There is very little of value that one can write after midnight in the Honi office (see p 3). Nevertheless, column space demands I provide the following poorly thought out indulgence.
Almost exactly one year ago, face-to-face teaching stopped at Sydney Uni. Last week, wax Taylor Swift, surrounded by a beefy security detail, gazed over the quadrangle lawns as thousands of first year students made a beeline for the Honi Soit Welcome Week stall.
Despite my SRC Server-induced sleep deprivation, it was immensely gratifying to once again see people milling about on campus. Under the gentle autumn sun, everything seemed to be comfortingly normal.
However, despite the return of some in-person classes, it will be far from rosy for those eager first years: they will face increased fees (p 5), shortened teaching periods (p 5), severe concussion from falling objects (p 5) and puddles of piss in the Peter Nicol Russell building (p 11).
Now that COVID is over, it is incumbent on all students to re-engage with campus life, to prevent University management using COVID as a cover to pull sneaky moves like 12 week semesters or permanently online lectures.
The first step in this praxis is to read and write for Honi Soit: Australia’s only remaining weekly student newspaper.
This humble editor cannot think (at 2am) of any publication with the range and diversity of Honi. And it’s free!
On page 4, there is an update on Professor Wojciech Sadurski’s free speech battle in an increasingly authoritarian Poland. In his excellent feature on page 11, Noah Corbett praises the poignant poetry of German Marxist Bertolt Brecht. I highly recommend sitting down to read with a cup of tea and some sad music.
On page 16, Angelique Minas critiques “celestial sexism and space racism” while Ariana Haghighi profiles Sydney’s town crier (p 14).
The last time I played golf, I hit an Audi and was stung for a grand. Tom Wark (p 10) does a stirling job of extolling the virtues of golf at a time when the sport is under attack — even if he might not convince me.
Last, and certainly not least, my profound thanks to Dylan Newling for his brilliant cover art, drawing on Brecht’s “awareness that we are the makers of our problems, but also the fixers.”
As Brecht himself wrote, “First comes eating, then comes morality.” I am very hungry, so here endeth the editorial and this edition of Honi.
See you all 6.30 Wendesday @ the rose