Issue 102 - October/November 2023

the magdalen issue 102 - autumn '23

Hollywood GPT Hollywood writer's strike over the use of AI in script writing.

for students, by students

Ghibli Magic: Four Heart Warming Picks for a Night In Recommendations of Studio Ghibli films for a cosy autumn night in.

Romanticise Autumn this Year An article on how to romanticise and find joy in autumn with the day getting shorter and darker.

Messages from the Senior Team Dep./Editor-in-Chief Welcome to the 102nd issue of the Magdalen Magazine where we combined the pieces under the term ‘cozy, comfortable, creepy’ for all the cozy autumn days with hot chocolate or preparations for Halloween.

Hopefully, you’ll find a piece that brings back good memories from a surprisingly sunny day in October or a gloomy morning in November; a day with no stress about deadliness and classes, or one with celebrations for passing midterm assignments.

On this note, we hope everyone is happy with their grades and enjoying the short deadlines-free bliss before the final assessments knock on the door. Good luck at the upcoming exams and have an amazing winter break!

- Roshni & Mariya

Creative Directors Hey guys hope you have a spooky time this year loving the cooler weather although soon it will be far too cold but minus the weather I hope you guys are keeping well and are all enjoying the Autumn, we have seen our first robin this year!

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Like usual we would like to thank all our designers who worked on this issue we really couldn’t run this without your support, alongside that we would also like to welcome all our new designers, you guys have absolutely smashed it !!! We can’t wait to see your future designs.

- Katy & Fiona

❤

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If you're a UoD or Abertay student and have a passion for design or writing, we’d love to hear from you!

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Holywood GPT

Arts & Entertainment Album Review: The Loveliest Time

by Carly Rae Jepsen Riverdale: The Biggest Anomoly in TV History Un-Original Pirate Material Ghibli Magic: Four Heart Warming Picks for a Night In

Current Affairs, Save Me Student

Creative Writing

Feature, Arts & Entertainment Feature

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Current Affairs

Creative Writing

Moving Forwards or Moving Backwards: Thailand's New Democracy

Love Like Martians and Lunatics

The Diplomatic Domino Effect

Pool

The Modern Narcissus

Broken Mirrors Cold Embrace Daughter

Save Me Student How To Not Just Live off Noodles

Society Spotlight Sub Aqua Club Roleplaying Society

Lifestyle

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Romanticise Autumn this Year

Opinions

British Greasy Spoon: Lost It’s Grease?

Buddy or Bully?: The XL Bully Ban

Unveiling the Nighttime Oasis: Nightline Dundee

Sensitive Souls

Keeping Up with The Magdalen

Science & Technology

Opinions

Society Spotlight, Lifestyle

28 Another Jump Scare Is Dundee Dun-Dying?

Science & Technology HeLa: A Controversial Legacy Slutty Symbiotic Halloween Near You!!!

Words: Freya Giles

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Feature

Design: Fiona Howard

Hollywood GPT Hollywood.

A word that projects glitz and glamour.

One can imagine trailers dotted around movie studios that house A-list stars having their face powdered and their feet soaked. Bustling city streets packed with tourists - cameras at the ready - excited to capture famous names on the ground or faces in the streets. Locals laze on the sand of Malibu looking out into the sunkissed glistening sea, kindly provided shade from one palm tree out of the line.

All of this overlooked by bright white letters staring down at its inhabitants from Mount Lee, reminding these tiny people of their great purpose. To be stars.

However, there is one group in this mix, darting through the movie sets with their notepad and pen, who rarely take the spotlight. That is Hollywood’s army of screen writers. The writers remain behind the scenes, giving subtle direction to actors or drafting various screenplays only to be rejected by production companies for being too conceptual, too slow or too repetitive - only 2% of scripts ever get recommended for production!

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Often, it can be difficult for writers to make ends meet with such an unstable source of income. One can never count on the next project to bring in income, one must take it where it comes. Big movie studios are often more preoccupied on spending millions on CGI budgets and big actor pay-outs.

“Could writers’ roles be completely replaced by AI?” This is one reason the Writers’ Guild of America (WGA) decided to go on strike against Production companies until both sides could agree on a contract that creates an acceptable working environment for the writers. For context, new contracts are negotiated every three years by the WGA and their producers, and usually the process is quick and mutually beneficial. However, there was definitely more riding on this year’s negotiations for the WGA that resulted in the near 150-day strike.

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Words: Freya Giles

It was the digital realm that backdropped this year’s strike troubles. Most immediately relevant for writers was the need to rethink streaming residual payments. As more movies and TV shows find a home online than ever before, it is pertinent that writers make a small amount of money from these streams the same way that hosting platforms do. The WGA also hopes to address the trend towards smaller writer’s rooms while introducing higher pay ceilings for writers who also produce. These talks are all pretty typical contract bartering. However, the aspect of the negotiations that has caught media attention the most is the debate over AI. Advancements made in the sphere of Artificial Intelligence have boomed astronomically. It feels almost surreal to acknowledge that ChatGPT was released less than a year ago. The waves it has made in society during this time have been tsunami-level; everyone will be affected. Dundee University itself even has a guide for using AI in our assignments. Yet nobody finds themselves at the forefront of this more than Hollywood’s workers.

“The acting trade, just like their writer counterparts, is under serious threat” Could writers’ roles be completely replaced by AI? Would film companies force writers to use AI in their work?

Could AI reduce the work done by actors by cloning their voices or mannerisms?

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These questions were at the front of many WGA members’ minds as they entered communications, and the answers were scarier than one might think. It seems that production companies themselves were also pondering these questions and have been eager to utilise AI more as it improves, including it more and more in these creative processes. Even in the infant stage that AI is currently in, it has been utilised to create movie intros (a la Marvel’s Secret Invasion), de-age actors or even imitate voice patters of historical figures posthumously. It’s easy to see where the WGA’s anxiety may be coming from.

Ultimately, production companies were unwilling to compromise with writers surrounding these issues in the first instance which led to the extensive strike. One executive wrote anonymously was quoted in Deadline saying: “The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses.” It’s clear that the big bosses didn’t want to make it easy for the strikers. Universal studios also went viral for its malicious treatment of strikers when it cut all of the foliage off of their trees so that the striking force would have no shade. Not only would the WGA have to strike in extreme heat, but the trees also could easily die from such intense heat exposure to its stem. A curveball that was perhaps less expected was the actors’ union joining the WGA in their strike. They wanted to show solidarity to the writers,’ but also had their own technological issues- primarily the introduction of 3D scanning modules that can replace substantial parts of an actor’s performance.

