THE REPOSITORY Voices of Roedean
The BIG Question By Barbara Roberts and Lily She-Yin
“What’s your snow-day story?” Heavy snows will always bring interesting times, so we decided to ask around for some funny stories. This is what some of you managed to come up with...
“A squirrel stole my snowman’s eyes! Hmm... maybe it was Mongolian.’ –Annie Daniels
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–Izzy Regan
“My dog went out walking in the snow and got turned into a snowdog!”
THE BOUDICCA BULLETIN “Honour the wordy”
THE REPOSITORY Greetings readers. Here at The BB we're excited to introduce an electrifying new component of the paper to you, a constituent of this delightful school.
What is The Repository you ask? Repository Noun • store, storehouse, depository; reservoir, bank, cache, treasury, fund, mine. a repository for nuclear fuel | he's a veritable repository of musical knowledge It's the part of the paper that involves YOU. We're hoping to collect and publish your views and ideas and form a 'repository' of the vox populi (i.e. you) for posterity. Every issue, we'll be looking forward to hear from you by any means you feel comfortable with: emails, postits, pidgeons, etc. In this space we'll publish any letters or praise or pique you send. Also if you have anything in particular you want to submit, here’s where it’s going to be.
The Vox Populi: Populi An Invitation to Compete and Contribute “I was woken up at night by a snowball hitting my window. Looking out I saw that it was a bunch of guys, messing about. I went out to ask whether they had thrown the snowballs, and ended up joining in a snowball fight at midnight!”
Roedean School Newspaper
Also I'm happy to announce that we'll also be hosting a termly competition where we're hoping to collect your responses on a themed issue.
For next issue: Curious Song Lyrics Please email vw3 or post on our Facebook page to submit song lyrics that have amused or annoyed you. The top 3 will receive a prize — doesn’t matter if you are an U3, a teacher, catering staff — So get involved! Here's an example with the most absurd rhyme. "When love congeals / It soon reveals / The faint aroma of performing seals" (Larry Hart, I Wish I Were In Love Again) Or absolute and complete nonsense. "Copperdome bodhi drip a silver kimono" (Grateful Dead, China Cat Sunflower) "I want to be a bassman too / Bah B B Bha B Bha B Bha Bah BB" (Johnny Cymbal, Mr. Bass Man)
Volume 2, Issue 2
Roedean School, Roedean Way, Brighton, BN2 5RQ
New from BB!: The Repository (backpage); THE INFOBAHN recommended websites (op-ed); regular culture&c. column from JCrane (Entertainment)
Advertising Fever Your Blackberry, a symptom. By Jasmine Gordon-Brown The birth of the must-have has affected the way people look at products, particularly clothes. Even the high street has divided itself in this way. However whilst Topshop may offer (or have offered in the past) some unique pieces how can you say the same for brands such as Jack Wills, which has become the “style and comfort” essential for young people. Why on earth do we pay for the privilege to own a certain brand name? If I asked you to actually research the differences between iPods and other MP3 players you’d probably end up throwing your flimsy, expensive, and frankly limited music machine in the bin. Subsequently, if you then ask yourself the reason why you bought it in the first place I doubt it was because you knew it would function best. Maybe it was the dazzling array of colours, maybe it was simply Apple’s reputation. The awareness of the range of merchandise available on the market is now being aided by the large number of information sources, the largest being the internet. But even this frequently used and trusted resource can be misleading. In the end we wind up as the fatalities of heavy advertising, blindly absorbing empty testimonies and regurgitating them to anyone we can find to listen. We own what our friends have, who in turn possess what their friends have…and so the cycle continues. Continued on Page 3 Opinions and Editorials…
– Morgan Bonson
The Keswick Hype “A fox crashed into our snowman (or rather, snow blob). We have no idea why, but it took the carrot.”
–Lily She-Yin
“I stayed inside and slept. It was glorious.”
-Sheena Cheung
Some of the new overseas students had never seen real snow before. One girl commented that it was very beautiful to look at, but that it was way too cold and slippery!
By Julia Kisray I wonder if any of the current sixth formers remember the initial thoughts on Keswick House. As eager U3s, we were told that, on alternate years, Lower Sixth girls would be placed in either Old Lawrence of Keswick for the last two years of their Roedean life. As Dr. Birch took us on a tour of both sixth form houses, she confirmed that my year, 2004’s Upper Threes would be allocated to Old Lawrence House; we took this news surprisingly badly, even to the point of writing to Mrs. Wilkinson, including a petition against the move to the creepy-looking white building of gloom instead of the paradisal haven that is Keswick. Looking back on this, I’m amused and also humbled. Nonetheless, what was so appealing and attractive about Keswick? Now that Old Lawrence House is no longer a sixth form house (due to health and safety issues). The choice is no longer available, yet there is still so much controversy stirred up by the quality of life at Keswick. Is the food that amazing? Do they get more freedom? Are there better facilities? The truth is probably yes; as there is now only one house for Upper Sixths. It may be seen as unfair but surely it can be seen as something to look forward to instead of something to be jealous about. As girls are ploughing through their A-levels, I think the least they can do is have their own sanctuary in which to hibernate; beds for the day girls sounds wonderfully appealing too. If anything, the more independent and mature lifestyle that Keswick offers should be something that the girls in lower years keenly look forward to. If not, they can just revel in the fact Keswick girls need to schlep themselves over to Main School twice a day to register.
Last Thought: "Testing a mouse trap by sticking your finger in it is not a great idea. It’s a simple locking mechanism on a spring-loaded metal bar. Not exactly a complicated device, so it will more than likely work the way it’s supposed to, and there’s no need to try it out first." Feel free to apply this ideology to other everyday situations.
