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Issue 13, Volume 17 MAX FERGUSON All three seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender are currently out on Netflix. Being the well-informed chap that I am, I also happen to know that there is a live-action remake in the works. So, being isolated and all, the time seemed right to finally see what all the fuss was about. My friends have, for years, implored me to watch the original Avatar. I’d blow them off with the old ‘it’s on the list’. Of course, there is no list, and if anyone ever says that to you, you have a moral obligation to call out their flagrant lies.  Image: Nickelodeon
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Issue 12, Volume 17 ANONYMOUS From pulp, to dust! With tears we must Condemn our trusty pens to rust. Old faithfuls down their quills and flee, On ballpoint steeds retreating.  Image: Wikimedia Commons Issue 11, Volume 17 EMILY SANDRUSSI When I was three years old my mother purchased a full set of the Encyclopaedia Britannica for me. They are beautiful and fearsome books – heavy, bound in black leather, pages gilded with gold, with a dedication on the first leaf that reads ‘to my darling daughter’. Our family purchased a computer before the books could become useful, so for the majority of my life the extent of my relationship with the encyclopaedia was located in the time and physical effort it took to load and unload them into boxes each time my family moved (a frequent event).  Tower of Babel Issue 11, Volume 17
ANONYMOUS visceral A law of the earth, and so that he was heard This life and strength and sorrow, the soul. The league of sorrow, the angel of the morning sun Our blistered feet stand, and the fall streams Harmonious and strange, we judge not but our own Your justice in the rain is formed We dance and the deepest waters trickle This law of the long light of sky is strewn. Issue 11, Volume 17 HANNAH ORLOFF Headlines, facts, alternative ‘facts’ and opinions burn our eyeballs and worm into our ear canals from the moment we wake up until our last conscious moments each day. That we are living in the ‘Information Age’ is a hackneyed and obvious expression – yet it has important implications for student journalism. In this country, we can learn about virtually any topic through our search engine of choice, on social media, in podcasts and so on. When it comes to our campus magazines, papers and journals, we want localised, relevant and humanised content. It would be concerning if people were looking to De Minimis for comprehensive and perfectly accurate articles on China’s barely trade war with Australia, or some newborn celebrity name (can someone confirm that pronunciation?). We can get that from (hopefully) more credible and articulate sources.  Image: Wikimedia Commons Issue 11, Volume 17 JOHN SATURA The year was 2030. Jared panicked as he reached up to pat his bean, his eyes darting left and right at the sea of wom*n surrounding him, all hairy armpits, FemmeParty-slogans-on-pins and smock dresses. “Oh Christ. Please tell me I didn’t forget my pussy hat!” he thought.  Image: Wikimedia Commons Issue 10, Volume 17 ANONYMOUS Guys it’s time for all the bullying and shit stirring to stop. Last night we all saw De Minimis publish another tired attack on the so called snobbish culture of Melbourne Law School and the entirely predictable trash heap that resulted in the comments section. Frankly I’m tired of these constantly negative attacks against my fellow students. Its time we start seriously asking for change.  Image: Pexels Issue 10, Volume 17 ANONYMOUS Everything I had read about the JD before I began was stuff that I was confident I could handle; high workloads, pressure to succeed, etc. And I could – I am a third year now, my grades are decent, and I landed a couple of clerkships. But the thing that has ruined my enjoyment is not all that. It is not the late nights poring over case law, or the rigorous application processes, but it is the other students here at MLS. Coming to the end of my degree, sadly, I must admit that certain people here are some of the most abhorrent individuals I have ever had the displeasure of knowing.  Image: Pexels Issue 10, Volume 17 EDGAR BOX In Stambovsky v Ackely, the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court was invited to consider a rather novel justification put forward by a Jeffrey Stambovsky to refuse to complete a transaction to purchase a house. Namely, that at the time of the sale agreement, it had not been disclosed to him by the seller, a Helen Ackely, that the house was haunted. In its judgment, the court held that Mrs. Ackely, who had previously reported the alleged haunting to local newspapers and magazines, was on those grounds estopped from denying the existence of ghosts, commenting: “Whether the source of the spectral apparitions seen by the defendant seller are parapsychic or psychogenic, having reported their presence in both a national publication… and the local press… [the] defendant is estopped to deny their existence and, as a matter of law, the house is haunted.”  Image: Wikimedia Commons Issue 10, Volume 17 JAMES SUTHERLAND The coronavirus pandemic has sent shockwaves through just about every aspect of society. It has already resulted in many thousands of deaths worldwide, overwhelmed hospital systems, caused mass unemployment, and is certain to bring an end to Australia’s almost 3 decades of uninterrupted economic growth. In light of such devastation and destruction, each and every one of us as citizens have experienced substantial disruption, and we have adapted our lives accordingly. The Victorian justice system is no exception to this phenomenon  Image: Wikimedia Commons Issue 9, Volume 17 Hey everyone, Graduate Students Association elections are happening RIGHT NOW! The GSA represents graduate students across the university, and provides funding to dozens of grad groups, including De Minimis and the LSS. As a law student, you’re entitled to vote for the incoming council, so just look for an email in your student inbox! Don’t forget, as voting closes at 10am, on the 22nd of May. Find out more about the candidates in their brief statements below:  Issue 9, Volume 17 JEREMY WAITE Late last year, the University of Melbourne Graduate Student Association (GSA) embarked on a process of constitutional reform. For the unacquainted, the GSA is the peak representative body for graduate students at the University of Melbourne. You may be familiar with some of our long running advocacy campaigns on issues like transport concessions for postgraduate students, WAM adjustments for Semester 1 or stipend extensions for graduate researchers during the current COVID-19 pandemic.  