In Defense of Performative Males

Okay please, let me explain myself.   I fear this is actually an unproductive trend, I fear that calling out ‘performative males’ with their tote bags and their moustaches is actually just bullying men for having a personality. I don’t know about you, but I certainly prefer to surround myself with

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Nexus Book Club: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde remains one of the most unsettling Victorian novellas. Published in 1886, it reflects contemporary anxieties about respectability, urban life, and the duality of man, while also anticipating modern debates on the unconscious, addiction, and hidden desires. Though brief in

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The Light in the Dark

Cue Beetoven, symphony No. 5.  Duuh duh duh duuhhh  Duh duh duh duuuuhhhhhhhh…   That’s the song I get when I’m standing in a gothic cathedral, staring up at the vaulted ceilings, stained glass windows shifting the light into colours not previously seen by mankind, the intricate details of every wall

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Wuthering Heights

I’m sure we’ve all watched the erotic “Wuthering Heights” trailer by Emerald Fennell. While some may have been captivated by the bearded Jacob Elordi, Charli XCX, and overall sexual manner to it, this is supposedly a “Wuthering Heights” adaptation, which this trailer doesn’t really cover. The story of “Wuthering Heights”

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Nexus Knows

Anonymous: How to survive a 9 am lecture?   Nexus: The first step is to determine whether your routine needs to/ can change. Do you need to change your sleep schedule and are you capable of doing so? If so, this is a good place to start to get more energy

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Commodifying Pop Culture (In The Form of Tattoo)

There’s something to be said about loving an idea so much that you feel the need to condemn it to permanence. We live in an age that sometimes confuses consumerism with love which means that we need to digest or embody something for our claim over it to feel valid.  

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The Reality for Reality TV: Ink Master *GONG WRONG* (Not Clickbait)

The Season 15 finale of Ink Master became a trigger-point for conversations about art, bias, and representation in traditionally masculine spaces. At its centre was Freddie, a queer finalist on the show, whose interpretation of the challenge theme “female” subverted the expected feminine form into something that sparked debate at

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Reviewing VMA Performances as a Pop Girlie

In no particular order, I was absolutely taken aback by some of the people who took the stage at the recent VMAs. My opinions are entirely biased on account of the fact that I am the biggest fan of so-called ‘basic white girl music’, so if you don’t agree with

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The Price of “Free” Kai

Written by Tawera Marsh When we gather as whānau, as hapū, as iwi, there is always kai. It flows like aroha, endless plates being filled, cups being topped up, hands busy in the kitchen, voices laughing and calling out instructions. To feed people is to manaaki them. To provide kai

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Rongoa For Uni Survival

By Temepara Smith He taonga tuku iho nā ngā tīpuna In traditional times, Māori had many different types of Rongoa for different matenga. Our rongoa practices were birthed from our environment and cultural beliefs. Today, we live in a different environment with its own challenges. Stress, burnout, and anxiety are

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Find Mana in the Small Things

Anita Taiapa Brown “Ahakoa he iti, he pounamu,” Cheesy, but a classic whakatauki that I think embodies the āhua of this article. Mana is in the small things, regardless of how cringe that might seem to you. Being Māori, being Indigenous, being a minority- your existence is a political statement,

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Editorial – Issue 12 2026

Citing McGall’s recent work – seminal in the intersection of nexus thought and academic meta discourse – this paper outlines strategy for furthering one’s linguistic execution in the context of undergraduate scholarship. Positing a reductive angle, sharpened by a pragmatic approach, this article cuts through the academic noise and offers advice both

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The Politics of Exclusion 

The proposed Definitions of Woman and Man bill seeks to define a woman as “an adult human biological female” and a man as “an adult human biological male” in the Legislation Act (2019). Its explanatory note claims the purpose is to “protect the integrity of sex-based rights” and ensure language reflects “biological reality.”

