WIRE | Issue II.

SECOND ISSUE 22/3/2014 | Strakonice

(#) EDITORIAL

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#RINGOFFIRE

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#STATISTICS

put together by Michal NovotnĂ˝ & journalists

Dogperson x Catperson

Shoe number

Black x White 46 45 44 43

Dogperson

Black

Catperson

White 42 41

Teambuilding x Czech Village

40 39

38 37 36 Teambuilding

0

Czech village

2

How many hours did you sleep?

4

6

8

Number of people owning...

8

7

Cat

6 5

Dog

4 3 0

10

20

30

40

0

10

What position would you like to try?

30

40

Favourite game Hat game

Lord of the session Organiser

Ninja game

President

Rape game

Chairperson

Abigail

Editor

Other

Journalist 0

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20

5

10

15

20

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

TOP 5:

MOST ATTRACTIVE OFFICIALS according to the session’s participants

#1: LORENZO

#2: ANDREIA

#3: PAVEL

#4: REA

#5: TIM

THE JURY INTRODUCTIONS What would you like to hear What profession What character resembles God say when you arrive at the would you never you the most? like to do?

Pearly gates?

name

What inspires you?

Dorota Šuráňová

beauty

Marion Cotillard

Glass of wine?

executor

Kristýna Stejskalová

literature

Salma Hayek

Welcome to my shop!

ticket control

Dorothea Weber

TV series

Chandler (Friends)

What are you doing here?

cleaning lady

Veronika Drzková

smart people

Laura Marling (folk singer)

Do you come here often?

prison guard

text by Triin Kaup (EE), photo by Michal Novotný (CZ) issue 2 | WIRE | 5

PARRULLINTERVIEW

text by Triin Kaup (EE)

After we successfully found the time out of the session’s President’s busy schedule, we sit down in an empty classroom and begin our interview. It is 9.15 on Friday morning, and even though I feel the sleepiness flowing through me, I try to put my best foot forward and get some interesting stories out of The Man. I decide to stay on the Opening Ceremony topic for a while, and I am very interested in his speech. I wondered how he came up with the phrase “Don’t you worry, don’t you worry children – EYP has got a plan for you.” Apart from this quote, he points out that there were many “trash culture” references. At that point, he goes back to the topic where he sees EYP as a gateway to so many great opportunities. He also says that he has another love-hate relationship, this time with speeches. He finds that the speech with a message, which is also fun, is the best way to go, especially in the Opening Ceremony. I wondered how he dealt with speechSessions have also changed; when he was a delegate, people es when he was a delegate, he tells me that his favourite were wrote the resolutions at home. He also emphasises that besides defence and sum-up speeches. the academic experience, EYP is great for travelling, meeting new people, and visiting them again around Europe. In his career as As a curious journalist I feel the need to ask about Italians. I am Official, he has mainly been a Chairperson, once Organiser at a interested in which Italian stereotypes are true and I ask him to Regional Session and one time Journalist at an International name one to which he laughs, and he asks “Only one?” After taking a few seconds to think he coughs lightly and adds “one third Session. of it is true”. According to him, Italians are touchy, loud and they After discussing how he got into EYP and to this session, I try to ask too many questions; overall, he finds that Italians actually figure out what his daily rituals are. I ask what he does when he care about people a lot, the same as the rest of the Mediterraneis alone in his car. Lorenzo tells me that he sings, and not to a an region where people look after each other. He finds that Italspecific tune, but actually to no tune at all. When the radio is on, ians want to connect with people and try to break the ice quite he prefers the channels which play “really trashy commercial mu- quickly, which might not suit other nationalities. sic”, as he so bluntly puts it. The main reason why he prefers the car singing without music is that he is scared that he might get After talking for over half an hour about the European Youth Parliament, weird situations (mentioned in the six interesting facts pulled into the song and start getting energetic. about our President) and even fashion, we are at the end of our We move on to the Opening Ceremony and I am curious why he interview. Asking questions and trying to get good answers can decided to wear the bow tie. As it turns out, he has a love-hate be challenging for a journalist, but from my perspective, I could relationship with bow ties. Usually people wear the type of suits have stayed there another half an hour and listen to his advenwith black jackets, black trousers and white shirts, which, accord- tures, because he truly is a unique person, who makes you feel ing to him, apart from James Bond and bouncers, no-one should like sitting down with a friend rather than a formal talk with a sesever wear with a black tie. Nevertheless, he is really careful when sion’s President. I thank him for his time and secretly hope that it comes to bow ties – he is more of a regular tie person than a our paths in EYP would cross again. bow tie and then he adds: “In Strakonice, I thought I can pull it off” (which I agree with).

