here is a lot to be said for blind positivity. On a good day, I’m a manifester, a big believer in my ability to speak things into existence. During my English A-Level, I had complete confidence that the crystals hidden in my bra would provide enough luck to snag me an A*. Today, I put great faith in words, relying on the same ‘I can do it’ that gets Olympic athletes across the finish line, to help me through difficult situations.
I’m now in my fourth year, and as such, must grapple with the reality of my Oxford days drawing to a close. Granted, this is something that every student must contend with, and I watched on as most of my friends bade a fond farewell to this city where our friendships began when they graduated last summer. Yet there is something about the fourth year that I’m certain makes the final year even more strange: a sense of something already lost, of living in a moment that has already passed.
Now, having exhausted myself with these relentless pursuits, the job has been passed on to a new bright-eyed Cupid, and in my retirement I’ve become fondly reflective, and decided to curate my insights into this list:
TW: Racism, sexual assault
British society and campuses continue to live in denial of racial inequality entrenched in our communities. Removing the burden of racism...
TW: Racism
The protests in the US spurred on
by repeated institutional injustices against black bodies have opened up
numerous conversations about race across the globe....
“Don’t you dare cry. Don’t let them see a chink in your
armour,” I told myself. Commands, negotiations and bribes had failed miserably,
simply falling on...
TW/CW: Body Dysmorphia, Eating Disorders, Trauma
This article contains explicit mentions of harmful behaviour.
Please consult the resources under the article if you or anyone you...
Daniel, English, University, 2nd Year
First impressions:
Extremely awkward, for some reason we ended up messaging for ages with the audio on but cameras off, very...
In the comedy Miranda, Penny, Miranda’s preposterous
mother, laments that her daughter ‘hasn’t been blessed by the goddess of
socialising.’ ‘There isn’t a goddess of socialising’,...
"I have made a lot of mistakes falling in love, and regretted most of them," says Nora Ephron in her thinly-veiled autobiographical novel, Heartburn,...
‘Running’, says American long-distance champion Kara Goucher, ‘allows me to set my mind free. Nothing seems impossible, nothing unattainable.’ Now, I’m not sure how she feels...
Throughout history, students have been feared as the archenemy of social and political order: from Paris to Cairo, we’ve revolutionised cultural norms, broken laws,...