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Fees Free Scrapped

On Friday the 8th of May New Zealand’s beacon of austerity, Nicola Willis, confirmed what NZ First gerontocrat Winston Peters had leaked on Newstalk ZB, that fees free will be scrapped in the upcoming budget. Our very own iron lady shared that “We will have more to say about this in

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Gaza and the Ongoing Reality of Survival

So far this year, international affairs has been consumed by the USA and Isreal targeting Iran, however, the genocide on Palestine hasn’t ended just because Isreal is occupied elsewhere. The scale of suffering in Gaza Strip right now demands attention to what daily life has become for Palestinians still living through the

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An Open Letter to Old People: Gen Z Don’t Like AI 

Japan is turning footsteps into energy… jk.  But that’s an example of one of the many ways AI is enclosing the internet. We, as young people, have seen its slow creep into our lives, from uncanny AI generated images to Russian bots celebrating Putin’s gains in the Donbas. But old people haven’t. They haven’t grown up

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A Rant About Humanities

Toby gave me 48 hour notice to write this editorial because he didn’t want to do it so now I’m going to convince you to study humanities:  When choosing a degree pathway, one question remains: Is the humanities dying? The rise of STEM fields being framed as practical, employable subjects intensify this narrative. Yet, beneath this rhetoric lies

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It’s Time to Invoke the 25th Amendment Against Donald Trump

The presidency of the United States demands judgment, restraint, and a fundamental respect for human life. It also demands a safeguard for those qualities fail. The 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1967, provides a mechanism to remove a president who is unable to carry out the duties of the office. Under Section 4,

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Being the rainbow flying gay

Watching the news as a 11-year-old wondering why my eyes were glued to the TV as Aotearoa announced same-sex marriage was legalised. I didn’t really know what it meant, I just knew something monumental was happening. I developed allyship for these people I didn’t even know existed. By thirteen I had the first inkling I may have been different; I never cared for

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Being Sober(ish)

So much of uni culture revolves around drugs. Getting stoned before class with a mate, getting black out drunk at a house party, taking enough gear at Outback to actually enjoy dnb. Not every student is a drinker, stoner, or junkie, but for many of us that’s how we log off after a long day on Moodle

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Just Chill TF Out

When something goes wrong – a mistake at work, a poor decision, a friendship that falls apart – it can feel like proof that you’ve failed not just at a situation, but at being the person you thought you should be.  Self-criticism can feel productive. We tell ourselves that if we’re tough enough on our mistakes, we’ll never

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One Foot Back in the Closet

The last time you read an editorial of mine I was out as a gay man. Now, I’m bi. What changed? Well, a lot really.  It’s funny because people who have been in my life since high school weren’t really surprised by the change – like Ruby – because it was my third time coming out, lol. I was straight (by default) ’til halfway

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A love Letter to Nexus Readers

My Dearest Reader,  Permit me a moment of shameless vulnerability.  I have been noticing you – your curiosity, your late-night scrolling fatigue, your quiet suspicion that the world is louder than it is wise. And I must confess: I was made for you.  While others compete to be first, I long to be

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Blind Date – Issue 5 2026

“She was a girl. She was also a girl. Can I make it any more obvious? Blind Date is back and we’re bringing the lesbians! (and the bisexuals no bi-erasure here).” Person 1: Before the date I was super nervous got ready hours before hand and kept checking my phone

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Long-distance…yay or nay?

Lauren – for  Lots of people say that distance makes the heart grow fonder. I wouldn’t be the first to avidly agree with that, but I have my fair share of long distance connections all over the world, so I get it. It’s hard, sure, but it’s doable and worth it in the long run. Maintaining a friendship or

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Wet Denim

We sat down with Joe, Luca, Nick and Jack from the 4-piece Pōneke based band Wet Denim on Sunday. Appearing at Homegrown the night before, the band was stoked with how Kirikiriroa came out to support and bust a boogie, commenting: “Yeah, it felt like the main stage was just

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Random Audit: Nursing 102

Because I failed bio consistently throughout high school, I figured there was no better lecture to run into than one of the first for nursing 102; and I was very pleasantly surprised by what I walked into. The class size was massive, and with a diverse range of ages it

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Recipe – Pasta

Less cheap, less easy,   Prep time: 10 minutes  Cook time: 30 minutes  Total time: 40 minutes  Serves: 4  Estimated cost per serve: $5    Why This Slaps ?  This meal is perfect for cooking for someone special, whether you want to show you care or you’re just trying to get laid. It’s pretty easy, relatively cheap, tastes good, and makes a lot.  

