Sunday Circle Issue 237 by JessDoodles

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SEPTEMBER 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; ISSUE NO. 237

FeminiSm We ask: does Malta still need it? page 49

ALS The painful truth beyond the ice bucket challenge page 43

Andrew ChetCuti

The US-based Maltese Olympic swimmer on competing in the big pond page 14

STEPHEN XUEREB Valletta Cruise Port CEO Stephen Xuereb has his hands on all decks. He tells David Schembri how he navigates through bureaucracy and the stormy waters of the market, all while keeping his feet on the ground page 10

14 masthead

. contents . interview

10 cruise control

Stephen Xuereb, Valletta Cruise Port CEO, runs a tight ship. He walks David Schembri through the complexity his role entails

27 popping science

Science in the City organiser Edward Duca is on a mission to bring science and people closer together, Philip Leone-Ganado discovers

sports

14 big fish

US-based Olympic Swimmer Andrew Chetcuti tells Philip Leone-Ganado about competing in the big pond

55 the next karate kid

International fighter Emma Grech gives Philip LeoneGanado an insight into the ancient art of karate

art

18 ducklings and dragons

David Schembri meets Iella, the prolific purveyor of weird and wonderful drawings

current affairs

35 naming and staining

In the light of recent court cases involving accusations of sexual abuse, Philip Leone-Ganado asks: is it just to associate a person’s name with a crime they might be innocent of?

39 in praise of Zieme

A bronze statue of a horse with a missing leg is just what the country needs, David Schembri writes

49 who needs feminism anyway? There is an increasing number of people calling themselves “feminists”. Claire Bonello asks local academics if it’s really all that necessary nowadays

health

43 beyond the ice bucket

In the cold wake of the latest internet sensation, David Schembri looks at the devastation ALS causes in the lives of sufferers and those around them

61 dental smile makeover

Dr Jean Paul Demajo highlights all you need to know about giving your smile a makeover

heritage

63 reorganising malta

18 000 Sunday Circle | September 2014

David Schembri speaks to Dion Buhagiar and Joseph Lia, who want to bring back the magic of organ music to Maltese audiences

regulars 4 a word from the editor 6 c body 8 c style 68 shopping coMpetition 8 win an essa backpack 68 back to school Win two pairs of children’s Pablosky shoes

Send your letterS to: Philip Leone-Ganado, the editor, Sunday Circle, Network Publications Ltd, Level 12, A3 Tower, Triq l-Arkata, Paola, or email: philip@networkpublications.com.mt. The editor reserves the right to edit letters for clarity and where space is limited. For advertising enquiries email: renee@networkpublications.com.mt or call: 2131 6326/7/8. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole, or in part, is strictly prohibited without written permission. Opinions expressed in the Sunday Circle are not necessarily those of the editor or publishers. All reasonable care is taken to ensure truth and accuracy, but the editor and publishers cannot be held responsible for errors or omissions in articles, advertising, photographs or illustrations. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome, but cannot be returned without a stamped, self-addressed envelope. The editor is not responsible for material submitted for consideration.

A word from

the editor

Unless you’ve been living under a rock – watertight and

not getting out of the water any time soon: olympic

with no wifi connection – you’ve heard of the ALS Ice

swimmer Andrew Chetcuti gives us an insight into life on

Bucket Challenge. You’re probably tired of it by now. Yet

a swimming scholarship in the US, and what it takes to

as the ice finally melts, for ALS patients and their relatives,

represent your country at the highest level. we also meet

the struggle goes on. This month, we speak to a family

businessmen and comic book artists, explore feminism and

struck by the debilitating disease, and explore the reality

pop science – and take a peek at the three-legged horse

behind the hype. Elsewhere, as summer draws to an end,

that’s mysteriously appeared just inside Valletta.

many of us are racing to get our last few swims of the season. In a counterpoint to it, we meet one person who’s

winners box Alexia Sciberras from Baħar ic-Cagħaq is the winner of our August shopping competition and wins a €200 voucher to spend at GS Superstore. Alexia (centre) is

This and more inside. Thanks for reading. PUBLISHEr John Formosa

NeTwORk PublicATiONs lTd

PUBLICATIoN & SALES mANAGEr www.sundaycircle.com

SEPTEMBER 2014 – ISSUE NO. 237

EdITorIAL Philip Leone-Ganado

FeminiSm We ask: does Malta still need it? page 49

ediTOR

ALS The painful truth beyond the ice bucket challenge

David Schembri

page 43

Andrew ChetCuti

dePuTY ediTOR

page 14

Claire Bonello

The US-based Maltese Olympic swimmer on competing in the big pond

with Jessica Borg from Network Publications (right)

cONTRibuTOR

ArT & dESIGN Sarah Scicluna

pictured here receiving her prize from GS Superstore

Renée Micallef Decesare

ART diRecTOR

CoVEr PErSoNALITY

Jessica Camilleri

Stephen Xuereb

seNiOR desiGNeR

CoVEr PHoTo

SALES & mArKETING

Jacob Sammut

Jessica Borg

PHOTOGRAPHY

suPPleMeNTs sAles MANAGeR

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Sunday Circle | September 2014

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CreaTe yoUr own sTyle Design, multitasking and timelessness: these are the distinctive features of the new project for Marella, a collection of versatile items, all of which made of a single fabric: ART. 365. Ranging from overalls to dresses, from skirts to blouses, from jackets to trousers, the project focuses on practicality, with the watchword “create your own style”. The whole range of garments can be mixed & matched and is suitable for all seasons, for any occasion. Marella, Bisazza Street, Sliema, Tel: 2258 2788

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Sunday Circle | September 2014

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COVER STORY

CRUISE CONTROL VALLETTA CRUISE PORT CEO STEPHEN XUEREB HAS HIS HANDS ON ALL DECKS. HE TELLS DAVID SCHEMBRI HOW HE NAVIGATES THROUGH BUREAUCRACY AND THE STORMY WATERS OF THE MARKET, ALL WHILE KEEPING HIS FEET ON THE GROUND

s Stephen Xuereb walks along the Valletta Waterfront, the people working there – be they in the secure port area, the offices, or one of the restaurants and shops lining the front – greet him with a friendly familiarity. Having been there since the very beginning of the Valletta Cruise Port (VCP) adventure, Stephen has grown into the role of CEO after spending many years on the ground. If you asked for Stephen by name at his hometown of Mellieħa, you’re likely to get no response. “We’re known as ta’ Zammit in Mellieħa – if you asked for Stephen Xuereb you’d be greeted with a blank look,” Stephen recounts. Funnily enough, his wife Moira, whom he married in 1997, was also Zammit, but now, along with their sons, Luke, 14, and Jake, 11, they all share the Xuereb surname. His career started early on, opting to start work with an audit firm upon finishing sixth form, while simultaneously reading for an accountancy qualification. After some years in auditing, he joined a local group of companies, where he eventually became the group financial controller. “That was a business that ranged across retail, hospitality, and property,

Sunday Circle | September 2014

Photography Jacob Sammut

so it was quite a nice mix,” he says of that time. This melange, in turn, contributed to what he considers to be his greatest strength: “I was never your typical financial controller who would just look at the numbers – I always looked at every aspect of a business.” Joining VCP (then VISET) as a financial controller in 2002, when it had just taken over the cruise port from the Malta Maritime Authority, Stephen has been there through all its stages of development starting the infrastructural works required to get the Valletta Waterfront to its present shape. As construction workers toiled to turn the waterfront from a run-down port area to a destination in itself, so too Stephen was hard at work – juggling his ever-demanding job along with a part-time MBA, all while being a husband and a father. In turn, he felt the MBA gave him a more complete view of the world of business, which serves him well in his current role, which he stepped up to on June 1st this year after having been appointed Chief Financial Officer in 2009. If you had to take all the areas and issues Stephen had to deal with and plot them on a Venn diagram, you would end up wondering what sort of flower had so many petals. “We are essentially a transportation project, having to deal with service providers and agents – the cruise business is licensed and regulated, so we have to deal with Transport Malta. We are a tourist project, so we have to deal with the MTA,” the CEO explains. “We are also a developer, so we have to deal with MEPA… so the business is complex.” There are also cruise lines to attract to our shores, agents, customs, service providers… the list goes on, and that’s just the cruise port side of things. The Valletta Waterfront sees Stephen deal with tenants of the bars and

COVER STORY

September 2014 | Sunday Circle 11

COVER STORY

“I can safely say that we have one of the best cruise ports in the world. It is just beautiful – you don’t find cruise ports like ours”

restaurants, of the sought-after office space, the various shops – including a pharmacy – on the front, and the yacht marina. Has the ministry for simplification of bureaucracy helped, I ask. “We haven’t been in touch yet, but that’s something I am considering,” he replies with a hint of a smile. Regular visits to cruise lines are part and parcel of the job, in order to keep Malta on the cruise line’s radar. Being the southernmost port in Europe, Malta risks being left out of cruise itineraries as rising fuel costs contract drive cruise lines to keep to ports which are closer to one another.

requires no small dose of creativity – one initiative he mentions is the work VCP has been doing to allow cruise ships to keep their casinos open while in Maltese territorial waters. “To us, it doesn’t make a difference whether the casino on board is open or not,” the CEO remarks. What it might do, however, is allow them to stay overnight in Malta, paving the way for excursions showcasing aspects of Malta that cruise passengers often miss out on, such as village feasts and the nightlife. There are other avenues to consider: “We also want to combine Malta and Gozo, while promoting both as distinct products.”

