#mdia104

Ivy Bar and Cabaret is a gay club found on Wellington’s iconic Cuba Street. The bar is home to Wellington’s ever-growing drag and LGBT+ communities, as it is a safe and inviting space for us. I chose Ivy for this project because it is integral to many of the relationships I have formed in Wellington. I have found my place in this city because of the opportunities this space has given me and the people it has put into my life. Drag as an art form is still a very niche thing, and it is a subculture that encompasses a lot of different aspects of my personality and interests. Having a space that allows me to meet like minded people made my transition to Wellington all the easier. I have found mentors through my drag family who have shown me the ropes and given me opportunities that I wouldn’t have had given to me anywhere else. I am now employed as a drag queen in a performance group, I am a paid performer and have been given other work opportunities just by creating my drag persona, Violet Tendencies.

I feel as though if you are not part of one of these communities, you would not hold the same perspective of Ivy as I do. Ivy is predominantly represented through social media via personal profiles of the patrons and performers of the bar. Although Ivy has an online presence itself through a Facebook page and Instagram profile, these accounts are mainly managed by the bartenders, who are often performers at Ivy and the local drag queens. Ivy’s Facebook and Instagram profiles combined have a following of 5,462 people whereas the combined follower counts of the queens and other performers that represent this space is well over 15,000. The social capital of Ivy’s ‘official’ online presence is vastly different to that of Ivy’s ‘unofficial’ presence online, demonstrating how Ivy is typically represented moreso by the community that uses the space than the space itself, which is discussed in "Branding In The Post-Internet Era." where the brand manager (Ivy) is no longer a `guardian' that is responsible for its own representation of the brand but becomes more of a brand `host' (Christodoulides, George).

This space is represented using a number of different platforms and their varying affordances (Hutchby, Ian). Queens and patrons often use Snapchat and Snapchat stories with geofilters or captions that promote Ivy during live shows or when events are held, signalling to friends around the Wellington region as to what is happening at the bar with real time updates. This also happens on Instagram. Instagram also affords performers to promote shows and events on their personal profiles, as well as go ‘live’ when getting ready for the night which gives hype to events. The queens have a very strong network on Instagram. The interactive affordances of Instagram such as tagging, liking and commenting means that the performers can promote each other on their personal profiles, giving followers the opportunity to see more content by Wellington performers outside of Ivy as well as creating a strong online community which reflects the nature of the relationship between performers and patrons in the space.

I am telling the story of my journey becoming a drag queen in this space. I have tried to convey Ivy as a physical and digital space that i not limited to alcohol and partying, but rather a meeting place, performance space and creative outlet. Ivy is not typically represented this way but I believe it offers insight into an interesting community in Wellington. Drag in New Zealand is notoriously underrepresented and the opportunities for drag still do not keep up with the growing rate of the Ivy’s drag community. With more representation of the queens that make up Ivy, I hope to create greater awareness about the community and bring it more into Wellington’s cultural mainstream. Not only this, but I hope to offer insight into drag as an artform and hope to promote diversity and to aid in the personal journeys of people questioning their space in the LGBT+ community.

Works Cited:

Christodoulides, George. "Branding In The Post-Internet Era." Marketing Theory, vol 9, no. 1, 2009, pp. 141-144. SAGE Publications, doi:10.1177/1470593108100071.

First-year halls are almost like a rite of passage when upon moving into the tertiary study portion of your life, whether you stay at home or you move away it is something that most first years in New Zealand do. There is a social construct created around the first-year hall, it sells the study dream. You are given the freedom you crave but are looked after like a bunch of children in one big playpen with a dining hall, beds and a binge drinking culture. Te Puni means a transition to me, it represents the biggest decision I have embarked on in my short life. It represents independence, it represents my dream of moving away for university and why I worked so hard but ultimately it represents growth. Te Puni the building and the first-year experience doesn’t mean much to me, but the feelings and the personal growth I faced this year means everything. 