Building 1888, home of the GSA (Image: Wikimedia Commons) Issue 9 Volume 17 RENZO TWEEDIE “I wrote this piece when everything was very uncertain and things I had been taking for granted were no longer accessible. Looking back, it’s strange to remember the mindset I was in. Now, I feel hopeful and determined, it really is amazing to experience our capacity to adjust. If you’re looking for someone to talk to happiness is only a teardrop away (haha love Shrek 2 but seriously my virtual door is always open).”  Image: Pexel Issue 8, Volume 17 EMILY ZAHRA Story time. We’ve all heard about local myths and legends. Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, drop bears, etc. Most people, the non-believers as we call them, brush away these myths with an indifferent air. “The photo is too grainy”, or “that’s so fake”, or “it’s not physically possible, science says so!” they cry in the face of people who chose to believe. I understand that incredulity, because I used to be one of them. Until, that is, I had my very own supernatural experience.  Issue 8, Volume 17 SHANE FULORGEE There was a young man sick of lock down Who had spent the last week in his night gown When there came a nice day The cops took him away For enjoying a long walk through the town.  Issue 8, Volume 17 LAUREN TAYLOR This fun quiz will let you know what you and your friends will be up to in a year’s time! Awesome! Tally up your scores as you go, and we’ll let you know what type of lawyer in the line at Centrelink you’ll be!  Image: Adeolu Eletu on Unsplash Isuue 8, Volume 17 ŽIPRIŽE BUTŽEKS Look, I don’t mean this as a flex, but a lot of girls are into me. A LOT. And I don’t mean, like, my grandma calls me up daily to ask about my day (which she does). This is a succession of real-live, jaw-dropping, scantily-clad babes taking a direct interest in me.  Issue 7, Volume 17 HAMISH DUNDEE No, it isn’t VB, Vegemite, or tying your partner to the bed using venomous snakes – it’s something much more dangerous. In fact, the things that many Australians can be reliably predicted to be interested in aren’t Australian at all: they belong to our Pacific cousin, the United States.  Image: Wikimedia Commons Issue 7, Volume 17 GENCO CEYLAN ‘Induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power’ (Foucault, Discipline and Punish, 201). You awake without an alarm. The day feels like it’s just begun, but the irrepressible march of time cares not how you feel. You check your phone. A never-ending stream of incomprehensible information about a pandemic. Your mobile phone, which has been a source of comfort for so many years, is again espousing an endless mire of nihilistic news.  Image: Wikimedia Commons Issue 7, Volume 17 JAMES COOPER-SMITH For decades, Bernie Sanders has stood at the forefront of the Progressive movement in the United States. The man marched with Martin Luther King Junior, to give you an idea of how long he’s been aboard this boat. Last week, he suspended his campaign for President, effectively ceding the Democratic nomination to Joe Biden. There is no doubt that 2020 was his last hurrah.  Image: Wikimedia Commons Issue 6, Volume 17 BORIS BULGAKOV Recently redundant 3rd Year MLS student, Oliver Chester, has reported to De Minimis that he has started to feel quite shit about himself as a person, and he says other MLS students are partially to blame. After finally getting out of bed around 11.30, Oliver picked up and put on yesterday’s t-shirt and met up with De Min over Zoom. “So yeah, I guess I haven’t really been doing anything if I’m honest,” confessed Oliver. “Stared at some textbooks for an hour or two, watched an episode of Tiger King because Netflix has been shoving it down my throat and then it was 5pm so I thought I’d have a beer.”  Pre-iso Oliver Issue 6, Volume 17 HARRIET BAKER-JONES Content Warning: This article discusses sexual assault. “It is better to allow ten guilty men to escape than allow one innocent man to suffer.” Our criminal system is based upon a lofty premise: that depriving an innocent person of their liberty and freedom is worse than allowing a presumably guilty person to roam free. Unfortunately, today we probably witnessed the unfortunate turn of events where we allowed a guilty individual to escape. An overall injustice has more than likely occurred. George Pell’s accusers deserve our belief, and it is important to remember that George Pell is not necessarily innocent, but merely acquitted.  St Patrick's Cathedral (Image: Wikimedia Commons) Issue 6, Volume 17 ANONYMOUS NB: I write this to the Dean of MLS, Pip Nicholson, in the hope that she will respond. Dear Pip Nicholson, For fear of sounding like just another aggrieved and disappointed JD student adapting to this anxious time, I will be brief. I understand this is an entirely unprecedented situation and I appreciate the immense and commendable effort that MLS has put into the transition to a virtual campus. My concern, however, and that of many of my peers, is that this transition – although necessary – is understandably causing many full-fee paying/bursary students to question the value of what they are now paying for.  Image: Wikimedia Commons |
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