From the Editors

Nam Alana

Kia ora e te whānau

To all of our returning, and new, tauira – welcome to 2022’s university year. This is Debate’s first issue back on stands since the end of winter, and for many of you this semester also means a return to campus (even if lectures remain online). It is an exciting time, and whether you’re studying at North, South, or City campus, I hope you’re able to stretch your legs a little and make the most of this chaotic start to semester. Even just heading into the office has been refreshing for me, especially when UniPrep was popping off down the corridor. Hence, issue one is about being back to uni. As I met with my team, who you’ll soon learn froth some curly fries, we discussed what we can offer. Beyond equipping you with that essential first-year knowledge, I want to take this chance to describe how you can get involved and use that elusive student voice.

It’s now been a year since I started working with Debate. I first joined as the Social Media Manager, curating memes and sharing content, and ended up contributing articles on the side. With the right pitch, few things were off the table. From pieces on mental health under capitalism, to the food in My Neighbour Totoro, I ended up writing a grab bag of pieces that made me fall in love with writing again. Prior to Debate, the piece of writing I was most proud of was probably an essay about electrical pylons in a media studies paper on indigeneity. I hope Debate can be a space for those niche interests you reckon everyone should know about.

If you want to stretch those writing muscles outside of the confines of university reports, this is your sign to get brainstorming and looped in. It could be your piece in the Contents page, plus you even get paid – a wild concept for your average student association board. The best version of Debate is one made with you, so hit us up at debate@autsa.org.nz to get upcoming issue updates, or hit us with a pitch. Well it is my final editorial! I’m putting down the editor hat and putting on my student hat, one that I’ve already worn and now I’ve committed to another 3 years.

For the past two years since I’ve finished my BA, I’ve lived a very strange working life. I’ve been a Whiskey Promoter at the airport. I’ve worked countless Hospitality jobs, some good, some extremely awful. I’ve been an Electoral Issuing Officer, a photographer, and a Puberty Educator. Though it’s been exciting, I’ve also had to tolerate feelings of uncertainty and inferiority. Having to explain what I did as a job made me feel like I had to justify my choices to my parents, those I dated, and random people at parties. I know it was most likely me projecting my own insecurities, and I know those insecurities have been formed by what I think a “successful job” is. These two years were valuable because I got to experience a vast array of jobs, with eclectic, talented, and hardworking people, who didn’t always want to conform to that idealised 9-5. I’ve learned that success is an ever changing definition for many.

The reason why I’m going back to study is because I want to do meaningful work, and I need to get qualified to do that. People are important to me, and I know that the human experience is extremely hard, especially now. By getting a Masters in Psychotherapy, I want to spend my working life helping people who have noticed a problem in their life. With the future of our world completely up in the air, the fear of illness and losing loved ones, we need people who really want to help and have the ability to.

I’m still going to read Debate religiously, and I may even pitch an idea or two, if I haven’t overstayed my welcome already. We are lucky to have Debate, one that speaks for the students, but also is a platform for experience, expression and creativity. Though I’ve never been a student at AUT, I’ve felt like a part of it anyway.

Farewell, Alana