Friday 18th July 2025
Blog Page 341

Self-growth, Sin Miedo: The Rise of Kali Uchis

Ellie-Jai Williams
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Self-growth, Sin Miedo: The Rise of Kali Uchis

If you’ve been scrolling through TikTok recently, chances are you’ve heard the opening lines of telepatía by Colombian-American singer Kali Uchis. The song features on Uchis’ latest album and her first to be produced in Spanish, Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios) – translating as Without Fear (of Love and Other Demons). But what has led to Telepatía’s rise in popularity – and what does the shift to writing in Spanish signify for Uchis?  

Kali Uchis, born Karly-Marina Loaiza, made her first splash into the music world in 2012 with her mixtape Drunken Babble – written almost entirely in one night, at age eighteen, from her childhood bedroom. From the beginning, Uchis has been a bastion of entrepreneurial spirit and authenticity – and in her latest album, this is more true than ever. Though Uchis has never hesitated to add Spanish to her music, and has always been proud of her Colombian heritage, I believe the move to an entirely Spanish album reflects a growing confidence in her self-image and her place in the world.  

Though songs such as ‘Know What I Want’ and ‘Loner’ in Uchis’ first album Por Vida (2015) reflect her characteristic confidence and enjoyment of solitude, there remains a quiet but lingering uncertainty in other songs like Lottery. Here we see Uchis as a new singer taking tentative steps into the music world, self-consciously asking ‘Will you take this chance on me?’. However, by the time she produces her second album, Isolation (2018), Uchis’ confidence has skyrocketed – and with that comes her first songs in Spanish, and a more confident celebration of her past. 

Uchis’ Colombian heritage is close to her heart, and this is one of the many themes of the past that is reflected in Isolation, an album that Uchis claims was written in a ‘subconscious’ manner. Growing up in her working-class immigrant household, Uchis recalled in a 2018 BBC interview how she witnessed her relatives work relentlessly in the US to support families back in Colombia, missing birthdays and graduations: “my entire childhood I watched everyone around me lose their lives trying to make money”. This experience is the motive behind her song ‘Your Teeth in my Neck’ which explores the exploitation of Latin-American immigrants. Here an anti-capitalist Uchis states how ‘Rich man keeps getting richer, taking from the poor’, asking ‘They’d take our worth, they pay us dirt / Is it worth it?’. Another song, Miami, explores Uchis’ childhood wish to escape her situation: ‘I was just a little girl / Had my sights set on a bigger world / Got myself a visa / And started catching flights to where the grass is greener’, but also subsequent feeling of having nowhere to go: ‘I’m always on the run / Now I can’t afford to look back’. Uchis also channels her Colombian heritage more in Isolation than previous albums with her reggaeton Nuestro Planeta, the album’s only Spanish-language song, featuring Colombian performer Reykon. 

“The potentially risky decision to produce a Spanish album to a predominantly English-speaking fanbase reflects Uchis’ consistent commitment to be authentic to herself.”

The decision to release a Spanish album with Sin Miedo can then be read as an explosion of confidence from Uchis: a complete ownership of her heritage that features a multitude of genres central to Latin American musical history, from the slow-tempoed bolero to fast-paced reggaeton. The potentially risky decision to produce a Spanish album to a predominantly English-speaking fanbase reflects Uchis’ consistent commitment to be authentic to herself, something she consistently refers to in her music and on her social accounts: “I just want to be the healthiest, most international & loving version of myself”, she tweeted on the 1st February this year.

However, Uchis’ music can transcend the barriers of language because it exudes both a tough self-reliance and a transcendental sense of self love, regardless of the language it is produced in. Described by the BBC as carrying ‘the hard-won determination of a woman who’s had to fight for her place in the world’, it is Uchis’ determination and her commitment to self-growth that resonates with both her English-speaking and Spanish-speaking fans. Sin Miedo is also characterised by its versatility, both in genre and theme, meaning it appeals to a wide range of emotions. From the raunchy te pongo mal and the unapologetic bossiness of ‘¡aqui yo mando!’, to the dreamy ‘aguardiente y limón’ that mixes Edenic imagery with that of a well-known Colombian drink, to a simple yet visceral wish for peace in ‘quiero sentirme bien’, Uchis’ album is aptly named as she produces boldly and without fear. Uchis also utilises spiritual, metaphysical concepts in Sin Miedo in songs like ‘telepatía’, ‘vaya con dios’ and ‘ángel sin cielo’, which I believe is part of ‘telepatía’s’ popularity on TikTok –an app where all things spirituality, witchcraft and manifestation are currently trending. The song’s title, telepathy, is also an ode to the intangible ways we can connect with the people we love. Written during a global pandemic, the idea of connecting even when apart is even more visceral. 

Sin Miedo’s closing track, ‘ángel sin cielo’, further harnesses this idea of connecting to others even when alone. Written solo in her bedroom once again, Uchis ends her genre and language-barrier-defying album with a nod towards her roots: both her Colombian roots and the roots of her career, back when she produced an entire mixtape from her bedroom. With hauntingly beautiful vocals, a celestial Uchis softly sings ‘Ángel sin cielo / Hay que hacerlo sin miedo / La vida es una y a nadie le debo’ (‘Angel without heaven / You have to do it without fear / Life is one and I owe no one’). Uchis ends her chart-topping album with a celebration of something she has quietly done from the beginning: celebrated the power of being herself, unapologetically.