“I can safely say that we have one of the best cruise ports in the world. It is just beautiful – you don’t find cruise ports like ours,” Stephen says, pointing out that many other ports have to be shared with industrial and cargo operations. “Valletta Cruise Port is a destination in its own right. Though this is appealing to cruise passengers, it means they buy less excursions than cruise lines would wish. This is a challenging situation for Malta; while passenger satisfaction ratings are high, port profitability for cruise lines can be improved,” Stephen explains, hinting at why his job can be challenging. The response to these challenges

Unsurprisingly, his day is full of meetings, to the point that his PA has to set up 15-minute meetings with him to keep up – and she works just across his office. And his plate keeps getting fuller. VCP is in talks with government (two ministries, no less) on housing a contemporary art museum in the Powerhouse, which housed Malta’s first power station. The vacant Atrium area is also due for development into parking spaces, retail outlets and more office space. Thankfully, he knows how to delegate, and he can trust his people, whom he knows well, having been on the ground for so long himself.

Sunday Circle | September 2014

“It’s useless having managers if you don’t empower them. I want them to take initiative, I want them to take decisions as long as they fall within their remit,” Stephen says. Anyone with such a busy schedule could be excused for doing not much else, but not Stephen. Apart from representing VCP on the Tourism Consultative Committee, Stephen, in his own capacity, is also on the Valletta 2018 board of governors, as well as on the Malta Football Association licensing board. An avid Liverpool supporter, he no longer plays football but has instead taken up running with Mellieħa A.C., which he finds does not interfere with his professional or family life, with his runs happening very early in the day. “Running is a stress reliever, it keeps me fit and gives me some time alone with myself.” And he can’t seem to get enough of the sea. On Saturday mornings, along with his father, Anthony, and his two sons, Stephen gets on a boat and goes fishing. Three generations of Xuerebs, together, on one boat. But for the villagers looking on from Mellieħa, those four men are still ta’ Zammit.

M A LTA 6 0 , B i s a z z a S t r e e t , S l i e m a , Te l . + 3 5 6 2 1 3 1 6 0 4 5 malta.shop@canali.it canali.com

SPORTS

BIG FISH

FOR MOST, SIMPLY COMPETING AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES IS THE CULMINATION OF A CAREER. FOR SWIMMER ANDREW CHETCUTI, IT’S JUST THE BEGINNING. PHILIP LEONE-GANADO FINDS OUT WHAT GOES INTO MAKING AN OLYMPIAN Photography Jacob Sammut

Sunday Circle | September 2014

t is perhaps strange that, for a tiny island surrounded by water, Malta has not had greater success where swimming is concerned. Stranger still, that for one of the brightest sparks of the current crop, the considerable success that he has already achieved all began with a move to the desert. Andrew Chetcuti was just three years old when his father took up a job with Emirates Airlines, prompting the whole family to relocate to Dubai. “I loved it,” says Andrew of growing up in the hustle and bustle of the Middle East. “Being exposed to a lot of different cultures, seeing how things are done around the world...It’s much easier to travel from Dubai as well, so it meant I could travel to a lot of competitions abroad – around Europe, the Middle East, even the US now and again. I think had I stayed in Malta I wouldn’t be where I am today.” What he credits his Dubai upbringing with more than anything is introducing him to professional swimming culture – an introduction that has led him

SPORTS

to his current swimming scholarship at Georgia Tech University in Atlanta, where he is also reading for a degree in Biology. “It’s crazy,” he laughs. “My team alone is 30 guys and 30 girls – and we’re a small team compared to other universities. We’re training in the 1996 Olympic Games pool. There’s a competition with another school every two weeks, so training is always competitive, you’re constantly pushing yourself. It’s great.”

on his skin. “I was like a little kid. I had butterflies the whole time. In the village, seeing Michael Phelps or Usain Bolt just casually walking around...I’ll never forget it. Then the opening ceremony: walking out, and seeing 100,000 people looking at you as your country’s being called out, I was shaking. The night before my race I was wide awake. I get butterflies even just thinking about it again. It was the best experience of my life.”

Now 21, Andrew holds national records in five individual disciplines (butterfly and freestyle) and two relay, and has represented Malta in everything from the Swimming World Championships to the Small Nations Games – during which he won two Silvers and a Bronze. Then, of course, there’s the small matter of taking part in the Olympic Games in London two years ago. “I got the news the day of a meet in Andorra,” he recalls. “I was still in heavy training so I wasn’t expecting any fast times, but once I got that news, I broke the national record in the 100 metre freestyle right after.”

Above all, it has also given him a thirst for more. “I definitely wasn’t expecting to get any medals or anything like that. It’s my first Olympic Games, so I definitely needed that immersion into Olympic Culture. If I hadn’t had that in 2012, I wouldn’t have known what to expect in 2016.” His ambitions for the next six years, which is as far as he sees himself swimming at the highest level, are laid out with precision. “I want to make an Olympic final, I want to make a Commonwealth Games final and get a medal there, and I want to make a World Championships Final. Those are my big three ambitions.”

Although he didn’t make it through his heat, finishing third, the experience has left an indelible mark on Andrew’s mind – and, in the form of a tattoo of the Olympic Rings,

The goals may sound lofty, but Andrew is bearing down on them with single-minded determination.

September 2014 | Sunday Circle 15

SPORTS

“When I don’t swim during exams I get way more stressed out because I can’t work that stress out through swimming”

His current training regimen at Georgia Tech takes in 10 main sessions a week, supplemented by gym work, dry-land and mobility sessions. “Legally, we’re only supposed to go up to 22 hours,” he laughs. “But I’m pretty sure we go over that.” Alongside all this, he is also going strong in his academic career, with the ultimate goal of achieving a Doctorate in Physical Therapy. In this sense, he sees himself and his colleagues as living refutation of the old assumption that sports and academia make for uneasy bedfellows. Student athletes at Georgia Tech, he says, have a higher Grade Point Average than other students, and the university supports its athletes by providing them with a dedicated academic coach, allowing them to pick classes before the rest of the student body, to better fit in with their rigorous schedules. “Sports is actually good for your grades because it gives you time management skills and things like that. I think, even here in Malta, parents also need to push their kids and not make them take three months out for exams. Keep them training, maybe not as much, but keep them in the water – when I don’t swim during exams I get way more stressed out because I can’t work that stress out through swimming.” Although he has spent most of his life beyond these shores, Andrew still retains a very strong connection with his country of birth. On the day of our interview at the National Pool, he is on the island to compete in the National Championships and having recently transferred to Sirens, he has also taken on a coaching role with the club – and hopes to one day open his own swimming school on the island. But he is circumspect when asked to give an opinion on the state of the local swimming scene, pointing to improvements over the last few years, but at the same time lamenting the precedence – financially and otherwise – given to waterpolo over all other aquatic sports. “Even for waterpolo to advance, you need to bring up the other sports,” he adds. “When I went to New York to train, they had no idea who I was, but when I told them I swim for Malta, that I’m a national swimmer, immediately they closed off a lane for me so that I could train. In Malta I have to argue just to get a lane, and I’m actually from this country. I just think that’s a bit crazy. I’m not spoiled, but there isn’t enough support. It’s very hard when there’s nobody supporting what you’re doing.” Unsurprisingly, though, Andrew seems more comfortable talking about what goes in inside the pool than outside it. “I love competing,” he says when I ask what drives him. “Swimming isn’t something I get stressed about: I zone out, I go into a different mindset where I don’t think about anything. Even during the hardest workout, I’m relaxed because I’m doing what I love.”

