour and environment and studies of highly unusual objects

such as “Hanny’s Voorwerp” – a possible light echo from quasars (the

brightest objects in the known universe).

In my own research, we recently used data from Galaxy Zoo to ex-

plore the connection between galaxy morphology, galaxy mass, and the

likelihood of hosting an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) in a massive

cluster of galaxies – a collection of gravitationally bound galaxies and

one of the most extreme “environments” in which a galaxy can live.

We used the data to explain an earlier result that red and passive

spiral galaxies are, in the majority, also massive and similar in nature to

most of the massive elliptically shaped cluster galaxies.

We then inferred that the life cycle of high and low mass cluster

galaxies are markedly different.

But we wouldn’t have been able to make these conclusions without

the citizen scientists who classified the bulk of the data for us – some-

thing for which we are extremely appreciative.

And who knows? As shown by the Russian amateur astronomers

sifting through NASA’s high-resolution photos, the next big astronomy

discovery could be made by you.

This piece originally appeared on The Conversation

(www.theconversation.edu.au)

ACROSS THE ZOONIVERSE: KEEPING AN EYE ON CITIZEN ASTRONOMY


ACROSS THE ZOONIVERSE:

Jeremy Hunter might not be a familiar name, but if you’ve been following

the Triple J hitlist at all you will have heard him harmonising with the

Inland Sea. The band itself was garnering a fair amount of critical success

themselves, so the thing I was most curious about when I interviewed

him was why he had taken leave from them to record a solo EP. It turns

out that it’s not the ever-feared blue between band members that has led

him to turn away. For some reason, I could only ever picture him smiling

genuinely throughout our chat: “What happened is we kind of just called

it an indefinite hiatus. We went to the UK and we played some awesome

shows and it felt like the peak of our career because we all felt really good

about it but we came back and it was kind of like, we’ve got to get back

on the road, We’ve got to record another thing and just because of the

way, I don’t know, how small the music industry is in Australia and like,

how big the band was, it just wasn’t financially viable, and it just took so

much energy ...” Hunter makes it clear to me that he’s still in love with

the band and giving that up was, in his words, “quite sad”.

So it’s on to new stuff, and this time Hunter’s been taking it all on

himself in the recording studios. After having played in numerous bands,

it’s all him playing the keys, drums, and various guitars on his latest

venture. “I’ve always written too many songs for whatever band I’m in.

There’s always songs that don’t fit … and it was just kind of an opportune

time [now that Inland Sea had reached its hiatus] to have a crack at that.”

So he tells me that he’s let go of the reins in a large way, but it’s still co-

hesive. Having developed as an artist with Inland Sea and influenced by

a mass of other great music out there, I was curious as to whether he was

wary of these influences carrying over from these areas. “I wasn’t inten-

tionally trying to divorce my sound from Inland Sea. If anything, like, the

three years or so in Inland Sea just kind of taught me a whole bunch of

awesome tricks when you’re writing songs, when you’re arranging songs,

you know, like when you’re sitting there with ten people trying to figure

out where the violin part fits in and the cello part fits in, you know, how

complex you can make other parts and just try to hold it all together …

you learn a couple of things. So I kind of just took what I learned from

Inland Sea and put it into this new thing.”

As a result, his EP is a bit bluesy, a bit more rock, and still a bit

folksy. Still he tells me that he’s not really conscious of influences when

he writes. “If you write something and you really really fucking love it,

and then someone goes, ‘Oh, you know that melody sounds like a Pearl

Jam song’, it’s just like, do you really want to give up this thing that you

love just because someone’s done it before? Because you’re doing it your

way and your way is completely unique even though it might share some

similarities with something.” Creative control has been an important

thing that Hunter’s been able to grasp in his solitary efforts. “That was a

conscious thing in making the solo project. It’s like, alright, finally I’m

going to do this and it’s going to be mine, and I’m just gonna tell people

what I want from them, and you know, just don’t be a dickhead about it.

You just be nice and diplomatic and you get the sound that you want and

you feel good about it at the end.”

As he’s a budding solo artist, I had to ask about image control as

well. This was met with an instant, but uncondescending laugh. Still,

I felt the need to defend the question before he could answer. It is

important to a lot of bands, and is unfortunately a bit of a weakness in

Australia; the Aussies tend to be rather laid back or contemptuous about

their band image. I know it’s about the music, but Britain seems to have it

really well set up, where they come up with the music and then they go,

‘Alright, now we’ve got to pay attention to the kind of image we want.’

It’s not exactly about fitting into a mode, but more about having an exact

presence. It turns out that Hunter could identify with this. “That’s one

of the things I like to think about a lot, but I still haven’t come up with

the answer to it because it’s really complex, cos there’s that whole idea of

authenticity. There’s this interview online with Jack White and Conan

O’Brien which is really interesting. At one point they address it and Jack

White says, ‘Authenticity is a trap’, you know, because you’ve got to put

an image out there and no matter what the image is, people are going to

have an image of you and you might as well make it the way you want to

be portrayed … I guess I’m still trying to work out the whole image thing

…” For now, it’s restricted to a monotone-blue image of him smiling on

his album cover. It’s kind of refreshing to see someone smiling on a cover

again. It feels like it’s been a while.

David Nowak

AN INTERVIEW WITH ...

JEREMY HUNTER


SUBHEADING

An adorer of synthesisers, 22-year-old Brooke Addamo, aka Owl Eyes, has

taken the musical style of indie pop in a direction of her own. Her stage

name itself is a metaphor for how she describes her music; simultaneously

encompassing light and dark shades, acknowledging the tranquil and,

paradoxically, sinister nature of owls, stating that her sound is essentially

“pop, but with some mysteriousness behind it”. This “mysteriousness” is

found in her juxtaposition of acoustics and electronic instrumentation,

heard through the incorporation of synths and an interplay of both acous-

tic drums and drum machines. A thickly layered record, her debut album

Nightswim was released on April 19 and will be supported by a series of

headline tours throughout Australia, commencing in early May.

Five years after being a finalist on Australian Idol, Brooke Addamo has

released a total of four records, including her 2012 EP Crystallised and,

most recently, her debut album Nightswim. Throughout her musical

career as Owl Eyes, Brooke has been featured twice in Triple J’s Hottest

100 and has worked closely alongside ARIA award winning producer

Styalz Fuego. When interviewed, Brooke is humble and sweet, enthusing

that she is “still pretty much the same person” she always was. Grow-

ing up, Stevie Nicks and Ella Fitzgerald were the catalysts for Brooke’s

aspirations. She was 12 when she started singing and 15 when she wrote

her first song. Her debut album Nightswim is Brooke’s “coming of age

record, a document of where I am at currently”. Nightswim explores

youth, yearning, self-realisation and development: universal themes that

are addressed through raw vocals and edgy instrumentals. Her music has

been labelled by critics as synth-pop, indie-pop, indie-rock, dream-pop

and most appropriately indietronica – a sub-genre encompassing both

indie pop and electronica. Subjectively, Brooke concurs with each of

these definitions, hoping that her pop music also “holds some intelligence

behind it”. This intelligence is manifested through the multi-layered

production of her record. With various experimentations in 80s synth-

pop, post-dubstep and acoustic balladry, Brooke is diversifying her sound.

Somewhere between Grimes and Bat for Lashes, Brooke’s vocals are raw,

dreamy and melodic. Her voice is soothing, a quality that she makes

interesting by adding darker and more agressive elements of electronica.

While she courts her listeners with blissful harmonies and sweet and sim-

ple lyricism, her instrumentals heighten and bring a certain dynamic to

her record. The man responsible for this solid production is Styalz Fuego,

winner of last year’s ARIA award for Producer of the Year. Acknowledged

by Brooke as her “big mentor”, Styalz has made a prominent impact on

the young singer-songwriter. Brooke also pinpoints various other influ-

ences on her record, including UK beat makers Jamie xx, SBTRKT and

Mount Kimbie, each of whom feature in Brooke’s collaboration fantasies.

When asked which song off Nightswim resonates most deeply with her,

Brooke is quick to answer “Saltwater”. She finds it the most honest and

sincere of all her tracks, adding excitedly that she adores the “synth-

breakdown” that comes at the conclusion of the song. When describing

her most memorable experiences as an artist, Brooke enthuses that she

loves nothing more than hearing her music out in the world, especially

when people sing it back to her. She has plans to take her music overseas

by the end of the year, highlighting the US as a desirable destination for

the writing process of her next potential EP. She is currently in the midst

of her Australian Nightswim tour and will be concluding this with a show

at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne on June 1.