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March, 2010
You’d Think Life Wasn’t Already in 3D... By Olivia Burke Are 3D films taking over cinema? It certainly seems so as new 3D masterpieces such as Coraline, Monsters vs. Aliens, and of course James Cameron’s Avatar have proven to be huge successes. But why are 3D films such hits? It’s simple; you can’t get it at home. Watching a film in 3D is an experience you can’t enjoy sitting on the sofa at No. 17. Avatar, often described as the “most ambitious 3D film ever released,” certainly didn’t disappoint and after 15 years’ work with a budget of $237 million Cameron and his team must have felt more than a little relieved when the picture became the fastest film ever to make $1 billion in global ticket sales and beat Titanic’s $1.843 billion box office total in just six weeks. Not only did new technology have to be developed to shoot Avatar (more than half the film is computer generated imaging), but filming the whole thing in 3D added an extra challenge. The ins and outs of the 3D process can be found on Wikipedia, but essentially two images are projected onto the same screen through different filters. A set of filters are also contained in the attractive 3D glasses one wears to watch a 3D picture and these each block out one image so that each eye sees a different image at the same time. The two images are depicted from slightly different perspectives, resulting in the 3D effect. I have been to see two 3D films; Avatar and Tim Burton’s new film Alice in Wonderland and I am, as you may have assumed, a big fan of 3D. The cinema experience really is fantastic and I think it is worth paying the extra £2.00 or so for a 3D film. Never fear – the glasses have undergone a revamp with the ugly cardboard frames are being replaced by snazzy plastic ones with uniform lenses. You will possibly get the odd annoying child convinced that if he waves his hand in the air enough he’ll be able to catch the white rabbit as he runs by, though. Alice in Wonderland stars Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter and comes highly recommended as a starter for those 3D virgins.
By Sue Denim It’s been a good term for; • Anyone who doesn’t want an education. Overall we had around 6 days extra holiday (undeniably a good thing). • Elizabeth Chan, Vivien Jin and Nicole Lee who received offers from Oxbridge. • The 1st netball team who played in the regional round of the National Schools Netball Tournament in High Wycombe But not such a good term for; • 6th formers who were greeted back to school with a month’s worth of exams and a particularly bad term for anyone who had to sit a maths exam. You poor things! • Mrs Brett who broke her arm, after slipping on ice. • The 6-2’s who suffered a Monday detention as the authorities clamped down on registration. Come on, pull up your socks girls!
2010 World Cup By Brittany Morgan Yes ladies, the time is again fast approaching when boyfriends and husbands alike will scarper down to the nearest pub with a television set in the hopes of catching the biggest showdown in football history, the World Cup. While you may be left alone at home, be assured that women and wine will not be the main order of the evening, but a significant amount of heckling on Rooney’s behalf because, let’s face it, the man is distinctly Shrek-like. The World Cup 2010 is to be held in sunny, sandy South Africa, a country that bursts with natural beauty; undoubtedly a glamorous choice for the ‘WAG’s in attendance. However, there is more to look forward to than the sunburned faces of the world’s most glamorous women; the matches are to be held in various beautiful locations around the country, most notably Johannesburg and Cape Town. Continued on Page 10 Sports…
New Year’s Resolution The ghost of your skinny jean’s past By Julia Kisray As we gradually move away from the bitterly cold end of the noughtie decade and into warmer weather and longer-lasting days, we can happily say that 2010 holds many surprises for us all. Half of the British population feel a sudden rapture of motivation to write a lengthy list of goals for the upcoming year. These can include many aspirational ideas that people like the sound of, such as getting out of debt or doing more sport; so why have the majority of these resolutions gone out the window by March? The unfortunate truth is that, at the start of a new year, many people get it into their all too optimistic minds that the whole year will bring change but all it brings is the hope of it. It is up to the people making the resolutions to be less sluggish and alter it themselves; alas nobody does. This is most probably an explanation to the January and February blues, affecting relationships, work and general life. It’s up to the people to experience success year after year without being dependent on an overly hopeful, yellowing list made at the end of a grim December.
OPINIONS & EDITORIALS
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THE BOUDICCA BULLETIN EDITORIAL
iSoul
the world stood silent while Bosnian Serbs methodically murdered over 200,000 Muslim civilians. Throughout this ethnic cleansing operation, Serbs forced Muslim men and boys into makeshift concentration camps. Women and girls were repeatedly raped. Serbs rounded up 8,000 men and boys and brutally executed them. In retaliation, after years of inaction, U.S.-led NATO forces bombed Serbian bases, putting an end to the carnage. In 1994, the world stood by again as another genocide exploded in Africa. For 100 blood-soaked days, Rwanda's Hutu majority systematically slaughtered 800,000 minority Tutsis. Tutsi men, women and children were literally hacked to death with machetes and piled into the roads. Despite worldwide intelligence about this large-scale massacre, virtually all developed nations, including the United States, failed to intervene. You may not figure that your perpetual Blackberry texting is responsible for these atrocities, but the blinders you put on by solely focusing on self-indulgent pursuits can morph the reality that is around you, thus passively permitting such horrors to transpire. Reeling it into back to Roedean, our own micro-tragedies have occurred due to this apathetic mindset. Before you is a student-organized, student-written, transparent voice, a paper thirsty for your opinion and your own passion. But, as evidenced by the recent surveys and the familiar faces at writers’ meetings, we appear to be writing for the illiterate masses. A large proportion of our survey responses stated that we as a paper fail to reflect your interests, but then you did not proceed to tell us in what we failed, or what your interests are. The Boudicca Bulletin’s fundamental aim is to give you a voice, but despite our seemingly omniscient nature, we can’t read minds. We need you to get involved, to speak up, to wake from your Facebook coma and SHOUT! Passion doesn’t necessarily mean blind enthusiasm (take this article, for instance), but it does mean being active, and ultimately, alive. So, with your iSOUL scrubbed clean, I have a goal for your newly enlightened self: Respond to this article. Get on Facebook, check out our board, tell our editors, e-mail JC12, and give yourself a voice. Forget about what it looks like on UCAS, or the slight trepidation it will cause to step out of your safe apathy: this is your life, your education, and your voice, so live with your eyes open, and your Blackberries off. BE PASSIONATE, HAVE AN OPINION
Ten year-olds in stilettos, thongs, and excessively padded ‘bras’. Welcome to the new age of junior fashion. By Jamie –Jo Whelan If you are like me and tend to be brutally critical of almost everything that is visible to the human eye, then you will empathise with my thoughts and concerns for the future generations. In 2002, ‘Abercrombie & Fitch’ launched its infamous kiddie thong collection, proclaiming that girls as young as 10 "are style-conscious and want underwear that doesn't produce a visible panty line"(They have since © dropped the line). Who cares whether they have a VPL or not at ten years old? With the words, "WINK WINK and Eye Candy" imprinted on the thong, I dread to imagine what has influenced children as young as ten, to buy such items. Since when has it become customary to design thong panties for ten year olds? Perhaps, with the likes of Katie Price, Amy Winehouse, and Lindsay Lohan as their icons, children feel the need to dress older than they actually are, thus forgetting the importance and innocence of childhood. Their parents ought to be ashamed. Children become accustomed to things they see around them in their daily lives, and it must be said that the media is one of the main culprits. Kate Moss (the model, fashion icon) seems to be printed everywhere, be it on the cover of Vogue magazine, Rimmel advertisements or tabloid newspapers - the woman cannot be veiled. In 2005, the supermodel was found checking into rehab after shocking photos of her allegedly snorting cocaine were widely circulated all over the world. It seems confusing to me that someone with such a scandalous setback could be allowed to grace the majority of magazines today. A wise owl once told me that, “Life is like a path of snow, be careful
