frankie Magazine Issue 104 - Nov/Dec 2021

But let’s be real, being chill is overrated. This is my first issue as editor, and, look, I’m pretty damn psyched about it. It feels like just yesterday that I was hogging the stack of frankie mags at my local library, poring over every word and picture inside. If you had told 15-year-old me that I’d one day be editing those very pages, I would have waved you off. I want to thank frankie’s top-notch former editors, Sophie Kalagas and Jo Walker, for showing me the ropes these past three years. I’ll admit, sitting in the big chair is daunting. But as the folks in this issue demonstrate, it pays to chase what you love and give it a red-hot go, whether you’re turning a vending machine into a creative business…

Dearest frankie, I’m wondering if my sister is writing for you and hiding behind the identity of Lisa Marie Corso. Either that or the two of them should form a joint national coaster-police force. I’m sure wooden tables everywhere are singing Lisa’s praises for saving their glossy backs. Much love, Tegan xx Dear frankie, All it took to discover you were 108 days in lockdown and a random urge to pick up a now-foreign object to my generation: a magazine. I loved the diversity and originality of the stories in issue 103, and I particularly enjoyed being introduced to Sue Butler in Emma Do’s article. I never pondered much about who creates dictionaries, and even so, I would have pictured a group of older men sitting around a table. I’m glad…

ancient roots If your mullet ever cops a bit of flack from judgy relatives (or those who think the cut is just for bogans and young ne’er-do-wells) hit them with its historic bona fides. Ancient Greek poet Homer is credited with the first written mention of the style back in the eighth century BC. We’d have to wait another couple millennia for someone to coin the actual term ‘mullet’, but it does pop up in Homer’s opus The Iliad. He describes a group of spearmen, the Abantes, as having “their forelocks cropped, hair grown long at the back”. While Homer was neutral on the look, sixth-century Byzantine scholar Procopius was less impressed. He saw it on the noggins of rowdy chariot-racing fans wreaking havoc in Rome (think of them as the…

There’s a scene in Writing with Fire where a young journalist called Shyamkali has a little moan about how hard it is for her to make deadlines. The doco film shows us she’s been trained to shoot and edit video on her phone for Khabar Lahariya, India’s only all-female media outlet. Her team has been expanding through social media, chasing clicks on Facebook and YouTube with hard-hitting local news. They’re pissing off people in power, even though they were born with none: as women of the Dalit caste, they are considered untouchable by many Indians. It’s extraordinary that Shyamkali has a voice at all – let alone a platform for her stories – but the reason she’s struggling with deadlines is much more basic. Shyamkali lives in a slum, and there’s…

How did Gunia Project begin? Maria Gavryliuk: Natalia and I met more than 10 years ago while working in the fashion industry. Both of us eventually became tired of its pace, overproduction and cyclical nature. Natalia ended up leaving fashion and volunteered with the Ivan Honchar Museum, an ethnographic museum in Kyiv, Ukraine. Natalia Kamenska: We established Gunia Project together in 2017. Our goal is to popularise Ukrainian art and craft, and tell as many people about it as possible. What does Gunia Project make? MG: Ceramics, hand-blown glass, carpets, vine wickerwork, candles, jewellery, and accessories made using various hand embroidery and knitting techniques. How did Ukrainian craft become a focus for you? NK: It’s interesting because we were both inspired by foreign culture early on in our careers. We would study…

You’re in line at the school canteen on an absolutely scorching day with 30 cents in your pocket – just enough for a Zooper Dooper, heck yeah! There are dozens of the yellow variety left and only a few of the other colours. Do you pick a flavour you’ll actually enjoy, such as bubblegum or cola? Or do you pick the yellow one, even though no one likes it and it’s the worst flavour in the history of space-themed icy-poles? Of course you pick the yellow one! You don’t want it to feel left out! It might feel sad if it’s left there to languish on the bench for the entire lunchtime. It might cry if it’s placed back in the freezer for the 100th day in a row. Yes, icy-poles…