Te Puni is generally represented by the University, selling the idea of an elite of first-year hall. A purpose built a first choice hall to cater to those students who have an above average academic record and can afford the luxuries Te Puni has to offer. The pictures represented on the university website show a fun community enjoying the top-class facilities in the buildings while ultimately working toward the goal of a successful education, with the hall being built on the foundations of support and success in academic study. 

The story the pictures don’t show what the life of an actual Te Puni resident is like and this is the story I am hoping to tell. First-year halls are a bit of a contradiction, it’s a place where you are constantly surrounded by people but it is probably the most alone you could ever feel. For me, I don’t struggle with meeting new people and being extroverted but for someone who isn’t like me, I can imagine they have not had a very good year. The hall is advertised as something that is for everyone, but in reality, if you are quiet and shy, a hall probably isn’t the place for you. 

Victoria University halls have been under a microscope this year. Earlier in the year, we had Joans Stevens Hall with the title of the feral zoo, recently this title has been given to Te Puni. Stories of wild rampant teenagers drunk out of their minds and trashing their accommodation have been sprawled over the news, a bit of an insight into an everyday weekend at Poon really. A strong, healthy and respectful environment is what Te Puni’s marketing is but, in reality, its nearly uncontrollable first years with a huge thirst for binge drinking plowing their heads and arms through anything that will break, which is a social norm in a first-year halls. A completely unrepresented side told by the university. 

People always tell stories of how their first year of university was the best year of their lives and how they met people they will cherish forever and for some, this may be true. But the whitewashed perfect transition home for first years marketed by the university is a ploy for you to lock yourself into a $15,000 contract you can’t get out of when none of the selling points are really up to standard. The storytelling map I hope would give a bit more of an insight into what first-year life in a hall is like. The less perfect, less marketable side that the university probably does not want to show. 

Te Puni is a great place, don’t get me wrong. The staff dedicates their lives to ensure you have an enjoyable year but the social construct of a first-year hall is nothing like what it really is. 

If the embed doesn't work for you, here is a direct link to the project:

https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1yt0dRnkRRuCWu4gwZKdiDiZA_DfsSSta2NdmdKFsb0U&font=Medula-Lato&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650

REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON THE SALIENT OFFICE PROJECT

I have been writing for Salient, the student magazine of Victoria University of Wellington, since 2015, providing reviews and commentary on video games as well as several features. In 2017, I transitioned to a paid role as the magazine’s Arts Editor, giving me an opportunity to work in the magazine’s offices located in the university’s Student Union Building. Salient, its contributors and indeed the office hold a special place in my heart, though few people ever get to see much of it apart from the magazine put out each week, so I have put together this digital storytelling project to examine the space and some of the things that not only make it special to me but also to the Victoria University community.

     Within the cultural field that is the university, as defined by Schirato et al, Salient has a number of roles (21-22). As a news publication, the magazine has an obligation to report on events within the university and hold the university’s power structures to account, including the governing bodies such as the University Council and the Students’ Association (the latter being the magazine’s principal funder). It also serves as a way to expose talented writers and artists to a large and informed audience. Because the magazine has been in existence for 80 years, in that time it has acquired a certain amount of cultural capital, with work being published within it having some prestige. This is not always taken seriously, with the long running joke being that Salient is an “alternative source of free toilet paper”. As a (now former) staff member I acknowledge that I have a role to play in the perception of Salient, wanting to have it seen in a positive light as I have, but if I didn’t try and represent it in a certain way it would likely be disparaged, possibly as a “lefty rag”.

     The office is therefore something of a symbol of all of this, complete with heirlooms and historical items. However, it is something that only staff members such as myself will ever really get to experience; while the space is available to our volunteer contributors as a place where they can hang out, this is rarely taken up. It has taken an opportunity such as this assignment and the widespread availability of devices capable of Internet access for the story of Salient as something more than a magazine to be told; the magazine is merely the product of the work done in the space and as such is irrevocably shaped by it. As Farmon puts it, “We are neither passive in how space is produced nor in how technology plays a vital role in such spatial productions,” meaning that it is people who make a space special, and that they must play an active role in this using the technology at their disposal (104).

