cosmic christmas Edition 2018
Partying In EarthĘźs Orbit
Best Indie Films 2018 LRC Space Reads
Introducing The Free Debating Society
Best Space Tunes
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LRC Space reads & Tunes Best Indie Films of 2018 Making Sense of mistletoe The Free DEbating Society new year, new you Partying in earth’s orbit One Pitch - We are family Top 5 Christmas jumpers The Nativity story
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uzzle Page rc Christmas pace reads
By Rachel Webb
After a busy term at college, the Christmas holidays are an ideal time to finally relax with a good book, so why not stick with a Christmas in Space theme and borrow a book Ramadan and Eid Crossword from the LRC Space Reads collection. They are out of this world!
‘Incidents of Travel in the Multiverse’ by Al and Al: this book accompanied the 2016 exhibition at HOME Manchester which included 3 films depicting stories of travelling to the edge of a black hole, machines travelling back in time in search of their creator Alan Turing and then finally, nano-biophysicist Bart Hoogenboom travelling across the universe to find the origins of life and the cure for death. This book shows some of the highlights of the memorable films, along with material from their archives, including photographs, drawings, correspondence, screenplays and notes. ‘Annihilation’ by Jeff VanderMeer is the first instalment of the Southern Reach Trilogy, which sees a team of four Down (a biologist, an anthropologist, Across women a psychologist, and 1. Muslim religion 3. Practiced during Ramadan a surveyor) set out into an area known as Area X, a myste2. Exempt from principle 6. Happy Eid rious quarantined zone of mutating landscapes and transRamadan practice 9. Eid can last this many days forming A film based the novel was released 4. Number creatures. of pillars of Islam 11. Howon long does Ramadan last? in 2018 and is available on Netfl ix. 5. Ramadan meal after 13. God
sunset 14. Dawn prayers 7. Place of worship mealthe ‘Hidden Figures’ by Margot Lee Shetterly15.isRamadan set against 8. Muslim religious book before dawn backdrop of the Jim Crow South and civil rights move10. Festival marking end of Ramadan
ment; this is an inspiring and fascinating story of NASA’s African-American female mathematicians who played a crucial role in America’s space program—and whose contributions have only recently been unheralded. 4
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uzzle Page rc’s favourite pace tunes by beth morris
Riddle 1 - When you have me, you feel like sharing me. If you do share me, you don’t have me. What am I? By Rachel Webb Getting2 bored usual Christmas Riddle - I am of thethe begining of the end,songs? and the end of time and space. things up this year with IShake am essential to creation, and Isome surround every place. What am I? Spacemas classics: 1 - I Want an Alien for Christmas Fountains of Wayne 2 - Space Oddity- David Bowie 3 - Satellite of Love- Lou Reed 4 - Across the Universe- The Beatles 5 - Leonard Nimoy Presents Mr. Spock’s Music from Outer Space (whole album)
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Can you name the LRC’s favourite space cadets on the front cover of this Cosmic Christmas Librezine?
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est Indie films 0f 018 By Zoe Rothwell
1 – Rider This contemporary western was written, produced and directed by Chinese filmmaker Chloe Zhao. Set in the beautiful location of the Badlands in South Dakota, USA, the film follows a talented rodeo rider called Brady as he deals with a brain injury after falling off a horse. Brady lives with his poor father and autistic sister and finds a job in a supermarket as a means to make some money. His ability to break in wild horses brings him close to a particular horse, which, like him, receives an injury and can no longer be ridden. 2 – Apostasy Daniel Kokotajlo’s ‘Apostosy’ is a personal story related to the faith of three women who have been indoctrinated into the Jehovah’s Witness religion. Set in the north west of England it follows a single mum Ivaana and her two teenage daughters Alex and Luisa on a journey of self-discovery through living within the confines of the sect. As Armageddon approaches, Alex who has a serious blood condition, would sooner die than have a blood transfusion. Meanwhile Luisa is enjoying college life, ends up pregnant and as a result is ex-communicated by her parish.
