The History Tables Never Turn? A Fresh Entrance & A Fresher Exit Biden Offers Clean Slate

OPINION FRESH STARTS

S o f i a Bajerova

What even is a fresh start? Is it when you finally decide to put in place that new skin care routine? When you paint the walls and move furniture around in a room to make it feel brand new? How about when you move to a new house, town, or country? When you walk into your first class in September, or when the clock ticks past midnight on New Year’s Eve?

Why do we look for fresh starts?

What makes us feel the need to start over and do something different?

Does it originate from a deep sense of stagnation? The feeling of not being good enough? Is it the sense that we could do better?

I once rented a house which had one of those patterned, textured wallpapers in the hallway. It was painted over with a fresh coat of white paint to make it look brighter and more modern, ready for its new tenants.

When the front door occasionally smashed into the wall behind it, it peeled away the paint, and then the wallpaper, revealing the several layers of history underneath.

There had been a coat of red, teal, cream, an eggshell blue and a few other various colours. That hallway had had many fresh starts, each one concealing the past or at least giving it a new face. From the moment the house was built, its only true fresh start had already happened.

Everything since then was simply a part of its transformation – positive or negative.

It reminds me of the baggage that 8

we bring with us, like layers of paint and wallpaper under our current coat, fixed and challenging to erase. What do you choose to bring with you to a fresh start? Can you truly call it a fresh start if you bring your old friends, old mentality, past pain or problems? Like an old house with a lot of character, our dents and bruises, extensions and make-overs have shaped who we are. Wouldn’t it be wrong to leave that behind? Is it even possible? Our old selves and the multitude of false starts seem to stay with us. So, is it ever really a fresh start, or is that just what we call an opportunity of any takes us a step closer to becoming the people we can be? Isn’t that what time is? Just a constant cycle, that with each minuscule increment of time brings us another moment that can shape our personal evolution. Like a carousel that does not stop spinning; the option is not to get off and start the ride again, but to choose a new part of the ride to sit on and try to enjoy the view. Freshers is a marking of time when people enter a new phase of their lives, whether it is their first year of university or not. A time defined by putting oneself out there, meeting new people, and exploring new things. Like when the gym is bursting at the seams in January, September is another New Year for students. Often, we make resolutions, sometimes subconsciously, to go to all our classes, to go out more, to get better grades. We make promises to give dating a go, or to take a break from a certain hobby for a while. Our minds resolve to make some sort of change. Why do we wait for specific moments to make our changes? Maybe it's because we look to moments to notice the difference. Maybe because we need a sense of when the change happened, to be able to see our failure or our success clearly, without them all blending seamlessly into the tapestry that is our current selves. Thursday, just like any other day of the week, offers just as much promise for change as Monday. There is no reason to wait until the first day of next month to start a new revision plan, gym routine, meditation or whatever it might be that you want to work on. As the clock ticks on, another chance presents itself for you to take that opportunity - the opportunity you may refer to as a fresh start.

"Main Character Energy":

