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Added on 26 Feb 2024. Last read 8 minutes ago.

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    • An Eye for Arovision
      • What to watch on Welly’s local streaming service 2025 was the first year I properly attended the New Zealand International Film Festivall—and I didn’t hold back. Volunteering as an usher meant I could catch films on shift and score a handful of comped tickets. Across two weeks, I watched 17 films… a respectable effort. While some of my favorites haven't hit streaming yet (I cannot WAIT to recommend Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s A Useful Ghost), here are a few standout NZIFF 2025 titles that...

    • Nuclear-Free: Aotearoa’s Resistance in the South Pacific
      • Luca Vita It is late evening on 10 July 1985. The Green Peace ship Rainbow Warrior sits docked in Auckland Harbour. On board, the crew celebrate ahead of their upcoming voyage to protest atomic weapons testing in the Pacific Islands. Unbeknownst to the crew, two navy divers from the French DGSE secret service are silently fixing explosives to the hull. Shortly before midnight, two explosions tore through the ship, sinking it and killing crew member Fernando Pereira. The attack marked a...

    • Critic-at-Large
      • You Call This Fiction, But It is More Ben Lerner’s Transcription Lest I sound like just another gay guy who heard of Ben Lerner via Lorde’s Instagram story last week (“No living writer has affected me more”, the singer wrote on April 14th), let me set the record straight by saying that actually I’ve been reading him since I was sixteen, thank you very much. Lerner was the writer that first introduced me to literary criticism (in his extraordinary monograph The Hatred of Poetry); who first...

    • Mixed Perspectives
      • Zara Boon Being mixed race is a strange experience. Not being one culture or another, being both, being neither, swinging between feeling like you belong everywhere and then that you belong nowhere. The micro aggressive comments, the racial ambiguity, the ability to blend your cultures—I could (and have) gone on for ages about it. Here's what I've settled on: there is no way to separate the two sides of my identity. I am both of them, not a cake to be split evenly. And, being a mix between...

    • Students Targeted in Testicular Cancer Awareness Push
      • A blunt new campaign is telling Kiwi men something we’ve long avoided hearing: check your balls. Launched during Testicular Cancer awareness month, the “Lump Lottery” campaign is pushing young men to take their health seriously…with the unusual incentive of winning a brand new ute. Despite being one of the most treatable cancers, with a survival rate of 95-96% when caught early, Testicular cancer remains the most common cancer in men under 40 in Aotearoa. And many young men—especially...

    • Kumutoto, the Forgotten Awa.
      • Eleanor Thorpe I sit in a wooded glen tucked beneath Salamanca Terrace. Tall karaka trees surround me; kawakawa and other shrubs strain for light in the undergrowth. Tradescantia—an invasive weed and conservationist’s never-ending foe—sprawls across the forest floor. Before me, emerging from three unceremonious storm water pipes, flows Te Awa o Kumutoto. Her bank offers a kind of sanctuary, a whakatā (break) from the hectic bustle of my university day. I am only a hundred meters below...

    • GenZ Aotearoa Hosts Inaugural National Youth Organisation Hui
      • GenZ Aotearoa (GZA) recently hosted its inaugural National Youth Organisation Hui in Pōneke, bringing together youth leaders from across the motu to strengthen connections and reimagine the future of advocacy. Founded in January 2024 following the election of the current government, GZA emerged to help mitigate resultant feelings of disillusionment and voicelessness among Aotearoa’s rangatahi. Since then, GZA’s focus has evolved from resistance to regeneration. Their mahi falls under three...

    • the bus stop on courtenay place knows your secrets & supermarket cigarettes 
      • Penelope Scarborough the bus stop on courtenay place knows your secrets it watches girls pop the nights like pills new world wine oh so cheap & delicious hates the way kids drop night ‘n day vapes down the back of the benches like their disposability might make the cancer less permanent feel the way the trees here are hungry for wind skeletal veins always scratching the night but it’s late now – the roads are empty the kind of night that sits rotting on your skin when you’re wide...

    • Reading Cinemas to Rise Again
      • Reading cinemas have been closed for seven years. Two generations of Vic students have started and finished undergrad only knowing a dead building in the heart of Courtney Place. At long last, that’s about to change. Reading requires earthquake strengthening, and doesn’t have the money for it. After dragging their feet for a laughably long time, they’ve finally sold it to developers PrimeProperty, who will lease it back to Reading under the moniker of “The Court.” Reading Cinemas will still...

    • Strictly 4 The Islands
      • TO LIVE AND DIE AT MT SMART STADIUM As Ardie Savea tackles folk in Japan, and Tana Umaga prepares to help coach the All Blacks, the plug has been pulled on Moana Pasifika. An admittedly shaky experiment in Pacific-lead rugby union has come into financial troubles to the tune of $10,000,000, leaving it unable to compete in the Super Rugby Pacific competition after this year. As a fan, it was not hard to see something like this coming—disappointing results, talent moving elsewhere, and...