Image credit: The Come Up Show via Flickr – License: CC BY-ND 2.0.

Oxford’s Failure with Eating Disorders

Jaya Rana
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Oxford’s Failure with Eating Disorders

CW: detailed description of eating disorders.

So much of the typical university experience centres around food and drink – this is perhaps the case even more so at the University of Oxford. With not only a culture of club nights, takeaways and kebab vans (which most universities propagate), at Oxford, we socialise through college formals, balls, crew dates, welfare teas and so much more. For those of us who have a history of disordered eating, this can prove pretty anxiety-inducing. Not to mention, with the highly anticipated June 21st rapidly approaching and the social eating that will come with this, the pressure to get the perfect body is more extreme than ever.

While many people restrict their eating due to having a perfectionist nature and a desire to meet the current beauty standard, others link their disorder to a need for control and order, emphasising that it has nothing at all to do with body image. It is generally accepted that Eating Disorders are worsened, and in some cases, entirely caused, by stress. This places Oxford students at a higher risk considering the elevated academic pressures we face in comparison to our friends at other universities. Rather than being expected to complete a couple of essays or problem sheets a term, we are confronted with at least one per week. It is therefore unsurprising that disordered eating is so prolific at our university. According to a survey organised by the SU in 2016, at least 1200 students at the University of Oxford are struggling with an ED, and these are only the ones who have spoken out. Given the fact that the number of people seeking help for mental illnesses since Covid has increased exponentially, it is a fair assumption to believe that there are far more than 1200 students suffering from EDs now.

Studies carried out by the National Institute for Health Care Excellence and Beat recognised that between 1.25 and 3.4 million people in the UK suffer from EDs and that the average age of onset for anorexia nervosa is 17 years old. This, paired with the anxiety of leaving home, and the pressure to have improved oneself physically (a culture cultivated by lockdown), we need support from our university now more than ever. The rise of TikTok alongside the increase in ‘at home’ blogger/influencer content means that a lot of what we have seen on social media during lockdown has been about food and exercise. Namely, many ‘what I eat in a day’ videos promote undereating, as well as unsustainable and unattainable workout regimes. Beat has seen a 140% rise in the number of people accessing support since 2020. EDs have the highest mortality rates among all psychiatric disorders, and research suggests that the earlier treatment is sought, the better the sufferer’s chance of recovery.

For these reasons, it is shocking, and frankly devastating that, having used the Oxford University’s Counselling Service myself, I can attest to specific instances in which I have been told that the University simply doesn’t have the facilities or support to help me deal with an ED, and that, while they’re happy to listen and to provide support in other aspects of my life, it is simply beyond their remit. Given the prevalence of EDs, not only among our age group but with the elevated risk (due to the intensity of our workload), it is hugely distressing to know that there is not a single counsellor or therapist in the Service trained in one of the most common psychiatric disorders.

While the Counselling Service offers personal and group therapy for dealing with issues such as anxiety and body image, it was made explicitly clear to myself and to other students that EDs should not, and indeed, must not be discussed in these sessions. The counsellors told us that they want us to separate body image issues and Eating Disorders, as they are too much to handle together, and because they are not trained in working with EDs. To me – and evidently, to many others using the Counselling Service – EDs and body image problems are not something which can ever be separated: they are two expressions of the same thing. The conversation surrounding food in any form was strictly prohibited in our therapy sessions, and this rule was extended to our private communication with one another as well; we were told that we mustn’t mention food to each other in any way.

Considering the intrinsic link between body dysmorphia/body image issues and restrictive eating, this forced segregation is unhelpful and potentially dangerous. By banning any talk of food and EDs in sessions with students who are openly seeking help and advice, and simultaneously offering them no alternative forum to discuss these issues, the university forces us to internalise our EDs and to battle them alone. Bearing in mind that the Service’s therapy groups only operate in term-time and that we are encouraged to engage in only one form of counselling (i.e. to leave any one-on-one therapy), we face over a month with no professional help for our EDs during the vacation. Our one support network, namely, our friends suffering from similar conditions, also becomes unavailable to us. This March, my group were given an ultimatum by our councillors: to either leave group therapy halfway through our course of treatment or to disband our group chat and private communication.

Some people may be asking why we don’t simply seek help outside of the university. For the majority, for whom private healthcare is not an option, the NHS waiting lists are simply too long to ever be practical, and this itself is evidence of the national Eating Disorder crisis we face in the UK. For instance, the waiting time at Cotswold House for ED services is 25 months as of 2020 (noted from the Facebook page ‘End the Eating Disorder Crisis’). Expecting someone to suffer alone for over two years is simply not acceptable, and often, life-threatening. Beat has been running a campaign to End the Eating Disorder crisis, by urging the Vice-Chancellor to recognise this huge issue in the university. Through an open letter, Beat urges the Counselling Service to hire a trained dietician and for college nurses to be educated in managing Eating Disorders.

According to a Beat student survey in 2020, 70% of students who engaged with the University Counselling Service expressed feeling that their counsellor or nurse did not have sufficient experience or knowledge of EDs. From both personal experience and those of many of my friends, I can confirm that counsellors in the Service have explicitly stated that such issues surrounding EDs are ‘too complex’, and support simply cannot be provided by the university.