Fashionable teachers, an oxymoron? THE INFOBAHN By Eniola Ogunlaja Grief, we have been conditioned to believe, is a private process to be shared only with close friends and family. However, in the age of the Internet, it seems that we might have to shatter such pre-conceived notions. Social networking sites like Twitter and Faceb o o k are b e c o m i n g increasingly popular mediums for people to share their loss. Memorial groups in honour of dead friends, family, pets and celebrities abound on sites like Facebook, and it is not uncommon to see an outpouring of emotion over tragic events via Twitter. The Twitgrief trend has been branded by some as an “ugly phenomenon of 2010.” If we are to make this assessment, then we need to label social networking as a whole in the same way. Agree with it or not, in the world we live in today, it is almost a requirement to have an online presence. If we are encouraged to share details of our lives, such as thoughts and pictures on the internet, then is it not hypocritical to be startled by the sudden flux of online bereavement? It is important not to write off the fact that some people do find comfort in going through the grieving process with the support of an online community. Memorial groups are
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viewed as fitting tributes to loved ones by their creators. These groups give an opportunity for family, childhood friends, and sympathisers to leave messages of condolence and to share memories. For some, it is simply easier to articulate their feelings through the relative safety of a computer. On the other hand, grieving through social networks can be an impulsive and impersonal way of dealing with loss. It may also be seen as inappropriate, and an example of the kind of "over-sharing" the Internet encourages. Not everyone on the Internet is a close friend, and the risk of being misunderstood or exposed to hurtful comments is high. A mother in Florida – Shellie Ross, became the centre of a Twitter controversy, when she posted a message on the site asking for prayers for her two year old son Bryson, who had drowned in the family pool a half-hour earlier. Ross was chastised by strangers worldwide, who suggested that her child had died because of her “infatuation with Twitter.” Different methods work for different people in coming to terms with loss. People should be encouraged to grieve in the real world, with proper counselling and support. Nevertheless, we also have to accept that for some, Twitgrief is a valid coping mechanism.
FASHION
BOUDICCA BULLETIN
Thongs, Getting Even Smaller
“Is it ignorance or apathy? Hey, I don't know and I don't care.”
By Joy Crane Dispassion. As a school, sometimes I’m certain we’ve forgotten we’re alive. We have our shell, the flesh, the good appearances at public events, the wellrehearsed evidence that we’re unique and worthy of those Oxbridge offers, but when the surface is removed and one endeavors to discover that pumping life source, this introspection meets its quick death. If the average week at Roedean had a ‘top-played’ playlist, surely the following phrases would trump the list: procrastination, ‘not bothered’, and ‘watch TV on my laptop’. Along the same train of thought, what would this week’s Facebook profile picture be? A bed? A blank expression? On twitter, the appropriate tweet would be as to how long-winded this article is already, quickly followed by an update as to how you’re so not bothered to finish reading. Then a message on your Blackberry: Joy.Crane17 has requested that you stop living through the instantaneous distractions that technology provides, and start realizing that real life is out here, in the daylight, with real human interaction and emotions expressed through facial contortions, not abbreviated slang. But don’t get me wrong, this is not a rant a g a i n s t technology. Despite personally relying on messenger pigeons (better reception, if you ask me), I bear no genuine vendetta for the likes of technology and instantaneous cyber communication. What should be ruthlessly resented, are those whom have seemingly traded their minds and their souls for the convenience of apathy, a mindset often allowed to flourish by means of the technological devices listed earlier. Omitting your life of screens, sleeping, shopping, and eating, many students draw a blank on who they are, what they stand for, and where they’re going. It is in this raw, empty void where we, as a collective body and as individuals, must reassess what it means to be passionate. No easy task, but as was stated by Plato, “The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men”, and the price of apathy towards private affairs is to be ruled by an evil self. Though indifference masks itself in the 21st century through the cult of technology, this plague has lived through the ages, with some dire consequences. One such atrocity took place in the early '90s. For four years,
“Apathy is boring.”
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This term’s website recommendations: • www.culture24.org.uk/ Based in Brighton, Culture24 is an essential guide of institutions in the UK for those lusting for cultural enlightenment. • www.passiveaggressiven otes.com/ "P ain fu lly polite and hilariously hostile writings from shared spaces the world over" • http://www.theonion.com The most accurate and reliable news source in existence...in a parallel universe. • www.howstuffworks.com For whenever your teacher's patience cracks. From how your iPod can set your pants on fire to the top 10 mistakes in bathroom design. • http://uk.akinator.com Now this is just creepily accurate.
By Hannah Ratcliff Can school teachers be fashionable? A question not often contemplated due to... well, its irrelevance in attaining good exam results. Mrs. Yacoub however, a new addition to the Roedean History department, was questioned to the third degree in a recent interview about a subject that captivates all girls’ hearts– clothes. The majority of teachers (and most people, for that matter) have better things to spend their money on than designer clothes. Mrs. Yacoub, on the other hand, manages her fashionista status on a budget: “I still pop into Topshop and H&M, I have an interest in fashion and I do choose things from magazines and find less expensive pieces from high street shops.” Mrs. Yacoub confirmed her love of shoes “especially high-heels”, and shows remarkable strength in teetering around all day in them (a gift some of us could only dream of). It must be said - a few teachers don’t really care about fashion, and fair enough – for some it’s a hobby, for some it’s a chore. So when the question “Is it important to be fashionable as a teacher?” was posed, Mrs. Yacoub answered, “I don’t think it has anything to do with me being a teacher, I like wearing fashionable clothes therefore I will wear them at work and at play.” Wise words – whether one is working or relaxing, the clothes worn should be comfortable. Whether comforting the mind with the reassurance that the garments are keeping with the times, or to comfort the soul (a pun, if you will), fashion has its place in everyone’s life irrelevant to one’s career. Thank you very much Mrs. Yacoub for your help and I hope that this article provokes teachers to ponder their stance on fashion.
where you tread, for every step will show.” Yet, Kate Moss is a prominent figure in the fashion industry which has achieved and gained a lot from her career, but with her personal life spiralling out of control and being broadcasted to the nation every day, her steps are subconsciously influencing the minds of children who read magazines and then see her as a role model. Influenced by the media, they could and often fall victim to mimicking her in idolworship– perhaps they are oblivious to her slowly decaying face. If we held a survey comparing the dress senses of ten year-old children in England today in comparison to what the majority of adolescents wear in a country such as France, where the media doesn’t focus as much on celebrities, I can almost guarantee that there would be a greater sense of individuality, class and poise about the children of France. The lack of such bombastic media wouldn’t be the main reason, but it would definitely be one of factors. I challenge every one of you to observe the younger generation and compare their thoughts and opinions with the thoughts and opinions you had as a younger child. It’s easy to preach about the ideals of the younger generations, but in addition to the media, we as older sisters, schoolmates, and friends too influence their perception of beauty. Thus, tear off your Jack Wills, take off that third coat of foundation, and love who you are, not what GLAMOUR magazine says you should be.