We start off by talking about the European Youth Parliament (EYP), and he instantly has a colourful story to share. It turns out that it is actually an insane coincidence that we have him as an EYPer, let alone the session’s President. Lorenzo had just recently changed schools, and his English teacher was sick, so she was replaced by another teacher who coincidentally mentioned EYP – at the end of the class she casually mentioned: “Oh, by the way, is there anyone who speaks French?” One who did was our dear President and today, almost five years later, he is here with us.

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5+1 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT OUR PRESIDENT 1. Lost his luggage at his first International Session 2. If there is a movie about him, then Bruce Willis should play him 3. Besides being the President of the session, he would like to be a delegate again 4. He would go to Ancient Rome if he would have the chance to time travel 5. If he could go to another planet, he would pick Venus because it symbolises love and happiness 6. If a penguin walked into the room wearing a sombrero, Lorenzo thinks the penguin would start dancing and singing “It’s getting hot in here”.

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text by Triin Kaup (EE) & Ilinca Bogaciov (RO)

ADVICE COLUMNS

WORDS OF WISDOM FOR TROUBLED DELEGATES

I forgot my GA clo thes, what should I do?

If you are the type th at packs their lugga ge in a hurry just before getting out the door to head to the session, chances are you forgo t your suit or your dres s or maybe the shoe s that you were suppos ed to wear at the Ge neral Assembly. But do not panic, it happen s to the best of us as we ll. Sure, you will not be looking just as neat, but you can still borro w something from your committee mates wh o brought some extra formal clothing. And if that fails, you can alw ays go for a polishe d look by covering your casual clothing in du ct tape.

It is normal that some d elegates hav same perspec e the tive on the issu e, and you mig feel like all yo ht ur ideas have been presente already, leavin d g you having nothing to sa is important y. It to keep your calm. Just go your research over again and fin d a new angl present to the e to others. Even th e little details your research in can make a d ifference and you get a bri help ght idea. The other advice maybe find in is to spiration from another roun coffee. d of

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I am going up to the podium to deliver a sp eech and feel very nervous a bout it, any ti ps to feel more c onfident?

First of all, ther e is nothing to worry about.

You have spen t hours prepar ing for this moment, from th e second you started getting to know your topic until you finalised your speech. It is al so good to rem ember that the people in the ro om are delega tes who are as nervous as you are. It might so und clichÊ, but just take a deep breath and im agine yourself back in your ro om when you rehearsed for the speech – ju st you alone. So take the same confidence an d charisma with you and rock the podium.

When discu ssing the co mmittee topic, I som etimes find myself in a place w here I have nothing to say. W hat should I do?

text by Gregor Bauer, Jana Slesarenko, Martin Stoček (CZ)

THE WIMBER /WITH GRATEFUL REGARDS TO MR PITBULL AD MISS KE$HA/ It’s getting close, I plug the wire You better come. To Strakonice Let’s make a session you will remember So let’s get wired and please stay tuned.

Ho-o-o-o ho-o-o-o-o…

Lorenzo…

We have applied, we took the call We were selected, so let it roll Parrulli leads the band, hashtag President Lenka, Kate had to *EEE* Had to make it work *YYY* Marek, Klara edit *PPP* Chairs they often ache For deadlines we won’t make, heh, whatever, piece of cake!

Lorenzo…

Get ready for GA, it’s a sunny day Let me help you dress, what do you say?

Look up in the sky Let me see your tie Suit up, man up and give it a try Going mad ‘bout the lack of time *SPEEECH!* Orgas crazy running round. *(Zoidberg sound)* VP nowhere to be found! *(Zoidberg sound)* Cause GA’s starting RIGHT NOW Swing your placards, round and round End of the speech, you’re sitting down Open debate, the screams are loud Pick me! Pick me!, in this round.

Big fat pony round and round Build the team, no breaking down A ram pam pam, another round Build the team, no breaking down.

Swing your plackards, round and round End of the speech, you’re sitting down Open debate, the screams are loud Pick me! Pick me!, in this round.

Pass the ball, round and round Learn the names, it’s getting sound Pass the ball, round and round Learn the names of friends you found.

It’s ending soon, I started crying You better sing. You better dance It was a session you will remember Strakonice you won’t forget.