    • Everything We Know About VUWSA’s Clubs Proposal
      • This is part one of a three-part series examining the VUWSA executive, with this instalment focusing on student clubs. A proposal to shift control of student clubs from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington to the Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association (VUWSA) has sparked confusion and concern among club members, following a series of emails sent in late March. University management confirmed that “high-level conversations” have taken place with VUWSA about the...

    • Lessons on Life, Love, and Other Stuff
      • On Breakups, Rejection and #NoBoyfriend2026 Dear dating diary, I recently became single for the first time since entering my 20’s and it has truly been an eye-opening experience. I’ve had to flirt with people at the club, reject people simply because I’m not interested, and learn to be truly comfortable on my own. The life of a single woman in her early 20’s is foreign territory to me, but I’m loving it and learning how to navigate the treacherous waters of dating. Breaking up with...

    • Issue Seven Puzzle Answers
      • Connections Answers: First Connection Car models/brands: Mercury, Jaguar, Ram, Eagl Second Connection Woodworking tools: Chisel, Plane, File, Saw Third Connection Herbs: Basil, Sage, Dill, Mint Fourth Connection Tooth/dentistry things: Crown, Bridge, Filling, Cap

    • Your Drug Friend
      • Anonymous CW: Drug use Drugs can be fun, but they can also be a real bad time if you’re not careful. I grew up naïve to drugs, my early impressions shaped by the anti-drug propaganda of the DARE programme. My first boyfriend was into them, which, by proximity, meant I was too. I trusted him to tell me what we were taking and what it would feel like. I never thought to ask him where he got his information—or the drugs themselves. This was fine, nothing went wrong. Until it did. At the...

    • Graffiti for the insomniac
      • Bella Grieve Memory loss injection into the skin. Flesh dissolved, love hypothesis. Nature's way, touch my body, your hand around my neck folding at the word cute. Anarchy symbol under the candyman. A secret admirer so sweet, sugar saying dating is a drag. Lose your mind to find your soul. Vicks sold beneath the streets. Along in the train station, Platform 11. Vendetta that creeps through the cracks in the concrete. Confusion or confirmation? Red flowers strung up on the windows, spotless...

    • STRICTLY 4 THE ISLANDS
      • LET’S TAKE IT BACK:WHAT YOU MAY HAVE MISSED IN THE MOANA As Te Herenga Waka opens its doors again, I assume most of your brains are focused on un-read readings and half finished assignments, which probably doesn’t leave much room for the dynamic political landscape of the Pacific. But do not fret, that’s what I’m here for. Let’s take it back and catch us up on some of the stuff that’s gone down since we last spoke. For many, the biggest story has been the carnage brought on by various extreme...

    • Salient Weekly Challenge - Mario Kart but Electric Scooters
      • “Within the span of a week, I’ll be trying to accomplish a long-term task just to see if it’s possible, and to see what I can get out of it. Life lessons? Skills? Resilience training? The stimulation alone should be enough motivation.” A story my dad will never stop bringing up is how, when I was nine, I managed to crash our homemade Go-Cart into a local Primary School building. From that point on, I realized I have zero fear when it comes to vehicular speeds. Moving to Welly, I left my car...

    • Opinion: Recovery, If You Can Afford It
      • Anonymous Note: Medicinal cannabis, like any medication, may not be right for you. It is not right for everyone. Contact a medical professional to determine if medicinal cannabis may be right for you. If you have a Community Services Card, you may be eligible for subsidised medicinal cannabis. Talk to a healthcare professional for more information. I pay $402 a month to function. That’s what I pay now for medicinal cannabis. That number doesn’t include the initial appointments, or the...

    • Survey Explores Student Drug Use, Experiences, and Attitudes at Te Herenga Waka
      • CW: Drug use, overdose, drug-related harm Survey Explores Student Drug Use, Experiences, and Attitudes at Te Herenga Waka CW: Drug use, overdose, drug-related harm Salient surveyed students to better understand how drugs are actually being used at Te Herenga Waka—and what that means for safety, harm, and support. This article covers everything from patterns of use and frequency, to harm, dependence, overdose, and access to drug checking, but one theme runs through it all. Students are not...

    • Munch
      • Beyond Bites What: Sri-Lankan street food Price: $14.50–$15.50 When: 9:00a.m.–5:00p.m., Monday-Saturday Tuck yourself away in here for an easy and comforting plate. ⭐⭐⭐ Capital Market on Willis Street has (I desperately hope) seen better days. I wouldn’t know, I’ve only ever walked past it. So have most people, which is part of the problem. The tightly shut windows of the stalls that back onto the street near Capital Hall don’t seem inviting. However, push through the heavy plastic...

