Browsing: editorial

Although I no longer believe in what it represents, I still pass that neon blue cross every morning and night. When it was first installed, all I could do was stop and stare. I hope that you have the same feeling — a mixture of blind awe, fury and grace — as you explore the brilliant work of each writer and artist who has contributed to this edition. 

I wonder who is reading this right now. For history assignments, students like myself comb through real/digitised sheets of newspapers and periodicals. I wonder if this will one day be done to this paper. I hope students today and tomorrow find a sense of intimacy when reading these pages — in the familiar settings, feelings and issues. Our lives are worth literary attention.

In a panic to think of prompts for Honi reporters for this edition, I suggested Cliques, Chairs, and Chancellors as points of inspiration – the trifecta which governs one’s experience at the university. Cliques are immaterial but ubiquitous. Cliques are contagious.

The mythology underpinning modern Australia is as vast as our continent; incorporating various  influences through a contested, often violent and surprisingly turbulent history. From the burnt orange sands of the red centre to the wiry brown grass of the northern savannahs; from Queensland’s blacksoil plains to the diverse hubbub of Sydney and its turquoise harbour — the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves are unendingly interesting and intensely complex. 

Born from the ink of Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali in 1969, is Handala, a faceless figure, back turned and hands tied, as consolidated in 1973. By depicting a 10-year-old Palestinian child who doesn’t grow up, al-Ali uses art to represent how the world — including the Arab world — has turned its back to Palestinian dispossession and deprivation of basic human rights.