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Design: Fiona Howard

Actors can be scanned by companies’ and then their image will be recreated whenever it is needed, without the permission or even knowledge of the original actor. Screenwriter Nicole Demerse of Degrassi writes, “The first week of the strike, a young actor (early 20s) told me she was a BG actor on a Marvel series and they sent her to ‘the truck’ – where they scanned her face and body 3 times. Owned her image in perpetuity across the Universe for $100.

Existential, is right.” The acting trade, just like their writer counterparts, is under serious threat if this technology advances to the point of being fully convincing. All it takes is a database of models to pull from and then big-budget movies could never use actors again. The possibilities are terrifying.

At time of writing, the WGA have been able to negotiate a somewhat decent contract for the next 3 years, meeting most of their financial aims and putting some constraints in place for how AI can be used in the industry. Companies cannot force writers to use AI, although there are fears that production houses will limit hiring in ways that allows AI to flourish.

But the actors’ guild is still on strike fighting to have adequate safeguards for their image put in place. Perhaps the scariest aspect of this whole debacle is that it is the first time we’ve seen workers in an industry disadvantaged by AI so far. IBM is just one other example. The tech company has currently paused hiring and anticipates up to 30% of its positions to be filled by AI by the end of this decade. Although the WGA secured what can be classed as a win in Hollywood, it’s only a matter of time before clashes like this happen across the world.

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Words: Ellie McBay, Design: Joshua Harris

Album Review: The Loveliest Time

by Carly Rae Jepsen This year has brought us an abundance of new music, with one of my favourite releases being Carly Rae Jepsen’s album, The Loveliest Time. In Carly’s words, it is

“the completed set to a body of work that taught me so much about love and loneliness and myself.”

Its predecessor, The Loneliest Time, just released last autumn.

Most people know Carly for that one global smash hit over ten years ago – yes, you know the one – and potentially a small handful of her other most popular songs, in addition to a viral TikTok sound (“I’m comin’ back for you, baby!”). Outside of her devoted fanbase, much of her best work has flown under the radar – and The Loveliest Time is no exception.

The 13-track run features some of Carly’s indubitably most playful and experimental music to date, whilst remaining very quintessentially her. It begins with the exuberant Anything to Be With You, snapping you into action with her bouncy, animated vocals and joyful lyrics. We can hear a lot of this in Shy Boy too. The song debuted at Glastonbury prior to the album’s release and no doubt left its catchy, chirpy hook stuck in people’s heads for weeks afterwards.

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Carly is a big fan of a powerful, passionate pop banger, and Kamikaze is certainly proof of this. My personal favourite on the album, its chorus knocks you off your feet with its fervour and eagerness. Similarly, Stadium Love really packs a punch! Carly’s raspy vocals paired with a fierce, booming guitar solo produce an exhilarating listening experience.

Although she is highly regarded for her bold, high-energy anthems, Carly also has a knack for creating some extremely raw and emotive songs that always go underappreciated, even by her fans. Kollage is one of the most personal songs in her entire discography, which Carly has admitted she was nervous to release. Her soft, gentle vocals overflow with vulnerability and tenderness, and her live performances ooze emotion and tug achingly at the audience’s heartstrings. Put It To Rest is sonically very different – the blend of instruments paired with Carly’s moving lyrics create such a unique and intensely evocative atmosphere.

Ultimately, The Loveliest Time is a sparkling, spectacular collection of songs that thoroughly showcase Carly’s talent in a wide variety of captivating ways. If you haven’t yet delved into her music, there has decidedly never been a more perfect time to do so.

Arts & Entertainment

Words: Mona Eckle, Design: Beth Millar

Riverdale: The Biggest Anomaly in TV History After seven seasons the teen drama Riverdale, infamous for its bad writing, has finally come to an end. If you haven’t watched the show, you probably haven’t learned about “the triumphs and defeats, the epic highs and lows of high school football”, a real line in the show. Evidently, Riverdale is notorious for its unintentionally ridiculous and hilarious dialogue.

Based on the Archie Comics, the show reinvents its iconic characters, most notably Archie Andrews, Jughead Jones, Veronica Lodge, and Betty Cooper, by placing them into a modern Gothic murder mystery. Riverdale presents the audience with beautiful visuals that play with an ambiguous time period resembling the 1950s with old diners, vintage cars, and retro fashion. The controversial showrunner, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, seemingly values style over substance and is thus more concerned with the aesthetics of the show rather than with crafting a good story.

Nevertheless, the first season holds up surprisingly well as a campy teen drama that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Arts & Entertainment

After the initial season, however, Riverdale quickly went off track, going from a simple murder mystery to an increasingly bizarre set of storylines. Every character is revealed to have a secret long-lost relative, an organharvesting cult builds a rocket, an entity called the gargoyle king takes over Riverdale, and Cheryl Blossom is haunted by the spirit of her dead brother. What started out as a run-of-the-mill soapy teen drama has slowly devolved into an inexplicable anomaly in TV history. Characters suddenly have superpowers, and concepts such as the multiverse and time-travel are introduced out of nowhere.

Eventually, the show became so convoluted that the writers decided to completely reboot it in its final seventh season by placing the characters into an alternate timeline in the 1950s. It is then canonically confirmed that the previous timeline, and thus the first six seasons of the show that fans knew and loved, was erased from existence in the fictional universe of Riverdale. No satisfying conclusion was reached for any of the beloved characters’ stories. In fact, they were not even the same characters viewers knew from the previous seasons anymore.

The true tragedy of Riverdale lies in its wasted potential. With the iconic source material, talented cast, and stunning visuals, the show could have been solidified as a popular culture staple.

Instead, it became the biggest joke within the entertainment industry. Yet, Riverdale is also amongst the very last of the old-style broadcast teen dramas with 20 episodes per season. In some ways, there is a sense of nostalgia following its departure from the TV landscape.

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Words: Tom Gachagan

Un-Original Pirate Material One day, while scrolling through TikTok, a video caught my attention: someone was using AI software to create art! I found this rather interesting and decided to give it a go myself. I completed my work, observed the images, and thought: “something is missing.” I immediately knew what it was: the human touch. It is commonly agreed upon that all art is created from human experience. Whether it is a painting, song or film, the artist always places part of themself in their work.

I feel that AI art falls short of humanity as it creates clunky and derivative pieces of it. In fact, AI art is created from patterns, i.e., the system learns what to make from other works of art. Essentially, AI takes an artist’s creative piece, puts it inside its programme, processes it and pretends the result to be its own, with no credit given to the original artist.

I first observed AI “in action” with music. People use AI to create songs and do not give credit to the original artist. I’m all in favour of interpolation and sampling (always assigning the given credit of course!) but this is not the case with art. AI is essentially stealing creative work to create a mimesis, a sub-par reproduction, which

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is often artistically dry. I was under this impression when I watched Marvel’s Secret Invasion on Disney+.

