FEATURE | ISSUE TWO | WAIRUATANGA / SPIRITUALITY Written By Maira she/her | Contributing Writer I am so lucky The universe has my back Everything always works out for me If you’ve ever ventured into the world of ‘manifesting’, then you’ll probably recognise these phrases as daily affirmations at the heart of Lucky Girl Syndrome. Being a ‘lucky girl’ is more than just wishing something will happen — it’s about intentionally maintaining a positive mindset in your everyday life.

BREAD & CIRCUSES | COLUMN | SPORTS | WAIRUATANGA / SPIRITUALITY Written by Luke Fisher (he/him) | @lukefish7__ | CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST “I believe sport is actually a chance for us to have other human beings push us to excel.” Though I can’t say I’ve ever recited a line from a poem as part of a football drill, this quote resonated with me. It felt like a suitable one to start this piece with, not least because I look like every student from the Dead Poet’s Society put togeth

POETRY | ISSUE TWO | WAIRUATANGA / SPIRITUALITY Written by Elise Sadlier she/her | @elise_sadlier | Contributing Writer the lord is my shepherd I shall not want he leads the lamb to the table you taught me how to pray the very act of wanting how to fold my limbs in like a paper crane backhanded me when I used the Lord’s name in vain still I would build a shrine to you if I could I think you’d rather I be split sticky figs broken bread you say that good and evil hav

ARTS | ISSUE TWO | WAIRUATANGA / SPIRITUALITY Written By Noesheen Sherreeze Buksh she/her | @bon._.bon._.908 | Contributing Writer My art practice examines mortality. Through my interpretation of the apocalypse, my practice is shaped by my interfaith Christian-Islamic upbringing and Fijian-Indian heritage. Painting is a tool I use to escape the never-ending dread I feel in the pit of my stomach when the topic of religion and spirituality are brought up. I use the means of c

COLUMN | WAIRUATANGA / SPIRITUALITY Written by Ricky Lai (he/him) | @rickthelai on IG & Letterboxd | Film Columnist 1. A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson, 1956) The goal is to escape. It’s the only goal. Hours, days, and months pass while Fontaine, a captured French Resistance fighter, chips away at the door of his prison cell. Sweeping away the wood shavings on the floor, he plies the frame of his bed for a wire with which to weave a rope. Bresson is famously a director who

FEATURE | WAIRUATANGA / SPIRITUALITY Written by Niwa van Leeuwen (he/him) | Contributing Writer We, the dreamers, 'neath the tide Breathing where no breath abides Nothing holds currents fold and blend Motion neither starts nor ends Shadows winding between each braid Drowning the past, in motion made The river bends, the shadows dance Drowning in silence, waking in trance What continues cannot return The rivers remember not what burned In an instant, memory relieved

FEATURE | WAIRUATANGA / SPIRITUALITY Written by Stu Paul (any pronouns) | Contributing Writer I considered myself a Buddhist long before I ever realised that I was transgender. I grew up within the confines of mainstream Christianity in a family that was not particularly religious, but with a worldview that I would describe as culturally Catholic. This was a world where men were men, women were women, and queerness was an abnormality to be quietly tolerated but never celebrat

ARTS | ISSUE ONE | TUAKIRI / IDENTITY Written by Natasha Munro Hurn she/they | @ utopia_for_sale | Contributing Writer I crave distortion because it heals me. I am a personal riot, even at times when I desire not to, but then again, I am in a hetero world after all. No one can shut off this queerness because this is my utopia. I am broke as fuck but beautiful and alive!!! My practice is best seen as both an embrace and a release of my experience as a queer non-binary trans

FEATURE | ISSUE ONE | TUAKIRI / IDENTITY Written by Vinti Shiron she/her | @ vintishrnprod | Contributing Writer What makes your identity? The way you dress, the food you eat, the hobbies and interests that accumulate as you age. When we are young, we start collecting each element of our identity. From ma, I inherit my need to create and my strong intuition. From pops, my wit and logical thinking. Everyone I have ever met, and everything that I have consumed, has left a

FEATURE | HANGA / CRAFT Written by Rose Scott (she/her) | @aut_ventures | AUT Ventures For students, identity is rarely set in stone. School is a space of development – where who you’ve been begins to loosen, and who you’re becoming starts to take shape through not only learning, but community. For some, that journey unfolds naturally. For others, it becomes something lived and learned. Poi+ was born from this in-between. Founded by Joe Patuki (Tainui, Ngāpuhi), Poi+ is a m