Dina Amin

FIFTEEN MINUTES WITH OWL EYES


SUBHEADING

Verity Thornton

As exams and major assessments close in on us, we are starting to realise

just how much time we have wasted this semester. But this article isn’t

about feeling better about procrastinating. This article should make you

realise how much potential you are wasting. Tough love. Let’s start with

an easy riddle: what do Bob Dylan, Dr Martin Luther King Jr and the

Velvet Revolution have in common?

They were all influenced by Joan Baez. With more than 55 years of

performance behind her, Joan Baez has been attributed as the person who

introduced Bob Dylan to the world. And I bet many of you are struggling

to pronounce her name (“buy-yes”, not “bay-ez”).

The musician got her start in Boston, performing in folk festivals

in and around Massachusetts. In 1959, following the release of her debut

album, she performed in the first Newport Folk Festival. Four years later

Baez returned to the festival with two gold albums and a TIME magazine

cover under her belt, and a then-unknown Bob Dylan.

Dylan and Baez’ relationship was one of the most famous of the

time; she encouraged him to perform alongside her (much to the disgust

of many of her fans), launching his career. Their relationship was the

inspiration for one of her most famous albums, Diamonds and Rust.

Baez, like Dylan, was known for her strong beliefs and commitment

to human rights. She marched alongside Dr Martin Luther King Jr, was

caught in the North Vietnam Christmas bombings of Hanoi, and in 1993

was the first major artist to perform in Sarajevo following the Yugoslav

civil war.

Baez has also been credited with protecting the freedom of Václav

Havel, stopping government agents from arresting him during her 1989

tour. Havel was later voted in as (the last) president, and has said she was

a major inspiration and influence for the country’s peaceful revolution.

If that wasn’t enough to make you feel inadequate (and it should),

Baez has 24 studio albums to her name (compilations and live albums put

this figure past 50), has an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, France’s

highest medal (Ordre national de la Legion d’honneur) and was instru-

mental in founding the American chapter of Amnesty International.

At 72, she is still playing sold out shows around the world, including

Glastonbury and Montreux.

After 25 years, Joan Baez will be gracing Australia with her presence

once again. Baez is performing in six cities over two and a half weeks.

Both of her Melbourne performances are almost guaranteed to sell out.

Baez will be showcasing her most recent album, Day After Tomor-

row: a collection of her original writing and new interpretations of

other artists, including Tom Waits and T Bone Burnett. She will also be

performing some of her well-known classics and covers.

Joining her on tour is her son Gabriel Harris on drums, and Dirk

Powell on keyboard and strings. Powell is a successful solo musician best

known for his expertise in Appalachian fiddle and banjo styles. He has

also collaborated with several artists, including Jack White, Sting and

Jewel. Harris has been playing percussion for more than 30 years, and has

previously performed with The Indigo Girls, Grateful Dead and Carlos

Santana.

Are you feeling insecure yet? Well, the good news is it’s never too

late to make a change. It’s amazing how much you can get done when you

log out of Facebook. And if you need some second semester motivation,

Joan Baez will be performing at Hamer Hall Thursday 8th and Friday

9th August. Tickets can be bought through the Arts Centre Melbourne

website.

FIFTY YEARS OF JOAN BAEZ


MUSIC

Now, I understand that OneRepublic

make pop music. It’s not supposed

to be groundbreaking or progressive;

it’s merely there to sit in the background while people go on about their

everyday activities. That being said, OneRepublic’s new album, Native, is

absolute fucking garbage.

‘Counting Stars’ (One of the singles) opens up the album with

Ryan Tedder’s voice and an acoustic guitar; I’ll admit it was a promising

start but a few seconds pass and... you can easily hear this song having a

dubstep remix applied to it and it would most definitely work. In fact a

lot of the songs that follow would work very well in a club like scene.

Basically ‘Counting Stars’ sets the tone/song structure/mood for ev-

ery other song on the album. It almost felt like each song was a re-write

of the preceding song, as if the songs were written for the pure purpose of

achieving single status, or stabbing in the dark so to speak.

The song formulas always follow the same structure: Quiet Verse

-Loud Chorus - Repeat Chorus- Repeat Verse 1 - Chorus - Repeat

Chorus ‘till the song finishes. The songs themselves never evolve into

anything besides the main riff or a lonesome kick drum: It’s faceless and

soulless dribble.

The overall tone to the album is intended to be very positive,

optimistic and uplifting, you know:

‘Something bad happens! Never Fear! Something Good Will Hap-

pen! Love conquers all!’

The topics are very safe; never breaking away from love, heart-

break, and the need of someone to hold. After 3 or 4 songs the album

gets extremely repetitive.

The album production itself gets to be draining after a while too.

The heavy reliance on synthesizers to fill in empty spaces make the songs

really tacky.

But, there is one song, ‘Au Revoir’, which actually uses the synths

and strings effectively by coating and enhancing the character of other

instruments rather than swallowing them and taking over. Sadly, this

song too falls flat on its face through lack of evolution. It harkens back to

their big single ‘Apologize’.

‘Light It Up’ is the most bad-ass song on the album. It has a Beat-

les/Zeppelin feel to it. Although it follows the cliché ‘Love is a Drug’

theme, it is still the stand out track; the one song that wasn’t trying to be

a hit single turned out to be the best.

‘Preacher’ was the weakest song. Take the chorus: “When I was

a kid my grandfather was a preacher/Yeah he’d talk about God, he was

something of a teacher”

Drenched in auto-tune, it’s just a lame attempt at appealing to

religious folk.

Obviously, OneRepublic are going through that ‘Technicolour’

image and sound phase, much like Coldplay, but have simply churned

out watered-down, cliché-infested shit. Perfect for fans of Maroon 5 and

to anyone who feels The Killers are way too hardcore. I can only imagine

the band being in a room with their record company, noting down popu-

lar production techniques amongst mainstream ‘Indie’ bands, watering it

down and producing Native.

My favourite line that sums up OneRepublic: ‘I don’t think the

world is sold; I’m just doing what we’re told.’ You said it Ryan...you said

it.

Grammy award winner Justin

Vernon of Bon Iver delves deep

into the blues on The Shouting

Matches’ latest offering, Grownass

Man. A rough and ready blues

burner of an album, Grownass Man

is subtly refined by an injection of pure soul and capped off with a thin

layer of country twang.

Vernon, alongside fellow Grownass band members Phil Cook

and Brian Moen, played a single show back in 2006 as The Shouting

Matches, predating Vernon’s success with Bon Iver. It’s taken seven

years for the trio to reunite in their hometown, Eau Claire, Wisconsin,

and it’s clear that Vernon has gone back to his roots both physically and

musically.

Opening track ‘Avery Hill’ bounces along on a pleasantly fuzzy

rock n roll riff and sees Vernon kick off his shoes and get comfortable on

blues territory.

Vernon and the gang hold steady for the majority of the album,

dropping catchy blues riffs and chorus hooks on ‘Seven Sisters’, and

ambling soul grooves on ‘New Theme’.

However ‘Heaven Knows’ is the stand out track; a muddy and

distorted Vernon howls over an incredibly tight Moer on the tubs, before

unleashing the delta blues via a crunchy guitar assault and wailing har-

monica. The momentum continues on ‘Mother When?’; a soul infused

REVIEWSONEREPUBLICNativeNigel Winterman

THE SHOUTING MATCHESGrownass ManNick Reid


MUSIC

Separation Sunday is anything but an easy-listening album. When

you’re faced with the decision of whether or not to listen to it, tread

carefully. If you do, be prepared to be slung face first into an aural

and psychological journey that’ll leave your brain hemorrhaging with

admiration and confusion. At best, listen to it alone and learn to love

it. Don’t bother convincing your friends to like it; I’ve been doing

that since I first heard it, and am still waiting for someone to agree.

That being said, it’s undeniable that Craig Finn is a lyrical ge-

nius, and he is accompanied by a group of equally talented musicians.

As a band, they are tighter than those Bonds undies that come in an

array of crazy colour combinations, and their music screams for atten-

tion. Their second album, Separation Sunday, is an artwork EVERY-

ONE should familiarize themselves with.

On the one hand, the album follows the story of Hallelujah, a

teenage sometimes-Christian and her interactions with a vast array of

drugs and shady characters like Charlemagne (a pimp) and Gideon:

“Holly wore a cross to ward them off/she said if they think you’re a

Christian then they wont bring in the dogs”.

Finn uses his wickedly descriptive writing to narrate various

scenes that few could relate to: “I was waiting for my ride and I got

jumped from behind, I got punctured/ I got stopped by the cops and

they found it in my socks and I got probed.”.