This is a plea to the University to please listen to your students. We are struggling, and sufficient support is simply not being provided. For those of you who would like to support this cause, please sign Oxford Beat Society’s open letter to the Vice-Chancellor, urging her to consider the issues stated in this article more seriously.

Beat provides information and support for anyone affected by an eating disorder. You can call their student helpline at 0808 801 0811, or visit them at beateatingdisorders.org.uk.

Image Credit: BeatEDCharity via Wikimedia/ License: CC BY 3.0

Correction: The University Counselling Service disputed the claim that the University has no counsellors trained in Eating Disorders. They have a medical consultant with extensive professional experience of working with patients with eating disorders, whilst other staff members have substantial experience of working therapeutically with eating disorders in young adults. They also stated that their service should not be seen as a specialist eating disorder treatment unit and should not be judged against such a standard.

“We’ve come a long long way together” Liverpool’s ‘First Dance’

Iona Neill
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“We’ve come a long long way together” Liverpool’s ‘First Dance’

Just over a week ago, around 3,000 people descended upon an old warehouse in the centre of Liverpool to take part in a 2-day trial rave as part of a scheme by Public Health England. The event, aptly named “The First Dance”, boasted a line-up of the likes of Fatboy Slim, Yousef and The Blessed Madonna. There was no social distancing and face masks were optional. The goal was simple – party like it’s, well … before March of 2020?

The rave was organised by nightlife provider Circus and was part of the UK Government’s ERP, or Events Research Programme – a string of pilot events intended to study how the virus spreads in a range of different environments. Liverpool is set to be the host of many, including an outdoor festival in Sefton Park on May 2nd, and several open-air cinema screenings at the Luna Cinema. It is hoped that data from these events will help restrictions be safely lifted in the roadmap out of lockdown and will provide a guide for other festivals and gatherings happening this summer. But whilst these events are a chance for people to let their hair down, they also come with their own rules and restrictions. For the rave at Bramley-Moore Dock, all participants had to take one lateral flow test before and after the event, be current residents of the Liverpool City Region, and registered showing no symptoms of Covid-19. All money at the event had to be pre-loaded onto an individual wristband, reducing the risk of transmitting the virus across surfaces. The list of requirements for entry was long, as was the time spent waiting in a digital queue for tickets, which took hours in some cases.

It can’t help but be noticed that Liverpool has become somewhat of a guinea pig for pilots like these. The city has often been in the foreground in the battle against Covid, not only was Liverpool the site of mass-testing in November of 2020, then under the strictest tier of restrictions for much of the remainder of the year. For a city whose economy is so reliant on nightlife, hospitality and visitors, the promise of a return to mass-scale events is nothing short of exciting.

I was able to speak to Ella Bedingfield, a 2nd-year student at the University of Liverpool, one of the lucky ticket holders who attended the event. Although a return to large gatherings with no social distancing is no doubt a daunting prospect, she wasn’t too nervous to turn up. With everyone back at uni, she says, students are tested all the time anyway – the whole process just felt normal. There weren’t many nerves leading up to the event, as everybody knew what they were going into and what to expect. “I want to go again,” She said, “it was just so so fun. It was such a nice atmosphere there.” The feeling of happy excitement of people heading out for their first night out post-lockdown definitely gave a boost of energy.

“it was just so fun, It was such a nice atmosphere in there”

Despite the long process of applying for tickets, being tested, and lining up for the event, this still wouldn’t deter her from going a second time. “It was quite a long process. But it definitely didn’t put me off, I would definitely do it again.” After all, queues and bag checks are normality for festivals and raves all over the UK as it stands, and a small amount of inconvenience is unlikely to put many off returning to the dancefloor after months of hiatus. When asked if the layout of such events might be a feasible plan moving forwards, she replied that perhaps in the future there wouldn’t need to be such a long application process, and with more choice of events taking place, there would be less of a wait for each one.

It looks likely that mass-tested events like these may become the norm for the near future, or at least until the vaccination of the whole of the UK becomes a reality. But the outlook for this summer is still unclear, and although many festivals such as Creamfields and Boardmasters are still set to go ahead, nobody is sure of what they will look like. Many festivals are assuming no need for social distancing at all, relying on the fact that Covid restrictions are set to be all but gone by June 21st. Yet carrying on full-steam ahead seems somewhat risky, especially since a major issue facing future festivals is the lack of pandemic-specification cancellation insurance, in case scheduled events aren’t able to happen. However, should every festival-goer be required to show proof of a negative test before entry just as they have been in Liverpool, there might be some chance of security at these events.

“it looks likely that mass-tested events like these may become the norm for the near future…”

I was sceptical that many people might not bother to send off the second test after the Liverpool event, and Ella also agreed with me that is certainly a possibility. “It’s not a very nice thing to do a test,” she says, “I think a lot of people just won’t. But I guess lots of people will have, because lots of people really do want it to continue.”

It can only be hoped that the dream of seeing the music and nightlife scene in the UK return to normal will spur people on to get tested. Whilst the collective experience of the Bramley-Moore Dock rave was overwhelmingly positive, we can only hope and wait for an overall negative result.

Image Credit: Ella Bedingfield

What’s the deal with Ballerine?