The opening animation was created entirely out of AI. This gives room to further criticism. Not only did it look quite bad, but it also took work and income away from the already underpaid Disney graphic designers and animators, artists that are being deprived of their creative abilities.

Roger Scruton is a philosopher I often disagree with when it comes to issues concerning politics, philosophy and aesthetics.

He claims artists are moving away from beauty and that, consequentially, modern works of art are not representative of it anymore.

While I do not agree with his view, if we were to apply his theory to AI, I would however find myself agreeing with Scruton.

Scruton believed that human beauty is not to be found in a person’s appearance, i.e., our physical bodies.

Instead, it is to be found in the person embodied, i.e., in their expression, their ideas or emotions. Thus, for Scruton, the beauty of art is to be found in the embodied person. I would take this concept further and argue that a person’s totality, the whole of an individual, is embodied in the

art that they make.

AI art finds itself lacking this essential quality. It lacks innate beauty, something that only the human soul possesses.

A recent example of this are Marvel movies and shows.

Many have argued that the franchise feels soulless, as if based off some sort of formula (essentially just copying from a list of things to do). Perhaps AI is part of a bigger issue facing aesthetics, i.e., formulas. AI utilizes formulas to create its art, which results into dry, lazy and soulless creativity.

The same issue is to be found in popular music and mainstream film media.

This is often the result of a formula that robs the artist’s work of its creative soul.

I would argue that AI issues are to be found in the academic world too. Back in September 2022, I recall my lecturers started discussing the use of AI when it comes to writing essays. This was the first time the issue was addressed. The use of AI obviously violates academic integrity to begin with. But above all, essay writing services, and AI especially, simply do not accomplish the same outstanding human writing achievements and excellence.

Arts & Entertainment

Photography: Sigmund, Design: Douglas Pascal

As an experiment, I decided to use ChatGPT to write an essay. The final product simply did not read that well, as if someone had poorly copied and pasted some information from a few different sites. It just didn’t feel human! The performing and fine arts aren’t the only fields affected by this though.

I was struggling to come up with a title for this article, so I decided to give ChatGPT a chance for some inspiration.

The results were either terrible or not relevant to the topic. It also made me think of my own integrity: should I be using something I am arguing against? Attempting to use AI has confirmed my own suspicions: it creates poor quality, unclear and soulless pieces of work. It could be compared to the first draft of an essay that hasn’t yet been reviewed.

One could say that AI creativity looks and sounds like a robot speaking. No human touch is to be found there, or should I say, no artists touch.

Arts & Entertainment

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Words: Mia Duffy, Design: Afia Zaman

Ghibli Magic: 4 Heart-Warming Picks for a Night In Another popular pick and Ghibli classic is Spirited Away. Chihiro’s family are driving to their new house when they come across some peculiar ruins that they decide to explore. Chihiro finds she can no longer leave this place when her parents eat some magic food. To free both herself and her parents she is forced to work in the witch Yubaba’s bathhouse. Exploring themes such as the supernatural, greed, and humanity, Spirited Away truly immerses the viewer into a “storybook ending” fantasy world.

Everyone needs a bit of Ghibli in their life. Whether you are going for those cosy autumnal vibes, or simply need a bit of a pick-me-up, Hayao Miyazaki’s selection of films always works like a charm. So, treat yourself to a cup of tea, turn the lights off and snuggle down into your bed to immerse yourself in the magical world of Studio Ghibli.

Let’s start off with My Neighbour Totoro and delve into 1950s Japan. Sisters Mei and Satsuki move into a new house with their father while their mother is in hospital.

Satsuki starts school while Mei continues to wander around the house grounds. She eventually stumbles upon Totoro, a giant cat-like forest spirit. Throughout the movie, the two continue to interact with the forest and its many wonders. This lifts their spirits in the face of their mother’s illness. In just a short hour and a half, we see a heartwarming celebration of childhood and nature.

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Whisper of the Heart is an underrated Ghibli gem blending both fantasy and romance. It follows the narrative of 14-year-old Shizuku as she navigates her crush on Seiji, alongside school and story writing. Shizuku’s teenage awkwardness is both fun and intriguing.

This cute coming of age focuses on sense of belonging and gathering courage despite the fear of failure.

Saving the best for last, we have Kiki’s Delivery Service. When a witch turns thirteen, she must spend a year away from home to improve her magic.

This is the faith that awaits protagonist Kiki and her black cat, Jiji. She finds a quant town by the seaside and establishes a delivery service using her magic.

However, Kiki soon finds that she is drained, possibly losing her magic for good. This charming story touches on both the struggles of burnout and the rediscovery of passion. It is a perfect, light-hearted film to soothe any tired soul, or just for a comfy Tuesday evening.

These lovely films can be found on Netflix, as well as a variety of free legal anime websites (but you didn’t hear that from us).

Arts & Entertainment

Words: Archer Roehrig, Design: Fiona Howard

Love Like Martians and Lunatics I think I am beautiful in the same way an alien is beautiful.

I think I prefer it that way.

My beauty is the sort that descends from a saucer. Not quite stunning, not striking.

Paralyzing. My face abducts the gaze.

Frozen, those who sight me flounder to look away. Never will I be deemed easy on the eyes. I am a specimen excluded from the realm of subtle beauty. And perhaps from the realm of Earthly beauty at all.

In a room full of humans, I may never be the prettiest. Certainly, never the pleasantest. My appearance challenges the observer. The uncanny gap between my eyes. Soft skin draped over jutting bone in a paradox of smooth and sharp. As an alien in unfamiliar gravity, my features collapse downward. Moving from crown to chin, they funnel from wide to thin in a manner unmistakably Martian.

My face, comprised of pieces each with individual appeal, transforms into an unearthly apparition when considered as a whole. Far more fit for scrutiny than admiration. Most humans pass on allure that requires investigation. Who could admire the pieces alone?

I prefer it this way. I am a sight to behold, a creature to be held by few. I demand love in a way that only tin foil hats can declare.

Creative Writing

I want them to call my lover a lunatic. Who else but the fanatic could scour my being for evidence of beauty? What could tether these pieces together but red yarn heartstrings on a basement wall? The chances of my lover’s existence are nearly as astronomical as mine. Nevertheless, I voyage towards the dream. The delusion. The belief.

It’s a privilege, I think. Martian love is an exclusively alien experience. To love an extra-terrestrial means to have always loved an extra-terrestrial. Nights spent alone in speculative adoration. Scanning the sky for UFOs. Waiting with devotion beneath unfeeling stars. They’ll call my love a lunatic.

