Tag: university

Humans Edition

Mum Wang’s Private Kitchen

Words by: Kate Zhang

When I walked into the Chinese restaurant opposite Coles in Caulfield Plaza, its owner June Wang greeted me with enthusiasm and asked me what I would like to order.

“Which one do your customers like the most?” I asked Mum Wang, flipping through the menu.

“It’s a difficult question,” she replied. “Everything on my menu is created by my customers. They said to me: ‘I want to have eggplant pot.’ And then I tried to cook some for them to taste. They told me: ‘Oh, it’s delicious!’ Then I add it to the menu. Every dish was created in this way. So, my menu is filled with what my customers like.”

… Mum Wang’s Private Kitchen
Humans Edition

Never Meet Your Heroes

Words by: Soraya Rezal
Art by: Madison Marshall

People always say, ‘never meet your heroes’. Often the expectations are set so high that when you finally get the chance to meet them, you’ll be disappointed when they’re not at all what you imagined them to be. Not for me, though. The first time I met my idol was definitely one for the books, despite me making a complete fool of myself. 

… Never Meet Your Heroes
Humans Edition

Party of One

Words by: Kiera Eardley
Art by: Natalie Tran

“The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.” 

Michel de Montaigne might have written these words in the 16th century, but it’s still a sentiment that would resonate with introverts everywhere. In a world that places a lot of importance on life-long partners, and at an age when popular culture is screaming from all angles that you should have a huge, boisterous friendship group that does everything together and goes out every night, it’s an easy one to forget. Society is built for extroversion in many ways, and there’s a lot of good that comes from that — but at the end of the day, all you really have is yourself. And that deserves to be celebrated. 

… Party of One
Sex Edition (2022)

Fake It ’Til You Make It 

Writer: Surbhi
Artist: Mon Ouk

My first experience with a fake orgasm was watching a moaning Meg Ryan, aka Sally, throwing her head back in a New York deli and chanting “yes, yes, yes!”. The first time I pulled a Sally myself was a few years back, under the expectant gaze of a partner who asked if I had finished after a few minutes of rock ‘n’ roll, and I giggled awkwardly and nodded. 

… Fake It ’Til You Make It 
Sex Edition (2022)

Anatomy Class

Writer: Alice Wright
Artist: Emilia Bajer

When it comes to sex, we all know what feels good. What belongs where for things to *happen*, however we want it done. But is that all we know when it comes to our sexual organs, or our bodies in general? 

Australia is finally playing catch-up on sex education in schools, and we’re starting to learn the ins and outs of our bodies and minds. But I’ve finished school, and a while ago now. I definitely wasn’t taught a lot about my anatomy then — so how and why should I learn it now?

… Anatomy Class
Sex Edition (2022)

Picking Up the Pieces

Writer: Gabriela Fannia
Artist: Fletcher Aldous

If you’d ask anyone what ‘love’ is, you’ll mostly get positive, cute-yet-cringy definitions of it. But ask someone who just went through a major breakup, and they would give you a whole new set of gut-wrenching definitions of ‘love’. No matter how long, how serious, or how intimate the relationship is, a heartbreak is still a heartbreak. The level of ‘pain’ is (arguably) relative, but that’s not the point here. The point is, it is something we would choose not to go through if we had an option at all. In extreme cases, many don’t believe in love anymore, just as darkness is the absence of light, that solitary feeling after a breakup is the absence of love. 

… Picking Up the Pieces
Sex Edition (2022)

PSA: Vibrators are in, and so is loving yourself 

Writer: Marla Sommer
Artist: Rini Pradhan

Once, I saw this TikTok that summed up some desires we all feel at one point or another. It made me realise that many of us are in the same position. That position, my friend, is not the infamous 69 or the fabled “committed relationship” — it’s the single life. But all of this shouldn’t matter because what you don’t see is the sheer power every individual has to live out this desire for themselves. And it has a name: 

M-a-s-t-u-r-b-a-t-i-o-n. 

… PSA: Vibrators are in, and so is loving yourself 
Growing Pains Edition

Diary of A (Former) Tall Poppy

Words by: Natasha Schapova
Art by: Stephanie Wong

Childhood. A blissful, almost utopian time in nearly everybody’s life, defined by happiness, purity and obliviousness. A time sprinkled with the belief that anything is possible, allowing us to swim in the wild and ornate potion of our imagination. We were assured that we could do anything that we set our minds to, and we embodied this mantra in every response to “what do you want to do when you grow up?”.

… Diary of A (Former) Tall Poppy