Jeggings How tight are you in this new denim trend?
©
By Camilla Longman Known to some as jeggings, denim leggings, or ‘not-a-replacement-for-real-trousers’, this new lycra phenomena has sparked great debate amongst fashionistas. As it happens, we’re fans. For starters, they are a cheaper version of jeans – we’ve only just come out of the recession after all– and they fit to the body comfortably and compliment most peoples’ shapes. Everyone wants the perfect pair of skinny jeans, but that’s not possible for some – they’re too tight, too loose, or just plain unflattering. So here’s our solution: JEGGINGS. There’s a pair to suit everyone, whether you’re into zips or rips or just the traditional navy blue skinnies. They come in many styles and colours, from ‘grey acid wash’ to ‘vivid yellow stitching and purple pockets’. The choice is yours. After asking a group of girls about jeggings we came to the conclusion that at least eight in ten girls own at least one pair of jeggings. Have you joined the craze?
©
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SPORT
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THE ‘WAG’ CRAZE
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LOL_IMAGE OF THE ISSUE
Volume II Issue I Th e B ou d i c c a B u ll et i n ; R o ed ea n S c h o o l N e ws p a p er Roedean School, Roedean Way, Brighton, BN2 5RQ Editor-In-Chief Joy Crane News Editor Astrid Ainley (aa10) & Rosa Martin (rm5) Features Editors Jazz Baharie (jb6) & Anna Augousti (aa14) Opinions & Editorial Editor Victoria Woo (vw3) Sports Editors Nkem Ike-Nwabuoko (ni2) Fashion Editor Aimee Taylor (at8) Entertainment Editors Anouska Wise (aw11) & Nneka Mbadugha (nm5) Business & Advertising Manager Joyce Ip (wi1) Layout Design Sheena Cheung (sc10) Photography Manager Esme Brand (eb5) Faculty Advisor Mr. Back
Chasing footballers for cash, a sport in itself?
By Georgia Rice She’s married to a footballer, she has her own clothing line and fitness DVD, she wears a Hervé Ledger dress with this season’s £6000 Birkin bag, who is she? She is indeed a ‘WAG’ (Wife and Girlfriend). There are five rules you must follow to be a ‘WAG’. You must: be married or dating a footballer, have a failed attempt at a modelling career, use husband’s/boyfriend’s money constantly for your own vain pursuits, come out with a new fitness DVD/TV show, and, (and most importantly) deny the fact that you are indeed a ‘WAG’. There are many theories going around that they (the collective entity of ‘THE WAGS’) marry footballers then ‘surprisingly’ launch a successful career. Are they using their husband’s money and fame as a stepladder to the top, or is it really (as they would claim) true love? Take the case of Danielle Lloyd, a classic example of your everyday WAG. She met Teddy Sheringham, professional footballer, who was judging a beauty pageant, which she incidentally won. They continued their relationship for another few years during which her fame began to grow, her ‘career’ peaking with her Playboy magazine cover appearance. After Teddy and Danielle split, she has dated a ©
surprising number of celebrities, including Jamie Pearce (singer/songwriter), 50 Cent (American rapper), DJ Ironik (British musician), and many more. She is currently engaged to footballer Jamie O'Hara. Some third wave post-feminists might argue that Danielle’s lifestyle serves as inspiring evidence in the evolution of women’s rights in that we can now embrace such morallydubious behaviour and be admired for it. However, the ‘liberated woman’ argument at times seems like a weak attempt at legitimising unhealthy relationships based on financial gain. As a lover/believer in money, sport, and women’s rights, I look at women like Danielle with a split perspective: is it envy or disgust we have for the ‘WAG’ craze? Are these ladies cunning or simply human Barbies? © Boudicca Bulletin wants to know your thoughts on ‘the WAG Craze’. Email JC12 or NI2 to have your say displayed on the board, our intranet and Facebook page, or even in the next issue!
SPORTS SECTION SPECIAL SHOUTOUT: OH NO YOU DIDN’T, TIGER WOODS
Why do Footballers Have Such Huge Salaries? By Hannah Ratcliff Ashley Cole, 30 year old professional footballer, is currently playing for Chelsea on a four year contract worth £ 120,000 a week. This is the same salary a top surgeon earns in an entire year, a career which often involves saving peoples’ lives every day. Is this exponentially growing salary worth the entertainment value of seeing footballers kick a ball around a pitch? In my opinion, this enormous salary is ludicrous for a bunch of pampered men to run about on a football pitch. Ashley Cole is a prime example of this type of excessively luxurious lifestyle. In admiring such characters like Ashley Cole, are younger generations inspired in the right direction, or are they deceived by the perceived ‘easy luxury’ of celebrity careers? Although I do like to read OK! magazine from time to time and to find out about new celebrity gossip, the growing media designed for celebrity exposure worries me. Is it not in excess for nearly every newspaper and news program on the television to be crammed with news results on football or new players that have been bought from other countries for millions of pounds by rich managers? What
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is going to happen to the future of the world if people are being brainwashed by this extravagant football salary? However, Ashley and Cheryl Cole are two people that have come from normal backgrounds and have are from different parts of the country. Many people would argue that they have not had it all handed to them on a plate; they have gone from nothing and worked at their professions to become internationally heralded celebrities. Thus, due to how they were not born into their fame like some celebrities, I feel they are worthy of their celebrity status, and even arguably their astronomical salaries. The salaries for top footballers are undeniably disproportionate to the skill and effort involved with the career, but it is important to remember that this is a supply and demand economy: even in the face of this recession, the public demand (via the media) the constant streaming of these footballers’ lives. So, perhaps we have only our own priorities to blame in that we, the mediadrooling masses, value football as much as the work of surgeons.
