Hey you,
Let me introduce you to Honi Soit’s week 10 issue, the Jukebox edition.
Initially, I chose the theme of ‘jukebox’ because I was listening to Skyhooks’ ‘Jukebox in Siberia’ after a late night in the Honi office working on the Week 7 Election edition. It felt effortless to metaphorise this theme — the jukebox is a historic symbol of nostalgia, the youth’s rebellion against order and hierarchy and of course, curated playlists. It is an artefact that energises upheaval and in fact encourages it. The history of the jukebox compliments our posit of counter-culturalism so well that it almost writes itself.
To me, Honi Soit and student media at large, has always been like the jukebox. You can pick us up, peruse what we have on offer and make it your own, even contribute yourself — much like pressing the playback button. Not only this, the jukebox is a time capsule where unadulterated expression and liberation is called for even in the face of suffering and pushback.
Pick us up and prod at us. In this edition you can immerse yourself in recounts of the Student Journalism Conference, curate your own playlist but not before understanding Spotify and their algorithms, go on a foray through the Chau Chak Wing Museum or queue the Regurgitator, The Monkees and the Chinese Deejay scene.
In an age where suffering and devastation is rampant in places like Palestine and my Dad’s homeland, Lebanon, please don’t let the symbols of rebellion and resistance that you find in the jukebox fade. So when you leave these pages I hope you feel that itch to make that playlist, attend that protest or write those stories just because you can.
Since you’re already here I have some quick thank you’s to deliver. Thank you to my parents for raising me on the best tracks, thank you to my best friend Eve for making my cover and taking my numerous revisions in stride, thank you to Victoria, Holly, Conrad and Claudia for featuring in the cover, and thank you to Flirt and Honi Soit for always dancing to your own tune.
Yours,
Zeina
