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EXT. SMALL STONE TOWER – DAY A great oak door with an iron door knocker. A wooden signpost with medieval-looking script: SWORN BRETHREN ONLY (CAPACITY: ABSOLUTE MINIMUM) A golden glow emanates from the gap between the door and cobblestone floor. A KNIGHT clad in armour stands guard. Only his steely, unblinking eyes are visible. A nametag taped to his breastplate reads, in messy calligraphy, NOBLE. A REGULAR GUY , in jeans and a Depeche Mode T-shirt, whistles as he walks by,

My eyes trace the path of my wet, red fingerprint, studying the loops and the gaps, a tiny maze: mine, a question only I can answer. The ninth year has come again. I can hear his footsteps, his slow, shaky breaths. He is the only one left. Soon, the blood will dry. Death, sacrifice. An impression of justice, but not the thing itself. When the slaughter ceases, I will lay still and pretend to rest, waiting for the screams to begin again. by Krystal Ursino Anderson

love knocked on my door again when i least expected it. it was raining that day—thick, torrential, and so unrelenting that i almost missed it entirely. i hadn't seen it in months, but there love stood, drenched and muddy, waiting for me to let it in. love had never left me gently before. never when i was ready, and always taking so much more than i thought i could bear. whether love left suddenly, pulling the rug from under my feet, or quietly—in ways i didn't notice until

Water droplets flying, BEEP! Young men thick and broad, Young women muscled and strong. Make sure you warm up, don’t just stand there. Swing my arms around, pound my chest, This is my place, my lane, my water. Cap sticks, goggles sink, thoughts race. Up, up, on the block. Everything goes narrow. This is where I belong. BEEP! LAUNCH FORward boulder into the water, move, move, move, move. burning, tired, losing. take a breath, and i’ve lost, i don’t belong here. by Max

my favourite snippets of my existing poems from the ongoing series “Friends At Work”. for beth, kate, sienna, jordan and flynn. the rest are coming, I promise! we’re different fonts in the same love letter; you are bold and inviting, driving the pen against the paper, scribble your art onto another post-it i collect and carry these bits and pieces of you no words needed but we can’t stop talking joined at the hip so we move as one you know me before i know myself we are one a

MOLOTOV COCKTAIL Might have to cop a mocktail on fire at the pub And I don’t wanna drop tales that I’ll regret… I don’t wanna black out and forget… We can’t go back now like stepping on a tack, ow, hits like a truck, POW, like caught in a trap, P.O.W. Wrecking ball by Miley Cyrus spills out speakers but inside us 300 too many cigarettes, You feel it in your chest like a kick into the pit, Leonidas Tripping over your own tracks, said words with no take backs. You made a bad i

“Oh no.” Sun-baked tarmac stretched for miles in either direction. Ahead, raptors hung suspended between the crystal sky and the crimson earth. Their eyes were fastened to a shape writhing below, though Sahara struggled to make it out. It was as if the air itself was fabric, and the heat made it visible as it fluttered. Sahara eased on the brakes. The Jeep rattled to a stop. You’d never guess it was silver beneath all the grit. The door latch clicked and her boots hit the ta

A halo of blood surrounded the tooth, seeping into the cotton below. She grasped the pearl and studied it in the moonlight—this small pearl of bone, perfectly imperfect. She paused over the child, the soft breath of a peaceful sleep, undisturbed. Her attention returned to her treasure. She pondered its form, its texture, its taste. She leaned in close and whispered, “You remember me, don’t you?” She had made this tooth, it was hers to reclaim. She pulled the tooth closer

Nathan Colebrook speaks on overstimulation and how it's not just an autistic niche Being on the spectrum comes with many unique experiences that, in the neurotypical world, don’t often get talked about… I wasn’t initially planning on penning an article for Grapeshot this time. I spent two months trying to think, plan, and then write , no, re write various ideas that had come to mind. Everything from the nicheness of science and the nicheness of love, to the nicheness of West

Navdha Thakkar pulls back the curtain on people watching and the coordinated dance of society People-watching is one of those habits almost everyone has, yet few people openly claim. It sounds passive, maybe even intrusive, despite being quietly universal. Sit still long enough in a shared space, and it becomes unavoidable: you start noticing how carefully people manage themselves. Not in dramatic ways, but through small, precise adjustments, where they stand, how they move,

Editorial Assistant George Logan muses on how, sometimes, being incorrect can be much more fun There are several things that a person might expect to see on a first trip to New York City, a place that some, mostly Americans, state brazenly is the greatest city on Earth. Hot dogs, bodegas, speakeasies, and a man yelling “watch it” from a yellow cab. I saw, felt, and heard all of these things on a recent trip to the Big Apple in December. What I did not expect to find, howev

Editorial Assistant Leah Genc dreamily hikes the Pacific Crest Trail before returning to LinkedIn I think I like knowing it’s there. I think I like knowing that snow settles on the High Sierras in Northern California, a snake glides across the Mojave Desert in search of something seemingly nebulous. Vast scenes that are bound to its own interests. Places that are completely indifferent to your presence, who you pretend to be, who you are, or how many movies you racked up