Sasha Mills
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What’s the deal with Ballerine?

The Copper IUD, colloquially known as the coil, is one of the few non-hormonal contraceptive methods available outside of condoms, and can last for between 5 and 10 years before needing to be replaced. Most contraceptive methods are hormonal, and methods such as the combined pill have been linked to heightened blood clot risk and, in some cases, worsened mental health. Still, the IUD remains one of the least popular methods, with reporting by the BBC suggesting that in the US, 6.1% of women have an IUD, and in Australia and New Zealand the figure is even lower, at around 2%. 

The IUD is inserted into the womb, a process that has often been described as painful by the people that have undertaken the procedure, although some reporting suggests that the expectation of pain is greater than what people actually experience. Simone Fraser, a graduate from the University of Oxford, described the process as “painful!,” although she suggested that the experience was worth it overall, and a “positive choice” for her. Simone experienced what she described as “really intense period pain for a few seconds” during the procedure, and soreness for a few days after, and suggested that having the IUD has increased the period pain that she experiences overall.

Some people also experience issues with the IUD staying in, although research by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists only estimates that this happens to 2 in 10 people. Elliott Rose, a current Oxford student, described the initial process of having the IUD put in as not especially painful, noting that it was “over fairly quickly” and that “the doctor who did the procedure was really good and respectful.” However, after a month he experienced a feeling that suggested that their IUD had started to fall out, and upon visiting his local clinic experienced what he described as “the worst medical transphobia” he’d ever experienced, and was shamed by clinicians for requesting that his IUD be removed. 

The IUB Ballerine, a new form of contraception, hopes to solve some of the problems that users have faced with the IUD. At around half the size of a traditional IUD device and with a spherical design rather than a traditional T-shape, it markets itself on being more well-suited to the womb. The IUB, like the IUD, uses copper to alter the cervical mucus, which makes it more difficult for a sperm to successfully reach an egg. Daniela Schardinger, a representative for the manufacturer of Ballerine, told Refinery29 that the device “was invented to be totally spherical so no matter which way it turns, it will always relate to the uterus in the same way,” a philosophy that they believe is “a better fit to what we know of the uterus today” and will help reduce the risk of perforation, which is where the IUB goes through the wall of the uterus. 

A study conducted of the real-world effectiveness of the Ballerine IUB found that the majority of participants experienced only ‘light’ period pain after going on the IUB, and that 81.4% of the participants would recommend the IUB as a form of contraception. Still, while the impact of period pain on participants appeared fairly low, one of the central reasons for early removal was heightened menstrual bleeding, with around 10-16% people requesting removal for this reason. A larger, collated study by the same researchers concluded that the “high user-reported tolerability, likely due to improved device conformity with uterine anatomy, will inevitably promote long-term user persistence, subsequently reducing unintended pregnancy rates.”

So how available is the Ballerine IUB in the UK? Well, right now you can only have the contraception inserted through private healthcare, a procedure that has little information about cost available publicly. The manufacturers of Ballerine, Ocon Medical, hope that the contraception could be available on the NHS by the end of 2021 – with the product already available over large parts of Europe, Scandinavia, and some parts of Africa, it doesn’t seem hard to believe that the IUB could be widespread soon. 

Artwork by Aleksandra Pluta.

University releases updated guidance for students in light of May 17th changes

Flora Dyson
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University releases updated guidance for students in light of May 17th changes

Oxford University has updated their arrangements for students after 17 May, following this week’s Government announcement.  Updated guidance for in-person teaching, returning to Oxford and student life were laid out in an email from Professor Martin Williams, Pro-Vice Chancellor. 

The university has stated that, as many courses have finished teaching for the academic year, “large group teaching and lectures are likely to remain online”, in line with social-distancing constraints. 

However, they have also stated that “where feasible, departments may be able to offer in-person teaching to students on courses which have now been permitted to restart. Colleges are also looking to make tutorials available in-person.”

“Your department and/or college will contact you to inform you if any of your teaching will take place in-person. If you do not hear from them, you should assume that it will remain online.”

In regards to examinations, they will “proceed in the format already communicated to you; with the majority taking place online. If your exam is taking place in-person, it will be listed on the examination timetables page of the Oxford Students website.”

The Pro-Vice Chancellor has said “all students are now permitted to return to Oxford. If you are offered [in]-person teaching, we strongly encourage you to take advantage of that opportunity.” 

Residency requirements remain suspended for Trinity term and guidance for international students has not changed. The Pro-Vice Chancellor has said to international students who “do not have a large amount of in-person teaching or assessment which requires you to be in Oxford, you may wish to take advantage of the residency exemption. If you are in a country that is on the UK Government’s ‘red list’, we advise you to take advantage of the residency exemption, unless you have substantial in-person teaching commitments.”

From Monday 17 May the rule of six will be in place for indoor spaces, whilst groups of up to 30 can meet outdoors. In light of the Government’s change to rules within indoor spaces, the university has said “there may be specific requirements around households in colleges, and your college will let you know if this is the case.”

The Pro-Vice Chancellor has said students “must continue to follow all health guidance to protect the community. While the outlook is more optimistic and restrictions are gradually easing, the pandemic is not yet over”. 