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3 – Shoplifters Shoplifters by director Hirokazu – Kore-eda provides an intimacy born from the poverty of a uniquely dysfunctional family and delivers a gift of beauty, love and happiness in the most unlikely place. Couple Osamu and Nobuyo are living hand to mouth with ten year old thieving Shota, a Grandmother and her granddaughter. They all share a small room in the city of Tokyo and after a day of shoplifting Osamu and Shota stumble across a little girl called Juri on the balcony of an apartment. Juri has been beaten and is cold and shivering so Osamu decides to take her home. 4 – Dogman Italian Marcello runs a dog grooming business and shows his dogs in competitions with his teenage daughter. He plays five-a-side with his friends from the community and deals drugs on the side. One of his clients is bully Simone who is creating havoc within the community with his violence and petty crime. Simone bullies Marcello into giving him his keys for the shop then proceeds to steal from his neighbour’s business through a connecting wall. Marcello takes the rap and ends up serving time for Simone in jail but when he gets out he takes his revenge. 5 – Faces, Places ‘Faces, Places’ documents the story of the 89 year old film director Agnes Varda on a road trip with street artist JR as they visit small towns around France. The film uses chance and truth as the driving force that guides this unlikely duo who work together to create amazing photographs of the locals. The huge images are printed from the van and then pasted onto crumbling buildings, water tanks and train carriages. This collaboration serves as a type of disposable graffiti telling the stories of people and place.
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aking sense of istletoe
Why do we have Christmas Trees? Evergreen fir trees have been used to celebrate winter festivals for thousands of years in Europe. Pagans used branches to decorate their homes during the winter solstice as it reminded them of the oncoming spring. It was popularised in Britain by Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria in 1841 after he displayed a huge fir tree in Windsor Castle at Christmas. Did you know? – Early Christmas trees were hung upside down from the ceiling as chandelier decorations!
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The Real St Nick We all remember the terrible moment when we found out that Father Christmas never really existed. However, the story of Father Christmas was based on a real person - Saint Nicholas, a 4th century Greek Christian bishop. He became famous for secretly gifting money to poor families and was anointed the Saint of Children. His story of generosity was finally popularised by the Victorians as the character, ‘Father Christmas’, the deliverer of Christmas gifts. Did you know? – Many people believe that Coca-Cola were the first to show Santa Claus as wearing red in their advertising campaign. However, St Nicholas actually wore red and white bishops robes long before that!
Why do we kiss under the mistletoe? The tradition of smooching under mistletoe at Christmastime has been traced back to both Pagan Anglo-Saxon practices and Norse mythology. Pagans believed that every kiss required a berry to be plucked until none remained, whilst the Norse legend states that the plant was blessed by the goddess Frigg, to promise a kiss to anyone who passed under it.
Mince Pies....without meat Early mince pies were made of meat, fruit and spices such as cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. They were inspired by Middle Eastern cuisine brought back by the Crusaders in the 13th century. The Victorians adapted the recipe and removed the meat, making them a lot sweeter and much like the mince pies we eat today.
Un-boxing Boxing Day Today, December 26th is associated with post-Christmas sales and eating leftover turkey sandwiches. But have you ever wondered why it is called Boxing Day? It is widely believed that the name both originates from the gifting of Christmas ‘boxes’ (presents) to servants from their masters, and as a reference to charity boxes that would collect money for the poor. These would be then opened on St Stephen’s Day, the 26th December. Did you know? – In some former British colonies in Africa and in the Caribbean, Boxing Day is celebrated with real boxing matches.
By Sarah White 9
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he Free Debating ociety with Ahmad Mohammad
Ahmad – Yes it’s called the ‘Free Debating Society’ and I’m the student who’s created the society for the college. It’s a chance Ahmad – I am Pakistani born but for students to get together and debate as I think that debating is I went to Italy when I was seven for a few years, then I went back to very important. In life you have to Pakistan, then back to Italy again debate with your boss, with your colleagues, with your partners, and then at the age of 15 I came to Britain. I am 18 now so I have with everybody. Debating happens been here for three years. I’m here in everyday life and we should learn that skill because it doesn’t with my mum and dad, my big brother and I’ve got a small sister. come naturally to most humans but it’s a skill that can develop with practice. Zoe – What are you studying at Bolton College? Zoe – So what topics do you talk about? Ahmad – Right now I am doing Business Studies because we are surrounded by businesses and we Ahmad - So we debate about many topics such as Brexit, a big topic in should know how they work but other than that I like mathematics Parliament at the moment, a huge topic within history. We are learnand physics. ing about LGBT and how religion Zoe – So I’ve heard you are setting can make people feel guilty for being gay and that’s not right because up a debating society would you this is a free multicultural country tell me a bit about that? so eveybody should be able to live their life in their own way Zoe – Can you give me a little bit of background information about yourself?