On top of that, there’s the overwhelming use of literary tech-

niques, such as the assonance in “Holly wore a string around her

finger/ she says it helps her to remember, all the nights that we got

over / and besides, it ties her outfit all together” that you’ll probably

notice on your third listen (if you bother).

And, just in case the mix of storytelling narrative and complex

literature hasn’t already blended your brain into a thick soup, then

Finn sprinkles it all with some biblical imagery; “ I guess I heard

about original sin, I heard the dude blamed the chick I heard the

chick blamed the snake/And I heard they were naked when they got

busted, and I heard things ain’t been the same since”.

But, none of it would work if it weren’t for the union of the

band. The combination of Finn’s voice (that sounds as if he was

being spat out by a drunk skater who just got punched in the lip),

the distorted guitar and thundering bass and drums suit the lyrics

perfectly. It all comes together in a huge blues/punk/doo wop fusion

that makes you wonder whether any of the songs were rehearsed, or

are just improvised.

FLASHBACK: SEPARATION SUNDAYby THE HOLD STEADY

blues roller that just keeps rolling and sees Vernon’s vocal delivery

parallel some of the blues greats.

‘I Need A Change’ closes the album on a quieter note. A slow

burning blues jam is drenched in soul and swagger, but is still endearingly

vulnerable.

Vernon once again demonstrates his musical versatility alongside

his fellow Grownass band members Phil Cook and Brian Moen. Howev-

er this is no side project. With speculation Vernon is winding down Bon

Iver indefinitely, we could be seeing more of The Shouting Matches in

the future.

Grownass Man is the culmination of everything Vernon, Cook and

Moen love about the blues, rock n roll and soul. It draws together the

rawness of the delta blues, slickness of city blues, polished off with soulful

emotion and a rock n roll demeanor.

Steven M. Voser

Interested in going to gigs or hearing albums before

anyone else?Lot’s Wife receives regular press passes and information about

upcoming music, film, performing arts and other events.

Join our Lot’s Wife Contributors page on Facebook for regular offers in exchange for reviews.


FILM & TV

The Place Beyond The PinesRelease Date: 9 MayDirector: Derek CianfranceWriters: Derek Cianfrance, Ben Coccio & Darius MarderCast: Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Ray Liotta

A motorcycle stunt driver begins robbing banks to support his lover and

their newborn child, which inevitably sees him collide with a tenacious

cop operating in a department controlled by a corrupt detective. The

plot is intriguing enough, but if nothing else, this movie is worth seeing

because Academy Award nominees Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper

are at the top of their games. It is evident that Ryan Gosling is one

of the finest actors of his generation; and with Silver Linings Playbook,

Bradley Cooper has stepped up his game and proved that he too deserves

a solid reputation. This movie seems to revolve around Gosling more,

however, which is a cause for celebration. Director Derek Cianfrance

collaborated with Gosling in the critically acclaimed Blue Valentine and

from the outset, The Place Beyond the Pines is almost like the first cousin

of Drive – just switch his car with a motorcycle. The signs are promising.

Star Trek Into DarknessRelease Date: 9 MayDirector: J.J. AbramsWriters: Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof & Roberto OrciCast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zoe Saldana

Star Trek Into Darkness has largely been hyped around Benedict Cum-

berbatch’s mysterious character, John Harrison, a villain who attacks

Starfleet and leaves Earth in chaos. Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) and

Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto) lead the Enterprise and the exhil-

arating manhunt to track down John Harrison. Adding Star Wars Episode

VII to his directorial belt, the king of sci-fi epics, J.J. Abrams, returns to

the helm for this sequel. Trekkies have long protested against Abrams’

directorial vision, as he defies canonical conventions that stem from

the franchise’s rich 47 year history. Cue jokes about Abrams’ signature

lens-flare style circa 2009, but the American director enjoys citing Star

Trek’s tagline in interviews when questioned about his venture away

from the recognised canonical form – he boldly goes where no man has

gone before. It truly seems that Abrams is on his way to becoming an

esteemed modern auteur and Star Trek Into Darkness might just cement

his distinguished position.

The Great GatsbyRelease Date: 30 MayDirector: Baz LuhrmannWriters: Baz Luhrmann & Craig PearceCast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton

Upon reading F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel about the disillusionment of the

Jazz Age, who here thought adapting it into a 3D movie with a Jay-Z-

produced soundtrack sounded like a good idea? Well, Baz Luhrmann cer-

tainly did. The film features Leonardo DiCaprio as the enigmatic Gatsby

himself, who pines after the girl of his dreams, Daisy (Carey Mulligan).

Tobey Maguire stars alongside as narrator Nick Carraway, who eventu-

ally becomes lured into Gatsby’s lavish, deceitful world. Luhrmann has

never shied away from re-appropriating historical dramas with audacious

modern music too – think Moulin Rouge’s ‘Lady Marmalade’. Featuring

musical heavyweights like Beyonce and Florence + the Machine, The

Great Gatsby soundtrack alone already has critics claiming it to be

“bold” and “edgy”. In terms of visual style alone, The Great Gatsby is

a considerable departure from Luhrmann’s last film, the long-winded

historical romance Australia. It is as though Luhrmann is drawing from

the aesthetics of Moulin Rouge, perhaps attempting to return to his past

commercial success. The extravagant sets and dazzling costumes of The

Great Gatsby are bound to impress, but it would be interesting to see if

there is any substance underneath all that shiny style.

Ghian Tjandaputra & Patricia Tobin

WINTER MOVIE GUIDE


FILM & TV

Before MidnightRelease: 20 JuneDirector: Richard LinklaterWriters: Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke & Richard LinklaterCast: Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke

The final installment to the exquisite Before romance trilogy, Before

Midnight is definitely one to look out for. Nine years has past since

audiences last saw Celine (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke) spend

a day together in Paris. The star-crossed lovers have finally committed as

a couple, and are spending a family holiday on a Greek island with their

kids (!!!). Before Midnight tackles the subject of long-term love between

two soul-mates, exposing cracks and tension within a marriage. Through

the expert direction of Richard Linklater, the tender representation of

romance in the Before trilogy is highly riveting. The endearing duo of

Delpy and Hawke are sure to please and break hearts at the same time;

their engaging banter always draws the audience in. Before Midnight is

bound to be an intricate and charming piece of film.

Man of SteelRelease Date: 27 JuneDirector: Zack SnyderWriters: David S. GoyerCast: Henry Cavill, Michael Shannon, Amy Adams, Russell Crowe

Another iconic superhero returns to the big screen, this time helmed by

director Zack Snyder. After the game-changing The Dark Knight trilogy,

it is not entirely unreasonable to wish Christopher Nolan would direct

every single superhero movie ever made until the end of time. Tragically,

this will not happen. However, Nolan does get his hands on this movie

as a producer so it will be interesting to see what sort of influence he will

bring to the movie. There is already one known aspect of the film where

his influence will certainly be felt: the music is composed by Nolan fa-

vorite Hans Zimmer. Henry Cavill, who plays the titular character, seems

to look the part, and the supporting cast line-up is solid. In the brilliant

Michael Shannon, the movie has one of the most underrated actors in

cinema today. Director Zack Snyder’s previous works, which include the

weak Sucker Punch, the forgettable Quantum of Solace and the overblown

300, are indeed causes for concern, but here’s hoping Nolan’s touch of

brilliance will bring Man of Steel closer to Snyder’s excellent previous

work, Watchmen.

Kick-Ass 2Release Date: 4 JulyDirector: Jeff WadlowWriter: Jeff WadlowCast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jim Carrey

Following 2010’s excellent action-comedy Kick-Ass, this film marks the

return of self-made masked crusader, Kick-Ass (Aaron Johnson). Jim

Carrey stars as the manic Colonel Stars and Stripes, leader of an amateur

crime-fighting group. No longer a foul-mouthed child, but now a foul-

mouthed teenager, Hit Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) battles high-school

problems of her own. Meanwhile, Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse)

plots an act of revenge that is sure to turn everyone’s world upside down.

Kick-Ass 2 does face certain reluctance from fans, especially with the

departure of Nicholas Cage’s character, Big Daddy, in the first film. Nev-

ertheless, Kick-Ass 2 will be heavily relying on Carrey’s star power and

the return of Hit Girl, the role that catapulted Moretz to fame. Besides,

it would also be fun to see some wickedly outrageous violence that could

make Tarantino blush.