Continued from Front Page… Whilst in 2006 the hope of a repeat of Bobby Charltons 1966 victory over West Germany was not to be, you could bet that this year England supporters will be out in full force, drunken anthems and tattooed flags galore. This year, they might have something to sing about; the team, managed by Italian stallion Fabio Capello, is a comforting mix of familiar faces and young up-and-comers. Wayne Rooney, David Beckham, Frank Lampard, and Steven Gerrard will be reprising their roles as England’s strongest players, while newbies Glen Johnson and Aaron Lennon are certain to add a dash of excitement to Capello’s pitch plays. Let’s hope, for our sake, that this World Cup is more exciting than 2006’s where the biggest news were corrupted referees, and Zinedine Zidane’s aggressive head butt of an Italian player in the final, a move that cost him his career, and his team that coveted World Cup Trophy.
OPINIONS & EDITORIALS
Photographers Esme Brand
Notes from the board Get involved! Email any us with ideas and join our Facebook group! Check out the advertisements—a free coupon from Lick!
Continued from the Front Page… By doing this we allow the corporation giants to flourish. Coca Cola, Dairy Milk and even the 70s craze “pet rocks” turned their founders into instant millionaires. This may not be a negative thing; there is much debate about the potential merits of globalisation and for food companies, as this kind of following allows them to maintain the best quality products. Meanwhile the smaller businesses plough on, always trying to gain sponsorship and money to display their idea to the world. I can think of many restaurants of superior quality and value for less money than their more well-known equivalents. Think of it this way: if everyone were to disregard the diversity of choice we have available that choice would eventually die out. Even the people who tried to experience something new would struggle to find it. Although we are literally surrounded by advertising it is still the job of the consumer to choose what they buy for their own benefit. After all, the companies shouting their names on billboards and who spend thousands of pounds crafting artistic and memorable adverts are only doing it for theirs. The next time you experience a burning desire to purchase some arbitrary item, beware! You may too have been consumed by the advertising fever.
Death Tolls
In the search of youth, we forget the elderly and our own times ahead.
By Victoria Woo In this day and age, the pursuit of youth is at its prime; never has society had more lotions, potions and botox injections to aid its encouragement. We are living longer in the salad days of our existence and loving it. However, in the midst of our prolonged springtime, we forget those who have survived the winters of decades past. We cannot deny nor neglect the growing communities of the venerable elderly. They are the reason for our existence, it's time we honoured theirs. First to clarify: how old is old? The age at which we are considered 'old' has become as elusive as everlasting youth. Principally, we deem old age to be the time at which we hang up the tie/professional heels for good and take up knitting, fly fishing or adopt a small family of cats, but this is not a quantitative measure. For the moment, the state sees this, the State Pension Age, to be 60 for women and 65 for men. This is due to augment as of 2010, from 60 to 65 by 2020 for women. Yet this is a double edged sword, the advances in the world of preventive and curative medicine have increased life expectancy in the UK. At present time, we are predicted to survive to a ripe age of 79.8 compared to 68.7 in 1950. Life expectancy in 2050 is expected to increase even higher. This may sound promising to those who tremble in the face of death, but the reality is that over 1.3 million of the ‘wellderly’ are having to work beyond the age of 65 due to financial issues that have arisen in these tumultuous times of economic crisis. Pension funds, savings, investments and house prices have all been hit by the recession. People simply cannot afford to retire and yet more
than 100,000 were forced to retire against their will last year due to employers using forced retirement as a cheaper alternative to redundancy (acc. Age Concern and Help the Aged). Harriet Harman, the equality minister and deputy Labour leader, has expressed interest in abolishing the compulsory retirement age, yet whether this would solve any of the issues of the growing pensions bill of the baby boomers is questionable. As election time draws closer, the care services for the elderly have become somewhat of a theatre of war between the three main political parties. Most recently, the Conservatives have launched a campaign against Labour's proposal for a 'death tax'. "Now Gordon wants £20,000 when you die", read the Conservative posters referring to the possible £20,000 levy on estates that would pay for long-term care. The Conservatives have opted for a voluntary insurance scheme instead, costing £8,000 in the event that one wanted to enter a care home or £10,000 to secure care for people in their own home. Amid the dispute, one thing is certain. If an effective plan is not soon forged to tackle the economics of the ageing population, there will be harsh waters ahead for generations to come. Away from politics, let us not forget the personal care of the old closer to home. Coming from a society that regards the elderly with the highest esteem and where grandparents are tended at home, it's heartbreaking to see those in care homes that are seldom visited. The loneliness amongst the older demographic is not to be disregarded, otherwise this will be no country for old men.
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By Astrid Ainley and Rosa Martin VANCOUVER Canadian figure skater, Joannie Rochette, 24, won a bronze medal in the figure skating in Vancouver 2010 against all the odds. Just two days before the start of her short program Rochette’s mother died of a shock heart attack after travelling out to Vancouver to watch her daughter perform. Rochette then proceeded to achieve a personal best and take the bronze medal in memory of her mother.
NEW YORK A woman attending an art class at the Metropolitan Museum of Art “lost her balance” and fell into a Picasso painting worth £80m, leaving a six inch tear in the bottom half of the canvas, knocking millions off its value. Error!
PAGE 4 HAITI The catastrophic earthquake that hit Haiti at 16:53 local time early in January devastated the country. Between 217,000 and 230,000 people were killed, an estimated 300,000 were injured leaving 1 million homeless. Haiti, already struggling with international debts and poverty is in turmoil despite the humanitarian aid supplied by other countries and stars such as George Clooney who ran a celebrity telethon to raise money. Here at Roedean our very Sharon Jacobs 6-1 ran a charitable appeal to raise money for the cause. Unfortunately however it will be decades before Haiti can be fully restored.
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DO-RE-MI♫ By Harriet Kember The Roedean school musical, The Sound of Music, took place on the 19th, 20th and 21st March. Straying from the normal format of this annual delight, this year’s feature production incorporated two of Roedean’s strongest assets: acting and music. Live music, an immaculate set, and a worthy backstage crew, this production was a success both ‘high on the hill with the lonely goatherd’ and behind the scenes. A brief synopsis of the well-known musical is as follows: A young nun Maria is sent to the house of a retired naval officer, Captain Von Trapp, to care for his children, the story is both sad and funny and is, if I may be so bold, one of Roger and Hammerstein’s finest. A musical was welcomed most graciously by the school as it was an unknown territory for most of the girls. The live music provided by the orchestra and the pre-recorded music provided by the senior singers allowed this well-known story to come to life and encouraged even stage-shy students to become involved with this worthy project. Jodie Gough’s performance as Maria was brilliant coupled with Gabby Tomlinson depiction of Captain Von Trapp, a captivating combination! Mrs. Armes and Ms. Fewkes director-duo triumphed. Congratulations to the Nazi’s, nuns, and crew, who worked very hard to put on this production.