     In creating this project I hope to enlighten those who see Salient as merely a magazine for light entertainment between lectures to perceive it as something greater, to embolden its place within the university ecosystem and to put a full stop on what has been a significant part of my life for the past three years.

WORKS CITED

Schirato, Tony, et al. “Cultural Field and the Habitus.” Understanding Bourdieu, SAGE Publ., 2010, pp. 21–44.

Over the past week, the accusations of rape and sexual assault against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, and the prevalence of such predatory activity both within the entertainment industry and in general, have dominated discourse across the various social media platforms. One of the more notable responses to the scandal has been the Twitter hashtag “#MeToo”, which has now been trending for the past day or so.

If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet. pic.twitter.com/k2oeCiUf9n

— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) October 15, 2017

The hashtag was created in response to this tweet by actress Alyssa Milano, who has worked with many of the actresses accusing Weinstein, and encourages those who have been victims of sexual harassment or assault to come forward to “give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.” Many would take the opportunity to explain what happened to them, or to offer support.

#MeToo And I was blamed for it. I was told not to talk about it. I was told that it wasn't that bad. I was told to get over it.

— Najwa Zebian (@najwazebian) October 16, 2017

Men, Don't say you have a mother, a sister, a daughter... Say you have a father, a brother, a son who can do better. We all can.#MeToo

— Nick Jack Pappas (@Pappiness) October 16, 2017

While some might want to dismiss this campaign as little more than “slacktivism”, an epithet used to describe “political activities that have no impact on real–life political outcomes, but only serve to increase the feel–good factor of the participants” (Morozov qtd. in Christensen), due to it having been disseminated mostly through Twitter, I would hesitate to do so. The goal of the hashtag — to raise awareness of the prevalence of sexual assault — is simple enough that so-called “real-life” action is not exactly necessary, yet broad enough to potentially inspire such action related to the issue.

{Week 12, Online Activism: Provide an example of an online activist campaign (e.g. a link to a news story, website, online petition, Facebook group, or something similar) and briefly explain the goals of the online action. Do you think your selected action has the potential to result in real-world change or is it merely an example of “slacktivism”? Why?}

One quite topical example of online activism at present is the wanted ban on plastic bags across New Zealand. We’re more conscious than ever about the waste we are producing and the way which we are living and treating our physical world. This is affecting our animal species and marine life, i mean we have all seen the heartbreaking images and videos of these effects. 

[Truly heartbreaking video of a plastic straw being pulled out from a turtles nose.] 

One way in which we are wanting to tackle this problem is through the reduction of plastic bags and hopefully total ban of plastic products. In New Zealand alone we use 1.6 Billion plastic bags each year, that’s nearly 1 for every single day of the year per person (1.6B/4.7M=340 bags), that’s ridiculous. This article explains the action 5 students from a Wellington school took in order to really shine a light on the stance they and 17,877 New Zealanders who signed their petition took on the matter.

If you’re into politics like I am and followed the 2016 American election you might have seen the phrase ‘nasty woman’ floating about the internet, or perhaps you saw it floating straight from the mouth of a cheese supreme Dorito on live television. In the third and final presidential debate, Trump uttered to Clinton through the microphone “Such a nasty woman.”  Within minutes the #nastywoman was the most trending topic on Twitter. 

Trump, unbeknownst to him, began the nasty woman revolution. Initially, the goals of #iamanastywoman was a call to female voters in America to speak out against Trump and his seemingly anti-woman agenda but as the campaign sparked it became a worldwide feminist movement to empower #nastywomen all over the world to reclaim and redefine this idea of nasty. 

Nina Donovan set the campaign on alight with her spoken word poem “I am a Nasty Women”, which was then picked up by actress Ashley Judd. Judd recited the poem at the women’s march on Washington, making waves all around the world. 

Women took to Twitter to share their stories of being nasty women. 

Huffington Post 

The nasty women movement would have never begun if it weren’t for the internet era we are in, this idea comes from Clay Shirky described by Malcolm Gladwell. Word of mouth is a powerful thing and when it has the ability to be shared and traded between millions of people every second, it changes the way we see activism in the 21st century. 

