Archive

Scarfie confessions

Posted 11:52pm Sunday 7th September 2014 by Max Callister-Baker

We had to keep our voices down. It was a Thursday night and the four of us were crammed inside one single residential hall room. It was past 1am, which meant that if an RA came by they could dish out hefty $20 fines to each of us. But it wasn't easy speaking quietly – after having four or five too Read more...

The calcium curse

Posted 5:55pm Sunday 31st August 2014 by Mahoney Turnbull

Oh dairy me, what can the matter be? The dairy industry in China is in a state of disarray. At the same time, the world’s fastest growing nation not only wants their milk, but they would like the kiwi liquid gold from the land of milk and honey, without the pipeline botch ups, if you please. That Read more...

Geocaching

Posted 5:55pm Sunday 31st August 2014 by Josie Adams

When I was young, I used to draw maps and mark an X on the spot where I wanted to find treasure. There never was any, but today there are more than 2,500 hidden treasures in Dunedin. Every day in our city these treasures are found, swapped around, and put back for you to find by a whole community of Read more...

Returning Home

Posted 5:55pm Sunday 31st August 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker

I have to hold my beanie down as I walk from the airplane across the tarmac. I also have to clutch my backpack to my chest. Both hands occupied, I am left to pretend that my skirt isn’t ballooning up in the wind leaving my butt on display to the old couple behind me. Yeah, Wellington. I get it. Read more...

Remote - An island in a sea of startups

Posted 12:53am Monday 18th August 2014 by Sarah Ley-Hamilton

When you hear the word “remote,” it doesn’t exactly conjure up feelings of prosperity, abundance and opportunity – feelings that we are told to look for in our chosen career paths. However, for some of us, not putting on suitable office attire (or even pants) and logging on from the comfort of our Read more...

Trans Life

Posted 12:53am Monday 18th August 2014 by Lucy Hunter

Gender identity is so ingrained in our culture that we often don’t think about it until we meet somebody who doesn’t conform to traditional ideas of a “masculine man” or a “feminine woman.” Even with advances, such as the legalisation of same-sex marriage last year, being trans* presents legal and Read more...

The freedom mission

Posted 12:53am Monday 18th August 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Bell Murphy’s eyes light up as she tells us the story about the homemade pumpkin wine, which had flooded the floor at Black Star Books when left to brew over a weekend. On the ground between Bell and I, a woman carefully paints a banner for an animal rights protest to be held in the Octagon the Read more...

Hello and welcome to my Soft Grunge wonderland

Posted 9:16pm Sunday 10th August 2014 by Alex Blackwood

Whatever Soft Grunge is, it seems to have originated on Tumblr around 2010. The hideous progeny of original Grunge and the Internet, Soft Grunge, unlike its parent, is less about music and all about image. Grunge, on the other hand, has a rich and complex history and ideology, avoided fashion and Read more...

The original Goth

Posted 9:16pm Sunday 10th August 2014 by Josie Adams

"Emo", short for “emotional,” was a phase some of us may have gone through in high school. If we were particularly angry, we might have been called “scene.” The dark hair and clothing, the misguided misanthropy, the multitude of heartbreaks; only a few people will pull through these phases to become Read more...

Bizarre cultural practices and local traditions

Posted 9:16pm Sunday 10th August 2014 by Anonymous Bird

You know how everyone has those little bits of useless trivia that they like to pull out at any given opportunity? Well, this is probably going to be a list of those types of facts – random bits of bizarre information about the rest of the world that we would find strange; an amalgamation of odd Read more...

That one time I got a Tinder date to rescue me from another Tinder date.

Posted 9:43pm Sunday 3rd August 2014 by Sophie Edmonds

People always ask, “aren’t you afraid you’ll meet creeps or douche-bags on Tinder?” To which I always say, “I haven’t so far and I’ve been on more Tinder dates than I care to remember.” My time had clearly come. Remember when your parents told you to forget about people’s feelings and Read more...

Cyber-chondria

Posted 9:43pm Sunday 3rd August 2014 by Lydia Adams

Imagine yourself sitting on a cold, metallic, fold-up chair. One of the chair legs is off-balance and the air in the room you’re sitting in is crisp. There are other people in this room, eight of them, to be precise. All eight are perched uncomfortably on chairs that are equally as cold and metallic Read more...

A case for animal rights

Posted 9:43pm Sunday 3rd August 2014 by Lucy Hunter

It is easy to assume that “clean, green New Zealand” is a better place to be a farmed animal than in other countries. But the hidden camera footage recently released by Farmwatch from three New Zealand pig farms is as bad as a nightmare or a horror movie. In one farm, a sow lies on her side, alive Read more...

Welcome to the gun show

Posted 9:43pm Sunday 3rd August 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Standing in the kitchen of my flat, I turn to my flatmates and ask them how many firearms there are in New Zealand. One replies, “80,000.” Another - deciding to push his guess - replies, “about 100,000.” When I tell them that there are, in fact, approximately 1.1 million firearms in New Zealand they Read more...

Modern art - A modern weapon

Posted 10:15pm Sunday 27th July 2014 by Josie Adams

Russia and America. The U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. They played on the same team during World War Two, but only because the captain of the opposition was the more immediate asshole. In the reconstructive, politically tumultuous post-war years, their distaste for each other solidified; the Cold War had Read more...

The four women at central library

Posted 10:15pm Sunday 27th July 2014 by Max Callister-Baker

Scarfie culture: it’s a beast that thrives in this fine province that people from all around New Zealand, and the world, come to. It pushes us to go crazy on Thursdays and Saturday nights, and challenges us to challenge the limits of our bodies and the limits of our laws. But when it comes to Read more...

Mourning [a] son

Posted 10:15pm Sunday 27th July 2014 by Dr Sandy Callister

With both the 100-year anniversary of World War One and OUSA Art Week in mind, Dr Sandy Callister – author of The Face of War – looks at the haunting realities of war for New Zealand communities and the importance of photography to the ritual of remembering. Around 25,000 books and Read more...

Wanderlust

Posted 5:12pm Sunday 20th July 2014 by Nina Harrap

Why is it that every young Kiwi wants to travel the world? Nina Harrap explores the concept of the O.E. and how you can go on yours as soon as possible. travelling the world as a young adult has always been an integral part of Kiwi culture; if you haven’t been away for at least six months by Read more...

Three Institutions

Posted 5:12pm Sunday 20th July 2014 by Lucy Hunter

As citizens of New Zealand, most of us take our personal freedom for granted. Within the boundaries of the law we are largely free to go where we like, eat what we like, talk to whom we like, and do what we like. Even at work or school we have, at least in theory, the freedom to get up and walk out. Read more...

Right in the Nutcracker

Posted 5:12pm Sunday 20th July 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Loulou Callister-Baker takes a step back to look critically at the age-old tradition that is the annual Selwyn Ballet. An elegant foot brushes across the polished floor of the stage. Classical music fills the auditorium. Laughter teeters throughout the audience as a line of young, muscular Read more...