Committee Work, it’s getting heated You better think and write on post-its We’ll have a fight, and then discuss *iiit* It’s so messed up, in EYP.

It’s ending soon, I started crying You better sing. You better dance It was a session you will remember Strakonice you won’t forget.

Let’s write the problems and then solutiooons Take all your notes and start debate-bate-bate Let’s pose for pics, hashtag the Wire It’s so messed up, in EYP.

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EYP ROLE QUIZ: FIND YOUR IDEAL EYP POSITION

text by Rea Dika (GR) & Štěpán Kment (CZ)

1. Which of the following TV series do you prefer? a. The Presidents b. The Newsroom c. House of Cards d. Law and Order

5. I couldn’t live without my: a. Suit b. Camera c. Notebook d. Cell phone

2. What would you probably be doing home alone? a. Eating President’s cheese b. Taking selfies c. Browsing IKEA catalogues d. Taking a coffee break

6. People would characterise you as: a. Inspiring and persuasive b. Creative and objective c. Trustful and erudite d. Organised and punctual

3. How would you spend a million dollars? a. Buy villas and jets b. Travel around the world with a GoPro camera c. Set up a fancy office d. Project X

7. Your negative attributes would be: a. Arrogance and stubbornness b. Procrastination and a bad perception of time c. Being overbearing and pressing d. Hyperactivity and over-caring

4. How would the first sentence of your speech start? a. Oh, you, stop clapping/ sorry for being late… b. It was hard to stay objective in the article, but hey, look at me… c. Cooperation, respect and trust are the greatest values of all… d. Before I start, let me give you some organisational details…

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Count your answers, and then you are free to allocate yourself to one of these positions.

(If there is more than one winning position, you should apply for both.)

A

majority of A answers

PRESIDENT Starting off with the President… You definitely are a capable but a bit bossy person, who likes hard work and the prize that comes with it. On the session, you are the chef of the Chairs’ Team and your dedicated work makes all of them as good as they are. Her or His Highness is obviously granted fame, money, girls or boys, and a lot of cars. Just try to be like Lorenzo and don’t let anyone know.

C

majority of C answers

CHAIR Voilà! You seem to belong to the one and only Chairs’ Team. As an expert and an erudite person, you are in the position of instructing the new generation of delegates and leading them through the process. As an inspiring mentor, you mediate creating friendships between strangers within hours – that is to set the guidelines for an efficient Committee Work, which will finally lead to the formation of a resolution. And trust us: the fruit of your harvest will be the sweetest you have ever had.

B

majority of B answers

JOURNALIST A happy ending indeed! It seems like you are a freelance person full of creativity. As a journo, your task is to capture all the moments and the general spirit during the whole session through taking pictures and writing articles. There is even a Video-Journalist (Video-Editor) at most sessions – if your heart lies with videos, this is your field. Whilst working under your Editor(s), the deadlines and prescribed lengths are going to be your enemies.

D

majority of D answers

ORGANISER Congratulations! You are an organiser. You belong to the most hard-working team, which is responsible for making everything function properly. Delegates, Chairs and Journalists depend completely on you. That is because you are responsible for providing them with food, sleep, fun, and other necessities. Despite the lack of sleep and your exhausting programme, your friendly mood and willingness always make everyone grateful.

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text by Jana Slesarenko (CZ)

THE IMPERCEPTIBLE BOLDNESS OF BEING

PARALYMPIC SPORTSMEN: PROVING THAT THE IMPOSSIBLE IS POSSIBLE

While the world was absorbed by the events happening in Ukraine and speculating about the possible escalation of the conflict, the event of the Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympic Games went by largely unnoticed. Let us redress this injustice by thinking about the courage of the sportsmen for a moment.

The Paralympic Games are an international sports event, which gathers sportsmen with various disabilities, usually held right after the respective Olympic Games. The history of the Paralympic Games marks its beginnings with the International Wheelchair Games having World War II veterans competing with each other in 1948. Since then the idea has attracted sportsmen from all over the world, and the first official Paralympic games took place in Rome in 1960.

The most recent Games gathered 575 athletes from 45 countries in Sochi. The sportsmen competed in ice sledge hockey, wheelchair curling, biathlon, cross country skiing, and alpine skiing. Both the athletes with physical impairment and those with visual impairment are eligible to compete in biathlon. Sportsmen are guided by the acoustic signals in shooting part and the skiing part of the biathlon rally. In a newly introduced discipline, snowboard-slalom, athletes with visual impairment also use the signals to direct their route down the slope.