But we’ll both believe. We’ll know.

So, I don’t bother with dates. My paranormal sort of pretty translates poorly into candlelit charm. Trials are futile when I seek such a specific conclusion. When I know. There exists a human who’d give the world to witness me in my eerie green glow. The happiest day of my lover’s life will be when they encounter me in a field at night. In that otherworldly light, they’ll admire the face they lived in hope of someday loving.

And I’ll have braved the cosmos, travelled lightyears of space. Battered from combing the human race, I will descend from my ship.

I’ll see them. They’ll see me. We’ll prove we were right to believe. In a galaxy full of people to pick, they’ll have waited for their alien, and I’ll have found my lunatic.

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Words: Clare Havertape

Pool No longer did I want to continue in the darkness of the withered house on Marmot Crescent. Pushing the door slowly so as not to cause it to creak, I peered through the little space of the basement door to see if the coast was clear. Two people stood to my right, yet far away, and I did not want them to catch me trespassing. They had been walking about the house, almost investigating or reminiscing, or both, I was not sure.

“You know, last week I caught a couple young kids hanging around in the garden,” one of them, a man, said gravely. A woman was stationed next to him, out on the back porch with the French doors opened behind them. I prayed they wouldn’t turn around.

When their voices softened and I could no longer decipher exact words, I pivoted around the left wall until I was facing the front of the burnt house, where moonlight so unnervingly shone through in the empty doorway. I did not want to run for fear of noise, so I tiptoed rather slowly, my hand grazing the charred wallpaper that was peeling in every place. One more step— I’d be able to make a run for it— But I heard a shattering underneath my feet.

Glancing down to see what I had stepped on, I noticed a merlot-coloured photo frame was trapped underneath my foot, its glass broken 16

but still safe in the frame’s grip. I picked it up carefully and saw that a woman in a slim black dress stood in the centre of the photo, a pool cue at her side and her smile radiating like she was either naïve enough or selfish enough to believe the house would last perfectly forever. I could tell the photo had been taken in the living room to my left, where two large bay windows stood behind her; now, however, with no glass and parts of the frame missing and jagged.

And yet she had stood there back then, that smile lighting up the room as if she was the meaning of life herself.

That is the thing with photographs: time stops. I wonder if the woman pictured knew what had happened to this house, or perhaps she’d been stuck in that photo forever, stuck in this house…

Her joy offered me reassurance, and I knew she had lived here in this place when it was in its prime— Laughter would have filled the room diagonally where I pictured dinner parties and jazz music through a stereo, and to my left, that pool table where games would be played; where competition brewed trivial feuds, and lots of wine would be drunk on the side table next to the cue rack, and scented candles, burning bright with warmth and love and wonder— Creative Writing

Design: Heidi Le

Was this fire an accident? What could have possibly wanted this feeling of serenity gone this desperately?

I stared into the living room on my left, holding the photo of the woman in my injured hand. The pool table was there, laying on the ground, half of its fabric singed to nothing, half of it black as tragedy itself. I walked towards it, totally fixated on its temporality. There was another photo near the broken bay windows. I did not want to touch it, as this one seemed even more hallowed to the house: a young boy and what looked to be his father were embracing each other at the front doors, just right outside from me.

I looked behind my shoulder toward the empty door frame, expecting to see them there, but of course there was nothing at all. The frame itself was barely intact. A few corners of the photo were scorched Creative Writing

and shrivelled, some of them completely singed off. The damage extended towards the father’s shoulder, but seemed not to touch the child at all.

Voices from the back became louder as I remained in the front corridor, next to the living room of wounded nostalgia. I was caught off-guard; I thought my heart would drop down to my stomach in dread, but it was instead stuck in my throat like I wished to cry out for my heartache.

“I cannot demolish this house,” the man’s low voice grew louder, and I saw his shadow, “I will have nothing to protect at all if not this house.”

I ran from the front porch, realising I was still holding the photograph of the woman with the pool cue. I chucked it behind me into the grass, and never looked back.

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Words: Lara Luyts

Broken Mirrors !

CONTENT WARNING: BLOOD

Autumn has arrived and, as per tradition, Melanie takes Theo to the funfair that passes through their town every year. She laughs as he drags her from stall to stall, the sugar rush making him talk twice as fast as usual.

“Can we go on the Ferris wheel next?”. Before she has the chance to reply, he continues, “No, wait, I want to go there first!”

He points to something with his candyfloss stick. Melanie looks up to see a funhouse, painted in various shades of green and yellow.

Lost Forest, reads the sign above the box office. A bored-looking teen sits behind the glass, tapping away on his phone.

As expected, Theo crosses his arms and glares at her. She maintains her concerned expression for a few more seconds before grinning. “Just kidding, tough guy. Let’s see if I have enough cash.”

She does, and no more than five minutes later Melanie finds herself chasing after her little brother’s laughter in dark corridors.

“Isn’t that too scary for you?”

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Creative Writing

Design: Katy Blair The space is cramped for someone her age, and she almost gets stuck on one of the slides, but overall the funhouse is pretty neat.

Better than anything this fair had when she was Theo’s age. She slows down as she rounds another corner, wary of obstacles hidden by darkness. Theo’s voice gets further away, but that’s fine; he knows to wait for her outside if he makes it out first.

Melanie follows a faint light coming from the end of the corridor, only to stop when she meets a dead end. In front of her, below the lightbulb, hangs a large mirror, approximately her size. It has a thin metallic frame which is covered in rust stains, making it look out of place among the newly painted interior of the funhouse. She doesn’t linger on it for long, her eyes instead finding those of her reflection. They’re wide, shining in the dim light. Her skin looks pale, and she frowns slightly as she lifts her hand to her forehead. It doesn’t feel warm, but her reflection looks sickly. Feverish.

A scream behind her.

She whirls around, heart racing, only to relax when she realises it’s just another kid running by. The kid goes into the corridor Melanie had missed, hidden by the shadows. Relieved, she follows, eager to get out. She tries to forget about the mirror and pretends like the unease she felt doesn’t follow her all the way home. …

The next day, Melanie catches her reflection in her bedroom mirror. Her hair is a mess, as it tends to be when she wakes up, and she still seems pale. Even her smile doesn’t take away from the dullness of her eyes. She doesn’t look like she just slept for ten hours – if anything, it’s as if she hasn’t had sleep in days.

Melanie watches her reflection for a long while before she realises what’s wrong with it.

Creative Writing

This whole time, she hasn’t been smiling.

Her fist stings as it makes contact with the mirror, glass piercing her knuckles.

Downstairs, she can hear her mother calling out in concern, but Melanie doesn’t answer.