Students have been asked to “enjoy Oxford responsibly as the restrictions ease. In particular, with so many examinations taking place online, it is essential that everyone is considerate and respectful of students taking their exams in their rooms and other locations, by keeping noise to a minimum.” 

Students are expected to get tested before their return to Oxford, twice on arrival and bi-weekly following this. The university have alted their LFD testing scheme: “After 24 May, we plan to offer pre-packed LFD test kits that you will be able to pick up from your college and other locations. Alternatively, the symptom-free testing centres will also be available to you, as well as other Government routes.” 

Image: Tejvan Pettinger/CC BY 2.0

‘Blink’ and You’ll Miss It

Katie Kirkpatrick
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‘Blink’ and You’ll Miss It

Blink is a knot of a play. Filmed in black and white, and lasting nearly two hours, the production burrows deep into the complexities of grief, connection, and distance while still maintaining a sense of honesty throughout. 

The play tells the story of Sophie Kissack and Jonah Jenkins, who each live alone in flats in London. They share eerily similar pasts of isolation and loss, and when Sophie sends Jonah a baby monitor screen, they grow close in a strange, morally ambiguous way. While the story arc seems to follow two people falling in love, it’s never sugary or straightforward. Instead, as the script says, it highlights that ‘love is whatever you feel it to be’ – and sometimes it’s messy, dark, and uncomfortable. 

Speaking to the cast and creatives, I was struck by the amount of time and thought clearly put into the production. Describing themselves as a ‘closely-knit bubble’, the group had nuanced answers for every question I posed, never hesitant to examine their own dramatic choices. We began by facing the question posed to every piece of pandemic theatre: why now? With Blink, there were endless answers to choose from. Producer and co-director Louis Cunningham was quick to mention ‘solitude and connecting through screens’, which was also the first thought that came to me on the subject. The script has a remarkable amount of parallels with our emotional responses to the pandemic, and there’s a fun sense of the ‘meta’ that comes from watching a production about voyeurism and screens on a laptop . 

The cinematography of the production is so polished, especially considering this is a piece of student drama from a very small team: the group refer to Director of Photography Micheal-Akolade Ayodeji as some kind of magical figure, but his wizardry does come across in the show. Two sequences in particular stand out: an intimate scene in which the two characters ride the London Eye, and the dramatic, sensory climax of the first act. While every so often it felt to me that the cinematography was doing very slightly too much, it was hugely impressive throughout. 

While talking about the way the show has been shot in black and white, Louis and co-director Maggie Moriarty cite Malcolm and Marie, the film released earlier this year, as an influence. Maggie talks about how the black and white gives a ‘sense of timelessness’, which I definitely felt, while Louis explains that the other element they took from the film was ‘the nature of being unsure about it’. It’s this idea that makes Blink so fascinating: there’s always something that feels slightly off about the characters, and their actions are at times very morally grey. While in other productions this would feel like a flaw, it is Blink’s greatest strength: the production revels in uncertainty and ambiguity. 

Pip Lang and Gabe Winsor, as Sophie and Jonah respectively, give nuanced, intricate performances throughout. Gabe has a remarkable authenticity and naturalness, while Pip charts her character’s transitions from stillness to emotional outburst in a way that’s constantly captivating to watch; she’s clearly thought about every detail, from lip wobbles to hand gestures. Speaking to the actors, I learnt about the challenges of getting across such complicated characters on screen: Pip described forming an ‘intimacy with the camera’, while Gabe summarised the process as a ‘lovely kind of dance’. We also spoke about the multi-roling, one of the few aspects of the piece I wasn’t initially sold on: speaking to the team, however, it’s grown on me. It forces us to question how and why this narrative is being told, as the moments where the fourth wall is broken are always clearly deliberate. One of the most interesting parts of our conversation is a discussion about the way storytelling works in this play, with regard to how the characters exchange control of the narrative. 

This is the question lying at the heart of the script. Playwright Phil Porter asks theatremakers to consider ‘why these characters are telling this story out loud and to whom they are speaking’  – throughout the piece, the characters address the audience (or in this case, camera) directly, framing the story like an interview of some kind. While I was very interested to learn the team’s response to this question, I won’t share it here: the play is more fun to watch when the question of the mechanics is left unanswered, as the ambiguity of the role of the camera becomes a tool for audiences to interrogate the character dynamics.

Towards the beginning of our meeting, Louis described the production as ‘a kind of circus act between two people, of juggling all these emotions and arguments and sentiments’. It is this which best sums it up. While the aesthetic choices may be far removed from the idea of a circus, the play is defined by that same sense of quirkiness, instability and fascination. I’d watch Blink over a tightrope act any day. 

Blink will be online at 7:30pm on the 14th and 15th May 2021. 

Get your tickets here:  https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/frangipane/e-zjoplj

Image Credit: Micheal- Akolade Ayodeji

Who are we really trashing?

Mia Clement
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Who are we really trashing?

In light of Oxford Climate Justice’s campaign report, which found that between 2015 and 2020, Oxford accepted at least £8.2 million in research grants from fossil fuel companies, advocating for divestment from fossil fuels is at the forefront of climate activism in Oxford. However, while this movement pushes for the University itself to move away from its past onto a sustainable, greener future, the continuation of trashing by Oxford’s own students students hinders progress.