Paralympic Games promote the role of sports for the disabled people and inspire new impaired athletes to join the Paralympic movement. For example, British Athletics organisation runs a programme called Parallel Access, which enables the disabled sportsmen – adults and children – to reach their dream.

The Games are in its essence a celebration of the human bravery and endurance; it is a symbol of overcoming your fears and fighting against the caprices of nature. We can learn one important lesson from the Paralympic athletes: nothing in life is automatically granted. The enthusiasm and effort are what determines the success. Let’s therefore be inspired and remember that impossible is nothing.

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“What’s the point of going slow? I don’t care if I am about to die ... I died the day I was diagnosed. I was diagnosed on my first wedding anniversary 14 years ago. I have a 15 per cent survival chance, so my wife is letting me go out there and do my thing. My family is super proud of me.”

Augusto Jose Perez (USA), a stage-four cancer patient on giving it his all in the men’s 12.5km sitting biathlon event

text by Martin Stoček (CZ)

GADGETING IT OUT In today’s world full of stress and hurry, it is becoming more and more important to make our lives a bit easier for ourselves. Since we have the opportunity to visit places such as YeloSpa power nap therapy, where you can buy some time to have a nap and relax, we may also think about facilitating our hectic moments using some of the latest technological gadgets developers provide us with. Or to have some fun. Mainly to have fun.

THE BECK’S EDISON BOTTLE

LIGHTERBRO

When Thomas Alva Edison invented the cylinder record in the late 19th century, it instantly became a worldwide hit. One was able to listen to almost every piece of music one likes in a form of a very compact cylinder. The brew masters from the Beck company came up with an idea of printing different kinds of music on their beer bottles; it gives you an opportunity to “listen to the beer” you are drinking. All you need to do is to buy the “turnbottle” machine based on the Edison phonograph.

If you are a practical smoker – and a lighter is something extremely important for you – while having a hobby of mending stuff, you might be sick of having two similar things in your pocket. Clever American inventors came up with Lighterbro, which combines both of your interests. In a nutshell, Lighterbro is a simple lighter with all those functions of a Swiss knife.

Lighterbro is equipped with Super Sharp Knife from Japanese 420 alloy stainless steel, Micro Screwdriver, Bottle Opener, and Scissors.

3DOODLER

ONEWHEEL

The idea of 3D printing has been around since the 1980s, but it was not available commercially. The breaking point came in 2010 when the first affordable 3D printer was on sale. However, even today this technology is really expensive. Peter Dilworth and Maxwell Bogue, funded by the Kickstarter platform, came up with a cheaper and faster version of a 3D printer – the world’s first 3D Printing Pen. It works with liquid plastic that solidifies as soon as it gets to air. Let the modelling begin!

Are you a fan of quick, cool and green travelling around the city? Do not worry, you do not need to ride a Segway. There is another way – the Onewheel, which looks like quite an unusual skateboard; maybe because it has a wheel in the middle. The balance mechanism is based on Segway’s reaction to your movements and power is provided by an electric engine. It was designed for shorter distances around the city mainly because its batteries last for 7 miles only. It still needs some improvements, but once it is done, it will destroy its man-powered brother on wheels.

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DRAMA AROUND THE WORLD

text by Rea Dika (GR), Ilinca Bogaciov (RO) & Štěpán Kment (CZ)

No matter what you think about when you hear the word “drama”, all of its definitions lead to its original meaning: action in Greek. Throughout history, more than being just entertainment, drama has performed and represented political, religious, national, ethnic, class-related, and individual concepts of identity.

EUROPE

The European theatre history began with Ancient Greek festivals aimed at honouring the gods. The actors, directors, and dramatists were all the same person, and tragedy, comedy, and satyr were the theatrical forms. In the Middle Ages, drama consisted of liturgical drama, mystery and morality plays, and masques. English Renaissance theatre, with the plays of William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, is considered to be the most brilliant period in the history of theatre in Europe. One of the founders of modernity in drama is considered the 19th century Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The characteristics of modern drama are realism, naturalism and interaction between characters and the readers and generally challenging the long established rules surrounding theatrical representation.

ASIA

Well-known Japanese drama named Kabuki is full of dancing and singing with the actors wearing traditional costumes.

Through this type of drama, which emerged in 17th century, are mainly interpreted traditional stories of ancient Japan. In China we can typically find an opera, a popular form of drama and musical theatre.