Sunday Circle | September 2014

ART

Sunday Circle | September 2014

ART

DUCKLINGS & DRAGONS ILLUSTRATOR DANIELA ATTARD – AKA IELLA – IS SLOWLY BUT SURELY BUILDING HER NICHE AS AN ARTIST. HERE, SHE TELLS DAVID SCHEMBRI ABOUT VIDEO GAMES, CROWDFUNDING AND WORKING AT CARTOON NETWORK Illustration Iella

aniela Attard has made hundreds – if not thousands – of drawings. And yet, tattooed on the inside of her right forearm is a drawing which has been made over hundreds of years. It is an Ensō, a circle drawn in one or two strokes, which in Zen Buddhism expresses a moment in which the mind is free to create. And if you look at Daniela’s – known as Iella – work so far, she needs that moment as often as she can. Apart from working as an illustrator on a bewildering array of projects – from comic book illustration to designing video game assets – the Londonbased 25-year-old has successfully crowdfunded a graphic novel adaptation of The Ugly Duckling, and earned herself a job at none other than Cartoon Network. Iella’s love of lines and shapes all started with gaming, specifically a website called Neopets. “It was this game where you had an online pet, and you’d just decorate it… it was quite stupid, but most people my age have played this game. Weird start, I know,” Iella says. As time went on, she kept up drawing, until it came to a point where she could not see herself doing much else. Having got into the Medical Laboratory Science course in university, she soon realised that she wanted to be more creative, and five months into the course she quit. She started taking life-drawing classes, sat for her art A-level and enrolled into the History of Art course. “I was a bit of a misfit there – I was the only one drawing constantly while lectures were going on. And they’re not going to stop you from doodling, because it’s an art history course. It wasn’t bad, but I wished I could have gone to art school,” she says. In the meantime, her life drawing lessons were going well, and her tutor, Eman Grima, noticed that with her lineheavy work, Iella should consider going into illustration. After learning that illustrators worked on comics and posters, she decided it was the way for her

Photography David Schembri

to go. “Illustrators tend to be more focused on telling a story through a picture rather than coming up with some crazy concept,” Iella says. “I have issues with some fine art. I prefer the representational side of things.” What her images represent, however, is another matter. Her personal work often has a dark tinge to it, with the artist conjuring monsters and dragons. “I really like drawing creepy things. I think there’s a certain enjoyment in creating a character or creating a monster. I just automatically draw this kind of thing,” Iella says. She works both on digital and using traditional materials, with her digital drawings being more fantasy oriented, while her drawings tend to be “much creepier”. That said, her work isn’t limited to fantasy creatures; indeed, the word “limited” is perhaps the least useful one you could use to describe her output – as a freelance illustrator, she has to work to a brief, and she reports that she’s often happy to do things which she would not automatically do herself. “I try to understand the client and I try to be as nice as possible. I want to treat my clients as I would want them to treat me, and I generally think that if someone trusted me enough to give me a job, I should do your best to deliver,” she says. In the Maltese art scene, video-game loving Iella felt she was once again the misfit: “I’m an adult who likes things like comics, cartoons and video games, and in Malta that seems to be frowned upon. The mentality is strange; it’s slowly changing but it’s still limited.” Her ticket out of the country was her MA in Illustration at Kingston College, London, where she still lives. The experience made her friends and connections, and placed her in one of the world’s most vibrant cities. It is also one of the most expensive cities, and in staying there following her degree saw Iella shift up a gear to stay there, immersing herself in every project she could – “I worked very hard. I did every networking event I could do,” she says. “I did two crowdfunded projects to help me keep making things, because it’s very easy to stay in your room and do nothing all day.”

September 2014 | Sunday Circle 19

ART

In the process, the somewhat hermitic artist had to learn how to promote herself and brush up on her entrepreneurial skills. “Building your network is something that’s very important in the arts, unfortunately. You need skill, but you do need a network to proceed and get a proper job,” she says. That proper job came through a – paid – internship at Cartoon Network, through – you guessed it – her network of contacts. She now works as an illustrator and designer in the off-air creative team. “We work on everything that comes after the cartoons,” she explains. “Most of the animated shows are made in America, but we do everything from graphic design – posters, print art – to concept art, I’ve done packaging, concept art for projects I’m not allowed to speak about…” The job means she has to copy the style of the series she is working on; it also means she gets to work on her favourite cartoon, Adventure Time. “It’s made in the US, so it’s unlikely I’ll get to work on the show anytime soon. Storyboarding is something that I do, so it would be nice to do some storyboards or character design for an animated show,” she says. One of the biggest malaises for working artists nowadays is people expecting them to work for free or for exposure, a practice which is rampant nowadays. “People know that they can get away with it, because artists tend to see exposure as something worth working free for, when in reality they’re being taken advantage of.” Her Kickstarter campaign was a printed edition of Hans Christian Andresen’s The Ugly Duckling in comic form. “Most people doing comics in London were funding their projects using Kickstarter, so I thought I’d might as well see if I could do it myself. Everyone loves an ugly duckling, it’s adorable,” she says. There are parallels to her life in the story. “I was picked on, at school. I have a scar on my face – I had a birthmark on my face, and I had surgery to remove it as a kid, and I do identify with the ugly duckling story because of it. Nowadays I’m over it – it’s kind of cool to have a scar because yeah, it’s different.” Right now, she is working on the fourth edition of Pilot, a comic anthology she makes with her friends, a one-shot comic, a children’s book, and asset design for video games, all while preparing for comic conventions which are coming up. Ironically, ever since announcing she would be taking on less freelance work because of her full-time job, more and more requests came flooding in. “I don’t sleep much. As a result, when I started my day job and kept freelancing I ended up being hospitalised after a sleep-deprived panic attack.” It might appear that even the Ensō has its limits – and that’s as far as Iella will stretch. Iella is taking part in SELFIE, an exhibition of self-portraits on show at Studio 104, St Lucy Street, Valletta, between September 13 and October 18

Sunday Circle | September 2014

Artists tend to see exposure as something worth working free for, when in reality they're being taken advantage of

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aying that Jean Marc Pontroué’s personal watch is unique is no ordinary understatement – it is like saying a Ferrari is “fast”, or that Mount Everest is “high”. Pontroué is the affable CEO of Roger Dubuis watches, a high-end Swiss watchmaker that proudly displays its artful watch mechanisms in glorious detail on its timepieces – locally available only through Gioielleria Zampa. In Pontroué’s case, part of the mechanism of his watch includes his initials – JMP – made in metal. “The watch would not work without these initials,” he says, with more than a hint of pride. That pride is not unjustified. Founded in 1995 by its namesake, formerly a watchmaker at Patek Philippe, the Roger Dubuis wristwatches brand has quickly made a name for itself for challenging the expectations of what a Swiss watch should look and feel like, while at the same time remaining 100 per cent Swiss. While the criteria for a watch to be called Swiss do not guarantee the watch to be entirely made in Switzerland, Roger Dubuis watches are not only fully Swiss-made, but this brand is the only watchmaker to have the “Poinçon de Genève” hallmark on its entire production. This hallmark is a guarantee of the finest Swiss craftsmanship, performance and durability. In fact, watches bearing this hallmark cannot be made outside of the Canton of Geneva. A Roger Dubuis watch can take up to 2,400 working hours to make, with every last part, down to screws you can’t see, being finished by hand. What goes inside one of these watches is mesmerising – so much so, that Mr Dubuis decided to expose the intricate mechanisms and integrate them as part of the watch’s design, as he was convinced that people would not only be interested in the exterior design, but also in the very soul of the watch. “From the very first day, Monsieur Dubuis, who is still active in the company, decided to display this cocktail of incredible mechanics and movements, exclusive to our brand, which is so fundamental to our wristwatches’

spectacular designs. For hundreds of years, the more fashionable your watch was, the more it was at an open price point,” says the CEO, who joined the company three years ago after working at Mont Blanc. “Roger Dubuis was the very first man to decide to change established trends by introducing spectacular design, but associated with very strong mechanical content. We were the first brand 20 years ago to change the ingredients of what made a high-end watch,” he says. This sort of approach distinguishes the brand from the hundreds of other Swiss watchmakers it is in competition with. “It’s like a Ferrari – you do not buy one because it’s red, but because of the engine inside it. All our movements are open, because we want to show that our mechanism is one that you won’t find in other brands,” Pontroué says. Roger Dubuis watches, then, are designed for connoisseurs. “We are not a logo. We are not a name brand. We are a brand for connoisseurs, we are for people who are after exclusivity. Our customers do not need reassurance from Mr X or Ms Y, because they are celebrities themselves.” This exclusivity is taken a step further in the Rarities scheme, where buyers can work with an individual watchmaker and ask for their very own movement to be made – just like Pontroué has. “There are numerous brands which make limited edition wristwatches with special dials or straps, but there is no other brand that tailormakes a customer’s own wristwatch movement,” he winks knowingly. This is made possible by the fact that Roger Dubuis watches are made entirely in the company’s integrated manufacturing facility. “We do everything here,” he says, pointing at his own watch. “Except alligator straps. We don’t have alligators in our country – yet.” Roger Dubuis watches are exclusively available at Gioielleria Zampa in Republic Street, Valletta and Portomaso. September 2014 | Sunday Circle 23

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SCIENCE

POPPING SCIENCE ou may not think a dance stage a natural home for a scientific experiment, but Mind Set, a unique performance taking place later this month at the Science in the City festival does just that. Mind Set will see audience members given headsets measuring the electrical activity of their brain, which will modify the theatre’s lighting and sound design accordingly. The dancers, in turn, will shift their choreography in time with the changing

EDWARD DUCA IS A MAN ON A MISSION – BRINGING SCIENCE AND THE PUBLIC CLOSER TOGETHER. AHEAD OF SCIENCE IN THE CITY, PHILIP LEONE-GANADO GETS UP TO SPEED Photography Jacob Sammut

audio and lights, creating a unique interplay between dance, neurological activity, sound and light.

brandy with Professor Alex Felice from the Physiology and Biochemistry department at the University of Malta.

