For the first time in as long as I can remember, it was extremely difficult to actually find a copy of Honi last week. By midday Friday, the Taste and Fisher stands were emptied out, and Manning was not far off. Though that’s probably more of a credit to the willingness of Oweek attendees to pick up anything in their sight rather than the quality of the paper, it was no less a pleasant surprise.
If you were one of the 4000 that picked up the Oweek issue (or you’re one of the 4 who know there’s a PDF version online) you may have noticed that–as well as the obviously visual changes–there’s a broader creative shift in Honi this year.
For one, suiting our penchant as an editorial team, we’ve become more oriented towards long form pieces. The likes of In Too Deep, Ongoing and (the newly titled) Perspective each play into this. In Too Deep, in particular, is our way of enabling more experiential work, with Tim Asimakis last week diving into the muddy waters of pick up artistry–to the dismay of the MRA’s online community. This week Pete Walsh offers a piece on a similarly scandalous ‘faculty lottery’.
As well as a platform for trenchant journalists, we’re also intent on making Honi a domain for artists, poets, and storytellers. This is a promise that has long been made, but has very rarely been well followed through. It’s a common and unfortunate misconception that Honi exists for the singular purpose of commentating on face-saving student politicians, so this year hackery has been relegated to the back pages (see: GronkWatch), and in its stead we have dedicated more space to our rhymers and raconteurs.
Because, ultimately, Honi is whatever you want it to be. Every year this paper is built independently, from the ground up, by the ones who love it the most. Despite being constantly reminded that USU scandals will pretty much always trump fresh cultural content on the Facebook traction charts, we are no less convinced that Honi is held so dearly because it’s not that simple.
There is no publication in the world more willing to publish a first person insight into the impracticalities of squirting; to teach you how to rort parking (and score free grapes); and to lay up four pages of thorough and original freedom rides content a few hours before a 9am print deadline.
And for puzzles, turn to page 24.