This movement has the power to create real-world change, in fact, it already has. It has been one of the hugest feminist movements of the 21st century. Even now this real-world change is still happening. This week San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz adorned herself in a t-shirt featuring NASTY plastered on the front during a television interview, an undeniable message to Trump from Puerto Rico. 

https://collegecandy.com/2017/10/05/carmen-yulin-cruz-mayor-of-san-juan-puerto-rico-trump-nasty-shirt-photos-details/

Question Prompt:

Locate the space/place you will build a story about for your digital storytelling assignment. Explain the various ways this space is represented in existing digital media/platforms. Who is the “author” of this space? In other words, what opportunities does the technology user have to contribute to the definition of this space/place?

My special place is an unlikely one. It rests in the basement of an old shopping arcade and it only ever comes alive late at night. It is home to some of the most interesting. passionate and forward-thinking people in Wellington and I couldn’t be prouder to be part of the community.

A lot of my interests fall into a certain subculture. I love drag, club culture, makeup, art, fashion and anything that is described as ‘Avant-Garde’. I tried desperately to find people like me in my hometown but it was nearly impossible.I started painting my face like a drag queen after school and dancing around my room lip synching to Gwen Stefani, never thinking a girl would be accepted as a drag queen in any gay bar in New Zealand. I wanted to find people like me, so I used social media to do it.

I started following as many New Zeland drag queens I could on any social media platform I could find. They are all friends- part of such a warm and welcoming community, so it wasn’t hard to find them all. It is a perfect example of how connected we all are. I could look through tagged photos on Instagram and see that they all would hang out together at one certain bar. If you find one queen on social media, you can find them all. 

The common denominator for all of these queens is where they can be found on a Friday night. All of them can be found at Ivy Bar and Cabaret, nestled at the top of the iconic Cuba Street in Wellington City. 

Ivy doesn’t need to promote itself. It doesn’t really need a Facebook page or an Instagram. Everyone who goes there plays a role in Ivy’s online presence, demonstrating how the representation of Ivy is contributed to by many different authors. When a drunk by-day receptionist takes a selfie with a drag queen and posts it on Instagram with the caption ‘YASSS slay mamaw’, she instantly supports and promotes the gay community in Wellington. Ivy itself does not promote itself much on social media because it is up to us queens to do that. All of the local queens proudly share events and invite everyone we can to shows. We take and post all the pictures for social media and we welcome everyone to visit our safe, queer space. 

[Mx Capital Drag 2017 Harlie Lux promotes an upcoming show on her Facebook page]

Jason Farman talks about how physical spaces like Ivy and it’s virtual representation can sometimes be closer than you think. They don’t always exist as the physical space and the virtual space. During the annual Mx Capital Drag competition, which is a RuPaul’s Drag Race style competition, technology plays a huge role. The shows are live streamed on Facebook, meaning that the show’s audience stretches far beyond the walls of Ivy and to anyone who can’t be in the space physically. Not only this, but certain challenges are vlogged each week and then shown at the competition. For example, the queens must create an outfit using $20 only at Paper Bag Princess, a local vintage store. Earlier in the week, the queens filmed this segment which was then shown in the club and posted on Facebook. 

Home <3

As a resident of Joan Stevens, the exposure from outlets like One News and stuff.co.nz was a very unique experience for me as I had never experienced an article or news piece from the other side. Quickly I realised just how different it felt when the tables were and what stood out was the moral outrage that occurred over Facebook, particularly from people who I and many others here at Joan Stevens felt had been presented with a grossly misinformed piece of Journalism. So four months on from this incident I felt it was time to try and represent the true picture, by getting insight from the people who lived here and experienced the events that occurred first hand. My digital storytelling essay will analyse the underrepresentation of students in the virtual and material space of Joan Stevens Hall.

It’s now been around 4 months since the incident that lead to Joan Stevens Hall being labelled as a ‘feral zoo’. Excessive damages and alcohol-fuelled antics meant that a hall-wide alcohol ban was enforced for all residents. What some may have seen as an issue for residents and administration to overcome quickly became a nationwide talking point.

See ya later TV...