Trashing is an annual tradition that sees students spray each other with alcohol, flour and confetti – a practice that began in the 1970s when friends of students taking their finals waited outside the Examination School in Oxford city centre. However, due to its conspicuously decadent nature, trashing has become a source of controversy in recent years. In 2018 university authorities launched an offensive against the practice with its ‘what a waste’ campaign and announced that trashing could lead to disciplinary action and a £300 fine.

For the University, trashing is an image problem, especially in greater discussions of student privilege and entitlement, as well a financial and environmental problem. The city of Oxford has problems with homelessness and food insecurity, and the mountain of wasted food as a result of trashing can be considered offensive. As a result, while steeped in university history, head authorities have discouraged the practice of trashing, marking it wasteful and disruptive to the local Oxford community.

Moreover, on their website page the University further details detrimental effects of trashing, including the waste of food that could be donated and wasted expense, disruption to those still studying or in exams, and students and residents being admitted to hospital due to slipping on trashing materials. Importantly, from an environmental perspective, using non-biodegradable goods is harmful to animal life, and paint also damages the environment.

Plastic pollution has a direct and deadly effect on wildlife. Containing toxic chemicals, this can increase the chance of disease and affect reproduction. After ingesting microplastics animals can suffer for months or even years before they die. The most important environmental impact from paints is the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during the drying process after the coating is applied. Once in the atmosphere, VOCs participate in the formation of ozone, and dissolved in water or other solvents directly damages aquatic ecosystems and leads to terrestrial degradation. While trashing is a day’s worth of fun, its environmental impact can be far-reaching, and irreversible.

Companies such as EcoTrash, which was formed in 2019, offer a wide range of products including biodegradable confetti, coloured powder and eco-glitter, and have made progress from the plastic trails and waste left after exam season, but what about the wasted food and drink marking the streets of Oxford and having a direct impact on local flora and fauna?

In tradition, many students jump into the river at Christ Church meadow, disrupting the community of local wildlife but also producing a massive amount of litter on the river banks and polluting its waters with shaving cream or worse. A build-up of shaving cream or other artificial products in water bodies creates a layer of by-products on the surface. This can cause algae to grow quickly. These ‘blooms’ of algae may produce toxins that harm other life in the river. When the algae die and decay, this uses up much of the oxygen in the stream. Without enough oxygen in the water, its inhabitants will suffocate. As a result, EcoTrashing could provide a solution to this waste but only to an extent. In their first year in Trinity 2019, Oxford students from 28 colleges, bought over 500 bags of biodegradable confetti, over 440 bags of coloured powder made from 99% cornstarch and over 260 white sashes, all in composite delivery bags. However, EcoTrash sells shaving foam, a crucial trashing ingredient and plastic features in some of its packaging. It therefore does not address the issue of food packaging, drinks, cans and more being scattered across Oxford. 

With Post-exam trashings costing the University £25,000 a year, as Cherwell revealed, security staff were also paid £20,000 in overtime in 2017 to control celebrations, while a further £1,881 was spent on hiring barriers to manage pedestrian flow. A further £3,500 was reimbursed to Oxford City Council, who clean Merton Street following trashings. This presents the elite nature of Oxford and the high cost of its student body’s privilege; financially, environmentally and socially. Student campaigners including Oxford SU, Oxford Climate Society, Oxford Climate Justice Campaign, and Oxford Nature Conservation Society joined forces to welcome the University of Oxford’s new ambitious Environmental Sustainability Strategy. This will establish a new Oxford Sustainability Fund which will make £200 million available for sustainability initiatives over the next fifteen years.

Should there not therefore be a focus on sustainability when looking to ensure climate mitigation and adaptation? With the University pushing once again for change, stopping such decadent and wasteful celebrations should therefore be the next step. 

Image credit: Sheng P / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Union Beer Garden to close at the end of this week

Sasha Mills
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Union Beer Garden to close at the end of this week

The Oxford Union’s popular beer garden will be open for the last time this Saturday, Cherwell can reveal. The garden was opened at the start of Week 0, and hosted a range of events, including a jazz night, poetry night, and Thursday night £2.50 cocktails. The Beer Garden will be replaced with the reopening of the bar under stage 3 of the Government’s planned easing of COVID-19 restrictions.

A spokesperson for the Oxford Union told Cherwell: “’We can confirm that the Beer Garden will remain open until Saturday of 3rd week, after which point we’re delighted Government regulations will allow the Union’s indoor bar to reopen.” 

“We shall also be opening the Goodman Library as an extension of the bar, allowing for significantly greater capacity then in pre-covid times, and not much reduction in capacity from the Beer Garden. The bar shall still provide excellent service, including a wide drinks menu and a full, homemade, lunch menu served daily 1130-1430. In addition, we’re excited that further easing will allow for a return of in person events – starting with Dick and Dom on Monday!’”

Image Credit: The Oxford Union

In Conversation With Mae Martin

Isobel Merriman
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In Conversation With Mae Martin

There’s something slightly surreal about emailing someone whose comedy routines regularly pop up on your Facebook feed, whose new hit comedy ‘Feel Good’ got you through the first national lockdown and whose tour for this October (‘Sap’) sold out as you were trying to grab tickets. Frankly, it’s quite intimidating.