Only God ForgivesRelease Date: 18 JulyDirector: Nicolas Winding RefnWriter: Nicolas Winding RefnCast: Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas

To truly appreciate this movie’s context, watch Drive. This movie is not

a sequel to Drive, but Only God Forgives is the anticipated follow-up of

the deadly collaboration between Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn

and its star Ryan Gosling, supported again by the brilliant composer

Cliff Martinez. Drive seems to have inspired a legion of cult followers of

the brand, which combines impossible brute force with an intense level

of dramatic depth. This time, though, a distinct character will comple-

ment that experience: Bangkok. It can be the wildcard that makes Only

God Forgives distinguished enough from Drive to avoid the sense that

this movie will feel redundant. In this movie, Ryan Gosling’s character,

Julian, under the instruction of his mother (Kristin Scott Thomas) - a

head of a powerful criminal organization herself - is set out to avenge his

brother’s death to those who are responsible – members of the Bangkok

criminal underworld. Only God Forgives has all the ingredients to be a

powerful experience.


FILM & TV

The Bling RingRelease Date: 22 AugustDirector: Sofia CoppolaWriter: Sofia CoppolaCast: Katie Chang, Israel Broussard, Emma Watson

There are several reasons to look forward to The Bling Ring, but the most

obvious one is Emma Watson. In this movie, she looks set to unleash

herself from the smart, independent, no-nonsense image that is assigned

to her ever since Harry Potter. She stepped out from her comfort zone

in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, but this movie seems to be almost the

exact opposite of her comfort zone. Another reason to look forward to

The Bling Ring is Sofia Coppola. She has the talent of looking at subject

matters that articulate important aspects of the human condition so mas-

terfully. In Lost in Translation, she looks at how we consistently attempt

to find the ever-elusive directions in life. In The Virgin Suicides, she looks

at how some things that are so beautiful can turn out so tragic. Both

movies leave a distinct lingering feeling that will occupy your mind and

heart after the initial experience. The Bling Ring will ask questions about

our obsession with fame, and at its core, attention, and the lengths we

will go to satisfy that almost primordial need. It is especially relevant for

our generation and it is a safe bet that Sofia Coppola will deliver.

From Holly Golightly’s quintessential black dress in Breakfast at Tiffany’s

to Batman’s hi-tech superhero suit in The Dark Knight Rises, classic Holly-

wood characters often come with iconic costumes that are unforgettable.

Direct from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, ACMI

will be presenting Hollywood Costume as part of their Melbourne Winter

Masterpieces series from 24 April to 18 August.

Hollywood Costume would showcase the art of costume design in

magnificent detail, while exploring the central role costume design plays

in cinematic storytelling. A character’s clothing can speak volumes,

whether it’s Dorothy’s baby blue gingham dress in The Wizard of Oz, sharp

suits donned by James Bond in Casino Royale, or Rose’s stunning gowns

in Titanic. These famous costumes are not only aesthetically pleasing, but

they give audiences an insight into a character’s personality, set the mood

for an entire film and occasionally become a landmark piece for a fashion

or costume designer.

In conjunction with this exhibition, ACMI is screening films,

providing workshops, panels and free late night entertainment as well.

Film programs include the musical Les Girls and Breakfast At Tiffany’s,

and guided tours with distinguished guests – fantastic for any film geek.

Be sure not to miss their free, walk-in late night events at the bar every

first Thursday of the month. On 2nd May, the first Hollywood Costume:

Up Late event featured everyone’s favourite 007. It was an entertaining

night of Bond-themed music, conversations on whether Bond women are

empowered or one dimensional (Halle Berry, anyone?) and demonstra-

tions of the best “shaken, not stirred” martinis.

Hollywood Costume aims to showcase the dynamic interplay be-

tween costume, film and fashion and is an event not to be missed.

ACMI, Federation Square

24 April— 18 August 2013

Tickets: Full $19.50, Concession $15.50, ACMI Member $13.50

For more information, visit acmi.net.au.

HOLLYWOOD COSTUMES AT ACMIPatricia Tobin


SUBHEADING

Did the Spring Breakers trailer make you cringe? Did you laugh

uncontrollably when James Franco’s voice whispered Spring Break

repeatedly? And did you wonder why Disney and ABC stars such as

Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Benson felt the need to

prove themselves in showbiz by going no holds barred into an almost

pornographic film? Well, I can tell you that I did. I thought how sad

it was that young female actresses feel the only way they could prove

themselves was by stripping down to their bikinis and prancing around

like bimbos. No doubt, this film is the result of just another male director

obsessed with the female form and unable to think of anything outside

the box. But when I talked to my friends, they all seemed genuinely

excited. And so, I gave it a go.

The film begins with an extremely gratuitous, long, slow motion

montage of college kids on Spring Break. Set to Skrillex’s ‘Scary

Monsters and Nice Sprites’, it sets the precedent for the entire film:

booty shakin’, beer-drinking, shirtless girls and boys seemingly having

the time of their lives. But, the film is more than superficial.

Typical bad girls Candy, Brit and Cotty (I know right, those names

are so inventive…) drink and get high as they while away numbing

hours at their small-town American college. Enter Faith; the obviously-

named Selena Gomez character who can’t stand waking up in the same

bed, in the same neighborhood every day and is losing faith in God. Oh,

and did I mention they haven’t been able to save up enough money for

Spring Break? Tragedy. #whitegirlproblems.

However, the girls don’t let this ruin their fun and after robbing a

local restaurant, they’re on their way to Florida. Another visual-feast of a

montage ensues as the girls party hard, getting drunk, dirty and relatively

naked. This all comes to a close though when they land in jail for drug

use and misconduct.

Enter Alien; a tattoo-covered, silver grill wearing gangster,

with cornrows to top it off. Now, if for no other reason at all, watch

Spring Breakers just for James Franco’s performance as Alien. Totally

transformed and almost unrecognizable, Franco is over the top in all the

right ways. From his accent down to his swagger, everything about him

screams creepy. And yet, in a particularly poignant scene with Selena

Gomez, you can see how such a lost and confused girl really could fall

into his trap. In an effort not to spoil the film, I won’t go any further

here. But it is worth noting that Franco’s character is not the one in

control; these girls aren’t blind followers, they want what they get.

There are two ways of understanding this film. The first, and very

obvious one, is to totally dismiss the director and stars as following the

‘sex sells’ mentality. I mean, who’s not going to pay to see Disney stars

strip down and get dirty? However, this film does try to offer more than

that. At times, the acting is a bit forced and the shots a bit pretentious,

but the gratuitous drugs, violence and sex are all very purposeful. When

Franco is standing in his mansion, atop his bed full of money and guns,

screaming ‘look at my shit!’ you can’t help but think: Is this guy serious?

As the girls constantly pick up guns and wield them like toys, you will

undoubtedly question their sanity. The repetitive scenes of topless

women grinding up on each other as males drench them in beer make

you wonder: Does this actually happen? I would argue that it is in this

ridiculousness that Spring Breakers comes alive. Perhaps it points to the

idiocy of the mythic sex trip that is ‘Spring Break’; perhaps more broadly

to the over-sexed and desensitized culture that we are currently living in.

It really is quite hard to decide between the purely exploitative gaze of

the camera and the potential yet unconfirmed meaning.

Now, I’m not saying that everyone and their mum needs to go see

this film, I’m just saying it’s worth talking about. It’s visually intriguing,

visceral and at times extremely uncomfortable. But it also brings up

issues, whether negatively or positively, surrounding sex and power,

nudity on screen and gender dynamics. As a critically engaged viewer,

I find myself wanting to discuss the film; sitting on the fence about

whether I can possibly allow myself to enjoy it. But love it or hate it,

I can’t stop thinking about it. As Franco says: “Spring Break, Spring

Break, Spring Break Forever”.

For more female driven pop culture discussion, listen to the podcast

Memoirs of a Fangirl.

Hayley Adams


PERFORMING ARTS

Christine Lambrianidis

WHY CAN’T I FEEL

A playwright can learn a lot from La Mama’s recent production of Tall

Man.

Firstly, it is a great example of dramatic characterisation. The

dialogue and direction shows, rather than tells us immediately who

these people are. Once we hear his angry words and see his walk, we

know that Wayne (Hayden Spencer) is the classic lovable bad guy with

the criminal record, addictions and sense of humour to prove it. Once

we hear the bogan accent and see the tight Eddy Hardy t-shirt, we

know that Billy (Louise Brehmer) is his down and out of luck runaway

daughter. After seeing UnAustralia at La Mama last year, it was a

relief to see a well-developed script performed by two superb actors.

Hallelujah! Decent original Australian work still exists in Melbourne

independent theatres and no trendy adaptation or artistic installation

was required.