Because in the mirror pieces scattered on the ground, her reflection continues to smile back at her. …

Returning to the funhouse is a terrible idea.

Melanie knows that, but she’s at the end of her rope. Covering the mirrors in her room didn’t help; her reflection looked back at her from her window, from her phone screen, from the pupils of her father’s eyes. She can’t sleep, can barely eat with the nausea that constantly resides in her stomach, and every sound makes her jump. The funfair leaves town in a few days, so if she wants to bring an end to this, she has to do it fast.

This time, there’s no denying the wrongness of the warped figure staring back at her. Skin stretched too tight over bone. Eyes bulging.

When she bares her teeth, the ones she sees in the mirror are too sharp. She lifts her hand to her mouth, touches her teeth with her thumb and index finger to confirm they’re as dull as ever.

For a moment both of them are frozen, locked in their staring contest. Then, a glint passes through her reflection’s eyes, and it yanks on the tooth it’s holding. The tooth – long, sharp – gives too easily, like a petal plucked. Blood flows from the gap it leaves behind, dripping down the reflection’s lips as they curl into a grin. Melanie wants to look away. More than anything, she wants to scream, to run and forget she ever found this place, but she’s rooted to the spot. A whisper in her ear, a cold understanding: if you try to run, it will come for you. The hammer in her bag feels useless now. Melanie just stands and watches as her reflection bleeds, its chest heaving. A blend of blood and saliva trickles down its chin. It’s hungry.

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Words: Rowan Clark, Design & Photography: Heidi Le

It chases you; That cold caress in the mornings, the biting chill that always finds bare skin, frozen fingertips that, shy, trace the stray curls of your hair, the frame of your cheeks; that slip through and fall away and again I am left chasing you.

You; shining, radiant; brighter, fiercer than the sun; You, who breathes life with everything you do, Whose light I would blind myself for; Whose warmth is a fire I yearn to be devoured by; I, a forgotten memory alive only on the wind that gives chase; Your loyal, lost dog, running for eternity.

But I will chase; I will wait and wait and wait and wait and wait And you, You will be the one to find me, Ready with my cold embrace.

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Creative Writing

Words: Ren Jakab, Design: Luna Jezzard

Daughter !

CONTENT WARNING: TRANSITIONING MENTAL ILLNESS She was born golden like the apples of Eden, wished for and wanted, an angel star haunted by the crust of her flesh – porcelain doll in distress, a puppet, lost girl.

Never shouts, never cries, wings clipped, halo shines, paint on face, a disguise – pain simmers in red eyes, yet hands clutched to chest can’t get rid of the pests, a ghost, lost soul.

Ever growing, ever blooming, like iron she corroded hoping her fists can fit through her head; an organ wished she was dead, and the gold slipped off like a parent’s promise to wipe a tear, lost child.

She died in slow motion, sickness infused erosion, clinging to a shred of gold; there was nothing to hold, just the water trickling down her throat, ready to drown a girl, lost boy.

Creative Writing

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s d r a rw o F ing

Words: Freya Giles

Mo ov rM

ov in

gB

In Thailand there is currently a power struggle underway. There is the monarchy, desperate to retain power and influence, and there is a growing group of dissidents questioning the King’s authority. The conflict has been raging for the last three years and shows no sign of simmering down any time soon. The last 36 months have been marked by a series of significant protests, a radical election, political scheming and, just weeks ago, arrests.

Arnon Nampa was sentenced to four years imprisonment for the crime of insulting the king. However, he still has another 13 charges against him that he is yet to be tried for, so this four-year figure is likely to increase. He was first arrested three years ago at a student-led rally in Bangkok, protesting the monarch’s unreasonable power over public life. After all, Thailand is only a constitutional monarchy, like the UK. Yet, speaking out against the monarchy is not just taboo in Thailand but highly illegal, with sentences of up to 15 years being handed out under this Lese Majeste law.

However, Nampa’s words back in 2020 were not to be forgotten. His initial arrest sparked further protest throughout Bangkok for months afterwards, bravely calling for reform to the law. Since Nampa’s arrest, a further 257 people have been charged with breaking this law and insulting the king, including at least 20 minors.

This may not be surprising since it was students and young people who made up a substantial proportion of these progressive voices.

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ac

kw

ard

s:

The protests Thailand’s New Democracy died down after several months, but rather than disappearing, this reformist attitude was instead channelled into electoral politics through the Move Forward Party. The party was an underdog with its controversial policies of demilitarisation, enacting a welfare state, legalising same-sex marriage, and decentralisation to allow for more elected officials. Most controversially, it aims to amend the Lese Majeste law. The 2023 election rolled around in May and shockingly, the Move Forward Party won a simple majority with 36% of the votes to the House of Representatives. There was a major electoral upset at the result, but there was no way the Thai powers could deny the result. Surely the leader of the party, Pita Limjaroenrat, would become the Prime Minister?

In Thailand, to become Prime Minister, one has to be confirmed in a joint vote by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, which is controlled by the military.

However, the Senate is de facto part of the monarchy due to the strong alliance between the two institutions. Pita received 324 votes out of a total of 500, but this is short of the 375-threshold required by the Constitution and so he was not appointed to become Head of Government. However, after this failure to secure the top position, he was then Current Affairs

Design: Daniel Somoghi disqualified as an MP altogether and banned from ever vying for the Premiership again.

Now the leader of the Nationalist Party, Pheu Thai, is the Prime Minister instead. It is no surprise that they were able to secure the position with the help of the military-backed parties after Pheu Thai promised not to touch the existing Lese Majeste Law. As of right now, Pita has had to step down as party leader due to his disqualification.

Arnon Nampa is currently jailed, alongside hundreds of others. It is clear that the conservative forces in Thailand are willing to suspend any illusion of true freedom in order to deal with their political opponents.

But there is still hope.

The Moving Forward Party has a majority in the House of Representatives, alongside many allies from other parties who support its reformist goals. There have been protests both within and outside of Bangkok regarding the unfair manoeuvring used against Pita Limjaroenrat. Nampa’s sentence received global news attention with the story being covered in France, Japan, Britain, and the US, among others. The situation is tense but the possibility for reform is still alive and well in Thailand. It is only natural for the threatened institutions to try and fight for their continued influence, but it is the duty of anyone who values human rights to sit up and pay attention. The Thai populace deserves every ounce of support we can muster for them because the going will continue to get tougher before it gets easier, but it is a cause worth fighting for. As Nampa himself says:

“The movement of the new generation created a phenomena of change for the country in a way that cannot be turned back.”

Current Affairs

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Words: Angus Coleman

Diplomacy is a difficult thing. Relationships between countries, like those between people, are highly variable and often volatile.

