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Zara Lyne My mother and I have long observed that, wherever I go, I seem to be ‘the youngest person in the room.’ This began as a literal expression, suggesting that I was perhaps the only child at a movie screening full of elderly people. But, as I grew older, it took on a more figurative meaning: the spaces I choose to occupy are generally not shared by those alike to myself. I used to be quite embarrassed by this as a child, as most little kids are when they feel singled

Tom Graham Talk About Wine. It is a well-documented, if maligned, tradition—perhaps as old as academia itself—for students to get on the piss. That’s not going away, no matter what the news or your parents’ friends might be telling you. Generation Z isn’t so into Burgundy, Bordeaux, and Napa Cab, and that’s not a bad thing; there’s a whole world of brilliant quality, sustainable practice, and funky fun to be had down here in the under, for some very decent prices. Like it or

Pedro Hay Kia ora, everybody! I hope we’re all settling back into 9 a.m. lectures and scurrying over to the Salient stands to see what new mysteries the horoscope will reveal this week. I’m sure we’ve all missed it. I’m back again with more bullshit, so read ahead to see what poor thing evolution has cooked up and set loose for me to take the piss out of. Coming up with a name for this article actually gave me a bit of a challenge, thanks to this animal’s entirely indecisive

Grace Sayer Wellington is full of tracks tucked into hills, bays, bush, and suburbs—but figuring out how and where to start can be a bit overwhelming, especially if you’re a student without a car. Public transport makes it easy and cheap to wander further than your usual loop, take a break from study, and explore what the region has to offer. Over the past few years these walks have become my favourites, and I hope they’ll become yours too. Eastern Walkway, Miramar Distance

Pluto Rennie The future has started to feel strangely empty. Not empty in the literal sense. If anything, we are surrounded by “future” constantly. AI-generated images flood social media feeds, every second Netflix show is dystopian, and climate apocalypse has become both a political reality and an aesthetic. Even trends feel posthumous now. Y2K revival. Indie sleaze revival. We recycle the past while acting like the future has already been cancelled. I started thinking ab

Zia Ravenscroft There are a handful of moments from my first few years at university that I consider quintessential student experiences. Taking the equivalent of five coffees to the library in a drink bottle to write an essay in one sitting. Sneaking vodka into bars in bottles of hand sanitiser and micellar water. The RAs shutting down every halls-confession page. My theatre lecturer making us promise that no matter how late we stayed in Studio 77 painting our set, we would n

By Will Tickner, Tam Maxwell, and Teg Ward 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. During an event last year, I had to move a big load of tables and chairs from Fairlie Terrace to the Memorial Theatre. What I thought was a ten-minute trip turned into a half-hour sweat-fest of cussing a

CW: Violence, needles, body horror (1) You’re on Kelburn campus in the Hub. You try the doors. Locked. The glass is cold under your hand, and inside the tables are empty, chairs pushed in like everyone left in a hurry. It’s late afternoon, and the sun is dropping behind the buildings, turning the windows orange for a second before the light slips away. The wind moves through the courtyard behind you, carrying the faint sound of traffic from Salamanca Road and making the posts

The mark of a great athlete is his technique. His skill. His championship wins. The mark of a great female athlete is how much scrutiny she faces. How often she’s used for clickbait headlines. How expensive her athleisure wear is. Think about the best female athletes you know: Serena Williams, Simone Biles, Tonya Harding, Alysa Liu. Every single one of them has something in common, and it’s not just the incredibly lengthy hours of work put into their craft. It’s the intense

Andy Lester I hate the concept of intelligence. I hate even more the way we use that word. At first glance, it’s pretty unassuming. You’ve probably used it plenty of times and thought nothing of it, whether you were talking about the smart person in your course or someone who you find particularly inspiring. But as students, the word “intelligence” can be hugely detrimental to us, our confidence, and our learning. To understand why, we first have to ask… What is Intellig

Pedro Hay There is a good chance many people read that title and immediately threw their copy of Salient into the bin, because surely nothing good can come from an article with such a nonsensical bullshit headline. It sounds like something clearly cooked up by a dangerous raving maniac. Well, unfortunately for those people, they will now never know what makes these frankly insane creatures so special. They will not understand why they matter, why we should care about them, o

Christopher Curtis After playing Persona 3 and Persona 4 over the past half-decade, and admiring the wider series from the sidelines for years, I’ve finally made my dive into the broader Megami Tensei Franchise with Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, the enhanced edition of the latest mainline entry. The concept alone is alluring: demons, deities, creatures, and mythological figures from world folklore, all embroiled in a war between law and chaos amidst a post-apocalyptic

Good news stories (and more) for the planet Kia ora, Salient reader! Welcome to our 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. Who Are We? You may have wondered, who is behind this strange new surprisingly-hopeful page in the back of

A Guide to Forgetting One and Remembering The Other Harry Hughes “You have heard of the ocean?” My older sister asks incredulously after I tell her my plan: to cycle from England to New Zealand. I laugh. Not the worst response I’ve had so far. Since I left school five months ago, I’ve been looking for something. Something big. In Whanganui, I’ve felt stuck, ready to burst out into the world and do something real. I sat at dinner with my dad three months ago, staring at my

Author: Ox - Ngāpuhi CW: Hate Crime, Addiction, Suicidal Ideation respite noun re·​spite ˈre-spət 1: a period of temporary delay 2: an interval of rest or relief The following is a collection of poetry around my experience leading up to, and being in, respite earlier this year. I never thought I would end up in respite care. As my mum would say, that was where the ‘crazies’ went when ‘their life went to shit.’ Well, I couldn’t really say I wasn’t one, and that mine hadn’

We asked our followers on Instagram what they wanted to know about finding a flat, and here are some answers. Take them with a grain of salt: they’re just my jaded personal opinions. But, as someone who’s been flatting in Wellington for over six years and has lived in many different flats, I reckon I’ve got an okay grasp on these things. I’ve lived in brand-new buildings in Newtown, and in falling-apart Thompson Street flats with ant-infested, rotting decks and landlords so b

Add up your letters at the end. Sit with (or share with the flat chat) whatever it reveals about you. It’s Sunday evening—what are you doing? Planning the week ahead, sorting bills, and organising the flat Inviting everyone over for a shared dinner night Doing a quick tidy and relaxing after a productive weekend Heading to your partner’s place Ignoring the mess and hoping someone else deals with it Chilling alone in your room or out doing your own thing The power bill just

Pluto Rennie There is a correct way to be disabled. No one tells you outright. There’s no handbook, no neat list of expectations. But people recognize it instinctively—and, more importantly, they recognize when you fall short. Consistency helps. You should look the same every day. Your body should tell a clear, continuous story. Fluctuation confuses people. It invites interpretation, and interpretation invites suspicion. Last year, a friend of a friend—someone I’ve never ac

Neditor-in-Chief So, you’ve survived halls. Congratulations. You’ve made it through mystery meat, communal bathrooms, fire alarms at 2 a.m., and that one group on your floor who treated the corridor like a nightclub. Now comes the next level: flatting. Flatting sounds glamorous in a very student way. You get a lounge. You get a kitchen. You get to pretend you are the kind of person who buys vegetables before they rot in the bottom drawer. But flatting also comes with somethin