This is not the first time the annual festival, now in its third edition, has thrown up such intriguing blends of art and science: you may remember Norbert Francis Attard’s You are the Staircase, a spectacular six-metre spiral staircase formed from the outline of a single strand of DNA magnified hundreds of thousands of times, conceived during an evening of

“Scientists and artists do sometimes speak different languages,” reflects festival organiser Edward Duca on the collaborations he has overseen. “But there are scientists with artistic talent and artists who are inspired by science. Dalí died with a copy of Stephen Hawking and Charles Darwin. Einstein played the violin.” September 2014 | Sunday Circle 27

SCIENCE

“It’s not the scientist preaching to the public...we’re talking to each other” Edward, 31, is one of a new breed of science professionals making it their mission to bring science out of labs and academic journals and into the hands of the public – bridging the gap between science professionals and the rest of us. “A large swath of the public sees the word science and thinks: that’s hard, and their brain switches off,” he explains. “You can try to explain, but there’s an instinctive fear. Maybe they had a bad experience at school, or somebody told them they’re not clever enough. But on the other hand, scientists are so specialised in their field that they think and speak and write in a way that other scientists can understand, but that the general public can’t.” Worldwide, science communication is enjoying something of a renaissance – scientists are coming up with ever-more innovative ways to bring their work to the public eye in an entertaining and easilydigestible form, tailor-made courses are sprouting up at major universities, and 28

Sunday Circle | September 2014

professionals in the media and arts fields are getting involved in genre-bending collaborations. In Malta, Edward is its leading voice. He was introduced to the concept while reading for a PhD in Genetics at the University of Edinburgh, where, in close contact with the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, he was exposed to communicators as diverse as “Science Butlers” and “Techno Clowns”: “It was all so much fun,” he says. “So I thought: how do I turn this into a job?” And while it’s tempting to see his role – which also includes editing the University’s research magazine Think, and organising accessible science presentations under the banner of Café Scientifique – in terms of science popularisation, Edward insists that his vision goes beyond that. “Popularisation is a one-way process. Science communication is the next step: it’s not the scientist preaching to the public: the scientist can collaborate with society; we’re talking to each other.”

One form Edward sees this taking is citizen science, where the public actually collaborates on a piece of research. The online game Foldit, for example, from the University of Washington’s Centre for Game Science, gamified the process of folding the structure of various proteins, an exercise which humans are better suited to than computers, and which would have taken researchers hundreds of hours. “Another part of it is listening to what the public thinks is important for research and is comfortable doing research in,” he adds. “This is crucial in areas like GMOs, stem cells, animal research... If we want the public to vote on topics like these, they need to be informed. In general, unfortunately, the public doesn’t fully understand certain ideas. When do we have political issues being discussed from a scientific perspective?” The ultimate goal, Edward says, is scientific literacy across all sectors of the population:

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“It’s an ambitious dream,” he smiles, “but I want to see all of Malta understanding basic scientific concepts.” His different projects, in fact, all have different appeals. Think takes its cue from Wired and New Scientist, designed to share the stories of the university and its researchers, targeting the academically-engaged but designed attractively enough that it sits comfortably on a newsagent stand alongside commercial magazines. Café Scientifique, the local iteration of a global movement promising fun and engaging science in bars and cafés, targets those already interested in science, but at any level. As for Science in the City, with 15,000 people attending last year, you could say it appeals to just about everyone. “Science communication needs to come at different ages,” Edward explains. “It needs to be constant.” His newest project, STEM Unplugged, draws on the established practice of taking science experiments into school, but puts an emphasis on allowing students to actually perform fun, sensational experiments themselves, which he believes helps them to really understand the principles involved. After a recent pilot project at a girls’ secondary school, he recounts, the school’s chemistry teacher told him that the number of her students had doubled. “I didn’t expect that: I always say that we’ll only see the benefits of these activities in nine years, when these students are graduating university.” There are clear metrics for the success of Edward’s endeavours of course – the number of attendees perhaps, or an increase in science graduates over time – but perhaps less tangible is the way those endeavours humanise science and scientists, dispelling the image of untouchable geniuses in ivory towers. “The cliché is that scientists are logical and artists are passionate and emotional,” says Edward, returning to Science in the City. “But there’s a human aspect in science that we forget: it’s meant to be empirical and dispassionate, but you still have scientists in conferences shouting at each other. The idea is that once you accumulate enough evidence, the best theory will win out; but often it’s who has the biggest network and who shouts loudest. Science isn’t perfect: that’s why it’s constantly changing, and it shouldn’t be dogmatic.” Science in the City is Malta’s Science and Art Festival with its big night on September 26 from 6pm to midnight. For more information visit www.scienceinthecity.org.mt or www.facebook.com/ScienceInTheCityMalta 30

Sunday Circle | September 2014

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Naming

and

Staining

In the lIght of recent court cases InvolvIng accusatIons of sexual abuse, PhIlIP leone-ganado asks: Is It just to assocIate a Personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name wIth a crIme they mIght be Innocent of?

September 2014 | Sunday Circle 35

current affairs

arely has the question of whether to publish the name of a person involved in criminal proceedings raised as much public interest as in the ongoing case of a Gozitan priest accused of sexually abusing three minors. The court’s initial decision to ban the name was overturned on appeal after the prosecution argued that there was no reason to uphold the ban, no difference between this and other cases where names were published.

situation is magnified tenfold where minors are involved – are somewhat different. The US Supreme Court has called rape “highly reprehensible, both in a moral sense and in its almost total contempt for the personal integrity and autonomy of the female victim.” For understandable and justifiable reasons, it provokes a visceral, emotive reaction within us that most other crimes

In the event, the argument was one of consistency, and of course it seems valid: behind the anger over the ban on publication was surely the fear that the priest was receiving special treatment because of some privileged position in society. Then, just days later, a school assistant head and MUSEUM tutor was charged with defiling a 10-year old boy – and named in the media. This provoked an unusually strong reaction against the charges – but the rule is that the tide often turns against the accused in these cases. Should we providing anonymity to those accused of offences like these, before their charges are proven? In the UK, the question reared its head again a few months ago, when Oxford University’s student union president Andrew Sullivan was arrested on suspicion of rape – and found himself subjected to relentless character assassination, his name dragged through the mud by everyone from student media to the Secretary General of Interpol. Five weeks later, police confirmed he wouldn’t face a single charge. By then, the damage had been done. There are of course solid reasons for naming people accused of a crime. Anonymous trials go against the public interest: as Judge Damon Keith observed: “Democracy dies behind closed doors.” That justice is not only done, but seen to be done, is fundamental to our faith in the judicial system, and the rule of law. The publication of names is also of protection to the accused himself, offering a safeguard against secret arrests and secret court proceedings. But sexual offences – rape is often mentioned as the key illustration, but the

Sunday Circle | September 2014

“Acquittal is not enough to clear a man in the eyes of his family, community or workplace” simply don’t. And as a result, for those accused, it carries with it an irrevocable stigma for the rest of their lives. “Acquittal is not enough to clear a man in the eyes of his family, community or workplace,” said Lord Corbett, the man behind a 1976 law providing pre-conviction anonymity to both accuser and accused. “He is left with this indelible stain on his reputation.

The case for matching anonymity for the defendant is as strong now as ever.” The charge, furthermore, is easy to make, but uniquely difficult to defend against – as US juries used to be notified in a cautionary warning that is no longer given. The case of the MUSEUM tutor is a perfect example: prosecution and defence agree on a version of events where the man “lightly brushed” (as the media reported) the child’s genitals while helping him out of the water, so where does the trial go from here? There is also the obvious imbalance in public coverage to consider: being charged will get you on the front page and on every website on the island; being released, should it come to that, barely makes the news at all. In circumstances like this, releasing a person’s name before he is convicted – far more in a tight-knit community like Malta, and far more still in an internet age where nothing is forgotten and a few keystrokes can draw up a person’s entire life – is tantamount to releasing the question of his guilt to the court of public opinion; effectively, given the public shaming and humiliation that suspects of these crimes are subjected to, it is to brand him a monster forever. It is to destroy future job prospects, interpersonal relationships, public reputation. “In the darker and most lonely moments, the mind turns to even more drastic measures,” wrote Nigel Evans, a British MP charged with rape and acquitted, in The Spectator. Is this fair? Only if one is guilty, but before a trial runs its course, we cannot possibly know. There is a counter-argument here, that naming defendants increases the possibility of other victims coming forward. The point is valid, although there is little empirical evidence for it to date. Not all offenders are serial offenders, and crucially, not all those charged are convicted. Weighed against the irrevocable damage that can be done, the case for naming before conviction starts to wear thin.