Spring2010 PLAYLIST We bring some recommendations to help you cope with the stress, keep you going through the seemingly endless term.
CHILE A large earthquake reaching 8.8 on the Moment Magnitude scale struck Chile on February the 27th, the earthquake which was of an even greater magnitude than the Haiti quake earlier this year, was less damaging due to Chile’s more advanced infrastructure.
FALKLAND ISLANDS A British oil company has started drilling for oil in the British territorial waters off the Falkland Islands, amidst opposition from Argentina. Argentina, who invaded the islands in 1982 have long claimed the islands as their own from the British government, however the Argentinean government who have ruled out any military action have started their own hunt for oil in their own waters nearby.
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SOMALIA Paul and Rachel Chandler (no relation to our head of PE!) from Tunbridge Wells in Kent (about an hour from Roedean), were kidnapped in the Indian Ocean whilst travelling from Tanzania to the Seychelles. The couple, still in the custody of the Somalian pirates are feared to be in desperately poor health as the British government refuse to meet the wishes of the pirates.
ENTERTAINMENT
1. ‘Simply the Best’ Tina Turner 2. ‘This Years Love’ David Gray 3. ‘If We Ever Meet Again’ Timbaland (feat. Katy Perry) 4. ‘Empire State of Mind’ Alicia Keys 5. ‘Rude Boy’ Rihanna 6. ‘You Got the Love’ Florence and the Machine 7. ‘You’re So Vain’ Carly Simon 8. ‘Bad Romance’ Lady Gaga 9. ‘Use Somebody’ Kings of Leon 10. ‘Superstition’ Stevie Wonder 11. ‘Respect’ Aretha Franklin 12. ‘Help’ The Beatles 13. ‘Tik-Tok’ - Kesha 14. ‘Beautiful day’ U2 15. ‘Bonkers’ – Dizzee Rascal 16. ‘Good vibrations’ Beach Boys 17. ‘(I can’t get no)Satisfaction’ Rolling Stones 18. ‘Starry Eyed’ Ellie Goulding 19. ‘Feeling Fine’ Ultrabeat 20. ‘Everything’ Micheal Buble
X Factor By Jasmine Gordon-Brown If you too suffered the gross misfortune of getting hooked on this year’s “X Factor”, I can imagine that you were bitterly disappointed. The winner, Joe McElderry, has about as much talent as a member of a High School Musical chorus line and the looks of a rather unbecoming chipmunk. His deficiency in star quality truly came to light when he was beaten to the Christmas Number 1 slot by Rage Against the Machine, a fter a sh o rt Facebook campaign determined to put Simon Cowell in his place. Many people would argue that the winners of X factor have always suffered the same fate; a short bout of stardom only then to be pushed to the bottom of the playlist. Even the more successful artists, they would interject, have literally been forced into fame. In my opinion there is a great deal of extra input required to become a flourishing beacon of a reality television talent contest such as this one and bundles of determination. Take Leona Lewis. She was the first contestant to take a year out to grow her own style and reappear with enough finesse to make it over the Atlantic, which not even Girls Aloud, from Popstars: The Rivals could manage. JLS, the runners up of the 2008 series, have just won a Brit for British Single with the song Beat Again. So they may be a little cheesy, with their extreme pop lyrics and beats, but somewhere under our overall disdain for how they were mollycoddled into the superstar lifestyle, we must have, somehow, appreciated them. After all, the British public generously spent their money to fund another’s fortune. Either that or reality television really does have an invisible and slightly frightening grasp over the minds of every one of us. The single I was rooting for at Christmas was the Muppets version of Bohemian Rhapsody which was undoubtedly most worthy of my time and attention (available on iTunes).
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culture&c.
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With Joy Crane
(WARNING: This article assumes you are culturally malnourished. Please do not read on a full stomach.) Let’s begin with what poetry isn’t. Poetry needn’t be the literary equivalent of Marmite. Poetry isn’t a tool to sound pretentious. Poetry isn’t an incoherent late night blog about your boyfriend. Poetry isn’t synonymous with ‘emo’. Poetry is not a monotonous succession of rhymes. Poetry is not a cauldron of technical terminology to be spat out in an exam. Poetry is not a dirty word. Poetry is not merely words. Ultimately, in sync and in contradiction to everything just stated, poetry doesn’t have rules. In attempting to define what poetry is, the 500 words allotted to this article wouldn’t even begin to suffice. In fact, the act of defining poetry has become a form of poetry in itself, as to define poetry is to define the self, the essence of everything that is, isn’t, and the beautiful grey ambiguity in between. For TS Eliot, poetry is ‘one person talking to another’; ‘the supreme fiction’ for Wallace Stevens’; ‘If it makes me whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know it’s poetry’ declared Emily Dickinson; ‘a way of taking life by the throat’ for Robert Frost. This trinity of sound, sense, and sensibility is indefinable because it is a body of metamorphoses: even the most literal of poems will pull different heartstrings depending on the reader’s perspective. Great poetry does not need a technical guide, nor the reader a doctorate to fully appreciate its power. I personally take comfort from Eliot’s statement “I have never been able to retain the names of feet and metre…if I wanted to know why one line was good and another bad… scansion could not tell me.” Great lines are those whose words ‘have often a network of tentacular roots reaching down to the deepest terrors and desires’. Thus, strangely, we recognize the sound before the meaning. Even if English is your third language or you think in binary code, potent poetry can penetrate through all the excuses you use to shroud away from the confrontation of culture, and ultimately the confrontation of life. So amongst the old poetic lions, where does one begin? Most teenage girls in the face of adversity have stumbled across the occasional Plath poem, Dying Is an art, like everything else I do it exceptionally well I do it so it feels like hell. I do it so it feels real. I guess you could say I’ve a call. -Lady Lazarus Or perhaps, overwhelmed by exam woes, you’ve identified with Emily Dickinson: Success is counted sweetest By those who ne’er succeed. To comprehend a nectar Requires sorest need. -Success is counted sweetest But poetry isn’t limited to the famous uttering’s of these giants. Frank Ohara, Dorothy Parker, Don Paterson, Raymond Carver, Kevin A Gonzalez, and Marianne Moore are some tucked away treasures that won’t make appearances in your GCSE Poetry anthologies, but are more than worthy of those stolen moments between class and your extracurricular activities, between the tired monotony and the overwhelming chaos. Poetry isn’t a life choice. You needn’t be a literary buff to have a lone moment of some reflection, some depth. Your ‘moment of substance’ needn’t even be a heavy brick of meaning; in fact it can raise you from ‘the questions’ into the frivolous when you need it to. Take the words of Dorothy Parker for instance, I like to have a martini Two at the very most. After three I'm under the table, after four I'm under my host. In essence, poetry is what you want it to be, what you need it to be, to cure you and break you. All you need to do is read it. For some good poetry picks or to share your own, check out the Boudicca Bulletin Facebook page or email Joy Crane at jc12!