Secondly, it is a great example of plot development. Angela

Betzien’s script lathers its revelations carefully and effectively to leave

most audiences on the edge of their seats. We keep watching and waiting

for the next part to be revealed and even though I knew it was a two-

hander, I just kept expecting someone or something to enter. This type

of drama has had its day, but audiences (me included) still want to be

captivated by a story about characters that they actually end up caring

about. This basic fact about theatre, that audiences sometimes just want

to be entertained, is sometimes forgotten, especially by new playwrights.

It is a hard pill to swallow and yet it’s also a relief to be reminded that

plays are just about good, old-fashioned storytelling.

Thirdly, not one word is out of place or superfluous. The exposition

is beautifully and seamlessly crafted and the characters’ gestures and

movements only further highlight the relevance of each moment. This is

how scripts should operate; every word needs a purpose; every beat needs

a conflict and most importantly, every play needs a perfect structure that

makes audiences believe that there could not possibly have been any

other way to tell that story.

Finally, the subtext is never ending. One minute you are

considering environmentalism and the effects of mining and the next,

you are reminded of indigenous land rights issues. This is definitely

a topical piece of theatre that has all the social ingredients to satisfy

its leftist audience (me included) who crave to feel guilt, rather than

actually take action against the capitalist devil that puts a price on not

only the natural environment, but innocent, working class families.

Brecht warned us against this type of naturalistic drama, but who

amongst us can resist experiencing the pleasures of catharsis?

Well I can and do you know how? Because I spend most of my time,

outside of teaching, studying and writing drama and these are the precise

elements you need to stop actually feeling when you go to the theatre. I

recommend you study theatre, attempt to create theatre and then viola,

theatre dies. Help dear readers! I want to feel again. I want to experience

the pleasures of naturalism, not just to admire its form. Theatre should

not be a lesson in play writing and maybe after a long holiday, I’ll

actually be able to watch and enjoy theatre once more, like a real

audience member. Until then though, you will see me in the audience,

waiting for that one, special show to sweep me off my feet and make me

fall in love with the magic of theatre all over again.

THE TALL MAN?


PERFORMING ARTS

I am a theatre aficionado, born and bred. From primary school pan-

tomimes to London’s West End; from Elizabethan recitals to grungy

European fringe; from Melbourne’s La Mama Courthouse to Vietnamese

water puppetry and the Laos national “ballet” (I use that term lightly),

there isn’t too much I haven’t dabbled in or wouldn’t be willing to wit-

ness. Onstage, backstage or offstage entirely, there’s no atmosphere quite

like being in a theatre space charged with thespian spirit. The sounds,

smells and energies go unopposed.

It wasn’t until very recently, however, that I really began to think

about the actual deed of going to see a performance.

Over the last month Malthouse Theatre hosted a production of

Dance of Death, a violent, uproarious, shrewd script about monotonous

marriage and dreary demise. Aside from being a brilliant piece of theatre,

Dance of Death was also a rather enlightening experience, largely because

of the way it was staged. For the entire length of the show the three-

person cast was essentially trapped in a glass tank, with audience clusters

on either side of the enclosure. This was clearly a design choice geared

toward the thematic symbolism of the show. However it also sent my

brain spiralling in two directions on the theoretics of theatre.

The first and most obvious concept emphasised by displaying ac-

tors in captivity, like animals at the zoo, is the way in which audiences

unconsciously objectify them. As much as we might admire actors for

their talent, and as much as we might empathise with any given charac-

ter that they might be portraying, when we go to see a live show – and

this goes for music gigs, dance recitals, street busking, and even sporting

events alike – we are principally going to gawk at them. Established

performance spaces are among the few places in the world where it’s

acceptable, let alone encouraged, to actively stare at and scrutinise the

behaviour of another person in their direct presence.

Dance of Death, during which none of the players slipped out of

character or took a sip of water let alone left the stage for near-on two

hours, drew attention to the fact that actors are human beings made into

a spectacle, laden with the expectation to be anyone other than who

they are in real life.

Of course having a material perspective of an actor during a perfor-

mance doesn’t make the role of being an audience member any less wor-

thy, and nor does it degrade the actor themself – it is, after all, the very

nature of the trade. Actors want to be seen. It’s in their job description.

The second sense of intrigue that Dance of Death aroused in me is

the subjective experience of forming a part of a theatre audience.

It isn’t all that uncommon to have an audience divided with the

stage in the middle. This manner of staging is called traverse, the upshot

being that there are two potential views to be had of the action, and

subsequently, that the two sides of the audience are facing each other.

Sometimes it’s possible to see the other side of the audience, and some-

times it’s not. Usually it isn’t significant either way. In the case of Dance

of Death, the opposing spectators were most definitely visible. Somehow

the fact that there was a physical windowpane (two, in fact) between

them and myself promoted the ability to stare them down and judge

them mercilessly for their responses to the show.

There’s a strange thing about group dynamic that is difficult to

notice until you’re outside of it. That thing is a propensity for collec-

tive reactionism. Watching the other side of the audience, one begins

to realise the extent to which our responses to shocking dialogue or

funny physicality depend on the people around us. By singling out audi-

ence members and watching them (which would normally be taboo), I

noticed people who repeatedly failed to change their facial expressions

until they heard the person beside or behind them laugh or gasp. I also

noticed people who would begin to smile or cringe, then glance out the

corner of their eye, discover that no one else had found the same reason

for response, and gently sink back into nonchalance.

Quite apart from that, there was a distinct difference between

how the two sides of the auditorium were reacting en masse. There

were times when I was aware of guffawing raucously with my half of the

theatre whilst the other half remained flinty, and vice versa. Similarly,

there were apparently a handful of people sitting on a mezzanine over

the prompt side of the stage, unseen, that would intermittently cackle at

subtleties, leaving the rest of us startled and perplexed.

Theatre is simultaneously a very objective and very subjective

experience, at once personal and communal. We react, we interact, we

judge, and we are judged. Oscar Wilde once said that theatre was “the

most immediate way in which a human being can share with another

the sense of what it is to be a human being”. Whether it’s true or not, it’s

certainly a strange and beautiful experience.

THE ACT OF SEEING THEATREHannah Barker


CREATIVE SPACE

Lot’s Wife would like to congratulate the winner of our Flash Fiction Competition, Alyce Adams for her story, The Cycle. Pay attention to the Lot’s Wife Magazine Facebook page for future competitions.

Once there was a girl who loved stories.

She read everything and anything she could get her hands on. Classics, thrillers, ebooks. Whatever. As long as it followed a plot, she would read it.

However, there was just one catch.

She could never make it past the beginning. No matter how many books she read, always right before the middle of the book she would stop, put it

down, and pick up a new one.

She never planned on doing it, but yet it happened every time.

She was very fond of rereading the stories as well (never finishing them of course), and could often recite her favourite openings at the drop of a hat.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune is in want of a wife.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.”

People thought she was very strange. Why wouldn’t she read the end? No normal girl would stop half way. There was probably something wrong

with her. Best to keep away.

For this reason, she grew up quite lonely. People barely talked to her. Her conversations generally started and finished with a “hello, how are you?”

She became so isolated that soon she only knew how to start a conversation, but never how to finish.

The unfortunate few who found themselves cornered into a conversation would stand perplexed, waiting for her to continue talking, but although she

whole heartedly wanted to, she just didn’t know how.

In her loneliness, she delved even further into her books. She became obsessed with them. She read every opening chapter of all the books in the

library. She became addicted to the sensation of cracking open a book and reading the first page for the first time. Eventually, all she could do was speak

in beginning phrases. When the postman delivered her junk mail and asked how her week was, she would reply, “It was the best of times. It was the

worst of times.”

Next, after exhausting the libraries resources, she tried reading the stories backwards, so that the last page she read was the first page, in a desperate

attempt to recapture the sensation.

But even that wasn’t enough. Finally, in a last ditch effort; she started writing her own story. She thought long and hard about what to write, and de-

cided the only story she could tell was about her self. She sat down to write, but she could never finish. Just as she was about to reach the end, her hand

would move to write again for the millionth time, “Once there was a girl who loved stories. She read anything and everything…”

FLASH FICTION COMPETITION WINNER:

THE CYCLEAlyce Adams

45LOT’S WIFE EDITION 4 • 2013

CREATIVE SPACE

PHOTOS I N FOCUSThere is much to see in Melbourne’s famous Victoria Market. The

market is still running with lively atmosphere after more than 150

years of operation. More than just the weekly shopper can be seen

at this historic location. The atmosphere is lively with busking

performers entertaining the ever passing crowd. The fresh produce

and cooking provides attractive sights and aromas for the ravenous.

