UMSU Election Overview
Review: Meet the Mullets
Queer Online Birthday in Quarantine
Florence Price, Delia Derbyshire & Wendy Carlos
Welcome to Canon in She, a column about female composers of Western classical music, and a few major trailblazers in electronic music as well. Today, I present three brilliant women from the 20th century.
Campus
University of Melbourne agrees to reimburse underpaid staff
17 December 2020After two years of unionised campaigning, the University of Melbourne has agreed to reimburse underpaid staff before Christmas. The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) has claimed responsibility for this win, estimating that the University will need $6 million to repay staff. However, with more than 2000 staff members affected, the union has also stated that […]
NatCon 2020: who’s who at the National Conference?
9 December 2020What is NatCon? NatCon stands for the annual National Conference run by the National Union of Students (NUS). Normally, student politicians from around the country descend on a rural university campus to debate policy and determine the direction of the NUS for the next year. On the final day, delegates are able to vote for […]
Spoon Villages and Community Gardens
8 December 2020During the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, many communities around Victoria have turned to community garden installations as mechanisms to promote cohesion and unity, in the face of adversity. The popular ‘spoon villages’ have seen swathes of wooden spoons, and other similar kitchen implements being fixed in the ground together. These are often decorated with […]
ICYMI: COVID-19 Subject Scores to Still Appear on Student Transcripts
8 December 2020Students studying during the COVID-19 pandemic have been drawn into a false sense of security by the University’s revised Weighted Average Mark (WAM) calculation system. Introduced earlier this year, the system acknowledges that students may be academically disadvantaged during the pandemic, but still makes them bear individual subject scores on their transcript. The current WAM […]
Nonfiction
The Curtain Calls For You to Think: Friends
9 December 2020The Mean Girls movie taught us that “on Wednesdays we wear pink” and taught me that I related the most to that girl who cried and wanted to bake a cake made of “smiles and rainbows” because I too have a lot of feelings.
The Curtain Calls for You to Think: Doing it Right
9 December 2020don’t think any of us can say that we aren’t aware of the trend that is the “remake”. We have Rebecca on Netflix, The Boys in the Band from my previous piece, the fan favourite Disney’s Mulan retold, and a new version of the Little Mermaid is in the works. I’m not going to say that the movie industry is running out of ideas, because new ideas, plots and films are constantly being released; personally, I just feel less excited.
2 Audiobook Reviews, in Which There are 4 Recommendations, the Whole Thing is Split into Quarters and Bro I am Just Vibing.
9 December 2020Who says that not doing readings for class is a bad thing? It’s an action (or inaction I guess) that’s given me my main coping mechanism for the year’s turmoil, so I’m inclined to think that maybe skipping readings is, in fact, a healthy choice.
On the Outside Looking In: Democratising Literary Festivals Post-Pandemic
9 December 2020With over 50 writers festivals in Victoria alone, it can seem an overwhelming prospect to choose which ones to invest time in. For people outside of the industry, it can also sometimes feel intimidating to attend such events in the first place. Last year, I went to the opening night of the Melbourne Writers Festival with a couple of friends.
The 5 Stages of failing a Driving Test
8 December 2020You thought this day was going to mark the beginning of your journey into self-sufficiency. Whether you memorised every road rule or forged your entire logbook, no amount of driving lessons could have prepared you for the emotional rollercoaster that is failing a driving test.
Creative
Flash Fiction: Close
9 December 2020Teck-Phui Chua They stood, scattered across the field, heavy heads bent down touching the ground. Dawn broke and the warmth of the sun’s rays evaporated the dew off them, bringing them back to life. Slowly they stretched up, straightening themselves, facing up towards the sky. Their bright white petals popped open one by one revealing […]
Google Reviews of Places I’ve Been Dumped At
9 December 2020★ ★ ☆☆☆ (2 / 5 stars) U-BAHNHOF KOTTBUSSER TOR, BERLIN Terribly unromantic! Couldn’t even have a proper last kiss without a toothless crackhead smashing bottles and yelling at us in German. Even the “it’s not you, it’s me” spiel was ruined by the awful sound of coked-up nightclubbers vomiting in the corner of the […]
In the Middle of the Empty Woods
9 December 2020A small cloaked figure hurried across the barren earth as the last of the sun’s light leaked from the sky. The only thing between him and the horizon was a lonely little house, nestled in the shadow of the last starving tree. The tips of its leafless branches split and splintered like a hundred bony […]
5:45
9 December 2020Those who don’t notice the green Ford creaking into the lot are first alerted to the arrival of the Smoking Man by his voice ripping across Temple Park. ‘Sadie!’ Heads turn as the German Shepherd galavants toward the gathering. The Smoking Man has limped across this field every day since I started coming here and […]
balikbayan / body
9 December 2020in the storage area beyond our kitchen boxes often wait to leave one home for another’s taped and overwhelmed with the new and old pleather girl boots, men’s polo shirts starched anew, biscuits destined for manila city mothers send human-sized containers bearing gifts of hard-won labour with as much as their hearts could fit […]
Culture
Review: The Animals in That Country
12 January 2021Laura Jean McKay: The Animals in That Country Scribe Publications, 2020. ISBN, 9781925849530, $29.99, pp. 288. “Dingoes wear their fur like feelings: all sleek and shiny when they’re relaxed, a thick bank of heckle when they get wound up. Sue is wound up” (7). Laura Jean McKay’s The Animals in That Country is […]
Review: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London
23 December 2020Garth Nix’s The Left-Handed Booksellers of London follows art student Susan Arkshaw on a quest to London to search for a man she’s never met: her father. Before she can unearth any answers about her paternal ancestry though, a prick of a silver hatpin turns her first suspect into dust.
Review: Uncook Yourself
17 December 2020In the words of Nat’s What I Reckon, Australia’s latest and most surprising celebrity chef, there’s something about cooking and sharing a feast with friends that makes you feel like a “f*cking champion”.
Review: Sunshine: The diary of a lap dancer
4 December 2020Samantha C. Ross’ Sunshine: The diary of a lap dancer follows the titular stripper as she flits from Gentleman’s Clubs around Australia and beyond with a sharp wit, affinity for alcohol and delightful pettiness.
Review: Emily in Paris: A Modern Trip to the City of Love
30 November 2020We’ve all fantasised about flying to a foreign country and living out our wildest dreams without a care in the world. For Emily, this is a reality, though things are slightly more organised and less carefree in her case. Darren Star, creator of Beverly Hills 90210, Sex and the City, and more recently, Younger, brings […]