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YouTube live Concerts 

Are you too broke to go to live concerts? Do you live in an island nation that your favourite artist won’t ever come to? Or maybe they came to Aotearoa, but now it’s over and the post-concert depression is hitting too hard? Let me introduce you to the world of YouTube live concerts.   Music is at its most

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Who are we? What do we do? What is the deal? How do you get involved?

Nexus Soundcheck is the heart and soul of music journalism in Kirikiriroa. We want to be at every gig, reviewing every newly released album, and interviewing the best and most promising local talent. We’ll be in the mosh with you. We’ll be at the shitty open mic nights with you, and we’ll be with you at the merch table buying a CD withour last

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Recipe – Baguette

Easy Baguette (Makes 2 small)   Ingredients   500 g Standard Flour   350ml Lukewarm water   3g Dry Yeast   10g Salt   This is one of the easiest recipes to get into breadmaking.   Mix flour and water in a bowl until no longer dry, cover and rest for 30 minutes.   This will allow the gluten to

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Random Audit – STGM202

I’m generally not a business or management person, mainly because I don’t like maths besides statistics and I’m bad with money, but for the sake of a random audit I decided to watch a second year strategic management lecture.   The lecture started off with the general admin stuff at the overall course outline. This was of no interest to me, but it was good

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Horoscopes – 16/03/26

Aries- Instead of being a fire sign, try putting the “air” in Aries and fucking relax (and play golf with a Taurus).  Taurus- I see a new friend in your future. It’s very important that you become completely codependent and play golf every weekend. What, who said that?   Gemini- You’ll feel the urge to forgive all the people who haven’t actually wronged you that bad; it’s important

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Recipe – Chicken and Rice

Cheap, easy  Prep time: 10 minutes  Cook time: 20 minutes  Total time: 30 minutes  Serves: a lot  Estimated cost per serve: $ not much   Why This Slaps?  It doesn’t, in fact it’s quite shit, however when you’re sitting in your flat on Sunday night rethinking all your life decisions while the vomit stain on your carpet slowly fades, you need something easy

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Maiki Sherman’s resignation: more than just a controversy

Maiki Sherman has resigned from her role as political editor for 1News at TVNZ.   That’s the headline, but it’s not the full picture. The circumstances surrounding her resignation have been only one part of an ecosystem of muddied waters that now make up the relationship between Parliament, the media, and the New Zealand

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The Rise and Fall of Fees Free

The tumultuous history of deciding who pays for university  The University of Waikato opened in1964, and its students back then had a much different experience financing university than we do today. From 1962 until 1989, the government paid for tertiary tuition fees in full with the state bursary.   As the story often goes, all good things

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Red or Black? 

It’s not much of a secret that online gambling has seen a rise in popularity in the last few years, especially with the younger generation. The technology being offered today means you can gamble from anywhere you can find a connection, anytime you want, on whatever device you’re using. It’s convenient, accessible, and marketed as entertainment suited

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An Objectively Good Jawline – the Dehumanisation of Looksmaxxing

Content warning: mentions of sexual violence, drug use and suicide   The popularisation of looksmaxxing has opened a gaping glory hole in the manosphere – ironically by some of the most homophobic people on the internet.   Looksmaxxing, a portmanteau of ‘looks’ and ‘maximising’, is the idea and practice of improving one’s physical appearance through a variety of

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Metamodernism: The Feeling After Irony 