The workers behind the shop fronts bring life to the market and

create a memorable experience. I highly recommend a trip to one of

Melbourne’s less talked about attractions.

marcus littlewood

Want your photos featured in Lot’s Wife?It’s easy, send us an email - no experience

required [email protected]

Join the Lot’s Wife Contributors group on facebook for deadlines and freebies!


SUBHEADING

I am in search of sanity.

When the journey begins

And death follows me behind,

I hear a thousand voices echoed in the wind.

I draw near the source

And hear the sound of humanity:

Like a symphony, they shout as one

As we march towards harmony.

We defy death

On our march for sanity.

All the fences turn to flames

As we join hands for equality.

So walk my fearless! Come my brave!

We are on a march for sanity.

Have no fear of the warmongers

That cause the tears of our mothers.

March of Sanity

Md. Roysul Islam

Her golden tresses flow

Through the waving wondering sea

The underwater woman

Emerges to our plea

Her jewelish smile arises

From the very bed that be

My lack of lust demises

And the river fish are free

If no one sees her aura,

The quiet humming breeze,

Then who can sense her power

Below the willow trees.

When ants move up the mountain

Searching for the light

I wander for my journey

She cares not for my plight

It’s not her sense of calmness

Nor her smiling eyes

It’s her utter sense of power

That keeps me wondering wandering wise

The Underwater Woman

Benjamin Potter


46

Page Background: Marcus Littlewood

-They say to apply yourself to your studies – I forget that I’m responsible for my enrolment.

-I’ve paid my student amenities fee. It hasn’t made me amenable.

-A cover sheet does a lousy job of protecting a crappy assignment.

-I support student strikes – some people could use a smack.

-My mother tells me that I should finish my degree for the “piece of paper”. Why? Why is it that every other hard working

student has to pay their way in life, but this paper gets to live off the rest of us? It gets to have ‘opportunities’; it gets to ‘go

to places’ – for free.

Meditations on Uni LifeLenin Gatus


CREATIVE SPACE

Henry was in his room, on his bed, splayed against the wall. Left arm raised and upper body sinking into the gap which had – over the course of three

weeks – grown. He hadn’t noticed this and, as he lay there, pressed against the wall with some forgotten urgency, he continued in the same listless state

on his sheets. Shoulder blade and rib were now caught in the gap between the bed and the carnivorous wall; he felt it gnawing on him, not unlike some

savage and his dinner. The gnawing had a rhythm and it sent pulses of pain through his nervous system, harmonizing with his body’s cardiovascular

rhythm. He thought back to the drums that night, adding another layer to the rhythm and orchestrating a complex symphony of beats within the

soundproofed walls of his cranium. He was lost again. With a groan, he turned over, his face now embedded in the mattress. He sucked in, wondering if

he would be able to survive suffocation by drawing out air bubbles from within the foam. Probably not.

For the first time in three weeks, he looked over at the wall he had avoided eye contact with. Henry found that there was now a light shade of grey

that was forming just above the gap. It was then that he finally noticed the gap itself. Disbelief replaced despondence – had he really been lying here

for three weeks, oblivious to the gap, the odour and the layer of human soap scum on his body and the wall? Possibly. He rolled onto his back now and

thought to before those three weeks. He could hardly believe that, before then, he had functioned as a normal human being: left the house, attended

classes, interacted with other living beings… He rolled over to face the widening gap again and groaned loudly into it to relinquish the weight of

responsibility from his chest. I don’t want to do this anymore. Flashes from that night still played like a Super 8 reel - unclear, unfocussed and silent -

except for the eerie whirring of the reel. He shut his eyes, as if he saw the scenes projected onto the grey wall in front of him, willing them away.

Henry saw himself at the bar again. He saw Phil walk in and the reel cut out. There was just the silent whirring. Now, Phil was in the middle of the

road, posing like the most recent Sports Illustrated cover girl. The car came round the bend. Henry flicked his eyes open, and let the tears slide off the

precipice upon which he was balancing.

He had to get up. His lungs, they were filling up with supressed tears that had nowhere else to go. He had to sit up before they choked him. He couldn’t

breathe. In one swift motion, Henry sat up, gripping the headboard. He leaned his head back and sobbed terrified sobs. His chest was constricting.

He needed air. Henry swung his legs over the other edge of the bed and stood to walk over to the window. He was sure that he had the bedsores of an

eighty-year-old paralytic. Those three weeks might as well have been eighty years. He saw his phone on the ground with its cracked screen – vision

impairing, induced by idiocy. No battery.

Henry was now standing in front of the window, staring out. The original intention had been to get some air. Instead of air, he found the moon. The

quiet glow of the moon comforted him. The grey soothed him in a way the grey of the wall could not.

He did not notice that he was naked in front of a window He was staring at the moon through its panes, and then at the faint impression of a reflection

on the transparent glass. His hair was matted and pressed to one side, beard-of-three-weeks in a similar state, sunken marbled eyes that he worried were

cataracts held in by ripened raisins. He now understood where the light grey shade on the wall had come from – he was the grey. The grey of the wall

had unsettled him because he did not know where it came from. With this new understanding, Henry was more at ease, knowing that the grey was not

foe but friend. He was the grey. He looked up again at the moon with longing, and then back to his reflection. They touched foreheads, communicat-

ing the unspoken enigmas and secrets. He felt a breeze on his face, a refreshing breeze that made him acutely aware of thick liquid following the path

of his nose bridge and being caught in the sacks under his eyes. He thought they were tears that had coagulated into mucus, but the sharp metal smell

brought him to. It was blood. He looked up, expecting his reflection to be taunting, leering but he was gone; only a broken pane remained.

With one last lingering look at the moon, he folded himself back into bed and rolled towards the widening gap that now swallowed him.

THREE WEEKSAllison Chan

SHORT STORIES


CREATIVE SPACE

David Nowak

“Life is poetic. Now you see me wearing a black and white suit. Don’t you see the colour? The disposition it gives? Fine leather shoes and silky flow-

ing garments.

“Listen to my voice: deep and trembling. Oh yes, believe me when I say that life occurs in poetry. The rhythm of dreams where magnanimous things

occur and dark things creep through the crevices of quiet alleyways.

“There are lightning bolts in life. Those alleyways let out a stream and we see greed. Turn the globe and we may find love. Flit to the zenith and

there is abyss, and at the bottom there is always this sense of poetry.

“There exists no certainty, and yet time remains. Time carries us on. Time forces us on.

“Beginning. Purity. Growth. Hunger. Desecration. Evolution. Apocalypse!

“And rebirth …

“Listen to the rain outside, pattering against tin rooves. Listen to it slash down in throngs on homely verandas. Listen to it sweep upon royal court-

yards … Listen to the beat at your stomach. The two hearts within.

“Listen to him … creeping inside from that crevice.

“Duality. Never are things told with a singleness when we mention life.”

“Of course … You can’t hear him. No. The dramatic effect of things is always left so close to the end. And then there is the concept of verism: in

order for those that weave life to divine in the magnanimous, so should they sink in evil, all the better to appreciate their divinities. For this reason,

evil deeds are so often partied to poetry.

“Can you see the colour? Vibrant blues with a dash of pink, and on the other side murky green.

“His dark silhouette reaches for the window. The colour of his features built with malice, the eyes unforgiving in their gaze. From inside we hear

nothing but a tap on the roof.

“Won’t you listen to him creep? You’re there! Pay attention to the colour behind you! Steel bounces with the light around. Pupils widen with com-

prehension.

“… The red runs …

“She cries sodden last gasps, a sparkle in her tears. He studies the crimson as it flows like a torrent, revelling in his own poetry. The pulsating stops.

Vicious, broken, hateful colours cover the girl’s cadaver.

“And don’t forget the girl on the other side. Flip the globe. Flip the globe! She’s crying as well! But she’s different from the other girl. The eyes are

alive. The two hearts within are separating. Beautiful colours. Magniloquent colours! The child exits the womb and a new life bears witness to the

world. Isn’t there glory in that?

“The mother cradles her child in her arms. There is so much love. She lays there thanking God almighty for her blessings in life.

“But who ever said life or God was fair?

“The dark silhouette leaves the cadaver on the floor. He’s had his kick. The girl’s body stays pressed to the floor for days; a cold form in the darkness.

There is no contenting point here. A deathly smell envelops the house whilst her destroyer waits; there will be another rainy day for him to perform his

acts again.

“As we see the dark, so do we see how much brighter the day is. Duality is, in essence, nothing but life and death. Beginning and apocalypse.

“Oh yes. Life is poetic.”

THE COLOUR OF LIFE

Want your short stories featured in the next edition of Lot’s Wife?

