Review of Spring 2010

Twenty-two articles written. Eighteen published in Spark, the University of Reading's student newspaper. Lots of creativity, masses of hard work. It all seems to have paid off. A very successful first term of journalism. And in the meantime, I continue to write for both Spark and The Global Times, Shanghai, and I continue to lecture.

What next?

10 things I wish someone had told me before I finished university

20.03.2010

At the start of the summer term, life is stressful and little things tend to get overlooked. However, it’s not long before the exams are all finally taken - and hopefully passed, and it seems that this final term has passed all too quickly. It is all too easy to either forget about university whilst pressing on to the next stage in life, or to feel lost and left wondering ‘what now?’ in July. It is worth spending time at the dawn of this summer term to contemplate what has passed and remembering both the good and disastrous times. It is with this that I present ten things I wish someone had told me before I finished my undergraduate degree.

Time management is essential. There are times when social functions suddenly crop up the day before an essay or project deadline. It is only when the work is progressing well that there is the flexibility to join friends for a few hours then return to the grind and finish work on-time. Equally, there are times when we may ‘remember’ that we have some huge piece of work due the next day and consequently have to spend a long night intensely working. Building space into life and careful planning allows for a spontaneous, action-packed life and the possibility of rapid response.

Get out and stay out of debt as quickly and as much as possible. Only those who come from spendthrift or wealthy families can afford the luxury of being able to pay off student debts immediately, but strict budgeting and hard work are great skills to acquire and tremendously helpful in later life.

A good degree is only the start. It is a common myth that high grades from a great institution and good contacts will mean that a dream job is only a telephone call away. Alternatively, graduation can also bring fears that we will never get our dream job, least of all, because we don’t even know the identity of that job! However, the benefit of youth is that we have plenty of time to test our motivations and skills, think around the box, contact the right people and persevere to achieve a dream job that is also financially viable.

No job is beneath you. However menial or laborious a job may seem, it is valuable in providing training in skills which are essential later. And no dream is unattainable. The more perfect a job may seem, the more likely it is that it would suit someone of your mindset, personality and background. The only ways you can fail to achieve your dream job are to either stop dreaming or to give up too early, so be prepared to put your hard hat on and keep knocking.

Who you are is as important as how much you earn. When jobs can be so demanding and challenging, it is essential that you choose a job which is right for your temperament and maximises your strengths. Nobody ever starts on their perfect salary, so go for a job that you would be proud of rather than which pays well. After all, a degree lasts for three years whilst a career lasts for forty.

Don’t take anything too lightly. It can be hard to determine what you should do with your life. The winds of life change so be prepared to change boats to keep up with them. A throw-away comment from a friend can alter your life, a person you bump into one week can become the centre of it the next, and a hobby you have now may become your career in a few years time.

The friends made at university tend to be the closest friends throughout life. Undergraduate days generally constitute the greatest turning point in your life; events and struggles faced now may well shape the person that you are likely to be throughout the rest of your life. Living pretty much on top of each other in shared accommodation and the experience of discovering who you are away from your parents means that you are likely to grow closer to friends from university than anyone else, so don’t be worried if you don’t meet anyone you like as much as your current housemates.

The statistics say that 65% of Reading undergraduates marry each other. This makes perfect sense; when else would thousands of like-minded individuals from similar backgrounds of the same age be thrown together in a relatively tiny, campus-sized space? Use this time wisely and have a good search but be aware that the best fish are not always easy to catch or to see.

School and university are not the only places where you learn. Work brings its own share of challenges and however highly trained you may be for a certain position, experience teaches you what books cannot, so don’t be surprised if initially you get turned down from a job due to lack of experience. Make the most of the opportunities that you have, apply for internships wherever possible and learn as much as you can from every place you work. And life lessons are also important. The scratches you get from making wrong decisions can help you to become the most highly-respected person in your field or community.

Life is short, but running prevents you from admiring the scenes en-route to the final destination. Always make time for the slow dance, the time to stop and stare, to reflect on who and what you are at any particular time, to contemplate who you want to become, and to strategise ways of narrowing the difference between those two positions.

How to make an American Quilt

10.03.2010

How to make an American Quilt

Directed By: Jocelyn Moorhouse

Starring: Winona Ryder, Dermot Mulroney, Alicia Goranson, Ellen Burstyn, Claire Danes, Anne Bancroft

Year: 1995

Running Time: 109 minutes

Genre: Comedy/ drama/ romance

Rating: 4

One of the most popular films amongst young female British teenagers in the 1990s was Jocelyn Moorhouse’s ‘How to make an American Quilt’. This poignant film, deeply significant of its time, carefully and concisely encapsulates 20^th Century American life as seen through the eyes of a variety of ordinary women living in the same community at the time yet who originated from a myriad of backgrounds.