When this is the case, all it takes is the wrong event at the wrong time to cause a row, which in turn can lead to a wider crisis with ramifications for large groups of people. Most recently, a crime was committed in Canada which, according to the government, had links to India. As a very serious accusation with severe implications for the relationship between the two countries and international relations more generally, the fallout of the event has sparked a severe escalation of tensions.

On June 18 in Surrey, Vancouver, Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead outside a temple. Nijjar had lived in Canada for over 20 years prior, where he worked as a plumber and held Canadian citizenship. In the wake of this event, questions were raised about possible involvement by the Indian government, sparking an international row between the two countries. Earlier in September, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the killing of a Canadian citizen by a foreign

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power would represent “an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” while any involvement on the Indian government’s part was dismissed as “unsubstantiated” by India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

To understand why this killing has sparked such a dramatic quarrel, we must of course examine the historical context surrounding it, and specifically in relation to Nijjar himself. Depending on who you asked, he was either a human rights activist or a terrorist. In the years prior to his death, Nijjar led the Canadian branch of Sikhs for Justice. This organisation supports the creation of an independent Sikh state in the North Indian region of Punjab, known as Khalistan. He also circulated petitions for the UN to recognise the 1984 bout of anti-Sikh violence in India as a genocide. However, he also took a wider role as a religious leader in his community, leading prayers for Muslim and Indigenous Canadian victims of gun violence.

However, the Indian government accused Nijjar of being the leader of the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), a militant

Current Affairs

Design: Luna Jezzard

All it takes is the wrong event at the wrong time to cause a row, which in turn can lead to a wider crisis with ramifications for large groups of people. secessionist group. The KTF have been outlawed in India on the grounds of being a terrorist organisation. They have indeed claimed responsibility for attacks in the past, including the killing of Indian Army soldiers in April 2023, and the attempted assassination of politician Sajjan Kumar in 2011. A statement issued by the Indian government in 2020 accused Nijjar of being involved in “operationalising, networking, training and financing” KTF members.

In September, Justin Trudeau said that there were “credible allegations” of Indian government involvement in Nijjar’s killing.

According to an unnamed Canadian official, the evidence came from observation of Indian diplomats in the country, as well as intelligence from one of Canada’s main allies, which has also gone unnamed. This has resulted in an unprecedented souring of relations between the two countries, which was apparent at this year’s G20 summit in New Delhi. During the summit, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi cancelled a meeting with Trudeau, while Canada announced that a trade mission to India planned for October had been postponed.

As the rift between the two countries has grown, India has demanded the removal of around 40 Canadian diplomats by October 10, with New Delhi supposedly threatening to remove the diplomatic immunity of any who remain after the deadline, according to one report. India claims that the reason for this is to establish diplomatic parity

Current Affairs

between the two countries. In the wake of Trudeau’s comment, India also stopped issuing visas to Canadians.

This row has significant implications for the wider international community, especially Canada’s closest allies. Many Western countries are seeking to deepen ties with India in order to balance against a rapidly rising China. India has recently demonstrated itself to be a rapidly growing player in the international system, increasing its stake in key areas of importance in the coming years, such as electronics manufacturing and multilateral development banking. Indeed, this rapid progress is exemplified by India’s recent success in landing a probe on the moon, becoming the fourth country to do so.

Ultimately, this entire case demonstrates the domino-like nature of diplomacy and international relations. A single crime committed in one country, with sufficiently volatile circumstances and implications surrounding it, can have a widely felt effect on the international order, and the delicate balance of interactions between powerful countries. If a healthy relationship is going to be established between India, Canada, and the West more broadly, work must be done on both sides of the dispute in order to achieve a mutually acceptable resolution. However, if the present escalation continues, the tension will only grow and become more toxic, until the relationship becomes entirely irreparable.

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Words: Liam McClurg, Design: Rachel Middleton

The Modern Narcissus At the 2019 UEFA Champions League Draw, retired football player Eric Cantona gave an iconic speech in which he quoted King Lear: “As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods, they kill us for their sport. Soon the science will not only be able to slow down the ageing of the cells, soon the science will fix the cells to the state we will become eternal…”.

One man heard this particularly whacky piece of postmodern existentialism and accepted the challenge.

If this last point doesn’t concern you, you likely recall a 2016 story about another fintech founder, Peter Thiel (formerly of PayPal) who publicly stated his intent to inject young blood. Thiel gave up on the idea shortly after to invest in ‘anti-woke’ arts and endorse President Donald Trump. Like fellow tech CEO Elon Musk in his purchase of Twitter, Thiel wants to dictate culture.

If Johnson is successful in this Herculean task, it would speak to the power of not overextending yourself, commitment to personal goals - regardless of how entirely bonkers - and most importantly, not getting lost in the culture wars.

“As flies to wantons boys are Is this idea a display of vanity so vast that it we to the gods” would make Narcissus - the figure in Greek Enter Venture Capitalist Bryan Johnson, founder of E-commerce payment software Braintree - later Venmo. Johnson went viral a few weeks ago with attempts to reverse the ageing of the cells. And not just anyone’s cells, in a theoretical manner - Johnson is not a biologist. He is paying a team of top scientists to undo his own ageing. The 45-year-old has tasked the boffins with composing a rigorous routine, costing $2m per year. If you want a fright this Halloween, simply google his picture. The routine includes taking 111 pills per day, vitamin baths, large servings of greens for every meal and, worryingly, transfusions of his 17-yearold son’s blood.

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mythology so beautiful he died gazing at his own reflection - blush? Yes. Is he likely to be, subjectively, one of the worst hangs on this earth? Again, without question. But it’s also ever so slightly refreshing, in all of our AI talk, to have a Silicon Valley whacko going to bat for us humans. If Open.AI is SkyNet from Terminator, Bryan Johnson is Seth Brunde (played by Jeff Goldblum) in the 1986 David Cronenberg masterpiece The Fly. Bravely throwing himself into that homemade teleportation device and turning himself into a freak in the process.

Current Affairs

Words: Eshar Bola, Design: Fiona Howard

Save Me, Student!

How to Not Just Live off Noodles

“I’m just starting out at Uni, and I wasn’t expecting everything to be so expensive.

I don’t want to just live off noodles, how do I budget?

Dear reader, Budgeting can be one of the hardest adjustments when coming to university.

I remember being shocked by the price of cheese when I moved, and the cost-ofliving crisis definitely isn’t making that transition any easier!

Firstly, I recommend making an actual budget for the amount that you can afford to spend per week. Make sure you have the essential expenses taken care of first such as rent, bills and transport. Sometimes people have a different bank account for the essentials so that they can’t accidentally spend it. Ensure that you are only using the overdraft as an overflow in case of emergencies. Make it a reasonable amount – I would suggest £500. Take into consideration when you get student loan payments and budget accordingly as SAAS is paid monthly, whereas SFE is three times a year.