At some point in the early 21st century, it became clear that the cultural mood had shifted. The ironic detachment that defined late 20th-century art and thought – so central to postmodernism – no longer felt sufficient in a world shaped by climate anxiety, digital hyperconnectivity, and renewed political urgency. Yet a return to

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Amplifying Stripper Voices in Aotearoa: Pole, Politics and Power

Brittle Splits is a 30-something year old Waikato Arts alumni, who wears nipple pasties and fishnet tops onstage (in 9 inch boots) just for fun—and feminist expression, duh. Here, she outlines the mediascape of pole politics within Aotearoa. She recommends strippers to follow (Online only. Do. Not. Stalk.) for equal

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MISSED OPPORTUNITY 

FORGED IN FAILURE AFTER FAILURE  Founded in 2016 by eccentric millionaire and Wellington Phoenix Co-Owner Gareth Morgan, The Opportunities Party was at best quixotic and at worst your most stoned friends half-baked take on civics lessons they hadn’t really paid attention to. Morgan was already somewhat of a meme-worthy celebrity, and the founding of what was, for all intents and purposes, a vanity party was

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Doomsday Mentality

I try to avoid watching the news these days.   Whenever I do it just seems like a sickening tableau of ruin. A macabre parade before the end of the world with grand marshals who sit in ivory towers and feed off the flesh of the masses beneath them. More and more I think that I

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I think the Old White Bearded Guy Was Right.

Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie are having sex again, but now it’s happening in a scene written by a chatbot that has never wanted anything in its life. It looks like a story: there’s rhythm, description, a beginning and an end. But nothing is at stake. No one is there behind it. Hollywood is doing a slower

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Do young people really care about religion?

Growing up in a very Catholic school system all the way from year one to year thirteen, learning about religion was more of an obligation than a choice, though I will admit, it wasn’t all that bad. I was surrounded by classmates who had very differing opinions on the topic: some hated

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Budget 2026: Show Me the Money.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered Budget 2026without any election-year giveaways. The Government has spent months preparing New Zealanders for what is one of the tightest budgets in years. Rather than major new spending programmes, the focus was on controlling government debt, returning the books to surplus, and funding a small number of priority areas. For students, that may

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Nexus Breaks the News – Issue 12 2026

Max Verstappen takes a podium in Montreal:  No one understands how much this means to me. The battle between him and Hamilton was class, and we got a podium out of it too. The Red Bull comeback might be coming sooner than we thought.  Crusaders horse spooks at home game:  Look,

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POLITICAL VIRGINS – Housing and Rentals

Four people who’ve never voted or voted but didn’t care sit in a room and learn about politics, so you don’t have to. This week: Housing and Rentals. Labour ACT National Greens NZ First Te Pāti Māori Opportunity Party Responses: Lauren:   Filly: Due to my current situation, what Labour is proposing sounds really good to me, one of my end goals has always been buying a house for my fam, so any support to help me

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Nexus Breaks The News – Issue 11 2026

Thousands of public servants to lose their jobs, saving the government billions.  Good to see that the government’s solution to being in crippling debt is to fire the people that literally operate the country. Another great example of why they are a one term government.  Couple Devastated after uninsured pirate ship catches on fire and sinks 

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CHAOS BY DESIGN: Restructures, tears and panic at the Design School  

By Nexus Magazine – additional reporting done by Nexus Interns Tomas Richly and Hailey Reece   Mid-Trimester restructures at the Waikato School of Design have led to tears, panic and at least ten students scrambling to find 100-hour internships in the last three weeks of the Trimester.    According to a University spokesperson the

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Nexus Breaks the News – Issue 10 2026

Missing Hotel Guest found inside huge crocodile airlifted from river  Oh so this is a real thing that happens? You can actually get swallowed whole by a creature? Thank god we don’t have crocodiles here, because if we did I’d never touch a body of water again in my life.  Pierre Gasly dramatically flips after a crash with Liam Lawson  I’m not religious, but thank

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GENERATION Zzzz… ‘Cuz they’re sleeping on us. 