The film focuses on a Masters student, Finn (Winona Ryder), who is in the final throws of thesis-writing and considering what paths to follow professionally, geographically and romantically, much to the amusement of her long-term partner, Sam (Dermot Mulroney). As she speedily writes her final draft over a long, hot summer in the American Midwest, she encounters women in her grandmother, Hyacinth’s (Alicia Goranson/Ellen Burstyn) quilting club who have gathered together for one last time to make a wedding quilt for Finn and Sam. As the theme of the quilt is ‘where love resides’, the women use their time to recount their stories of the different kinds of love they have experienced in their lives.

Each of the stories is unique in the attitude the ‘narrator’ has to love generally and their relationships. Some of the stories are heart-breaking and thought-provoking and show how morals, inter-racial attitudes and gender-wise opinions have shifted over the previous century. A prime example being the black farm-worker in the 1930s is taken advantage of by the son of the range-owner with promises of future security and whispers of love, though, once she has given him all that he wants, she is quickly jilted without a backward glance and is left struggling to find a home and family whilst raising a baby with no money.

There is also an exploration of subsidiary issues related to love, including how one story can be viewed dramatically differently depending on the role of a particular character in a life story. The film shows how years before when Finn’s grandfather was dying slowly from a long battle with cancer, Hyacinth in a time of heartfelt grief and raw emotion calls her sister, Gladys Joe (Claire Danes/Anne Bancroft) for comfort. As Gladys cannot be contacted, Hyacinth reaches Gladys’ husband who rushes to the hospital to take Gladys’ role. A combination of male insecurity and female angst brings them to a compromising position after which both couples struggle to decipher the right path in their situation and even more so, to follow it.

‘How to make an American Quilt’ is a film which portrays the sensitivities and inner strength of women against a gorgeous hue of fall colours. It is a film for all who are aware of their weaknesses and need to know that others struggle with them and students who feel defeated by academia and are exhausted by decisions regarding the never certain future. Above all else, however, it is a film which inspires women and the men who support them to put their best foot forward in every situation, knowing that even if this life offers no rewards, the challenge and trials help us to shine.

Food for Thought

10.03.2010

At the start of this summer term and the last few weeks of study before the slightly overawing end of year exams, it seems apt to analyse our diets and health to ensure that we are doing the best possible to prepare mentally and physically for Week 3. Any pre-exam diet can be divided into three phases – the weeks preceding the exam block, the few days before each exam and the day that each one occurs, thus every diet at this time may contain several phases throughout the following weeks unless you are fortunate enough to only have one exam.

‘Revision foods’ should include a mixture of vitamin B, anti-oxidants, omega 3 fatty acids and complex carbohydrates. These foods have great benefits to your body, reducing stress and aiding health and should therefore form the main part of your diet throughout this term.

There are eight B vitamins, each working in conjunction with the others to improve the maintenance and replacement rate of cells, ensure healthy skin and muscles, promote cell growth, reduce cancer, and most importantly, enhance the body’s natural immune system and prevent it from becoming ill so easily. These vitamins often co-exist in the same food types, which include nuts, bananas, meat and marmite - the world’s richest source of vitamin B.

As the body exercises and is worked hard, it produces a lot of oxygen which, although necessary for our survival in small doses, can cause cell-damaging chain reactions that leads to a wide range of diseases, including cancer, shakes and heart disease in larger quantities. It is thus advisable to reduce the amount of oxygen in your body during exam stress and study by consuming plenty of anti-oxidants, the most common of which are fruits, vegetables, green tea and – here’s the excuse… dark chocolate!

Omega 3 fatty acids are a group of unsaturated fats which stimulate blood circulation and blood pressure, reducing the risk of heart disease and deep-vein thrombosis. They can also minimise the levels of depression and anxiety and thus are essential subsistence throughout this term when sitting still for long periods whilst revising can lower blood circulation and increase stress so it is important to eat a large amount of fish, eggs, lamb, milk and cheese whenever you can.

Complex carbohydrates or starchy foods, such as rice, bananas, nuts, oats, potatoes and wholemeal bread, cereals and biscuits, are the perfect source of energy for your body as they can be easily and quickly converted into blood sugars. Due to their complex nature, they provide a slower and longer release of energy into your body, helping you to have energy to keep working for long hours without needing to snack and thus ensure a high level of general well-being.

The day before an exam, it is important to get enough sleep to give your body the opportunity to replenish itself and restore it to its natural state before using vast amounts of energy to perform well the following day. It is also advisable to increase your amount of healthy fats and proteins to help build up your energy levels and reduce stress over the next 24 hours. On the day of the exam, it is wise to reduce your intake of complex carbohydrates, replacing them with proteins which are low in sugar. This aids a consistently high level of energy and overall mood throughout your exam, giving you the best chance to focus entirely on your exam rather than your body’s needs and thus enabling a much higher level of concentration.