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The Illuminati In literature, movies and the Internet—omnipresent? By Catherine Odu The Illuminati are: 1. People claiming to be unusually enlightened with regard to a subject. 2. Various groups claiming special religious enlightenment. When choosing to write this article, I didn’t realise the danger behind a word made of 10 letters. I thought it was just a club for celebrities like Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Kanye West and Jay- Z or something that Dan Brown had made up, but I soon to came to find out that was far from the truth. So are the Illuminati a false idea, belief, illusion or are they just a money hungry cult? The Illuminati is a very secretive group of occult practitioners who have been around for thousands of years. They use the Jewish Kabbalah as one of their guidelines to oppress the rest of the population. It is not a boys' club or a group of adults trying to get some excitement in life; this is something much bigger and much more dangerous. It is an extremely well structured organisation consisting of people in very high places, who are extremely wealthy and stand above the law. Many of them don't even appear on Forbes - they are that secret. What is driving them is power, money and control over the life and death of everyone. They say their god is Lucifer, "The Light Bearer", and through occult practices they manipulate and influence the masses. It's a terrifying prospect that this planet is run by Black Magic – something that doesn’t exist except in movies and in books. If somebody tells you Black Magic does exist, they will most certainly be ridiculed. The fans who pine for the mystic and magic in movies Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter or even the Twilight series might have, on hindsight, wished they had left the genie in its lamp. The Brotherhood loves to showcase their truth in the forms of symbolism and coded messages amongst the ignorance of the general public. Those with the knowledge to interpret it will be able to get the message. For example, can we really take seemingly innocent lyrics for their face value? Did you know that JayZ's ‘roc a fella’ symbol and the Illuminati sign match up perfectly? If you want to see more, check out his song ‘On to the Next One’. Is it demonic or not? Some sources believe that Lady Gaga is an Illumanti puppet sent out to brainwash the population. To be honest, most people agree that Lady Gaga is larger than life, beyond this world even. She has the teenage population chanting her lyrics - an incredible tool if she was affiliated by the Illuminati. Could this truly be the work of the Antichrist as was mentioned by the Bible in the book of Revelation? Could the end of the world as we now know it actually be unfolding right before our eyes, or is it another elaborate conspiracy theory, as entertaining as the celebrities themselves? Associated link : http://www.illuminati-news.com/moriah.htm
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GREAT BRITAIN The nation’s sweetheart, Cheryl Cole has separated from her husband Ashley Cole in the midst of rumours around Ashley’s affairs and ‘sexting’; scandals. To the delight of many fans across Britain. Cheryl, 26, is currently sheltering in Los Angeles to focus on her work and escape the paparazzi. Whilst Ashley has had to leave their £6m surrey mansion. Gutted!
ITALY Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister and renowned lothario is being taken to court by his wife, Victoria Lario amidst rumours of his affairs and inappropriate behaviour with minors. Italy and its Prime minister must prepare themselves for what will prove to be a damaging and scandalous divorce.
CHINA Google, most sixth former’s lifeline, has threatened to pull out of China over evidence of hacking and interference with gmail. While China’s president denies this has any relationship to the Chinese government, it is seemingly the last straw for Google, who in January threatened to discontinue their censorship of China’s web results.
TUNES unheard of With Julia Kisray♪ For most people in this day and age, listening and loving music is a lifelong commitment. We live in a world with such a variety of music and the easiest accessibility to it all, it’s a magical thing. Think you’ve heard it all? Think again! Here’s some new unheard music to keep you on your toes. If the most traumatic thing that’s happened to you is having nits when you were five, and you can handle any form of chaos and anarchy, listen to songs such as Chrome Rainbow by Dananananakroyd (yes, that’s their name) and Colours by These New Puritans. If you’re more of a smooth crooner, in with the lounge and modern jazz sound, listen to Ghostwriter by RJD2 and Hyph Mngo by Joy Orbison.
If you’re into electronic, and you know Paul and Rachel Chandler (no relation to what I mean by “rub-a-dub-dub” listen our head of PE!) from Tunbridge Wells in to Positif by Mr Oizo and all remixes Kent (about an hour from Roedean), were by Djedjotronic, Culture Prophet and kidnapped in the Indian Ocean whilst Rusko. For the lovers of hip-hop, from travelling from Tanzania to the Seychelles. Sugarhill Gang to Snoop Dogg, give To The couple, still in the custody of the Protect and Entertain by Busy P, Elbow Somalian pirates are feared to be in Grease by Percy Filth and My Escape desperately poor health as the British by Chris Fields, Timbaland and Brandy government refuse to meet the wishes of a listen. If you’re like me and enjoy your classical, mo-town, 80s, 90s, bluegrass and world music, then keep your eyes peeled for my bigger and better articles coming to a Boudicca Bulletin near you soon.
IRAN Marjan Kalhor, has overcome many obstacles such as a lack of modern skiing infrastructure and religious values, to become the first woman to compete in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics for Iran, the talented athlete who was born and trained in Iran has been hailed as a role model for other Muslim women from her country and around the world.
SYDNEY More than five thousand men and women braved a chilly autumn morning to pose nude on the steps of the Sydney Opera House for American photographer Spencer Tunick. Tunick who is famed for his photographs of mass public nudity will not be commissioned to take Roedean’s next school photograph.