There was a twinkle of optimism drifting through the air just a week ago, it seems. Greens MP Francisco Hernandez put forward a Private Members’ bill that would see students receiving support during winter under the pretense that, like our country’s old, students are particularly at risk during the colder months of the year.   But Fees Free is getting canned, continuing

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Cost of Learning Crisis: Quiet Questions with Quigley

Fees Free is gone! Winston Peters let it slip on the eighth that one of the outcomes of the upcoming budget would be the end of Fees Free, and Finance Minister Nicola Willis confirmed it. The policy has had a short and, to put it bluntly, awkward life.   Introduced by Labour in 2018, the policy made

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Political Virgins – Issue 10 2026

Four people who’ve never voted, 25 weeks and 4 days until the election, and a whole lot of issues on everyone’s mind. It’s a simple set-up, and this week’s been made a lot simpler with the buh-byeing of Fees Free.   LABOUR  ACT  NATIONAL  GREENS  NZFirst  Te Pāti Māori  Opportunity Party   Response:  Lauren: Green party is definitely the one I agree with the most at the

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You Are Sightseeing

Ah, travelling. Something so many of us want to do but can’t afford to. But regardless of whether you have booked your flights to your dream destination or are currently fantasising through your TikTok feed, buckle up. Because today I want to rant about the difference between travelling and sightseeing. By the end of this piece, you will hopefully be

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Coachella

Rating: 4/5 Okay so we all grew up watching Coachella videos on YouTube, right? Right. But what’s it actually like to be a peasant at one of the world’s biggest festivals? Unfortunately, it’s pretty incredible.   Listen, there’s really no “budget” way to do Coachella without sacrificing a fraction of your dignity, so I’m not about to give you numbers or

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Euphoria Episode 2 

SPOILER WARNING  Euphoria episode 2 wasn’t any less inane than episode 1, however a little less disgusting. Amazingly we got blessed with a Maddy opening scene, who is deservingly living her best life working a high-end office job. While also being an only fans manager on the side, I love women in male dominated

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Goodbye Julia

Rating: 4/5 Set in the years leading up to the secession of South Sudan, Goodbye Julia tells the tale of an unlikely friendship between two women in a racially divided nation. The story revolves around Mona and Julia, two women who could not be more different. Mona is North Sudanese,

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It doesn’t feel like Euphoria

Rating: -2/5 If you’re a Euphoria fan that hasn’t seen the new episode, then skip this because I am about to spoil it. It was good. It wasn’t amazing, or mind blowing, it was just an episode of Euphoria. I watched it twice, to try and work out what the problem was, and I deduced that while it

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Bojack Horseman- Escape from LA

Rating: 5/5 Bojack Horseman is constantly controversial in my mind- I flop between hating him because he’s an asshole, to feeling terrible for him because his life is falling apart, before I realise that’s entirely his fault and flop back to the first opinion, but nothing conflicted me more than season two,

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The Drama

Rating: 2/5 A24’s The Drama (2025), directed by Kristoffer Borgli, is a razor-sharp satire that skewers modern Hollywood with gleeful abandon.   Starring Zendaya as a fading starlet navigating auditions, breakdowns, and absurd industry rituals, the film revels in cringe-inducing cringe comedy – think improvised tantrums and viral meltdowns that expose fame’s hollow core. Its lo-fi aesthetic,

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U by Underscores

Rating: 4/5 April Harper Grey is an artpop/hyperpop artist known as Underscores. She frequently collaborates with other experimental pop adjacent artists such as Jane Remover and Danny Brown, whilst having her own unique genre-bending sound that separates her from the rest.   Underscores’ latest album U is fully self-produced and feels like her most personal and all-encompassing album

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Kokuho

Rating: 4/5 It’s not every day that you watch a movie that, despite its slow pace, absolutely captivates you. Recently, I stumbled across a movie called Kokuho. Directed by Lee Sang-il, Kokuho dives into the world of kabuki theatre and explores themes of artistic discipline and personal identity. But at its heart, it is a universal story