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OPINION

in praise of zieme A bronze stAtue of A horse with A missing leg is just whAt the country needs, dAvid schembri Argues

Photography Elisa Von Brockdorff

uch like its surroundings, Austin Camilleri’s new sculpture Żieme has proven to be much talked-about. It joins the unholy trinity of parliament, topless theatre and nongate in provoking passers-by into a reaction, be it praise or a petition against it. At the time of writing, the artist has not yet been arraigned for inciting animal cruelty – which is perhaps of some consolation.

“commemorating the Knights of Malta” is such a cold shower (or ice bucket, in keeping with the Zeitgeist). First of all, the Knights do not need further commemoration. Their eight-pointed cross is effectively the visual equivalent of the word “Malta”. Their beautiful baroque buildings and projects have remained, and their influence lingers on in our domestic facades.

Camilleri’s horse-cum-tripod is an interesting marriage of contemporary and classical sensibilities. The horse, a staple of monuments worldwide, is admired for its beauty and grace, and Camilleri’s skilful rendition of it does the animal justice. The contemporary sensibility comes along with the absence of the leg – what we have before us is an incomplete horse, his front leg waiting to be filled by our own interpretation. Unlike some other contemporary works of art, there is no need for a lengthy artist’s statement, coupled with an equally lengthy bibliography for viewers to react to this piece. It is a horse, its equine majesty crippled by absence. What could have been a symbol of power has been turned into a laughing stock, a cripple at the city gates, at the mercy of passersby.

John Grima’s “four knights” sculpture, I believe, is more subversive than having a tri-legged horse raised as a middle finger to power, represented by our stilted parliament. Because you see, Malta, in its brief history as an independent nation, has never gone to war itself. As a conquered nation, metaphorical horses have trod over Malta, but they belonged to its foreign rulers, and not to us. And in those four knights, what we get are Malta’s rulers, defending it not because of us but because it’s theirs, and they are there, right in front of what, speaking in theory, is a building that houses the parliament of a young, independent nation – a living monument to democracy, as opposed to the despotism the knights represent. Apart from that, anything looking like a knight should be nowadays consigned to tourist kitsch, and not cast into bronze and plonked at the cutting-edge entrance to our city, an entrance Renzo Piano designed to welcome people, rather than fend them off as the knights would be inclined to do, had they not been anachronistic bronze relics.

As far as public art in Valletta goes, Żieme stands head and shoulders above the rest. Was a city bearing his name not enough for de Valette? Żieme, on the other hand, is a talking point. It raises questions, fires our imagination. Digging deeper, we see in this horse a subversion of power – here is your horse, Camilleri tells us, the symbol of martial glory, but I’ve messed it up, these are the spoils of war, this is what glory looks like. It is a rebellion against a history written by the winners to reflect the true internecine nature of conflict. Which is why the proposal revealed a few days ago for there to be a statue replacing it with four knights, all legs intact, ostensibly

Perhaps the city gate should not be Żieme’s permanent home. But, compared to the alternative, I would be inclined to say it should stay there. Here is a work of art, representational, no less, that spurs its viewers into action, asking: How did this horse lose its leg? And anything that makes us think is better than the mindless recreation of glories past – glories which were never ours to begin with.

September 2014 | Sunday Circle 39

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Packing a Punch As the Audi A3 is confirmed As the 2014 World cAr of the YeAr, We tAke A look At the cAr thAt defines premium, compAct motoring The Audi A3, the premium compact bestseller from the brand with the four rings, is the 2014 World Car of the Year. This is the second overall title for Audi in the ten-year history of the World Car of the Year Awards, after the Audi A6 won the inaugural overall title in 2005. The third generation of Audi’s premium compact car is now officially confirmed as a world beater. It overcame the challenge from 23 other cars to win the prestigious World Car of the Year title. The A3 was voted as the winner by an international jury panel comprising 69 top-level automotive journalists from 22 countries around the world. “The Audi A6 was the first ever winner of this award and we are delighted that the Audi A3 has repeated that achievement by being voted 2014 World Car of the Year,” says Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG. “The Audi A3 showcases Audi’s technical competence in all aspects of carmaking, not least in the areas of lightweight technology, drivetrain, mobile

infotainment and driver assistance systems. This major award win is an achievement that the whole company can celebrate”. Audi can look back on a 16-year success story with the A3. In 1996, the first generation of the model series established an entirely new market segment – the premium compact class. With the second generation, which followed in 2003, the brand extended its lead with the addition of a Cabriolet to the familiar 3-door and Sportback body styles. The third A3 generation is available in four body styles following the further addition of the Sedan. The new Audi A3 is powered by a range of TFSI gasoline and TDI diesel engines. The A3 Sportback can also be ordered as a g-tron, which can be operated using e-gas generated by Audi, natural gas, or gasoline – when powered by e-gas, the A3 Sportback g-tron travels CO2-neutral. Later this year, the A3 Sportback will also be available as an e-tron, whose plug-in hybrid drive enables journeys of up to 50 kilometers in all-electric mode. With this win for the Audi A3, Audi brings its total World Car of the Year titles up to seven. The brand with the four rings has previously won three World Performance Car titles, two World Car Design of the Year titles and the inaugural World Car of the Year title – proudly maintaining its position as the manufacturer with the most World Car of the Year titles. For more information contact: Continental Cars Ltd, Testaferrata Street, Ta’ Xbiex XBX 1407, Sales: 23476 350 / 360, Mobile: 9983 8615, 7990 6622 , E-Mail: info@ccl.mizzi.com.mt Mizzi Motors Showroom, Mġarr Road, Ghajnsielem GSM 9016 , Sales: 2155 6942 , Mobile: 9978 2000 , E-Mail: jcassar@mizzimotors.com.mt

September 2014 | Sunday Circle 41

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BEYOND THE ICE BUCKET THE ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE HAS PUT THE DEADLY CONDITION THAT IS ALS ON THE SPOTLIGHT. WHILE THE VIDEOS WERE BUCKETS OF FUN, AN ALS DIAGNOSIS IS EFFECTIVELY A DEATH SENTENCE, AS THE DAUGHTER OF AN ALS SUFFERER TELLS US Words David Schembri

The words were first to leave. “My mother had slurred speech at first; some people wouldn’t figure out what she was saying. Since she had been depressed and under medication at that time, I took her to her psychiatrist, who told me not to worry,

that the more attention I paid to her, the more she’d act up. Time went by, and her speech kept worsening. A friend recommended I speak to a neurologist. I took her to see a neurologist, who acknowledged that there was a problem.”

September 2014 | Sunday Circle 43

HEALTH

“I had no idea what ALS was. I came to the office, I googled it, and the first thing I saw was... 2-5 years”

“She was referred to hospital, a CT scan to verify it wasn’t a stroke, and it resulted there wasn’t any brain damage. The process took a while, MRI. The diagnosis was that it was probably ALS. I took a second, third opinion. The third opinion confirmed there was a weakness in the muscles, and it that yes, most probably, it is ALS. “I had no idea what ALS was. I came to the office, I googled it, and the first thing I saw was… 2-5 years.” It is here that Simone Galea, 38, breaks down into tears. “I panicked. I informed my brother. We raided the internet… I didn’t sleep. In the meantime I started trying to see how I could get my mother settled. Our father died when we were young, and she had lived independently for 27 years. I had to go up to her and tell her, ‘Ma…’ it was the hardest thing ever to tell her. I didn’t tell her all that was going to happen, that would have destroyed her.” “I told her she couldn’t keep living on her own, and that she would either need a live-in carer… she was still strong at the time, all she had was slurred speech. Or else we would consider the nursing home in Naxxar, which is our hometown. ‘You know they’re not going to take you in immediately…’ I told her. I didn’t want 44

Sunday Circle | September 2014

to give her the impression that it was going to happen all at once.” Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), neurologist Norbert Vella says, is a form of motor neuron disease, a degenerative condition in which upper – the cells between the brain and the spinal cord – and lower – the cells going from the nerve fibres that go from the spinal cord to the various muscles – rapidly degenerate. “Unfortunately, the duration of the condition is not long, because of the involvement of the bulbar muscles, which help us speak and swallow. That shortens the lifespan of these patients. If it is pure lower motor neurone disease, like Stephen Hawking has – they can last for decades with this problem. When it involves the bulbar muscles, it’s usually the beginning of the end.” The next was swallowing. “She’d choke on a little water. Nowadays she’s being fed – and medicated – using a stomach peg.” If a patient can’t swallow properly, Dr Vella says, food will go into their airway instead of the gullet, and they might get a chest infection. “That’s how these patients usually die. A stomach peg helps, and we try and have it done pre-emptively.”