However, we all know that prices right now make it extremely difficult for students to stretch what they have. In Dundee, Lidl is one of the best places centrally to get more ‘bang for your buck’. Going in with a meal plan for the week can be helpful in both stretching money and saving food waste.

There are lots of resources for £20 food

Save Me Student

shops and meal preps on TikTok. Having some meat-free days and using frozen vegetables instead of fresh ones can help keep costs down! There is also an app called Too Good to Go which many shops and restaurants use to sell the leftover food at the end of the day at a heavily discounted rate. The Olio app is great for getting free ingredients on their best before dates!

Dundee University also has a food pantry to help students who are struggling. This is a free resource that is open from 4-6 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Old College Shop. You get emails about it on your Dundee Uni account which have links where you can register for a collection time, this can be done once every two weeks.

The university also has discretionary funding for students who are really struggling. To receive this, you have to fill out an application form with bank statements to show that you need further financial assistance.

It is a very normal part of the student experience to live off noodles for a few days when you have overindulged but this shouldn’t have to be an everyday occurrence.

Make sure you reach out to the university resources if you are really struggling!

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”

Words: Sub Aqua Club , Design: Katy Blair

‘The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever” - Jacques Cousteau Have you ever wanted to experience weightlessness? To just float, to take a moment, focus onyour breathing and let a current of the world wash over you? Scuba diving is definitely not for everybody, especially if you’re braving cold scottish water, but for those willing to bear it, it can be life changing.

Here at Dundee Uni SubAqua Club, we can teach you how to scuba dive from bottom to top, and we can get you Ocean Diver Qualified in as fast as one semester!

We take in people of any qualification level, whether you’ve just done one dive on a holiday seven years ago, or are an instructor with hundreds of dives in your logbook.

We cover theory and practical training beforetaking you into open water, and our instructors will work with you to get the skills you need at your own pace.

We also offer snorkeling and the occasional wild swim!

socials, game nights or the occasional wild swim and barbeque. As for scuba diving, we tend to stick to scottish diving but there is still so much to see! We do day trips, training trips or even luxury dive holidays.

Some people love the engineering aspect and to nerd out on equipment. It’s a great way to travel, to see things that quite literally would be impossible otherwise, to see a new side of theworld you know. It gets out of your comfort zone and to potentially face some of your fears, or to broaden your perspective on life. If you like marine life and underwater ecosystems, scuba diving is probably the best way to experience it. Sure, you can hold your breath or watch by the surface or behind a glass, but to be able to rest amidst the kelp or coral is a profound feeling.

All this means is that scuba divers are an eclectic bunch, but we always have room for more and share a common love for a wonderful skill which teaches you about the ocean, ecosystems,weather, safety and risk assessment, human physiology, first aid, teamwork and communication.

There are a million different reasons to fall in love with underwater sport. It’s a surprisingly social sport, and the scuba diving community is tight knit on a local and global level. We meet up for weekly 28

Society Spotlight

Words: Roleplaying Society , Design: Katy Blair

Roleplaying Society The Roleplaying Society, otherwise known as DURPS, is a society with a longstanding history, active membership, and an intriguing history within the university.

Beginning back in the 80’s, the society started off as a chess society, before in time evolving to cover new subjects such as boardgames, wargaming, and other such things, until it has finally become the society it is today. Though we tend to have many new members join each year, there’s a dedicated network of former students who regularly attend and participate in events, with further connections ranging across the world with those who remain in contact.

Indeed, we have awarded several individuals for their long-standing efforts, including one Game Master, who has consistently hosted games for over thirty years.

In its current incarnation, the society covers two main types of activities, alongside our various additional pub quizzes and socials: Tabletop, and Live-Action Roleplaying (also known as LARP). To explain the two is easy: Tabletop covers pen-and-paper RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons, Call of Cthulhu, and any more of the thousand other game systems that exist within the world. Live-Action is a bit more physically active: it involves getting dressed in costume and playing within real spaces, such as Backsmuir forest, which is often the scene for our LARPers.

Society Spotlight

In both cases, you create a character and take the role of them, whether that be a conniving thief or an honour-bound warrior, or indeed a drunk who woke up in the wrong spot. In both sides of the society, you’ll encounter a huge amount of effort from our membership. Game masters create entire storylines and improv scenes on the fly, with most also creating entirely unique worlds for their players to inhabit. Indeed, several individuals, in both Tabletop and Live-Action members have created their own unique systems and games, with several being published after years in development within the society, creating a real legacy in the UK gaming scene. In fact, earlier this year our members revived the Nationals, a UK-wide championship that had stopped with COVID. As hosts to the event, we were able to raise over £10,000 for charity, and passing on the torch to Glasgow, who are due to host the event in April 2024.

For anyone wishing to make real connections and friendships that’ll last a lifetime, or even just to have some fun with snacks and games, come try DURPS – we’re always welcome to (and prioritise) newbies.

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Words: Chelsea Dalscheid, Design & Photography: Heidi Le

It can be tough seeing that the days are slowly but surely becoming shorter. There is less daylight and sometimes it feels like the sun won’t even rise at all. If you are someone who suffers from seasonal affective disorder, it can affect your mood and overall mental health negatively.

Honestly, I never thought I was a person who could only thrive when the sun is shining, but when living alone, I see a definite change in myself as soon as it is grey and rainy. I feel kind of sad, without a real reason, sometimes grumpy, and just low on energy. At home, that would be solved by cosying up next to the fire, cuddling my dogs or having a cup of tea with my mother. slipped away as soon as you took your eyes off her. Amy never minded it, not even when her attempts to breach the ‘what are we’ question were met with brazen dismissals. If anything, Jane’s carefree attitude balanced out Amy’s tendency to overthink and over-plan every little aspect of her life. That’s part of what made them work.

Hopefully, Dundee will grace us with a sunny Autumn, but if not, there are some things we can do to romanticise and make the most of the season.

Buying some autumn decor, like pumpkinshaped candles, leaf decorations, or wreaths can help lighten the mood. Wreaths are something you could even craft yourself as a stress-relieving mindful activity between assignments, just like carving pumpkins with your friends. As Halloween is approaching, dark academia books are experiencing a 30

renaissance: novels like If We Were Villains

by M. L. Rio, The Secret History by Donna Tartt, The Ice Twins by S. K. Tremayne, just like the scary thrillers by Paula Hawkins I can highly recommend.

What has helped me a lot throughout the years of living alone is not focussing on the fact that I am on my own. I know, as a first-year student, it can be hard to not lose yourself and your happiness in the darkness. These instances make it all the more important to keep up the act of romanticising your autumn evenings.