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Malignant

Rating: 4 As an avid horror movie fan, I liked to think I could predict how the story was going to go, but this one really had me stumped, and the reveal had me absolutely amazed. Malignant is an incredible movie about a woman named Madison who is starting to have

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Avatar: Fire and Ash

Rating: 2 Because I didn’t look properly at the specifics of the showing, I walked into the theatre and ended up watching the newest Avatar movie in 3D, which wasn’t something I’d done in a long time, and it made the movie’s experience so much better to be sitting there

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Miyazaki 

Rating: 4 For many people in the arts, creation is central to identity. I’m in that group. I put a little bit of myself in everything I do. Consequently, I am a huge fan of Studio Ghibli and the work of Hayao Miyazaki, who is one of the most powerful storytellers I’ve come across.  ‘Miyazaki’ by Paris Paloma

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IT’S FALL. 

Time for my bi-annual re-watch of Cartoon Network’s Over The Garden Wall. (Those who are politically correct also watch it in September as the creators intended.)  It’s a heartwarming story about two brothers getting lost in The Unknown and slowly losing hope as they draw deeper into the woods, as winter creeps closer, as The Beast draws nearer.

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Kōrero Mai – Issue 10 2026

I’ll just come right out and say it. If there were no extra financial support for education, I would not be attending university right now. Many tauira don’t have the luxury of a safety net or financial stability. Many come from homes that don’t have an extra $20 to spare.  Back in the dark ages, in

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Kōrero Mai – Issue 7 2026

Tauira Māori on campus   Māne (Monday)  Tūrei (Tuesday)  Wenerei (Wednesday)  Hoki atu ki tō kāinga – Just go home   Nā Elyse Rahiri   Only a quarter of the way through the year and already most of us are feeling a bit pau te hau. Getting back into the swing of study can be overwhelming and even worse if you have people pleasing tendencies, don’t say

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Kōrero Mai

Tauira Māori on campus   Tūrei (Tuesday)  Wenerei (Wednesday)  Taite (Thursday)  Te Waiora – Rā Hākinakina | Gate 2b – 4:30 pm  Reo Māori Phrases of the Week  Kia ora koutou! Here are some useful everyday Reo Māori phrases to help you talk about holidays, whānau, and what you’ve been up to.  COLUMN  I tōku whānau tokorua ōku kuia, noho tahi ai. Arā, ko tōku kuia a toto nei, me te kuia o tōku ngākau. Ko te rongo o te aroha, kāore i rerekē. He tirohanga Māori tēnei. Ahakoa te momo aroha,

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Kōrero Mai

By now you’ve probably heard we’ve got a new name. We’re still WSU, but now we also carry our ingoa Māori, Te Awa Kōtui.  This didn’t happen overnight. WSU has been working towards an ingoa Māori that truly reflects us and our tauira for a long time, across multiple boards. I also want to acknowledge the presidents, vice presidents, VP Māori, and life members who contributed

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He Kura Tūroa

Kia ora, my name is Anaia Rua, and I am from Ngāi Tūhoe & Ngāti Awa. In the following piece, I reflect on the profound connection shared between Aotearoa and our relatives from Hawai’i during the “He Kura Tūroa” wānanga.    He Kura Tūroa: Relatives Across the Pacific  He ahurea te taiao, he taiao te ahurea. The environment is the culture, the culture is the

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Tikanga: Does It Evolve in a Modern World? 

A question I heard recently has been sitting with me: can tikanga evolve in a modern world? It came up during a kōrero between a group of tauira, and it sparked a lot of reflection for me about what I’ve been taught and how I understand tikanga today. For many people, tikanga is

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Tauira Māori on campus

There’s a strong Māori presence on campus and plenty happening this week, from Cultural Hour to weekly wānanga and study spaces. If you want to meet other tauira, build your reo, or spend time in a Māori space between classes, there are kaupapa running across campus. Keep an eye on…  Te whakahiapo – Maori law students association – @te_whakahiapo 

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