Of all these foods, bananas and fish particularly target the cells in your brain, enabling you to think clearly, recollect information quickly and amass more information in the grey matter than your body can usually store. It is also essential to regularly drink sufficient amounts of water, and other drinks that have a low proportion of caffeine and sugar, to rehydrate your body helping it to more quickly replace cells which are destroyed during intense and often prolonged periods of stress.

Dances in Durham

10.03.2010

5^th-7^th March was the weekend that two spectacular dance events took place in the UK. The first was the University of Reading’s first ever dance show; the second was the 59^th annual inter-varsity folk dance festival. The first was advertised all over Reading and was attended by hundreds of guests from all over Berkshire. The second was a little-known, fascinating eclipse of cultures which was invitation by word of mouth mainly. This latter one incorporated presentations, dance classes, folk forums and music workshops with a range of styles, taught by experienced dancers from all over Europe and further afield, with a special emphasis on the dance and music traditions of Northeast England, as it was held in Durham this year.

The best attended sessions focussing on the Northeast were the ‘Northumbrian ceilidh’, with lots of reels, communal singing and foot stamping, and ‘songs from the mines’, including tales about mining disasters, death and blacklegs (men who abandoned their friends by crossing the picket lines during the mining strikes in the 1970s and 1980s), all of which were sung with an insistence on the adoption of a (fake) County Durham accent.

The festival was organised extremely well with each day split into three sections –morning workshops, afternoon performances and evening to late-night ceilidhs and barn-dances. There were over thirty workshops to choose from, divided into six streams, including one stream which provided experienced dancers with the skills to set up their own folk dancing society in their local university, one music or singing session in each time slot, and the rest concentrating on different styles and types of ethnically diverse folk dance. These varied from the extremely complicated and aptly-named ‘dances for the braves’, a style perfected in North America, to the relatively simple and incredibly energetic Greek dances.

Each workshop was held in close proximity to the others, rendering changing between streams not only possible but fantastically easy. All the workshops were hands-on and taught by professional dancers who have formed a dance instruction club in their local areas. They managed to explain even the most gruelling dance concisely and plainly and were keen to involve everyone who attended their sessions, regardless of each participator’s level of folk experience. They were also keen to ensure that everyone had a great time and thus the only necessary precursor to each session was that people were willing to get fully engaged and have a great time.

Due to the nature of the festival, dancing took place from the early morning till long into the night, with lots of hopping, clogging and shaking until every exhausted festival-goer toddled off to either their comfy hotel or to ‘camp’ in large church halls. The experience alone of camping with hundreds of strangers who had spent a day whirling and had no access to a shower was certainly ‘interesting’! Still the camaraderie between students across the country who shared nothing but an interest in folk and a positive attitude was fantastic and definitely repeatable.

The next Inter-Varsity Folk Dancing Festival takes place at the University of Bristol from 25^th to 27^th February 2011 and is expected to be even more exhilarating, action-packed and unmissable than this year’s as it also marks the festival’s diamond jubilee. Reservations for groups and individuals are open now from http://eis.bris.ac.uk/~phkrh/Rag/ivfdf2011/.

An Englishman’s encapsulation of a Celtic curse

5.03.2010

Book: The Owl Service

Author: Alan Garner

It is rare that a book proves to be as popular amongst successive generations as Alan Garner’s ‘The Owl Service’ - a contemporary interpretation of a medieval Welsh legend currently celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. The skilful capture of this supernatural, significant cornerstone of Celtic culture through an accessible, easy-reading story has given it recognition and acclamation amongst Welsh readers, with the same copies often passed between generations within the same family. Originally designed for children, it is revered by students and the elderly across Wales.

This story is based on an older eerie tale of Blodeuwedd, a legend originally recorded in the fourth volume of the Mabinogi, an eleven-part series of Welsh legends and historical narratives dating from 1000-1100 AD. Whilst the epic tragedy of Blodeuwedd incorporates a love triangle, murder and shape-shifting, Garner has reworked the tale into a more conceivable thriller through the frequent use of realistic dialogue, transporting the reader into a world where nothing is confirmed, the mind is stronger than the body, and a simple choice can have drastic consequences.

‘The Owl Service’ follows a naive, prudish teenager Alison and her snobbish, overbearing brother, Roger, as they seek to adjust to life together as new step-siblings whilst on a family honeymoon. Following a few poor choices made by both Alison and Roger, what starts as an innocuous narrative takes on sinister, eerie proportions as they find themselves stuck in a valley with no escape where mistakes from the past continue to repeat themselves and are lived out again with each new generation.