Editorial Assistant Vanessa Bland defends Mr Toad and investigates how abandoned passions aren’t necessarily failures Have you ever watched the 1984 stop-motion animated tv series of Wind in the Willows ? I love revisiting classics and started binge-watching this one recently with my husband. Yes, it’s a children's show, but after checking the doom sday clock and seeing that it’s at 89 seconds to midnight, I needed to soothe my nerves. The series is sweet, earnest, and very B

Contributor Olivia Jackson gives us a conservation run-down on the world’s largest and heaviest parrot 2026 will be a year to look forward to. Its arrival will bring the next long-awaited breeding season of the critically endangered kākāpō ( Strigops habroptilus ). There are currently 236 individuals left [1]. Their low numbers are due to terrestrial predation and poor reproductive success [2][3]. These rotund, nocturnal, green parrots are endemic to New Zealand and curr

Editorial Assistant Maryam Bokhari covers the inauguration and progressive platform of freshly-appointed Mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani “Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously” - Zohran Mamdani [4] January 1 2026 marks a historic milestone for New York City, as Democratic-Socialist state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani was officially inaugurated as the city’s first immigrant and Muslim mayor. Mamdani is also the second-youngest person to hold the offi

Editorial Assistant Maryam Bokhari reports on the poorly-received release of American government files documenting the criminal activities of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein On 19 December 2025, the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a much-anticipated collection of documents detailing major developments regarding convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. These latest releases included large datasets of legal documents, emails and photographs [1]. Multiple photographs included c

Editorial Assistant, Amy Shelton, reports on everything happening in 2026. Get ready for a new year filled with sporting action and entertainment buzz. As calendars are organised and New Year’s resolutions are shared, 2026 has plenty of big changes and events to jot down. MQ UNI Proposed changes to staffing and courses: Macquarie University has proposed changes to the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Science and Engineering in 2026 [1]. The aim is for more ‘streamlined’ co

News Section Editor Siya Pujari probes into the new reign of CBS News led by Bari Weiss and what this represents for the contemporary American media landscape Bari Weiss’ decision to delay a 60 Minutes CBS documentary about the conditions within an inhumane El Salvador prison where ICE has been deporting many citizens and non-citizens alike has struck a deep chord everywhere, with this act being construed as a blatant roll-over by Weiss to adhere to the Trumpian standards as

Editorial Assistant Alicja Krotofil reports on the fatal public shooting of a Minnesotan woman by an ICE agent in the US in a widely disputed self-defence action On 7 January 2026, Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent during a raid in Minneapolis, Minnesota [1]. On Wednesday morning, Good parked her car across the road, blocking a convoy of roughly seven ICE vehicles [2]. Eyewitness Emily Heller watched the event unfold from her lawn, drawn out by ICE whistles

Deputy Editor Chantelle Mackintosh provides a detailed overview on the US’ military action in Venezuela leading to the shakeup of international diplomatic relations In the early hours of 3 January 2026, the United States launched a surprise airstrike on the Venezuelan capital of Caracas. This attack on the South American country resulted in the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, with the intention to charge them on drug and terrorism

Editorial Assistant Jordan Jayanthi expands upon the presence of undergraduate, student-led research initiatives at Macquarie University. Everyone has researched something in their own time. Whether it's to prove a point in an argument, or a deep dive into the North Korean dictatorship, everyone has opened up Google on their phone at least once to delve further into an area of interest. Undergraduate research provides the perfect avenue to pursue this to a greater extent.

Looking to make friends with similar interests? Or maybe to attend some fun themed events? Look no further than Macquarie University Student Societies! For new and returning students, we’ve got you covered with this short guide on some of the university's societies. Arts and Craft Society MQ Arts and Craft Society provides a stress-free space for people to share in making art. We run events on an almost weekly basis. Our club is for all skill levels, providing a stress-free

Editor-In-Chief Kayleigh Greig dissects the flaws alongside the rigidity within Macquarie University’s Biology Major On 10 December 2025, Patty Hodgson sent an email on behalf of Simon Griffith to students enrolled in the Biology Major, detailing several “updates” to its units. Those previously on track to study ‘Life Processes’ will now need to enrol in ‘Animals’ or ‘Plants’. Likewise, they will change from ‘Invertebrate Biology and Behaviour’ to simply ‘Animal Behaviour’,

Deputy Editor Kayleigh Greig deep dives into Grapeshot’ s origins and evolution. Grapeshot 2009, Volume 1, Issue 1 If you’re reading this, you probably already know a bit about us, but just in case: this is Grapeshot , and we’re the student publication here at Macquarie University. That means that every one of our issues has been entirely made by students, for students. Of course, since its inception in 2009, Grapeshot has changed a lot over time. So, for Nostalgia , let