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and nobody should judge them. We talk about everything, we talk about politics, we talk about religion, we even talk about space and the universe.
first interview so this is an education for me. Zoe – What do you hope to achieve from the FDS?
Zoe – So what inspired you to start Ahmad – I hope that members can come along and talk about issues the FDS? and raise awareness on certain topics, things that matter and Ahmad – Well I come to college to socialise with people and when maybe do something about it. We I socialise with students I can feel could get MPs in to listen to the youth, listen to what we want bereally bored because all they talk about is shoes, designer clothing, cause I think the people involved in politics are all too old and they and all this stuff which doesn’t are deciding our future but I think matter. So I want to change that type of socializing, I want to give we should decide our future as people new ideas. You should be that’s democracy right? It’s all talking about politics for example. about educating students so the students voice can be heard not Many students aren’t even bothonly in the college but in the wider ered about politics, when I ask community. students about Brexit, they don’t know anything about it. I think Zoe - Tell me about your they are manipulated by social media which acts like a drug and aspirations for the future. is more lethal than drink, and it’s no good for our generation as it’s Ahmad - I’m exploring right now. At this age and I need to explore a kind of brain washing. So we to understand what I need to need to raise awareness with the become and I’m really confused, students so they can come to the FDS and we can talk about things. but still I’m looking for it. I think I come here to Bolton College for travelling was a good thing for me because I think we should education but some people don’t explore.....at least explore the know the meaning of education world, and we’ve got a whole they just think it’s doing assignments and going home. That’s not universe to explore too. education – education is learning anything, like you know this is my
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ew Year, New You: ow to Make 2019 your Best Year Yet
By Sarah White
Set an Achievable and Realistic Goal Choose one achievable goal next year and plan out a strategy to accomplish it. For example, if your plan is ‘to study hard and pass your exams in 2019’, break down the steps into manageable daily goals such as revising the notes from each class once a week. Remember that change is a process and making small steps to improve your behaviours or actions is always progress..
Do More of What Makes You Happy Sometimes we forget what matters the most: happiness! A good exercise to do at this time of the year is to reflect and write down all your favourite memories and activities in 2018. What did you enjoy doing? What did you accomplish? Writing down happy occasions will encourage you to repeat the action or behaviour more often, resulting in greater success and happiness. It may also be helpful for you to write down activities or behaviours that you would like to do more of or improve to remind yourself to make time for them in 2019. Step Out of Your Comfort Zone Success does not come without challenge. Next year try to make more of an effort in doing things that make you feel scared. Volunteer to lead the next group project you participate in, or apply for that job that you have always dreamt of. Progress cannot be made without taking risks! 12
‘Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.’