The legs and feet followed. “I bought her three different pairs of shoes in a week, because she felt she was slipping all the time. But it wasn’t the shoes’ fault.” Other limbs followed, too. The information Simone saw online – while harrowing – helped prepare her for the next stages of her mother’s illness. “Six months ago, when I had my daughter, she was able to hold her with some help.” Things have deteriorated rapidly since then, breaking down even the rudimentary communication there was between the two. “Before, she used to communicate using thumbs up for yes, and thumbs down for no. Now, she can’t even do that anymore. At this stage she’s in bed. Thankfully, Hospice have provided us with an air bed to prevent bedsores. They gave me an armchair, but she can’t spend a lot of time on that. Wherever you touch her hurts.” “We lost communication, completely. She’s in pain... When she was still intelligible, she used to say she wanted to die. She had even tried taking her own life at one point. The carers at her home, rightly, were scared, and she was admitted to Mt Carmel. But that’s no place for her. But what could we do?”

HEALTH

“There’s no cure. So please, stop asking me how she’s doing”

The hardest part is: there is no cure. When people ask after her mother, they ask her whether there were any signs of improvement. The answer, always, is no. “Unfortunately there’s no cure. So please, stop asking me how she’s doing. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. I think if she had cancer it would have been better, because there would have been a shred of hope. It’s still a horrible disease, but to go to a doctor and be told there is no cure…”

clinic in the US where all the patients were younger than himself. Different studies have shown that in 5 per cent or more of ALS cases, the disease was hereditary.

“My biggest fear is that it might be something genetic. We don’t know whether it might affect us.”

The only option for ALS patients – which is effectively a terminal illness – is for them to receive care throughout their suffering, a service which in Malta is offered by the Hospice Movement. Malta counts around 20 MND sufferers, around half of which have ALS.

Dr Vella, who was involved in ALS research just under two decades ago, reports that it an ALS diagnosis is not easy for doctors. “We’re still nowhere near to a cure or suitable treatment. At the time there was a drug called Riluzole, which was introduced in Malta for a brief while, but it was discontinued, because all it does is prolong the life of these patients by three months.” The condition is largely sporadic, and can affect people of all ages; Dr Vella recalls days an ALS

“For us, it’s very frustrating, especially when you see them deteriorate. And some of them are still very clear in the head, a lot of them stay lucid, and you just see their body withering away, while the mind is still there. It has its impact on us,” Dr Vella says.

“I’m not a religious person, but I prayed a lot, and nowadays I pray that she finds rest, because I can’t see her suffer any longer. It’s very hard. The painful part is that her mind is all there. If she were here, she’d be listening to all we say. I try not to cry in front of her… If she had a switch, I would turn it off – for her sake, and for ours.”

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Sunday Circle | September 2014

Angela House is a home run by the Ursuline Sisters, caring for boys aged 3 to 9 years old and girls aged 3 to 12 who come from broken homes. Funds raised from this barbecue shall be going in aid of upcoming projects at the house, which will enable the sisters to provide the best service possible to the children in their care.

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SOCIETY

O H W S D E E N M S I N I FEM ? Y A W Y N A ENDER G N O RIDES LEAK. T B S E T T I A QU GRE S MAINS MADE E R E DEMIC V Y A A T I C H L A Y A E RE DING WE MA UT TH O LEA B T , S Y D T K I L SPEA Y WOR T O EQUA R L I L D E A E BON IS NOT M S CLAIR I N I M HY FE ON W

hen I tell people I’m a feminist, they usually look at me like I’ve just declared my love to a split pea. However, before my “feminist awakening” while studying at an English university a few years ago, I was the one giving so-called feminists the confused looks. At this university, my first assignment was a group presentation on gender issues in history. Everyone in the (coincidentally, allfemale) group hurriedly shook our heads and heartily agreed that none of us would call ourselves feminists.

I was always taught to associate “feminism” with images of crazy, radical (potentially smelly and always very hairy) women, who hated men and merely wanted to flip the social pyramid to put women (i.e. themselves) at the top. Luckily, the assigned readings for this seminar were a godsend. Exposure to academic literature on women’s rights and gender history resulted in me going from being highly critical of the term “feminism”, to feeling completely and irrevocably attached to the term and all it truly represents.

September 2014 | Sunday Circle 49

SOCIETY

Put plainly, feminism is the belief in the social, economic, and political equality of the genders. But is it still relevant in present-day Malta? Don’t women have the vote (albeit only since 1947)? Aren’t they allowed to go to university (the first female University of Malta graduate entered university in 1919)? Well, yes, but these accomplishments do not mean that the fight towards equality is anywhere close to being over. Anthropologist Mark Anthony Falzon, head of the Sociology Department at the University of Malta, and a member of the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE), believes that feminism in Malta is still “entirely relevant”, and urges society “to dispel the caricature of feminists as a bunch of men-hating opinionated butch women. They can, and have every right to, be that – but not necessarily, and they often aren’t.” Falzon believes that “the idea that all is now well and good in Malta is a myth. We still have a pronounced wage gap between men and women, for example, and discussions in the media are very often gender-patterned (women are

always asked about how they manage to balance work and family, provided they’re invited at all). Many families still struggle with the sexual freedom of women. Nationalist narratives are invariably those of male nation-builders. And so on.”

is accepting applications for a Master’s in Gender Studies, starting next month – highlights how important it is to analyse issues from a gender perspective: “Feminist theories help us question what we take for granted, even everyday things”.

He does, however, caution organisations that advocate women’s rights and gender equality, not to get “bogged down on token issues which are essentially banal”, since these risk perpetuating the aforementioned caricature of feminism.

“Some of the things that Maltese people today are involved in could do with a dose of feminist thought and action,” adds Prof. Falzon. “Many Maltese are practising Catholics, for example, which means that they are fully paid-up members of an institution which systematically and formally discriminates against women – by not allowing them to be ritual specialists, for example, and by excluding them from decision-making; this was clear in the divorce debate in which scores of priests but no nuns took part.”

Even though women’s rights have certainly advanced since, say, a century ago, several elements of gender inequality are still ingrained in Maltese society. For example, Maltese law is rife with sexist elements. Provisions relating to dowry are still intermittently sprinkled across the laws of Malta (even though the institute of dowry was officially abolished in 1993), and a notary is still required to specify in notarial acts whether a woman is married (and to whom), is a widow (and of whom), or is a spinster. There is no analogous requirement for men. Dr JosAnn Cutajar, senior lecturer at the Gender Studies Department – which

On a policy-making level, Dr Cutajar feels that policymakers need to take gender into consideration when taking decisions: “For example, we are very proud that education is available to everybody. However, boys and girls like different things and learn in different ways.

“We still have a pronounced wage gap between men and women, for example, and discussions in the media are very often gender-patterned”

Sunday Circle | September 2014

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SOCIETY

“As long as women are not seen to be, and treated as, equal, then violence against women will continue to exist”

Sunday Circle | September 2014

Are we catering to this difference in our schools? Why are boys not doing so well? We need to ask these things if we want to ensure that both boys and girls do well academically.” The persistent reinforcement of traditional gender roles can thus cause a lot of harm, and limits the potential of people and society as a whole. Dr Cutajar offers as an example the way “caring” is often thought of as a women’s job: “When it comes to taking care of the elderly, disabled, or those who are sick on a longterm basis, this responsibility usually falls on women. This often impacts on their work history. I think it is very unfair; governments should ensure that women who have to leave the labour market to take care of others are not then punished when they in turn need somebody or some institution to take care of them.” Even related issues as serious as violence against women are rooted in the problem of gender inequality, explains Dr Marceline Naudi, head of the Gender Studies department: “As long as women are not seen to be, and treated as, equal, then violence against women will continue to exist. The antithesis of this is equality and respect, and this is what we should be working towards.”

Gender stereotyping is seen by Dr Naudi as another issue which ties in with this: “Our society punishes those that are strong enough to go against the gender stereotypes, whatever their gender.” Another facet of the gender stereotyping problem is that “more women are joining the labour market, but still tend to have the lion’s share of the caring work at home (and at work) – young women sometimes do not see this, until they have children, and then they feel it…” Issues of gender also need to take into consideration the existence of diversity, as Dr Naudi says: “men and women are not a homogenous group. There are older and younger men. There are white, black, Muslim women. There are disabled or gay people. When we study gender, we take this intersectionality of variables into consideration.” She also points to the need to consider people who do not fit into traditional binaries: “Many people would not define themselves as either male or female”. One day, Dr Naudi hopes, “it won’t matter whether one is male or female, what will matter is personhood, not gender – of course, this is in the time beyond gender stereotypes!”