Personal experience – Štěpán Kment It has been two years now since I travelled to Tokyo. Even after all the time, I can’t actually express my feelings correctly. It was something completely different and odd. The actors wearing traditional masks on the scene set to a typical house were just staring at the audience for the first 60 seconds, and afterwards they started to make almost animal sounds that made me laugh out loud. This lasted for one hour and my impression was unbelievable. I will never forget it nor go there again.

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AMERICA

Having the majority of its drama culture taken over from Europe, the USA started its own theatre history in 19th century. Nowadays, the United States are mostly known for the Broadway Theatre District in New York.

Personal experience – Štěpán Kment I remember having a special feeling about going to Broadway theatres, as they are honoured and well-known around the world. I went to Mamma Mia! as my first cultural encounter with the US. I saw some barbarism. The musical hadn’t even started yet, and people around me acted like in a cinema. They were sipping Coca-Cola and loudly champing popcorn. Although the play itself was good, the environment disturbed me so much I wasn’t able to enjoy it fully.

AFRICA

In Africa, theatre matters. African theatre is entertainment, but it can also be aesthetically, politically, socially and spiritually committed, and often it is all these things simultaneously. Moreover, many modern African theatrical figures refuse to be limited into a particular form of presentation. Instead, they draw on indigenous performance traditions including dance, music, storytelling, and mime. At its best, African theatre is a total experience of the mind, body, and soul. It engages with and feeds off a highly responsive, involved and vocal audience. Working against a background of poverty and struggle, this theatre developed its own style of presentation. Therefore, the primary tool is the actor himself who must create his whole world through mime, sound, and a bare minimum of symbolic properties. Reflecting the urgency of the actors’ messages and the energy of urban life, many such plays are composed in epic mode with short scenes building up a collage of society.

text by Gregor Bauer (CZ)

COMFORTABLY NUMBING FROM MUSIC AND VIDEO GAMES TO THE ENTIRE INTERNET: DOES GRAPHIC CONTENT ACCESSIBILITY TAKE REALITY’S SHOCK VALUE? and to some surprise she found that, analytically, our brains improve a great deal and our ways of perceiving visual information change. Her experiments showed that moderate gaming makes us smarter, quickens our reaction time and aids in problem-solving. Yay for science! Nonetheless, even though it showed that neither Grand Theft Auto nor Call of Duty or any other similar pleasures show an increase in violent behaviour, an argument can be made that coming into contact with obviously unreal examples of violence lowers the shock value of reality as mentioned above.

This means that however we may understand the situation in which we might find ourselves, we would most likely be much Whether it is a Pink Floyd album or Schindler’s List, there is no less impressed by it, less moved. doubt that listening, reading or watching any content has a far greater impact on you – in terms of enjoyment or otherwise – Where does this lead us then? Are we perhaps to become unimwhen you had spent ages saving to buy the record and finally sit pressible walking shapes of grey mush? Senseless corpses? How do we prevent mental retardation? Perhaps the key is moderdown at home and close your eyes as you dive into the music. ation, exploring whatever there is to explore, but with sensible There are also moments coming when you see such realistically restraint, enjoying the accessibility as everyone else does, but portrayed violence for the first time; you are struggling to catch appreciating its true value, also concentrating for once on the your breath, trying to comprehend its cause. Nowadays, we artwork we are admiring and the artists of whom we are in awe. watch it all the time with the very same music colliding with the setting, we do a number of things at once, play truly brutal games Moderation in all things. at times and get used to quite extraordinary scenes from a very young age. We are emotionally spoiled.

The advancement of technology in the recent years cannot leave one in anything but catatonic amazement. The incredible range of possibilities of expression, the amount of information that is basically a single click away, the depth and variety of topics approached from so many different aspects, and simply the omnipresence of the material gives one insights and feelings of situations far beyond one’s own reality. It is astonishing, but the liberty in ideas, shared moments, and thoughts comes with the heavy burden of numbing people’s sense of morality. In theory, what we gain on content’s intensity, we eventually lose on its value.

Cognitive researcher Daphne Bavelier conducted a study on the influence certain computer games could have on our brain,

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The 16th National Selection Conference Strakonice is organised under the auspices of Mgr. Jiří Zimola, the Regional Council President of the South Bohemian Region and in cooperation with the Town of Strakonice and the Cultural Centre of Strakonice.

STRAKONICE

ŘEPICE

Projekt je podpořen Zdravým městem Strakonice na základě rozhodnutí občanů na VII. Fóru zdravého města