Neale Donald Walsch
Eat Right, Exercise and Get Enough Sleep It is an obvious set of tasks but we all can sometimes struggle to nail these basics down. Energy levels and productivity are linked to maintaining healthy, balanced diets, keeping active and getting enough sleep. Try cutting down your caffeine and sugar intake or try a new sport. Joining a sports club is a great way to maintain fitness, be social and meet new people. Positive Friends, Positive You Surrounding yourself with positive people will make you more likely to feel happy and positive in yourself. If there are friends in your life that are consistently negative or putting you down then tell them how their attitude or behaviour is affecting you. If they are a good friend then they will listen and take action. If they continue to ignore you then consider moving away from their influence, until they are ready to be the right friend they need to be for you. ‘Surround yourself with people that reflect who you want to be and how you want to feel, energies are contagious.’ Rachel Wolchin
Volunteer Volunteering is a great way to boost your CV profile, develop your employability skills and give back to the community. Bolton College offers volunteering positions such as becoming a tour guide, tree planting and helping out with college events. Volunteer Centre Bolton advertises new volunteering positions available in Bolton that you can apply for via the website: https://do-it.org/organisations/volunteer-centre-bolton. Know When to Move On If something has continued to negatively affect your mental wellbeing throughout 2018 it might be time to move on. It could be that you feel unhappy in a relationship, or that you feel like a career pathway is no longer suitable for you. Making the brave decision to leave something that is making you unhappy demonstrates that you are smart enough to realise that it is not working for you. ‘Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’ Albert Einstein
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artying in earth’s orbit
The Astronauts who Celebrate Christmas in Space
In 1968, Apollo 8 became the first manned spacecraft to both orbit the moon and celebrate Christmas in space. The crew consisted of Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, who spent their Christmas Eve orbiting the moon and reading from the Bible. They wished the people back home a ‘Merry Christmas’, in the first ever recorded Christmas greeting from outer space. Today, the International Space Station (ISS) celebrates the 25th December in a much more stylish and homely manner. Astronauts from various cultures and countries, including the UK, USA, Russia and Japan, come together to eat a large Christmas dinner at one table, with plates, cups and cutlery fixed down with Velcro in the zero-gravity hub. Decorations are minimal, but crew members make do with a small Christmas tree, Santa hats and multitudes of Christmas cheer. Crew members get most of the day off, with time to play board games, watch films, listen to music and call their families and friends on video-call technology. “On 24th December, we passed north of France and I saw the whole UK and Ireland lit up like a Christmas tree – my Christmas tree from space was the whole UK.” Paolo Nespoli, aboard the International Space Station, 2013.
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As fresh food cannot last on-board, crew members have to make do with a dinner consisting of dried, vacuum-sealed or canned food. A Christmas hamper arrives by cargo-ship mid-November to deliver food and treats, including chocolate, nuts and sweets as presents to the crew from both NASA and their families. But what about ‘getting merry’? Unfortunately, Tim Peake, who became the first British astronaut to celebrate Christmas in space in 2015, explained that all alcohol is banned from the ISS as alcohol can pollute the water system that recycles water, urine and sweat aboard the ship! Peake, tucked into a bacon sandwich prepared by celebrity chef, Heston Blumenthal, that Christmas morning and a pudding later that day, proving that some British traditions can live on in outer space. And what about presents? Paolo Nespoli, an Italian astronaut, described the moment he woke up to presents hanging in stockings on each crew member’s door. But how? Can Father Christmas deliver across space too? Sadly not, as André Kuipers, a Dutch astronaut, explained that friends and family ‘had put these Expedition 42 Flight Engineer presents together in April… to send up Samantha Cristoforetti with a cargo ship’ announcing that celebrating in style aboard ‘it was a great surprise’ . the ISS, NASA. Christmas Day menu aboard the ISS Mains Canned turkey with corn-bread stuffing, served with canned green beans and powdered mash potatoes Canned Normandy-style ox tongue and a selection of vacuum-sealed vegetables Canned Chicken Supreme served with gourmet pickled morel mushrooms Dessert Vacuum-sealed Christmas pudding and powdered custard Gingerbread Christmas cookies By Sarah White
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ne Pitch we are family
Zoe - Could you give me a bit of background information about yourself?
Vincent - My name is Vincent Gift Inciso. Me and my family were originally from the Philippines but moved to Bolton when I was 2 years old. My parent’s home schooled me and my siblings while we were still in primary and that opened a lot of doors for us. Zoe - What are you studying at Bolton College and why? Vincent - The course I am taking is Motor Vehicle Level 2; I have always been fascinated by the science and engineering behind cars and other vehicles.
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family band and we called it ‘One Pitch’. Me and my dad play the guitar while my sisters provide lead vocals and my mom is the ‘behind-the-scene-genius’ with makeup, promoting and sound-engineering! Zoe - What type of music do you perform?