It is an incredibly tense story, fraught with a series of ordinary actions with terrifying results that powerfully engage the reader’s mind. Throughout the story, there is an intense exploration of both familiar and ancestral relationships, examining how people can easily escalate small domestic issues into colossal, outreaching physical, and occasionally violent, attacks, aided by the temporal and locational setting, particularly in a land where the passionate, all-encompassing Welsh spirit has ruled for millennia.

This novel analyses and questions several themes with a primary focus on how similar people can have different perceptions of the same reality. It highlights how, as society continues to become more business-orientated, scientific and fact-focussed, there is increasingly less cognitive space for passion, supernatural events and heart-centred actions. Yet when we are truly tested as humans in instances of great turmoil, upheaval and calamity, we find our spirits more resistant than our bodies and our spirits can soar more easily above the trappings of an organised life in an industrial society.

The poetic and complex history in the original legend has been competently retained and reworked through modernisation, refocusing of the characters and adaptation of the central themes to produce a phenomenal story that suits every generation at a primal level across a wide span of time. This is even more incredible considering that Garner is an Englishman whose other books are far less exciting and engaging than most modern fiction as he never writes the same storylines or actions that other authors usually choose. This is a story of epic proportions and is certainly worth a read.

עשר המכות, Eser Ha-Makot

4.03.2010

"The land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste; and they shall know that I am Yhwh”.

Four thousand years ago, a series of natural disasters hit Egypt in quick succession. It is rare that a natural disaster is remembered in such detail let alone celebrated quite like these plagues have been in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. These ‘plagues’ have fascinated religious scholars, historians, Egyptologists and scientists for years. The plagues are believed to have occurred in the ancient city of Memphis on the mouth of the Nile Delta - the seat of the Egyptian Middle and Early New Kingdoms, during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II and were significant spiritually, socially and culturally.

At the start, the Nile River, an important source of fresh water and fish for the Egyptians, turned red like blood and after a few days millions of frogs were spawned. This was at approximately the same time as the Santorini volcano erupted in Greece spewing lava and ash across the entire Mediterranean region, including the Nile and contaminating the fresh water supply. The aquatic, phytotoxic algae blooms in salty and brackish water and it is supposed that the emergence of this type of algae produced toxins in the river, killing the fish and forcing the frogs onto the land in their thousands. The stinking, decaying flesh of the frogs and river of blood is believed to have fostered the mass breeding of flies and midges, leading to the third plague ‘lice’. These flies would have encouraged in-migration of other flies, most probably sandflies, which fed off the vegetation along the Nile and bitten humans. Without potable water to wash in, the sweat on the animals and humans would have promoted further infestation, and infections. Specific types of African flies and ticks have been known to carry a range of diseases including anthrax, babesiosis, surra, rinderpest, Rift Valley fever, East Coast fever and staphylococcal-streptococcal infection which would have nearly obliterated the livestock resulting in the fifth plague ‘death of livestock’. Both anthrax and staphylococcal-streptococcal infection are highly contagious, airborne diseases that can cause extreme, bacterial skin infections when they come into contact with human flesh - the sixth plague ‘boils’.

In the temperate and tropical worlds, collisions of supercooled water in cumulonimbus clouds may produce seasonal flurries of hail, which are made even more likely to occur after a volcanic eruption and thus would explain the seventh plague ‘hail’. The larger the hail storm, the more destruction it would wreak on a crop. With so much devastation already present from the infestation of flies and disease, it is no small wonder that the remaining crops were wiped out by a swarm of Schistocerca gregaria, a desert locust specific to Africa, the Middle East and India which move in huge swarms annually – the eighth plague ‘locusts’. The ninth plague ‘darkness’ may well also be related to the volcanic eruption with the widespread ash blocking out the sun. This seems unlikely given the time; rather, it would be more plausible that the darkness was caused by a khamsin, a hot, southerly Egyptian wind coming from the Sahara and bringing fine particles of sand that would have created a massive sandstorm which blocked out the sun. Such sandstorms were not uncommon in the Northeast Africa at the time, nor, indeed, are they today.

Given all the plagues that had preceded the tenth plague, it is conceivable that at the end of this series of natural disasters, little food was left. As the eldest son in each family was given preferential treatment, a state common in many patriarchal societies throughout time, they may well have been fed from the remaining vegetation. It is plausible that such foodstuffs had been contaminated by one of the many earlier plagues. When the firstborn ate, they were inadvertently poisoned, resulting in their sudden death, or the tenth and final plague ‘death of the firstborn’.

Regardless of the causes of the ten plagues, many historical documents regard the drastic effects that each in sum had on altering the course of the great Egyptian society, in time leading to its downfall and the birth of the Jewish celebration ofPasach – Passover, the day of feasting to celebrate the escape of the Israelites from the many plagues, which is celebrated on 29^th March – 5^th April this year.