    • Hunk Unc: My flatmates are not nice people but I’m in a freaking one year tenancy with them. What. Do. I. Do???
      • Hunk unc!! My flatmates are not nice people but I’m in a freaking one year tenancy with them. What. Do. I. Do??? Right. Hunk Unc is putting his Unc Hunk pants on to answer this question, so expect fewer gym references and more actual advice today. The first thing this Unc would suggest is going to the VUWSA Advocates. They’re a 100% confidential service run by the Student Union, and your fees pay for them, so you may as well make the most of it. They give advice to students in situations just...

    • Goodbye Fossil Fuel or April Fool?
      • Student activists warn that celebrations of the Foundation’s newly announced policy targeting fossil fuel divestment across its portfolio may be premature. On April 1, the Victoria University of Wellington Foundation publicised a new policy prioritising the exclusion of companies who provide probable coal reserves and/or oil and natural gas reserves used for energy purposes. As the Foundation invests entirely via externally managed pooled funds, implementation will follow a “phased...

    • Ngā Hua te Taio
      • Good news stories (and more) for the planet Kia ora, Salient reader! Welcome to our new fortnightly column on the environment, sustainable living, and the small, stubborn act of hope amongst a world on fire! Check in every second week for waste-free recipes, genuinely good news, and practical ways to lend a hand—nudging a happier, healthier Earth a little closer into view. Waste-free recipe of the week: Tortillas are a staple of the student diet. Whether you’re going full gourmet with...

    • Day Two of Who Knows
      • By Anonymous CW: Murder, Violence, Drug Addiction I stood alone in a room full of people, each absorbed in their own thoughts, each holding their own view. Never had I faced such scrutiny. Then again, never had I killed a man. So to be scrutinized was exactly why I stood alone in that room. For days on end, I held this position, and for days on end I faced scrutiny—accusations and assumptions alike, speculative theories, fragments of fact, and minor testimonies. Not once did I deny taking...

    • Critic-at-Large
      • But It Feels So Real to Me Robyn’s Sexistential Often these days I find myself evangelising to my peers about the left-of-field Swedish pop rebel Robyn. If the name doesn’t ring a bell—which, despite her well-documented and wide-ranging influence (Britany Spears, Lorde, Charli xcx, Taylor Swift), is surprisingly often the case—all I have to do is sing a few lines from her 2010 sleeper hit, “Dancing on My Own”: “I’m in the corner / Watching you kiss her / Oh-oh-oh” . Everybody knows it. I...

    • Ciph’s Cabinet
      • Bi-Weekly Game Reviews Christopher Curtis Pikmin has the potential to be a real comfort game, and if you find real-time-strategy games daunting at all, this is one I can wholeheartedly recommend beginning your journey with. The gameplay loop is simple. As Captain Olimar, you have 30 in-game days to repair your spaceship. You will do so with the help of your little buddies, the titular Pikmin. They are scavenging little critters who will carry just about anything—from ship parts to wildlife...

    • Opinion: A Caste by Conviction: How Drug Law Structures Inequality in Aotearoa
      • In 1971, US President Richard Nixon declared drugs “public enemy number one.” What followed was the War on Drugs—a campaign built on a simple idea: that harsh punishment could eliminate drug use. It didn’t. But the way it framed drug use as something to criminalise continues to influence much of Western drug policy, including Aotearoa’s. The Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 frames drug use primarily as a criminal issue, rather than a health one. The consequences are severe. Supplying a Class A...

    • Anti-Woke American philosopher hosted by Free Speech Union at New Zealand Universities.
      • Abbi Maidment An anti-woke US influencer brought to New Zealand got a small but appreciative university crowd in Wellington last week. Peter Boghossian was one of two “anti-woke” international speakers hosted at Te Herenga Waka’s Pipita Campus on Friday, 20 March. Brought to Aotearoa by the Free Speech Union New Zealand and hosted at the university by Generation Screwed (a subsidy of the taxpayers' union), Boghossian and Marian L. Tupy spoke to a group of around 30 people, including...

    • Bad Bunny Reminds Us: The Only Thing More Powerful Than Hate is Love
      • Victoria Cantalapiedra Mateo ‘ Mientras uno está vivo, uno debe amar lo más que pueda. ’ ("While one is alive, one must love as much as one can") (“BAILE INoLVIDABLE”) Bad bunny’s parting words echoed across Sydney’s Engie Stadium as 90,000 fans gathered across two sold-out nights for his long-awaited Australian debut. Tickets vanished almost instantly, setting audience records and marking the first time a Latin artist has sold out a stadium in Australia. Crowds of all ages and...

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