I am of course talking about Mae Martin, comedian, writer, and actor. Simply put, they are very cool. Currently in editing for the second series of Feel Good, named one of the best TV shows of 2020 by the Guardian, it’s clearly been a busy year for Mae, and I had loads of questions – about the show, her career and how their thoughts on gender and sexuality in the 21st century impact their work. Here’s what she had to say over email…

IM: So, the first series of Feel Good came out in March of 2020 – right at the start of the first UK lockdown. How has working on the second series been over the last year and what are your thoughts on “pandemic productivity”?

MM: I’ve been so lucky to be able to make series 2 of the show this year, and I’m beyond grateful that I had a reason to get out of my apartment, be around people and be distracted from the hell of the news. Filming in a pandemic presented its own unique problems and it was touch and go sometimes, but we managed to pull it off! However – anyone who pressures anyone about “pandemic productivity” needs to be thrown in the ocean. Just surviving the anxiety of this year is a feat in itself and we all need to take pressure off ourselves. 

IM: Talking about Feel Good, I can’t help but root for Mae and George (hopeless romantic that I am) – but should I be?

MM: I’m glad you’re mulling over one of the central questions of the show! I don’t think there’s a right answer. Mae and George of season 1 definitely sometimes brought out the worst in each other, although they were madly in love, and for them to transform that toxicity into a lasting long term relationship they’re going to have to grow and change, which they struggle to do in season two. We like the ambiguity of whether we should be rooting for them or not, because I think a lot of people can relate to a relationship like that, but ultimately of COURSE we root for them and hope other people do too. We’re hopeless romantics as well.

IM: Your exploration of friendship in the series is often just as thought provoking as your focus on romantic love. What were you trying to say with the often less than ideal friendships in Feel Good?

MM: Thank you! I consider my friends some of the great loves of my life, and value them so much. Mae and Maggie in season 1 were two sides of the same fairly manic coin with no impulse control. I’m really interested in what we “should do” with the people in our lives who aren’t necessarily “good” for us but who we love deeply, and we get into that more in season 2. I also love that Mae has a strong group of straight male friends at the comedy club, because that’s reflective of my life and some of my most precious relationships, including with my co-writer Joe.

IM: The disappointment and sense of betrayal in Feel Good when Mae’s male friend hits on her is really poignant. Why did you choose to include this moment in the series?

MM: I’d say Arnie’s more of an idol in a position of power than a real friend, but I felt it was important to honestly depict the threat of sexual assault/coercion which exists in, let’s face it, many work environments but particularly the comedy world. I hope we did it in a nuanced way. These issues get so politicised and hotly debated, and I think it’s always helpful to show them and explore them in a human way so we remember what it is that we’re actually talking about, maybe.

IM: You mention in your book (Can Everyone Please Calm Down? A Guide to 21st Century Sexuality) the ‘birds and the bees’ talk your mum gave you, which covered all bases, and Feel Good is brilliant at frankly depicting queer sex. How important is well-rounded LGBTQ+ education and representation to you?

MM: Both things are very important, for sure. Some of the most meaningful feedback I’ve had about Feel Good has been “I feel like I saw myself reflected on screen for the first time”, and that means a lot, and I relate because I think I felt that dearth of representation myself. The problem is, when there are so few queer shows, there can sometimes be pressure to represent EVERYONE in the queer community or not to show flawed queer relationships, for it to be aspirational instead. But it’s important, I think, that queer characters are allowed to be flawed and selfish and three dimensional sometimes just like straight characters. 

IM: Why do you think embracing sexual fluidity and rejecting labels like gay, straight and bi is so important?

MM: I don’t think labels are bad, I recognise that the language around sexuality can make it much easier to communicate about these things, and to fight for our rights which are still tenuous. But I do think that labels can bulldoze over the nuances of being a human, and I reject any labels that are projected onto me by others to help them to categorise me in some way… My experience of my own sexuality has been dynamic and evolving and I definitely fantasise about a world in which nobody has to “come out” and we focus more on who we are, rather than what label we are.

IM: So, do you see your writing and comedy as political and do you write with a political message in mind, or is it more of a side-effect of the kind of topics you raise?

MM: It’s an interesting question! I think I write personal stuff, and it just so happens that the topics that rattle my brain and life around – gender, addiction, that kind of thing – are at the forefront of conversations in the media at the moment.  So it feels political. But it’s absolutely never a case of “let’s write something topical and political”. Joe and I just tried to craft honest and complicated characters that drew from our own experiences. 

IM: Your work has a real truthfulness to it – is it cathartic to pursue such honesty? How important is honesty to your work?

MM: I think people can tell when stories aren’t authentic or authored, and I think there’s a real appetite for that kind of truthfulness at the moment. Also I’m not imaginative enough at the moment to write a supernatural crime caper or something so I’m absolutely still mining my own experiences. I do find it cathartic in some ways, feeling like the things that swirl around in my head have been witnessed and understood. That’s amazing. But I am excited to write something slightly less personal next time!

IM: I’m dying to watch the second series of Feel Good and I know you’re in editing right now, is there anything at all you can tell us about what we’ve got to look forward to?

MM: I am so excited for people to see it. I don’t want to give any spoilers but I think it’s bigger and more expansive, deeper and more personal, and hopefully really funny. And mega romantic because I’m a nerd like that.