Identifying as a protagonist isn't the flex you think it is Hannah Armour

DEPUTY EDITOR IN CHIEF

Despite our lives being our own and being the main characters of each of our own stories, we’ve all felt at one time or another like a side character or an NPC (non-player character). And then all of a sudden you feel like a main character again. Maybe you’re on the train playing your favourite song, reading in the library or dancing in front of Founders building. But having ‘main character energy’ isn’t the flex you think it is. By identifying with being a protagonist, you’re implying someone else is writing your story. Maybe someone is. Maybe that person should be you. The first issue with the term? There’s an assumed temporary nature. You’re only a main character for the amount of time you’re doing something main character worthy: main characters don’t survive past the novel’s pages, the movie runtime or the tv showtime. How long until you’ve used up all your ‘main character energy’? Which leads me to my second issue: ‘energy’. To be a ‘main character’ (for the finite time you can be) requires effort and, exhaustion. Life is exhausting enough as it is, should you really be wasting more energy on reaffirming your life is really yours? So why are we detaching ourselves from our own narratives? Not to sound like a boomer, but it’s all that damn technology. On social media, we create an image of ourselves to portray online. We’re surrounded by characters so much we’re becoming them. We’re characterised by what music we like, what subject we study, what hobbies we have. To make it easier, there are clever little aesthetics to categorise yourself by: dark academia, light academia, cottage-core, grunge, etc. Not to mention, the influx of characters we’re constantly being broadcasted with: celebrities, Instagram models, TikTokers, as well as fictional characters on Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Prime and any other streaming service you can get your little hands on. At every turn, we’re faced with images (representations) of people, not people. The thing about these ‘people’ is, although they look like us and talk like us, they’re not us. They can’t survive the 24/7 we do. So why would you want to be them? Well, for starters, there are worse things than romanticising your life. If it makes life bearable, go for it! Buy that expensive coffee! Take that train! Dance in the rain! Why not enjoy life to the fullest? After all, you have autonomy. You are, believe it or not, in charge of your own destiny. Your story doesn’t start and end when you’re on a train listening to your favourite song.

No, I'm not finished yet.E m m a H o l l y

You didn’t orgasm, and now they’re rolling away from you. Their chest moreextreme forms of power-play, the foundation of consent and is heaving, and you aren’t all that out of breath. You get that sinking feeling that you’re done now. There’s a stickiness in between your legs and a heaviness in your chest, and you can’t articulate that deep discomfort you’re feeling. Maybe you did. Maybe it was the best sex of your life, but they’re already getting up and heading to the bathroom without you. It makes sense; they’re cleaning themselves up, but you feel rejected. Instead, you hug your legs to your chest and call yourself over-sensitive. Sex is a three-part story: the build-up, the act, and the aftermath. We know how the build-up goes; a coy dance that ends in people deciding that this, this is good. Sex itself, the climax of this performance. It’s the aftermath that tends to leave people stumped. Surely once it’s over, it’s over. Right? Not quite. This is when arguably the most important element of sex takes place; aftercare. When you type the phrase “sex aftercare” into Google, you are met with many articles that are concerned with justifying why it is crucial, and are busy defining what this mysterious term even is. It’s clear that aftercare simply isn’t being carried out, and it makes me wonder just how many people are left feeling dejected after sex. Aftercare has a different definition for everyone. Personally, it means Sex shouldn’t be a competition of who is more powerful than the other – ideally, it’ll be equal between the participants. Even if you are experimenting with boundaries should always be there. It is paramount that you lay these down before your libido rises and your pulse skyrockets; it’s the sex equivalent of being drink-driving. You’re impaired in your decision making. Set your ground rules. It may be that your partner must use condoms

