ISSUE 7 / EDITORIAL

A slightly less pessimistic issue to get us through the last of the cold.

Well, that was the log-line I conceived when I sat down to write the agenda for Memo no. 7. In reality, as I’m sure most university students are painfully aware, it’s not easy to write and publish truthfully on the world around us without it turning into the same doom-and-gloom we’re becoming trained to tune out. 

What normally ends up happening is you write about the same depressing shit but with a wry-enough undertone that you can claim irony. Alternatively, you pretend the publication is able to exist outside of the political system and print a run-on lifestyle section that never seems to end. Not that any media would do that, of course.

The bottom-line is that this issue is not as hope-core as I was… hoping. But, for a break from the bleak, I’m very grateful to be publishing a piece by Aurora Garner-Randolph which helps us find the courage to be sincere. While the article speaks of appreciating modern art, I think it strikes a chord far deeper in our 21st Century psyche of a nonchalant, manicured self-image. She’s right—go to the gallery. In fact, go to a bookshop, to the gardens, a new café. Give yourself a reason to love your city and its culture. Read her piece on page 20—and tear out page 23/24 (experimental perforation!) to bring her gallery field guide and back cover artwork with you on the go.

Elsewhere, this issue reintroduces a focus on the environment and strong ecologically-minded writing. It is, of course, the (oft neglected) subtitle of the magazine. The last few months have also been marked by even more changes to environmental policy in this country. 

I spoke with zoologist and wildlife advocate, Andy Johnston, who runs an online educational page on native biodiversity and what it means to foster an ecological consciousness during a time of legislative harm on nature. While ideas of everyday ecology certainly are inspiring, such an approach is not without its critique (page 15).

To answer a more radical question about environmental governance in this country, we’re also publishing a piece by UC student, entomologist, and photographer Clara McCombs who critically dissects the oftentimes harmful, Western view of conservation and ecology science which separates people from nature (page 12).

On the administrative front, you may have noticed a slight… change… in the quality of printing for this issue. We’ve done away with working with a professional printer and have resorted to old-school Xerox zines. Every single page of this edition was printed on a university office printer and then folded, stapled, trimmed, and perforated by hand by our lovely volunteers. An enormous thank you to those who prepared, literally, hundreds of copies and to the student groups who helped wrangle together the assembly line. 

This, however, is a temporary solution to a very real problem facing print media. The costs of professional printing continues to grow further and further out of our budget. All while manual assembly limits how large a print run can be and subjects the magazine to the unreliability and inconsistency of conventional laser printing. In spite of this, The Memo remains committed to being a printed periodical. To quote me after a few wines the other night, “I’d rather get carpal tunnel than publish a PDF.” 

The Memo was made to be held, and for as long as we can manage it, that is exactly how it will stay. 

Joseph Davidson-Labout

Founding Editor, The Canterbury Memo

www.memozine.nz / editor.thememo@gmail.com

ISSUE 7: JULY/AUGUST 2026

CHIEF EDITOR

Joseph Davidson-Labout

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Gavin Dee

Eden Griffiths

FEATURE WRITERS

James Boyle

  Aurora Garner-Randolph

  Luke Lamont

  Clara McCombs

  Grace Robinson

CARTOON

@mickeditorials

COVER ARTWORK

(front) Joseph Davidson-Labout

(back) Aurora Garner-Randolph