IM: And finally, what’s a question you wish you were asked more?

MM: I’d like to be asked “can you name all the countries of the world” because during the pandemic my writing partner Joe and I memorised all 197 countries of the world, just as a hobby to keep our brains active, and I’m worried I’ll never be called upon to test that knowledge.

I’m so grateful to Mae for taking the time out of their busy schedule to answer all of my questions and I’m left, like I’m sure many of you are, counting down the days until Feel Good 2 and scouring the internet for a ticket to Mae’s next show!

The #OwnVoices Movement: Whose Voices Are Being Heard?

Moneeka Thakur
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The #OwnVoices Movement: Whose Voices Are Being Heard?

From abandoning the acronym BAME to placing diversity and inclusion at the forefront of their values, representation has never been so important in the creative industries. It’s about time too, particularly in the publishing world. In the UK, this industry has been notoriously slow to be more representative of its population. The Publishers’ Association admitted that ‘there has been little progress in its […] target of increasing the ethnic diversity of employees’ earlier this year.

This lack of representation in turn affects the books that are commissioned and opinions about the authors who are writing them. For example, publishers have expressed alarming concerns about the ‘lack of ‘quality’’ of books by people of colour. After witnessing the success of works such as Sathnam Sanghera’s Empire Land and Bolu Babalola’s Love in Colour in recent months, it is evident that this is simply not the case.

With the #OwnVoices movement, it seems as though things might finally be changing. Originating on Twitter in 2015, this hashtag refers to a campaign championing the right for authors to tell their own stories in connection to their diverse identities. The author shares diverse or marginalised attributes with their main character, such as race, gender, sexuality, or disability, which reinforces the authenticity of their writing.

The campaign’s potential is evident when observing previous grievances in the commissioning landscape. For instance, the novelist Vikram Seth had to defend the choice of Andrew Davies, a white writer, adapting his novel A Suitable Boy for television last year. Writers such as Nikesh Shukla criticised this choice, stating that ‘so many brown writers are struggling to find work’ before questioning how many ‘opportunities there are for brown screenwriters’. While this issue moves beyond the world of publishing exclusively, it demonstrates the importance ofwriters  representing their own stories as well as their lack of ability to do so.

The movement has additionally had notable success in practice. Corinne Duyvis, who first coined the hashtag #OwnVoices, published her third novel, The Art of Saving the World, last year after the success of her debut, Otherbound, in 2014 when ‘queer YA books were still rare’. In her latest book, her protagonist Hazel is depicted as struggling with anxiety, something she has also personally experienced. The publication and positive reception of Duyvis’s work demonstrates what this movement can achieve. 

However, this hashtag is not without its obstacles. It has often come under criticism for publishers’ decisions on what authors can represent which communities. As a result, writers from diverse backgrounds can be denied opportunities on the notion of not being representative enough. This was the case with the author Tallie Rose, whose manuscript featuring a gay protagonist was recently rejected by Hurn Publications. The publishers believed that Rose did not come from the LGBTQ+ community and misrepresented the community in her work, despite her bisexual identity.

Writers are also increasingly frustrated by expectations to write only about certain communities or subjects. Historical fiction writer Cath outlines how her existence ‘and the existence of our BIPOC characters, are treated as inherently political’. She goes on to point out the ‘shades of either joy or trauma’ that are expected within her characters that consequently transform them into ‘educational tools’ or ‘trauma porn’. Not only do underrepresented authors face obstacles on entering the publishing industry, the material they produce  is under further limitations too.

When observing both sides of the #OwnVoices campaign, it is perhaps useful to turn to a collection that I believe transcends its limitations. Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric has been a powerful literary force in the last seven years since its original publication. Rankine’s collection provides important insight into the psychological trauma stemming from microaggressions, racial profiling and police brutality. As a black woman, Rankine’s voice is imperative in depicting these urgent issues in America.

However, the lack of identifiers in her collection universalises her poetry beyond the Black community in America. Her short, fragmented scenes feature narrators whose race and gender is often undisclosed: ‘You are in the dark, in the car, watching the black-tarred street being swallowed by speed; he tells you his dean is making him hire a person of color when there are so many great writers out there’. The respective races of the passenger and driver are easy to guess based on this brief snapshot of a scene. The passenger’s bigotry further reveals the professional boundaries often experienced by Black people in America as they are continuously excluded from traditionally white spaces.

Yet the unidentified race of the driver also ensures that any person of colour can connect to this scene. When asked about the most unexpected reaction to her book, Rankine reveals that ‘the most surprising thing has been the number of Asian women who have come up to me at book signings with tears in their eyes to say: this is my life you’re writing’. The authenticity of Citizen speaks more broadly to the experiences of people of colour as a whole. This is not to suggest that all experiences are the same, rather Rankine’s writing reveals the power of mutual grief and solidarity. 

It is therefore important that authors themselves get to choose who or what they want to write about. This choice is the key behind impactful writing. Underrepresented writers must be recognised as being able to push literature to new and exciting limits, like Rankine. While the #OwnVoices movement clearly has huge potential, there needs to be more emphasis on the word “own”. Authors need to be trusted to own their stories, whether they are a reflection of their own communities, or an exploration of something new. 

Image Credit: Daniel Thomas via Unsplash, CC0

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