thatquality time is spent with the person with whom you just slept. No one is hurrying off, and you are talking over what was good, what felt strange, and what made you laugh. Whatever your sexual arrangement may be, ensuring you and your partner have communicated what aftercare means to the other is essential. ing that the human body can react differently every time you have intercourse; things may hurt today when they didn’t yesterday. It can be a surprise Amongst many other things, Oscar for both you and your partner; commuWilde once said that “everything in the nicate to them that your body is not a world is about sex, except sex.” If this is sextoy, and that this pain means true, we spend our entire lives spinning stop. It’s simpler said than done, relentlessly towards sex, like it is the sun but when we don’t make these in the middle of our universe, and we are conditions obvious to others, it’s hapless little planets hurtling right at it. all too easy to overthink the whole We spend so much time trying to navigate the build-up, picking the metaphorical petals of he likes me, he likes me not, that by the time we get to sex, we’re pretty wrung out already. In all honesty, I agree with Wilde. Sex isn’t about sex. Sex is about vulnerability. Trust. Boundaries. Feelings. Sex throws down the ultimate gauntlet of being yourself, and it feels as though you are entirely placing yourself in someone else’s hands. Wilde goes on to finish the quote by saying that “sex is about power”, which is a daunting thought. every time, or that they check up on Why aftercare is just as SENIOR OPINION EDITOR you throughout sex. Establish an understand important as sex itself. experience. perhaps you sneezed on their face. It’s ironic; it feels as though the word ‘aftermath’ could have a negative connotation to it. The word ‘aftermath’ itself conjures an image of picking up the pieces after a destruction – perhaps attaching it to sex isn’t the best idea. By replacing it with a sense of aftercare, the dynamic instantly shifts. Suddenly, we have ushered in a healthy discussion Sex is anything but smooth. Most importantly, if a disagreement arose during or afterwards, try to talk it out. Intimacy makes every emotion feel heightened. You’re putting yourself out there – it’s natural you will be more sensitive to certain comments. However you can maintain the connection between you both after you do it. Whatever you do, just don’t get up and leave the second you’ve had your fun. in which you and It truly doesn’t matter what kind of your partner can sex you are having, be it casual or establish as loose part of your relationship. The vital a routine as you aspect is approaching aftercare, and desire, surrounding developing a pattern that makes what follows sex. you feel respected. There are fewer Picture this: they plop down next to you, and you go in for the pre-clean-up hug. You start to reflect upon the feelings worse than feeling used for your body. Remember, sex is meant to be fun. You’re meant to be able to soak in the post-orgasm glow. It’s not meant to be a race of how quickly someone leaves after they peel off the condom. good and bad Consider sex to be the antithesis elements of what of the mindset of “what happens just happened, in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” What and laugh at the p happens in sex should be talked articularly awful about for as long as needed. Afterparts. One of you care isn’t optional – it just isn’t done accidentally enough. kneed the other somewhere rather delicate, or Image: Cassidy Dickens via Unsplash

CULTURE LITERATURE: The Self-Help ‘Genre’:

Reading towards a fresh start O l i v i a Ta y l o r

SENIOR CULTURE EDITOR

Watching Sex and the City’s Charlotte York stumble through a bookstores ‘Self-Help’ section in search of Starting Over

Yet Again, feels like a very accurate depiction of that particular experience, especially when you are a perfectly normal yet slightly unconfident and insecure person.

Fortunately for both Charlotte and anyone else looking for novels like

Starting Over Yet Again - which unfortunately isn’t a real book - Amazon exists. Therefore we don’t have to fumble through the self-help section shouting ‘travel… travel?’ in vain hope of masking any embarrassment.

But why should anyone be embarrassed of self-help books? Have we really created a stigma around reading for advice rather than asking? Whilst I haven’t (yet) bought a title similar to Starting Over Yet

Again, I have read plenty of memoirs that fit under the self-help genre, with titles like Elizabeth

Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love and Joan

Didion’s Blue Nights being some of my favourites. With these types of books it's all about our own behaviour and whether we use the information we read. Unlike receiving help from family, friends or even therapists, readers are not obliged to take on board the advice written in books.

Looking at the two novels previously mentioned, I learnt a lot through each confessional 12

style about the themes of struggling and self worth. The beauty of thisgenre is that regardless of whether you have or have not experienced these particular conflicts, there is comfort in knowing they aren’t just issues you are facing alone; they are universal to us all. However, readers must also consider the negatives of the self-help genre. Firstly one must assess the reason why they may be looking for a book like this, because not all problems can be fixed by reading someone else's advice, it cannot be used as an alternative for seeking professional support. Not everyone processes emotions the same way; we don’t all have the same idea of a ‘fresh start’, therefore when we reach out to bookshelves it is important not to take advice that is written too literally. Furthermore, there is also the negative of a self-help book providing no help whatsoever. Perhaps one of the reasons we turn our noses at this genre is because often the advice written can be made up of common sense and therefore present itself as superficial. In our consumerist society, it’s no surprise the self-help book occasionally comes into trends, however, no one wants to read a book that tells you something you could have figured out yourself. Reading self-help is not all about wanting to reach some kind of epiphany, in fact, you probably won’t find one in the pages of someone else’s story. It’s about recognising a process, whether that’s how to heal after the breakdown of a relationship, how to get through the stages of grief or perhaps finding ways to overcome a personal insecurity. The style of self-help teaches us how to get to that fresh start we so badly crave after we reach a low point. The embarrassment surrounding self-help books may seem understandable, but it feels ironic when everyone will go through these processes. To ease yourself into it I would suggest finding the appropriate memoir that mirrors your own situation because there will always be novels that find resolutions to common yet personal struggles.

