Canta is the official magazine of the University of Canterbury Student Association (USCA) of the University of Canterbury. It is freely available around campus every Wednesday during term time. It is 32 pages long and a bit smaller than A4 in page size.
In the past Canta has come to New Zealand wide attention. In 1996 two of its editors was sacked after an article claiming to be humourous was titled "The Importance of Being Furnaced" which talked about a cast of 6 million. The New Zealand Jewish Council were not impressed at all the next weeks Canta contained a full page apology.
There a variety of sections, some appearing every week while some are only every second issue:
Editor - Basically the Editor writes your standard newspaper editorial about something that usually is on the something that is the main focus of the week
Letters - Probably one of the most popular sections of Canta. Here you can rant and rave about anything in the world that you want. I've seen letters that said there should be Pokies on the seventh floor of the central library. Often the one letter can start of a spate of replies with people spending weeks on the same subject
Mr/Ms President - The President of the USCA writes about whats on their mind for that week
News - Usually student related like the fact the excise tax on alcohol could be going up
Music - Basically a page about why mainstream music sucks
Say It Loud - Want to have your say on something, then this is the section for you. One week was a essay on Down's Syndrome people which basically said that they liked shiny objects and toiled at clockwork machinery at night - ruffled a few feathers
Good Bastard - Some guy writes randomly about stuff that seems important to him but nobody else cares about
Clitorally Speaking - Scarlett Moore talks about her sex life, from the high school rowers who turned up naked at her home one night, to the guys who rung her up and pretended that they had an STD. Always funny
Bar Review - Probably one of the funnier sections of Canta. In a review of one bar they described it as being "where the drinks are cheap and the locals are cheaper"
Inquisition - Basically someone goes and asks some random students some random questions such as "What do you miss the most about the '80s?"
Their Flat - A humourous look at the mostly squalid condition that the average Univerisity student lives. Find out important things like who has brought the most people home and what's the combined student loan.
However for me the highlight recently has been the seemingly random cartoon by 'Jim'. Telling the story of Quentin, our hero has had the misfortune of sitting of Death in class and chopping off his hand to avoid sitting an exam only to find out that it wasn't for a couple more days. Has to be seen to be understood really.