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Feminism and Roedean Are we holding up our own glass ceiling? By Jasmine Gordon-Brown What better place is there for breeding strong willed, independent, and opinionated young women than an all-girls school? Once upon a time people with the qualities I have just outlined would have been collectively called feminists; women who defied the natural order with the aim of achieving some small form of equality, even just to obtain the right to vote. Today, however, we see a new feminist arising, she who considers herself to be able to do the same as, or even much more than, the average man. Some may call her the empowered woman. But the question is, are we of the same breed as these third-wave feminists? Do we feel empowered at Roedean? The origin of feminism is Britain is often considered to be the rise of the suffragettes in the late 19th century. They achieved their main goal with the introduction of the “Qualification of Women Act” in 1918, which allowed women over the age of 30 years old to vote. The campaign for suffrage at the time was a massive political struggle, and is usually remembered through the courageous and heroic struggles of individuals such as Emmeline Pankhurst and Emily Davison, who famously died whilst attempting to stop the Epsom Derby in protest by throwing herself in front of the king’s horse. Whilst we cannot know the true aspirations of these women, I think it is fair to say that the drive towards social and economic independence from their male counterparts emerged much later. This is represented in the large gap in movement activity between 1928 with the Representation of The People Act (both genders 21 years old to vote) and the Equal Pay Act, 1970. Women returned to their family life with the knowledge of having more political freedom, but happy to retain the values they had always known. It may appear that this break in activity was when feminism really died away and consequently why we do not consider equal rights today to be a problem of our generation. Why, you ask, should women ever need to return to an era where chaos dominated our politics when we can just stay as we are? (Or to
mimic Monty Python: “What has feminism ever done for us?”) The answer lies with the few women who carried on protesting and in the end brought a much greater freedom in the UK than the suffragettes could have ever imagined was possible. In the Western world, we have long embraced freedom of speech as part of our culture. The USA was founded on such beliefs, and the Wyoming territory in the USA was the first place to give women the vote (in 1869). However the first country to give women the vote was New Zealand. There was, in fact, a greater struggle in the Western world for women to voice their opinions. One of the great feminists of this period was Florynce Kennedy. Having graduated from law school in 1951, she already signaled to be a strong woman, with a high power job. She lead pro-choice work on abortion and showed her determination when she left the National Organisation for Women because she disagreed with their attitude towards change. She was one of the first women to express her freedom without limits or a need for support, just showing how she could make a difference in people’s attitudes alone (I encourage you to look up some of her quotes, which unfortunately are not suitable for publishing).
“Gender is just an excuse nowadays; women use it to gain an advantage but blame it if something goes wrong.” Returning to matters more relevant to Roedean, the whole foundation of women’s education relied on free-thinking women. A woman with academic prowess would not have been celebrated, but instead taught to sew, cook, and care for a family. The Lawrence sisters set up a school which delved into
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this “unnecessary education” and this would have labelled them as holding very liberal opinions. So even though the word “feminist” carries negative connotations for some Roedeanians today, I imagine that few students could envisage a life without education. “Feminism is a dirty word at Roedean”. This quote from Mr. Thompson identifies the development that has taken place in the way young women think over the decades, so that even the people who have benefited most from the greater liberty forced into existence by the boundless activists of yesterday do not appreciate the success it has given them in the present day. With education, women are now breaking through into some of the most powerful positions in the world. According to www.forbes.com the most powerful woman in politics at the moment is Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, and in business it is Indra Nooyi, Chief executive of PepsiCo. Although the aspiration of the entire student body may not be to become the next world leader, it is no longer an impossible goal to obtain. In some of the leading professions, for example Medicine, numbers of females students are overtaking males and you may have also witnessed how girls excelled boys in many of last year’s GCSE and A Level examinations. However, despite these encouraging facts, for some the glass ceiling remains. There are still a great number of male dominated jobs, a recent example being the number of influential female bankers. In the UK Parliament the percentage of female MPs is still an unfair representation of the total females in the population, with the percentage standing at just under 20% of female MPs. The causes of this issue, which it undeniably is, can cause debate. It could be that women are still more likely to give up their jobs before they reach a high powered position. The prioritisation of career aspirations over social/maternal obligations is one of the downfalls of work orientation that Mrs. McGregor addressed at Speech Day. Alternatively, as many people argue, are we still just tapping on a glass ceiling? The most powerful woman in the UK Government, Harriet Harman, was looking to tackle this problem. She proposed a “Gender 20” summit that would act as the equivalent of the maledominated “G20” summit. This was described as “a feminist outburst”. Reactions like that, which scoff at the very existence of the woman who tries not to pretend she is a man, make me believe that we still face an issue of discrimination in some areas of politics and business. The comments, unsurprisingly made by men, also highlight a fear and resentment which has become part of the public psyche, much as it did with the suffragettes where journalists were able to print exaggerated and negative imagery of the protestors without reparations. Then it is no mystery that we are reluctant to label ourselves and that we instead try to fit in with the crowd. Hannah Redwood, Lower 6, said “Gender is just an excuse nowadays; women use it to gain an advantage but blame it if something goes wrong”. This may hold some truth, but this “excuse” may be one of the only weapons we wield against such cynicism. As it is easy for men to attribute insanity to the values of feminism it is also easy for me to find men whose arguments against women holding powerful positions are deeply flawed. Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson founded many organizations and corporations, including the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) and the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). He said of feminism “[It is] a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.” So would we in the Roedean community, consider ourselves die hard feminists? Probably not, but perhaps we have a duty to.
“… even the people who have benefited most from the greater liberty forced into existence by the boundless activists of yesterday do not appreciate the success it has given them in the present day.”
“What has feminism ever done for us?”
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ORA By Annabel Daniels The Old Roedeanians’ Association (ORA) was founded in 1900. The ORA continues today and they aspire to allow students who have left the school to keep in contact with members of staff and pupils still in school or have left. The main aims of the ORA are to keep alive the spirit instilled by the founders of the School, to provide a link between Old Roedeanians, the School and each other, and to sustain interest in the school and in the Old Roedeanians’ Association. The ORA also aim to hold reunions and social events at the school and elsewhere, to maintain a list of Old Roedeanians and their addresses and other appropriate details, to support the Old Roedeanians’ Scholarship Fund, and to provide support and assistance to the School. ORA centres have been set up in the USA and in South Africa, there is also currently one being set up in Hong Kong. To be a member and have a subscription with the ORA you have to have been a member of Roedean School for a minimum of two years. Long serving members of staff are invited to become honorary members, by approval of the committee. The ORA publishes a yearly magazine, as well as an ORA newsletter. The association sells a variety of Roedean merchandise, including mugs, aprons and playing cards; all emblazoned with the Roedean emblem, the name or the Roedean deer. The ORA is managed by an elected committee, and a President heads the Committee, assisted by a Vice President, an Honorary Treasurer, a Membership Secretary, Social Secretary, Minutes Secretary, Magazine Editor, three Trustees, together with student members. They also have various meetings throughout the year, for OR’s to get together. All dates are published in the calendar of events, which is sent to all members of the ORA so then they can attend them.
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