Send all contributions to [email protected] No experiemce required!

49

SUBHEADING


Writing Wisdom: Margaret Atwood

1.Take a pencil to write with on aeroplanes. Pens leak. But if the pencil

breaks, you can’t sharpen it on the plane, because you can’t take knives

with you. Therefore: take two pencils.

2.If both pencils break, you can do a rough sharpening job with a nail file

of the metal or glass type.

3.Take something to write on. Paper is good. In a pinch, pieces of wood or

your arm will do.

4.If you’re using a computer, always safeguard new text with a memory

stick.

5.Do back exercises. Pain is distracting.

6.Hold the reader’s attention. (This is likely to work better if you can hold

your own.) But you don’t know who the reader is, so it’s like shooting fish

with a slingshot in the dark. What fascinates A will bore the pants off B.

7.You most likely need a thesaurus, a rudimentary grammar book, and a

grip on reality. This latter means: there’s no free lunch. Writing is work.

It’s also gambling. You don’t get a pension plan. Other people can help

you a bit, but essentially you’re on your own. Nobody is making you do

this: you chose it, so don’t whine.

8.You can never read your own book with the innocent anticipation that

comes with that first delicious page of a new book, because you wrote the

thing. You’ve been backstage. You’ve seen how the rabbits were smuggled

into the hat. Therefore ask a reading friend or two to look at it before you

give it to anyone in the publishing business. This friend should not be

someone with whom you have a romantic relationship, unless you want

to break up.

9.Don’t sit down in the middle of the woods. If you’re lost in the plot or

blocked, retrace your steps to where you went wrong. Then take the other

road. And/or change the person. Change the tense. Change the opening

page.

10.Prayer might work. Or reading something else. Or a constant visu-

alisation of the holy grail that is the finished, published version of your

resplendent book.

Publishing News and Blues

•Awards Season: As I’m sure anyone with a passing interest in literature

and/or feminism is aware, the inaugural Stella Award, celebrating great

books by Australian women, has been awarded to Carrie Tiffany for

Mateship With Birds. In other congratulatory news, the Miles Franklin

shortlist is out (with an all-female cast) with the winner to be announced

in June, and for the second time in its history the Vogel award goes to: No

one. Step up your game, young writers!

•Stop the TOC: O’Reilly Media, who refer to themselves as a “technol-

ogy transfer company, have decided to no longer continue the forward-

thinking Tools of Change conference. For seven years the event allowed

people from all areas of publishing to connect and correspond on all the

changes that have been a result of digitization. Instead O’Reilly will focus

on Atlas, a “tool for collaborative writing, one-touch publishing in all for-

mats and an interactive online reading platform that takes full advantage

of the digital realm.”

Refining Reads

How to Read and Why: Before one can write, one must read—and prolifi-

cally. In this book renowned educator, Harold Bloom, takes you through

his most revered poems, short stories, plays and novels. With each he asks

“Why read this?” and gives a revelatory response. If you’re in a reading

slump, or need some inspiration, this is the book to do it.

LITERARY NOTESThomas Wilson

ART WITH... Emily McDonald

SUBHEADING


“Remember, remember, the 5th of November”, the tune would go

on in V for Vendetta; the movie that portrayed a battle against an

oppressive regime known as Norsefire, who, in a Nazi fashion, would jail

homosexuals and political dissidents.

For those who have seen the movie, ‘Anonymous’ would

most probably seem very similar – without the bit where the English

parliament is blown up. A hacktivist group formed in 2003, Anonymous

is an online/offline anarchic global community that strongly opposes

Internet censorship (and surveillance), governmental corruption, and

scientology. Their members can sometimes be seen wearing Guy Fawkes

Ioan Nascu

WHO IS

“Anonymous fills in the gap where many western governments

seem to be unwilling (or simply have no power) to engage with such

regimes to stop them from passing populist laws that

would harm a group of individuals”

masks, just like the main character of the movie (and

then the entire population when they rose up against

the regime), and are sometimes seen as instigators of

several protests, including Occupy Wall Street.

The group has a dual nature – just like any

great comic superhero. On the one hand they are

vigilantes who are outside the law. Yet many would

undoubtedly see them as more than just trouble–

makers, but heroes. ‘Operation Darknet’ was initiated

in October 2011 to weed out the remnants of child

pornography from the dark corners of the Internet,

Anonymous posting the usernames of 1,589 members

of Lolita City, a hidden child porn website.

Pirates of the virtual world, rejoice, for Anonymous is your

friend. In January 2012, in response to Megaupload (a notorious

website used to illegally stream movies and TV series) being taken

down, Anonymous took down the sites of the Department of Justice,

FBI, Motion Pictures Association of America and many others. The

group is also responsible for Cyber-attacks on the Pentagon and has

threatened to destroy Facebook.

It’s most recent nemesis seems to be the Ugandan government,

hacking various governmental websites (in response to their anti-

homosexuality bill), leaving messages such as “Citizens and government

of Uganda, take heed, Anonymous is calling”. They also threatened

to adopt a ‘scorched earth policy’ for Ugandan online infrastructure

(basically shutting everything down), all in defense of LGBT rights.

Anonymous fills in the gap where many western governments

seem to be unwilling (or simply have no power) to engage with such

regimes to stop them from passing populist laws that would harm a group

of individuals.

But what would happen if Anonymous

– or better said, one part of Anonymous (as

the organization is formed by members which

simply take the identity upon themselves

with no control over each other’s actions

whatsoever) – would decide to hold views

which are not as progressive? What if they

would think that homosexuality is actually a

sin and decide to find and publish the names

and addresses of homosexuals in Saudi Arabia

and Yemen, where it is punishable by death?

I cannot but enjoy the damage

this group brings upon regimes who would

stone people on the street for holding hands. Yet at the same time, the

sheer amount of damage they could do if their views were not ‘right’ is

frightening; such is the anarchic nature of Anonymous. The Internet is far

more dangerous than people would like to consider.

Especially when anyone can be Anonymous.

ANONYMOUS?


CULTURE

Around 2000 BCE, a man by the name of Erramalik filed one of the earliest

known cases for divorce. His evidence? Upon finding his wife having sex

with another man, Erramalik tied the man onto the bed, his wife still

under her adulterer, and proceeded to carry the bed to court.

Relationships have changed little throughout the course of history.

Obviously we no longer resort to carrying our cheating partner mid-

copulation into the courtroom, but the act of adultery is still prevalent as

ever. The envy and deceit underlying many relationships are traits that

have coexisted with marriage since the time of the early Romans. (And

possibly before this too; only lack of written documents makes it difficult

to know with certainty).

Humans have an innate desire to be bound to one person for life, so

why the need for infidelity? Perhaps we become bored in our relationships,

perhaps we have married the wrong person, or maybe we just want to

make them jealous.

In Ancient Rome, sex was power for the aristocratic women.

One woman was particularly good at using her sexuality to manipulate

– Agrippina the Younger. When she was a girl, she seduced her uncle

Claudius to marry her, as he was the emperor at the time. Later, when

Agrippina’s son, Nero, was Emperor and Agrippina could feel her power

over him was waning, she seduced him too. When travelling around in a

litter (a chair or bed supported by poles, carried by other men), Agrippina

would commit incest with her son, evidenced by the state of his clothes

when leaving the litter.

While incest is not openly practiced or condoned by contemporary

society, sex and adultery are both still means of gaining power. However,

sex these days is not so much about gaining political, but rather social

power. In modern society, celebrities are replacing the aristocracy once

revered in Ancient Rome. We are able to increase our own social notoriety

through relationships with people higher up on the social ladder, be they

footballers or Geoffrey Edelsten. For many, it is a sign of superiority to

appear in the social pages of a magazine or on the Brownlow red carpet.

We’ve even given footballer’s partners their own title – WAGs – and we

are all abuzz in deciding whose dress is stunning and whose looks like a

tablecloth. I wonder if we’ll ever be able to escape the confines of these

clichés?

Ancient Romans believed that sex was a health benefit for women.

In fact, women needed to have sex regularly, or else their uteruses would

begin to wander around their body. And if they abstained from sex for an

extended period of time, their uteruses would wander right up to their

throats and choke them.

But are beautiful men attracted to powerful women? A 2007 study

from Indiana University conducted a number of speed dates in the hope

of discovering what men and women each seek in a partner. The results

showed that women sought rich men, and men sought beautiful women.

While I am sure there are instances of attractive men marrying women

purely for their wealth and power, more often than not it occurs in the

reverse.