Feminism or Favouritism?

The Adam Levine and Sumner Stroh saga. T i a Martello

What makes women more subject to scrutiny in modern-day media than men? In contemporary culture, we frequently hear the stories of ‘the other woman’, and, as always, these tropes are usually plastered singularly to women and not her male counterpart. Whilst the female third party is labelled the cheater, mistress, and adulterer, men are simply given sympathy, excuses, and write-offs. The recent alleged affair between Maroon 5’s, Adam Levine, and model Sumner Stroh is the perfect example of this. Whilst the actual goings-on don’t pose much to my point, they highlight Levine as the real instigator amidst the communication. Yet, all the articles and social media posts I seem to find, specify how this was some sort of a ‘career move’ for the twentythree-year-old model which would spiral her onto her ‘five minutes of fame'. Although the line of communication between the two was welcomed, it can surely not be disguised as a cunning and calculated move for more social media followers. In the viral TikTok that explained all, Sumner says: “At the time, I was young; I was naive and quite frankly I felt exploited”- all which seemed to be forgotten as recent articles label her as the ‘solemn mistress’ who is a ‘home-wrecker’ and ‘an attention seeker’. As a society, we love to place blame and hate on the ‘other women’ and why? When something as clearly highlighted as this is demonstrated, society seems to look the other way as if it's almost too scary to admit that the powerful man and young women dynamic is something that is seen too often. I think it is important to change the narrative and highlight the binary opposite produced through media. When the male is seen to be taking advantage of a young influential woman, it almost writes itself as the ‘beautiful, savvy girl who exploits a man for his fame by seducing him to sin’. The modern-day media make sure to hit on every nerve of the public by burdening the most blame onto the female in any way they see necessary and demonising her to the public. Furthermore, the validity of ‘the other women’ is consistently questioned despite a formal apology from Adam himself. Fans are quick to defend their idol but then who is left to defend the storyteller? Sumner is now left in a vicious circle of slut-shaming because she enabled herself to be transparent about an influential man's mistakes. Contrastingly, it is nice to see influential women rush to her rescue, with celebrities including Chrishell Stause and Emily Ratajkowski. But why does it take women who are equally ranked to the male subject to invoke a change of heart? It is refreshing to see a positive take on the villanisation individuals within this story but it isn’t always the case amongst celebrities. Beyonce in almost two of her most popular songs satirically jests about the idea of ‘other women’ whether that be, Monica Lewinsky and her public affair with US president Bill Clinton, or rather anonymously, ‘Becky with the good hair’. These titles of ‘the kept women’ create a sense of conflict, which the media loves to model. No factual evidence is proven that there is an ongoing feud between Levine’s wife, Behati Prinsloo, and Sumner Stroh but that narrative is preferred and favoured as consumers enjoy placing two successful women against one another. It writes itself as ironic as no one within this situation is seen as the ‘winner’ both losses are shared whether that be emotionally or physically. The images constructed by the media also aid the binary opposition of meanings. Her whole being is characterised by the entanglement of the man rather than her own personal successes. This label placed on her as ‘Adam Levine’s mistress’ will never be able to be replaced or changed as, despite her growth as an individual, it will be unlikely the media will let her escape from the shackles which they have placed upon her. It is simply quite obvious, despite best efforts to change the narrative and archetypes amongst women within media, cannot be removed unless personally challenged by the consumption of it. We need a ‘fresh’ outlook on things. A change to the incessant portrayal. Whether consciously consumed or not, we all play a part in absorbing media which is detrimental to the image of women. The burden of the blame cannot be decided based on one’s gender. After all, Adam Levine had the most to lose: a wife, his children, his established career, and public opinion. To alleviate blame from one should be to alleviate blame from all, as factual information cannot be denied by gender representation and the media’s selection of them. We need to be the catalyst to a cultural reset and consciously decide how accurate the narrative can be when it can be so commonly decided by gender. 13