Vincent - One Pitch is mainly a cover band and we like to perform the songs that we also love Zoe - So I hear you are in a band, listening to. We enjoy dancing to could you tell me a bit more about ABBA, grooving to Michael that? Jackson, rocking to Queen and chilling with Ed Sheeran and Vincent - Well, in 2016, me, my Adele. We perform wherever and sisters (Faith and Aubrey), and whenever we can - mainly at parmy dad first performed at a char- ties, weddings and charity events. ity event and we continued to gig We even have a regular gig every whenever we could. Eventually, we Sunday from 4pm to 6:30pm at decided to officially form a The Cave Pub down at The Vaults
in the Market Place. Feel free to drop by, families are welcome there! We’re always on the lookout for more gigs. Zoe - What are your goals and aspirations for ‘One Pitch’ in the future? Vincent - We hope to travel around, meet new friends, and to make a living doing what we love. We want to continue improving our craft, and someday to make a name for ourselves. Also, to be able to share our passion in music to the world and inspire as many people as we can! Zoe - If someone wants to hire you how can they get in touch? Vincent - One Pitch Acoustic Band has a Facebook page under the same name. You can also get in touch by emailing:rainier_inciso@yahoo.co.uk or calling us on 07919 098709 or 07920 779679. Also, look us up on our YouTube Channel: One Pitch Acoustic Band.
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Christmas space jumpers Star Wars Chewbacca Light-up Christmas Jumper, £20 Asda
Guardians of the Galaxy: Squad Goals Knitted Christmas Jumper, £36.99 Science Museum Space Christmas Jumper, £30.00 from the Science Museum Boden Space Explorer (Crew Jumper Navy Boys), £35.00 Boden Official Space Invaders Christmas jumper, £35.99 www.geekstore.com
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he Nativity Story
What Christmas is really about
A long time ago, in the town of Nazareth, lived a young woman named Mary. Mary did her chores, was kind to others, and loved God very much. She was engaged to be married to Joseph, who was a carpenter. One day, while Mary was at home cleaning her room, an angel suddenly appeared. Before Mary could say anything the angel told Mary that she was favoured by God, and that God was with her. Mary was surprised. She was trying not to be afraid, but she had never seen an angel before. After all, Mary was just a regular lady like you or I. Why was this angel visiting her? What did the angel want? The angel quickly tried to reassure Mary. “Do not be afraid!” the angel said. “God has found favour with you. You will have a baby boy, and are to give him the name Jesus.”
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Mary was confused; she was not yet married to Joseph, so how
could she have a baby? The angel thought that this might concern Mary so he said, “The Holy Spirit will perform a miracle, and because of this your baby will be called the Son of God.” To Mary’s surprise, the angel had more exciting news: “Even your cousin Elizabeth is going to have a son in her old age. Many thought that she couldn’t have children, but she is already pregnant. Nothing is impossible with God.” Mary couldn’t believe what she was hearing; she didn’t know what to say. She realized that she was trembling, and knelt down. When she was finally able to speak she said, “I am the Lord’s servant, and I hope everything you have said will come true.” Then the angel disappeared, and Mary was left alone. Soon after, Joseph found out that Mary was going to have a baby. Joseph was confused and upset by this, but an angel came to him in a dream and said, “Joseph do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.
The child Mary is going to have is God’s son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.” When Joseph woke up he remembered what the angel had said. He knew that everything was okay, and he wasn’t upset anymore. In those days, the government decided that they should count everyone that lived in that area of the world. So Joseph had to take Mary of the Jews wasn’t born in a fancy to his home town of Bethlehem to palace or even a hospital? register. Mary and Joseph were thankful that they at least had a place to lie It took Mary and Joseph a long down. It was warm, and there was time to get to Bethlehem. They plenty of straw to lay on. didn’t have cars back then, so it probably took them a lot longer to get there. This was very tiring for That night an exciting, wonderful Mary because she was soon going thing happened: Mary and Joseph had a baby! But this wasn’t just to have a baby. any baby, he was Baby Jesus! The creator of the whole world, the When they reached the town, King of Kings, and the one who all the hotels were full and there was nowhere that they could stay. would save the world. Finally, someone felt bad for them The little baby boy fell asleep in and offered them a place to stay. Mary’s arms. She wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger The Bible doesn’t say for sure where they stayed but most people on some clean straw. think that they stayed in a small barn where animals were kept. In Mary and Joseph soon fell asleep; they were so glad to have this any case, doesn’t it seem strange special baby join their family. that Jesus, the King By Janette Davies
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