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SPORTS

THE NEXT KARATE KID INTERNATIONAL FIGHTER EMMA GRECH GIVES PHILIP LEONE-GANADO AN INSIGHT INTO THE ANCIENT ART – AND FAST-PACED, FAST-GROWING SPORT – THAT IS KARATE

Photography Jacob Sammut

September 2014 | Sunday Circle 55

SPORTS

o most people, any mention of karate is more likely to conjure up images of Mr Miyagi or Bruce Lee than it is any real-world sporting competition. Perhaps karate deserves better: arguably the world’s most popular martial art, campaigning for inclusion in the Olympic Games, the reality is more worthy of our attention. Although, for Emma Grech, one of the rising stars of karate in Malta, those old films do contain a nugget of truth. “A film is a film,” she laughs, “but they all focus on determination, and that’s completely true. Speed, agility, power, strength, stamina... if you don’t have those, you’re going to struggle. But determination is just as important.” The 21-year old athlete has been practicing the sport since she was six years old, and today holds a black belt in Shotokan karate. “As a martial art, karate includes a lot of self-discipline and respect, which I’ve never seen in any other sport,” she explains. “It helps you control your anger. It helps you control your ability to focus, and it gives you an opportunity to learn how to defend yourself as an individual. I’ve come to believe that karate is mostly self-discipline and control. In turn, it boosts your your self-confidence and your self-esteem.”

“I’ve come to believe that karate is mostly selfdiscipline and control” 56

Sunday Circle | September 2014

To date, Emma has competed at competitions across Europe, including representing Malta at the Mediterranean Games – placing third – and she is currently deep in training for the Championship of the Small States of Europe in Luxembourg later this month. She competes within two separate disciplines: Kata, which consists of different patterns of movement that are performed solo while attempting to maintain perfect form; and Kumite, which is sparring against an opponent, with points derived from the amount and nature of blows landed. “Kumite requires more speed and agility, whereas Kata requires more strength and base power,” she explains. “I tend to prefer Kumite because it’s more intense: the time is running, so if you’re losing, you have to find a way to get your score up in a hurry, and if you’re winning you need to maintain your score; so you need concentration in every moment of the fight.”

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“I have an opportunity that doesn’t come along every day, perhaps once in a lifetime, so I’m not going to let it pass by” Emma is currently studying Sport Science (alongside management and development) at Loughborough University in the UK, which, given her lifelong attraction to sports, represents a happy marriage of passion and study. “With Sport Science you find out how your body works, how each muscle works, and you can relate that to the sports you’re taking part in,” she says. Alongside her studies, in fact, she regularly competes – and places – at events across the UK, including a Silver and a Bronze at the BUCS National Championships earlier this year. “The opportunities there are fantastic. I compete once or twice a month, whereas in Malta, unfortunately, we don’t have that luxury: if we’re lucky we compete once or twice a year. In addition, in the UK you’re not always competing against the same fighters: you meet many high-level athletes, which gives you a better chance to excel.”

finance as the main thing holding the scene back. “Without financial help, it’s going to be very hard for athletes to improve to the best of the ability. I think there are very good local athletes, and if we were to help them go abroad more often, even to small competitions in Italy, it will give them the experience that they need to excel.”

At the same time, Emma suggests that the strength of the community in Malta is an asset to the development of karate back home. Locally, she is affiliated with the Malta Karate Federation (which is in turn the only local organisation affiliated with the World Karate Federation) and points out a raft of coaches that have helped her reach the level she is at today – namely Senseis Joe Tanti, Jason Edwards, James Galea, Michelle Vella, Alex Horvath and Josef Antonelli. But all too prosaically, she points to a lack of

The future looks bright for the young athlete, yet her feet are planted firmly on the ground. Her ambitions, she says, are to continue training and building up experience in small competitions across the UK, “for when I’m ready to enter bigger competitions” – the World Championships, unsurprisingly, being the main target. But Emma also hopes to one day be able to give something back. “I’d love to be able to help others that want to excel in karate,” she says with a smile, “helping people younger than me achieve what they want to achieve.”

Sunday Circle | September 2014

As for herself, Emma admits that the constant push for excellence does not come without its sacrifices. “I barely go out. I train very early in the morning: I’ll go to the gym before school, come home, eat, and head back out. Between lessons, I’ll usually go for a jog. Then in the evening, I have training with the club... I’ve also had to lose seven kilos, so that means no going out and drinking, or going to the beach and having an ice cream. But right now I have an opportunity that doesn’t come along every day, perhaps once in a lifetime, so I’m not going to let it pass by.”

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Dr Jean Paul DemaJo exPlains the thought Process of how a smile make over comes to life A smile makeover is the process of completely improving the appearance of your smile. This procedure may include procedures such as dental veneers, composite bonding, tooth implants and teeth whitening. Considerations There are a number of considerations one has to make when considering whether to opt for a smile makeover. These include: facial appearance, the colour of your skin and teeth, the proportions of your teeth, the gum tissue and your lips. Questions

Frontal Image before treatment

There are also a number of questions you need to ask before undergoing this sort of makeover. These are:

harmony and BalanCe: The aesthetic outcome of the designed teeth must go hand in hand with the rest of the mouth, smile, facial profile etc. For example large teeth do not go well with a small-looking face, just like rounded teeth do not suit a rectangular face! geometry

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How long are your teeth? Are they short due to tooth wear or due to having a gummy smile covering a largish portion of your crown? Short teeth may be lengthened with veneers or crowns, whilst gum tissue may be removed to expose more of your natural tooth. This will reduce the so-called gummy smile. Your cosmetic dentist or periodontist may perform this crown lengthening procedure.

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maintaining your smile makeover Oral hygiene is key in maintaining the gingival health of your teeth as well as the lifespan of the cosmetic procedures executed. Special oral hygiene techniques may be required to clean specific areas unreachable with conventional toothbrushes. To achieve the best results, take special care in selecting your cosmetic dentist and inquiring about material options. Remember, information is key. Get it from your dentist and make an informed decision.

Dr Jean Paul Demajo is a Dental and Implant Surgeon, trained in London working in private practice in Malta

September 2014 | Sunday Circle 61

heritage

reorganising malta The organ is The single mosT majesTic musical insTrumenT of Them all, buT locally iTs forTunes have faded. david schembri speaks To dion buhagiar and joseph lia who wanT To bring back The magic of organ music To malTese audiences Photography Rueben Chircop (selected images courtesy of St.Johns Co-Cathedral)

he organ is the biggest, and the most beautiful instrument that man has made,” Dion Buhagiar, the maestro di cappella at St John’s co-cathedral, says, seated at a portativo organ

just after a rehearsal. The instrument knows its origins to the primitive Greek hydraulis, and organ building and performance reached their golden age in the middle of the 18th century, which coincides with Johan Sebastian Bach’s golden age. Malta has more than its fair share of quality organs, and the instruments, says Buhagiar, document the history of organ building surprisingly well, with several great names of organ builders, such as Mascioni and Inzoli, being present on the islands.

Sadly, however, organs in the country’s many churches are more often seen than heard, with many magnificent instruments now having fallen into disrepair after years of neglect. Buhagiar remembers playing on organs years ago which played very well then but have now been left to rot. There are, however, signs of life. “Nowadays, I see there’s a bit of a revival. There are organs which are being restored. As you know, in some villages, particularly in the south the focus is on fireworks, they’re prepared to spend thousands on fireworks but not to maintain an instrument. If maintained properly and played with care, instruments like these should last forever,” the organist says, also pointing out that in Gozo there is more respect towards liturgical music, and, subsequently, the organ. September 2014 | Sunday Circle 63

heritage

“In general, organ playing in Malta is mediocre. There aren’t many trained organists” 64