In Ancient Rome, men manipulated women into believing that

a lack of sex would kill them. Women would manipulate men into

sleeping with them in order to gain political control and escape from

their subordination. Women’s rights have progressed exponentially since

imperial times, but sex still exists to be abused. We can laugh at how

corrupt and incestuous sex was in Ancient Rome, but have we really

changed?

Hannah Gordon

SEX: The Classical Approach

Image: Michael Gordon

LOVE ADVICE WITH...

- The advice column with class -

KARL MARX

Dear Karl,

The love of my life dumped me brutally last week. I feel as sad and lonely

as Bridgett Jones in that scene where she’s on the couch in her pyjamas

singing, ‘All By Myself!’ What should I do?

Love-sick

Dear Comrade,

Why, it’s a blessing in disguise. Just think of all the extra time you now

have to devote to the struggle towards a classless utopia!

You really need to toughen up. The gloominess of your letter smacked

of bourgeois sentimentality – and you don’t want to be accused of being

the class enemy, do you? Do you? Just kidding. Even communists need

to keep a sense of humour. But seriously, there are millions of proletariat

starving and oppressed while you whinge, so at least try to pull it

together.

It might help to spend some extra time with your closest comrades

during the next few of weeks. In difficult times, we need solidarity, and

sometimes a little cheering up.

Karl Marx

For this edition of the column, Marx was interviewed by Carl Umber

Please send YOUR love problem to [email protected], who will

send it over to Marx straight away



SUBHEADING

THE MYTH OF THE ANTI-SOCIAL GAMER

It is the summer of 1940. The smell of high-octane aviation fuel courses

through the air as you don your flight suit and fire up the behemoth

V12 motor in your Mark I Spitfire. A distant droning hum followed by

the signature squeal of a Stuka dive-bomber siren heralds the arrival of

the next wave of German attacks on English soil. You wind the throttle

up to 100% and take off, entering battle as the last entity that stands

between a Free Britannia and the ever-increasing onslaught of Nazi

fascism.

A big-budget remake of The Battle of Britain you’re thinking? Not

quite. Enter War Thunder, the latest flight simulator offering from indie

Russian developer Gaijin Entertainment. Currently in open beta on PC

and due for console release in late 2013, War Thunder puts forwards a

dazzling attempt at creating a multi-player flight simulator based around

the last era of true dog fighting, all whilst appealing to a broad gaming

audience. And best of all, it’s free!

From the get-go you notice that War Thunder is an immensely

visually-stunning game. Powered by the relatively-unknown Dagor

engine, rendering of everything from models to environments on high

settings is comparable to what you see come from big-name releases such

as EA’s Battlefield series. Upon first starting the game, you can’t help

but spend quite some time looking around and admiring just how pretty

everything looks. Admiring for long enough, in fact, that one might

even forget they are piloting an aircraft and end up crashing said aircraft

in a fiery mess somewhere in the jungles of Guadalcanal. Yes, it does

happen.

Taking lessons from other prominent flight-sims such as IL-2 and

Birds of Steel, the developers at Gaijin have successfully integrated the

game into options that appease both newbies and veterans to the world

of flight simulators. Different game modes are available to suit a variety

of players, from simple Arcade combat putting players against each other

in a ‘capture the point’ or ‘team death match’ scenario, all the way up

to historically accurate virtual versions of Pearl Harbour, Midway and

many other key battles of World War II, complete with real-life accurate

physics and great joystick-control support for the more involved

simulator player.

You’re kept interested (and playing) with the game’s levelling

system, allowing you to choose a country’s air force and unlock more

planes within each one as you play more and level up. Attention to

detail is where Gaijin have truly done well here, with each new plane

unlocked being a completely new model, with completely new textures

and completely different in-game handling. Over 100 unique planes

are available for players to choose, from agile single-engine fighters to

monumental four-engine heavy bombers, allowing players to configure

themselves into the role that suits them best within each individual

match.

An interesting thing to note is that the game itself is actually

free. Yes, free. (That’s a win for us university students). War Thunder

represents a new wave of games, coming from modern indie developers

that don’t aim to make money off the direct sale, instead giving you

the base game for free, but then allowing people the option to buy

in-game upgrades that give them a slight advantage over other players.

In War Thunder this comes in the form of upgrades to your planes

and weaponry, as well as access to premium planes unavailable to free

players. One can unlock the same upgrades through points earned in-

game themselves although this requires a lot (and I mean a lot) of game

time to acquire the same things as a hefty $5 might get you. That being

said, the value gained from buying into the game balances well so as to

not give players that do buy-in too much of an advantage over players

that don’t.

Being an open-beta there is still the occasional, very infrequent,

game bug and to the woe of Australian players, servers are currently only

available in Russia, Europe and America. These small issues, however,

do not really detract from the overall impact of the game, and will

most-likely be completely fixed ahead of global release later this year.

Future releases intend on further broadening the scope by introducing

ground and naval battle to players, allowing for massive online vehicular

warfare over gigantic-scaled maps. How successful Gaijin will be on this

endeavour though remains to be seen.

Overall a highly recommended game, War Thunder heartily

satisfies the inner flyboy within all of us and presents its players with

an incredibly beautiful virtual window at experiencing their own finest

hour.

Check out the game, including download links, available at the

War Thunder Website: http://warthunder.com/en/

Rolando Chancellor


SUBHEADING

THE MYTH OF THE ANTI-SOCIAL GAMER

Jake Spicer

Video games are still often seen as the hobby of a reclusive loner, a

pastime for the guy who wasn’t invited. But by their nature, video games

can offer a shared experience as well. Be that a narrative, team based or

individual competition - even just watching someone play can create a

connection.

Video game developers are starting to understand the extent to

which they can toy with the shared or connected experience that games

can provide. Dark Souls, an open-world RPG (role playing game), has

a feature that allows users to plant messages that can either help, or

deliberately mislead other players. Journey gives you control of a robed,

levitating traveller, through which you can find other players heading on

the same voyage. You can only assist each other without communicating

via speech or text, creating an incredibly powerful connection.

Working together towards a shared goal is not the only way to

experience this connectedness. Sometimes the opposite can have just the

same effect.

Spy Party is an “asymmetric multiplayer espionage game”. A game of

deception and perception, one person plays as a spy moving around a par-

ty, trying to complete certain Mission: Impossible-esque tasks (and they

sometimes do feel impossible) like bugging another party goer. Meanwhile

the other person, a sniper, waits with a single bullet for the unconvinc-

ing spy. In some ways Spy Party is like a reverse Turing Test. If you can

convince the opponent you’re not a human for long enough to complete

the set missions, you survive.

It’s the little things that give the game the depth required for high-

end competitive play. Walking up to a bookshelf and falling just short,

forcing you to make a jittery adjustment forwards, can be enough for the

sniper to catch on. It leads to tense situations.

As the spy, I’m standing in a group conversation when I say the code

phrase, “Banana Bread”, signalling some message to the double agent

and completing my final mission. The sniper’s laser sight falls directly

between my eyes. I know if I walk away now it will be an obvious tell. I

start to sweat. He, however, doesn’t know that I have now completed all

of my missions. A ten second-countdown pops up on my screen. When it

reaches zero I win. I break away from the conversation, no longer caring

if it gives away who I am at this point, and try to hide behind other par-

ty-goers for the remaining few seconds.

It was one of the few matches as spy that I’ve won. The game

is hard. There are a tonne of advanced techniques like framing other

AI players or waiting until the last 30 seconds before attempting any

missions. It will be some time before I develop the skills to be able to do

them.

Chris Hecker, an ex-Maxis developer (it’s claimed his work on

Spore “advanced the state of the art in procedural animation by several

years”), has been working on the game personally since 2009. A fixed

release date with Spy Party doesn’t look likely – it’s as if it’s perpetually

two years away from completion (perhaps operating on ‘Valve Time’). For

now it’s in closed beta (testing mode), with invitations being a good few

months wait yet.

This type of development – a slow exclusive beta – has created a

tight and rich community. It’s remarkable the intimacy you feel with

others playing this game. I hopped into the main waiting room prior to

beginning and had a chat with a few of the regulars. Before long one of

them volunteered to ‘mentor’ my play. New players are treated with such

gentle guided kindness. The question of whether this attitude will con-

tinue after the game is released is one everyone appears to be very aware

of. There’s a large thread in the forums discussing the understandable

nervousness of opening up their little game to the wider community.

Spy Party is a game designed for highly competitive play. And with

highly competitive play comes extremely close non-physical contact.

You’re getting into the mind of another person, and what can be more

intimate than that?

Video games can be intrinsically social. The shared experience, or

the connection with other people they provide, is not an escape from

reality but an exploration of it.

March of sanity

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