Academic Freedom to Hate
The University defends the employment of these academics and their right to express their views. “The University must be a place for the exchange and challenge of knowledge and ideas, undertaken with a shared respect for competing points of view,” Vice Chancellor Duncan Maskell says. But, should academic freedom of speech override the right of students and staff to feel safe on campus? On one side sits the University of Melbourne and select members of its faculty. On the other, a litany of trans, gender-nonconforming (GNC) and ally students and staff.
Woof
when someone asks / what I want to be when I grow up / I respond / a dog.
Sex and Stigma
Your first casual sex experience. The back of a car. Classy. You never liked random hook ups in clubs and you’re frankly bemused by the whole experience. Sex had always been an intimate act; not anymore. The second time is better, you like him, you date a few weeks, you’re replaced. It gets easier each time.
Federal Election Coverage 2019
Welcome to Farrago's coverage of the 2019 federal election.
Campus
Climate Protest Goes Ahead Despite Criticism From Authorities
12 January 2020Thousands of Melburnians gathered at the State Library on Friday to demand immediate climate action. Despite persistent rain, protestors filled the steps of the library and overflowed onto Swanston Street and La Trobe Street, before marching through the city. Around 30,000 people attended the march according to organisers Uni Students for Climate Justice. The student […]
Former UMSU President Molly Willmott elected NUS President
13 December 2019On the third day of the National Conference (NatCon), former University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU) President Molly Willmott was elected President of the National Union of Students (NUS). Following withdrawals, her election was unopposed. As a member of the National Labor Students (NLS), Willmott succeeded Desiree Cai, also from the University of Melbourne. These […]
NUS Thursday Ballot
12 December 2019Ballots will be cast this morning, determining the National Union of Students (NUS) leadership for 2020. Ahead of today’s vote, Farrago can confirm the results of many key positions that now stand unopposed following withdrawals from candidates. Votes are being cast until 1:30 pm by NUS delegates and proxies outside Studio Theatre in the building. […]
Farrago 1999 vs Farrago 2019: What’s Changed?
12 December 2019Earlier this year, a friend took me to a party hosted by Guy Rundle, the Melbourne writer, in his flat in South Yarra. People perched on the edge of couches and drank wine from coffee mugs as if it were a student party, even though most of the attendees were twice that age. Somehow the topic of Farrago came up, and I mentioned that I had co-edited the magazine in 1999. Guy introduced me to two other former editors who were there: Prue from 1988 and Sean from 1992.
Nonfiction
Tooti Fruity
12 December 2019The correct way to break a rambutan open is to use a knife. I call that the coward’s way. If you’re a lawless rebel like me, you bite into it whole, cringing at the sudden bitterness the break in the skin fills your mouth with, then use your teeth to rip the rest of it away.
Diaspora Dilemmas
12 December 2019In an age where we can barely last the year without
buying a new smartphone and throw ageing possessions before they have a chance to decay, it’s puzzling why we still refuse to throw away the remnants of the toxic colonial mindset.
All that Glitters is not Gold
12 December 2019While it is a privilege to be able to afford an education abroad, many unspoken costs like underpaid wages, homesickness, cultural shock, financial instability and underemployment came as a surprise. But as an international student, I’m not sure if these costs are worth the price our parents pay.
Regulating Language
12 December 2019Language has faced an onslaught of changes in the face of globalisation, as influences from across the world fight against local ideals of what a language should be. Language academies—organisations that act as regulatory bodies of different languages—are leading the fight against changes to language they perceive as illegitimate.
Kiss and Tell
12 December 2019After my breakup with the Michael Clifford lookalike, I started seeing more people of colour. Not that Michael Clifford ruined white men for me, I just felt more comfortable around people like me.
Creative
Cooking Words
3 December 2019Unwrapping the tinfoil, Oops, the intonation of a sentence / is overcooked; the content of a sentence is / meaningless.
Meditation
3 December 2019I don’t mind if it is an acorn, a plum, or a baobab fruit. / They are all fruits.
Flash Fiction: Puppets
3 December 2019100-words-or-less pieces about ghosts for Farrago 2019 Edition 7.
The Open Night
3 December 2019You, this forgotten shadow, / That rests in a flowering memory / Is the kiss of root and berry.
Culture
Review: 1917
8 January 2020Sam Mendes’ epic one-take war film is an indelible, commanding experience built on some of the most incredible craftsmanship that cinema can offer.
Review: Cats
5 January 2020At its core, it is a wildly CGI’d musical movie about cats begging to die, starring some of the most iconic people in entertainment (plus James Corden).
Review: Little Women
5 January 2020Little Women (2019) is a radical re-arranging of Alcott’s novel, a tapestry of moments rather than a chronological narrative.
Review: Carly Rae Jepsen
19 December 2019Between walking into the Forum at a little past 7pm and seeing Carly Rae Jepsen come on stage for her sold-out Melbourne show was probably the most trying few hours of my life.
Review: Atlantics
19 December 2019French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop’s feature film debut, Atlantics, is a sensitively crafted, dream-like journey haunted by the desire for freedom.