Sunday Circle | September 2014

Having learnt the organ from the best teachers in Malta at the time, when Buhagiar – a professor emeritus of Music at the University here – went up to Canada to further his studies there, he was shocked when his tutor told him his “technique was non-existent”. “It took me a year to unlearn the bad technique I had learnt here, and adapt to the feel and the resistance of the note, and you hear the click of the note. This organ here, it talks,” Buhagiar says, as he seemingly caresses the wooden-clad keys of the organ at San Gejtanu in Ħamrun. He makes it look easy as he touches the wooden keys of the instrument, but that apparent tenderness requires a very particular touch, as the keys are surprisingly hard to press. The organ can be prey to many misconceptions. One of them is that anyone who can play the piano well can translate their skills easily to the organ. “Knowing the piano helps, when it comes to reading music. What you don’t have in the piano is the pedal keyboard, which requires a school of its own. You would need some adjustment of your technique, because the piano is a percussive instrument,

while the organ is pneumatic, and both respond differently” the organist says. “I would say there is around 50% overlap, because you have to learn different techniques. And it might be that a skilled pianist might find it hard to adapt their touch to the organ. There’s also a different repertoire for both instruments.” Then the penny drops. I ask whether organ playing in Malta was better in his day. “There has always been a certain mediocrity in Malta. I learnt with the best, and I was told I had no technique. In general, organ playing in Malta is mediocre. There aren’t many trained organists,” he complains. The lack of expertise on the instrument further obstacles the public’s exposure to the instrument’s potential to make beautiful music. A good organ can cost anywhere between €10,000 and upwards, owing to the sheer size of having all those pipes to cater for all the different registers – and that racks up the cost. A quality organ would be made using superior materials, which in turn improve the sound of the instrument. Malta’s most majestic

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heritage

“The organ has its own noble right to be heard on its own terms” organ by far is the Mascioni organ at St John’s Co-Cathedral, which has over 10,000 pipes producing its sounds. Despite the cathedral’s age, the organ itself is relatively new, having ousted the historical instrument in 1960. Buhagiar recounts the story of the new organ’s installation with amusement: “The story is that there had been an old organ, and the cathedral’s administration did not have enough money to restore it. So they found a way around it: we had a colonial government at the time, and the knights had said that whoever possessed the land in Malta had to undertake maintenance costs of the cathedral. So they took that clause, and told the colonial government they needed to restore the organ, and that’s what they did. They removed the organ, and Mascioni came, took the organ, and they came back with a brand-new instrument. It is a bit sad that we lost a historic instrument, but at least we have a good instrument. To build that, nowadays, €500,000 would not be enough.” That said, posterity is served by the old organ which still resides in the Oratory of the co-cathedral. One man wanting to give a louder voice to the organ in Malta has an impressive voice himself. Baritone Joseph Lia is the founder and artistic director of the Malta International Organ Festival, which started at the end of last month and reaches its finale on September 12 with a concert by Estonian organist Andres Uibo at St John’s co-Cathedral. “We have many churches, almost all of which have an organ which is only used for liturgy, and I wanted to use it for more artistic purposes. 66

Sunday Circle | September 2014

I’ve worked with many organists internationally who asked me why we didn’t use our organs. I think Malta is the only country in Europe where these organ festivals don’t happen,” Lia says. “From the response I’m seeing, the demand for organ music has exceeded my expectations. People seem to be appreciating it. We have such a rich heritage, and by using the organs present in our beautiful churches, we are combining this heritage,” he says. Buhagiar, who will be performing his second concert in the festival on September 11, certainly agrees: “The organ has its own noble right to be heard on its own terms.” He points to the so-called era of decadence of the instrument where builders tried to make it mimic an orchestra, a concept he firmly refutes. “You can’t reduce the organ to imitating something else. It has a right to its own individual life.” And here in Malta, it’s getting a new lease of that. The Malta International Organ Festival continues tonight, September 7, with a recital by Joe Aquilina at St Augustine Parish Church, Valletta, September 8 with Russian organist Irina Rozanova at the Anglican ProCathedral in Valletta, September 10 with a performance by Andres Uibo at Ta’ Pinu in Gozo, on September 11 with Dion Buhagiar at St Paul’s Cathedral in Mdina, and concludes on September 12 with a concert by Andres Uibo at St John’s Co-Cathedral. Funds raised go towards Fondazzjoni Nazareth. www.maltainternationalorganfestival.com

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Closing date: September 21

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WiN WiTH SuNDAY CiRCLE Sunday Circle and Level One Shoe Store are offering you the chance to win one pair of girls’ and one pair of boys’ Pablosky school shoes. To enter, simply find the 7 letters spread over the next 4 pages, and place them in the spaces below to form a slogan.

PABLOSKY FOR Q_A _ _ T_ AND C_ _FO_ T

SuRPRiSiNgLY PuLPY!

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Chupa Chups lollipops

Cappy Pulpy is a refreshing Fruit juice drink containing the natural goodness of real fruit juice. It is blended with real fruit juice pulp bits that give the beverage a unique fruit sensation. It’s like drinking fruit! Cappy Pulpy provides natural refreshment all throughout the day and comes in four different flavours: Orange, Grapefruit, Multifruit and Tropical, and is available in 33cl and 1.5 litre PET bottles. Indulge your senses with Cappy Pulpy!

Name: Address: Email: Tel/Mob:

ID:

Send your entries to Network Publications, Level 12, A3 Tower, Triq L-Arkata, Paola or by email to hello@sundaycircle.com Rules & Regulations: Late entries are not considered. The competition is not open to employees of Network Publications or Level One and their families. Winners may have their photo published on Network Publications media. Entries will be added to a Network Publications mailing list.

The famed Chupa Chups logo, designed by Salvador Dalí, adorns the extensive and well-known range of lollipops sold all over the world and loved by people of all ages! Chupa Chups delights its fans with different flavours and flavour combinations, and a wide range of packs and formats. Try the traditional ‘The Best Of’ lollipops, choose from apple, strawberry, and cola flavours, or try the new and intriguing tastes of the ‘Exotic Tropic’ lollipops flavours of coconut-pineapple and banana-strawberry. Look out for the new ‘Chupa Chups Babol’ bubble gum sticks by Chupa Chups in strawberry or cola. More gum, more fun! Distributed by: Paul Bonnici & Son Ltd., Jade, Mdina Road, Zebbug | T: 2258 5600 | E: info@pbsl.com.mt

Sunday Circle | September 2014

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Santea Aquilina, Ella Spiteri and Nina Soler are students at the Academy of Dance Arts

An opportunity she’ll cherish for life at the Academy of Dance Arts The Academy of Dance Arts provides children the opportunity to enrich their lives while encouraging artistic growth. Ballerinas receive individual attention as they explore the world of dance. Benefits of ballet Ballet offers dancers a number of benefits for both the body and mind. Some of these include: Better posture Toned body, stronger core and improved flexibility ● Poise, grace and elegance ● ●

Life-long skills The Academy is committed to inspire children as young as 3 to embrace their creative spirit and joy of dance through the

study of classical ballet. Whether the children choose a professional career in dance or not, they will take with them life-long skills and cherised memories that will last a life-time. Register now Classes will be starting 29 September. To register: Call 21 421 632 Visit dancearts.com.mt ● Email info@dancearts.com.mt ● Visit our studios at BS Bldg., Mosta Road, Lija during our open days on 8 & 14 September (9am - 1pm). ● ●

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September 2014 | Sunday Circle 69

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CENTRAL ACADEMY OF BALLET COMBINES PROFESSIONAL SKILLS & EXPERIENCE TO HELP FULFILL THE POTENTIAL OF EVERY STUDENT

CURRICULUM

Classical Ballet • Recreational Ballet starting from 3 years of age Spanish & Flamenco Dance • Jazz • Contemporary Dance Adult Beginners Classes in all Genres • Hip Hop • Pilates

PRINCIPALS

Mireille Coleiro (L.I.S.T.D) & Monique Pellegrini Petit (L.I.S.T.D)

REGISTRATIONS NOW OPEN FOR OCTOBER 2014 Every Tuesday from 5:30 - 7:30

Email: centraldanceco@gmail.com / monppetit@gmail.com Tel: 2144 8396 / 2144 1631 • Mob: 7906 8682 / 9943 2604 Studio: 222, St.Julian’s Road, Birkirkara

Sunday Circle | September 2014

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Gymbabes (6 months to walking) in action

Help your children stay active, fit and healthy Join Tumble Tots, the UK’s leading physical development programme. Classes starting 6 October. From 6 months to 7 years Tumble Tots allows children from 6 months to 7 years the opportunity to participate in fun physical play in a safe and caring environment using specially designed, colourful equipment. The programme aims to help children develop skills and contributes towards their growth into confident, healthy adults. Skills for life Tumble Tots sessions are structured to assist in the development of physical skills such as agility, balance, climbing and co-ordination. In addition, social skills are developed as they are encouraged to listen, interact with each other, take turns and share their experiences.

During the most formative years from birth to five, physical activity is critical to help maintain a healthy weight and strengthen muscles and heart. Physical activity greatly improves the development of the brain leading to strong foundations for reading, writing and basic co-ordination to enhance confident learning ahead. Register now The autumn term classes will be starting 6 October. For more info and timetable or to book a class: call 21 421 632 visit tumbletots.com.mt ● email info@tumbletots.com.mt ● ●

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September 2014 | Sunday Circle 71

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