You should definitely treat yourself to a pumpkin-spiced drink sometimes, run a bath and have a self-care evening with comforting pyjamas and fluffy socks. Indulging in what makes you feel good doesn’t need to be expensive. There’s the simple act of taking a walk and admiring the rust-coloured leaves of the trees, and you might even want to revive your inner child by jumping into a pile of crisp leaves. There are so many activities at your disposition to make the dark evenings pleasurable, even if it is only switching on Gilmore Girls in the background to have some air of familiarity around the flat.

I have been there, sulking in my autumn sadness, and I can tell you that it is much better getting out of that funk and enjoying the cosy season!

Lifestyle

Words: Molly Wilson, Design: Marie Pape

The British Greasy Spoon

Is it Losing its Grease?

The greasy spoon is a British staple. They are generally defined as small, cheap restaurants that mainly serve fried foods to workmen in hi-vis jackets and alike. From Plymouth to Thurso, you can find an oily fry-up, builder’s tea with sticky tabletops and creaky chairs. However, in Archway, London, this seems to be quite the opposite.

‘Normans’ opened its doors in 2020 and provides a faux take on greasy spoon food garnering thousands of likes on Instagram.

Some dishes on offer are ruby pear and custard, cod’s roe and Frazzles, and chicken escalope sarnie. This seems to be a far cry from Tony’s Diner down the road.

From the 13th to the 18th of September 2023, the luxury fashion brand Burberry from London took over the cafe for a week and adorned it with ‘the equestrian knight’ symbols and blue gingham curtains. In the past, Burberry has “doffed its cap to ‘chavs’”, as said in a frankly outrageously classist article from 2004 written by Julia Day for The Guardian. However, the brand just seems to be appropriating workingclass culture as a way of staying relevant.

In fairness to Burberry, Norman’s wasn’t exactly something you’d find in a poorer area in the first place, but their takeover just seems to be a weird and uncomfortable take on what so many deem to be a new interpretation of an old classic.

Be that as it may, I’m not saying that working-class people shouldn’t have access to the many luxury fashion brands that have such an influence on trends and pop culture.

This can be seen in the early noughties, a time when the Burberry plaid cap was

Lifestyle

synonymous with young, often poor, men.

All of a sudden, Burberry was seen as accessible to everyone and therefore wasn’t on par with other brands like Gucci or Yves Saint Laurent anymore and subsequently lost its elite place in society.

Greasy spoons were always a cheap spot for a meal or a friendly setting to meet with friends after school but more and more seem to be going out of business as the cost of living rises across the country. Meanwhile, upper-middle-class entrepreneurs open gentrified classics that get co-opted by billion-pound companies forcing family-run cafes out of business.

Why go to a cafe that would charge you eleven pounds for pork Twizzlers when instead, you could go to an actual greasy spoon where you could find a faded menu and a bacon butty for less than a fiver?

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Words: Nicolanna Gulino

In the hushed hours of the night, where the night sky becomes a canvas for understanding, there is a lifeline that pulses with quiet resilience. It’s a service unlike any other, run by students who understand the challenges that come with university life: Nightline Dundee.

Here, empathy knows no curfew and understanding is just a call away. Nightline Dundee is an embodiment of the profound empathy that binds us together. Led by students, for students, this extraordinary listening and information service stands as a testament to the power of connection and camaraderie in the face of life’s challenges.

Thanks to its volunteers’ dedication, Nightline Dundee is a beacon of hope for those navigating the often-unpredictable seas of university life.

Discover Nightline: Your Safe Haven After Hours. Need someone to talk to? Feeling overwhelmed? Look no further! Here you can share your thoughts and worries. Nightline is here to light up your nights from 8pm to 12am.

Our Student Volunteers: Your Listening Ear. Our dedicated student volunteers offer you a safe, non-judgmental haven to express yourself openly. Whether it’s a looming deadline, relationship struggles, or anything else on your mind, our trained listeners are here to lend an empathetic ear.

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Confidential & Anonymous: Your Secrets Stay Safe. Your privacy is our priority. What you share with our Nightline volunteers stays locked away in the vault of confidentiality. Don’t worry, your deepest thoughts and feelings are safe with us, and your trust is our most sacred bond. There’s no need to reveal your identity when you reach out to Nightline, it’s a space where you can be unapologetically yourself.

Non-Judgmental: Only Empathy. There’s no criticism—only understanding and support.

Nightline volunteers are here to walk alongside you through whatever challenges you’re facing.

Non-Directional: Your Conversation, Your Way. You’re in the driver’s seat. You decide the topics, the pace, and the direction of the conversation. Nightline is your canvas; paint it with your thoughts, feelings, and concerns.

Non-Advisory: We Listen, Not Lecture. We respect your autonomy. Nightline provides you the space and freedom to make your own decisions. We’re here to listen, not to tell you what to do. Your choices are yours to make.

Support: We’re Here for You and Our Volunteers. Our commitment to support extends to both our callers and our dedicated volunteers.

We’re all in this together.

Lifestyle

Design: Alex Parton

Here’s a little insight into Katie Endacott, Nightline’s CEO. She has worked in charities all her working life and started volunteering in fundraising.

After graduating from university, she got a full-time job in this field, as well as having worked her way around other organisations.

“I think it does take time and quite a willingness to listen, I believe it takes passion. You’ve got to be really passionate about what you’re doing”, she says.

One of the things she is passionate about is leading Nightlines, ensuring to provide students with access to a Nightline on a national level.

“We want everyone to be able to access Nightline regardless of where they are studying. So, I guess part of my role is being an ambassador for nightlines, but it’s also about working to build those relationships at universities that have nightlines so that they can either open more or recruit further students. We are the only mental health charity that has students listening to students, no one else has that! I think what has been achieved by nightlines over the last 50 years is amazing! The amount of time the volunteers give is incredible, and that really surprised me, as well as the extent of variation per Nightline.” https://dundeeuni.nightline.ac.uk/ https://www.instagram.com/ nightlinedundee/ https://www.facebook.com/ nightlinedundee/

Lifestyle

Finally, here’s some advice from Katie to both students and volunteers:

“Pace yourself! When you’re really passionate about something, it can be hard to not give it your all and feel quite exhausted and even a bit frustrated sometimes. I’ve actually done so much work here and hope that it’s recognised the way I want it to be. Be kind to yourself and just look out for those around you.”

Nightline Dundee is a living embodiment of what it means to be a compassionate and supportive community in a world that often rushes past our needs and worries. It is a reminder that, no matter how challenging university life may become, there are always fellow students ready to listen.

The importance of mental health during university cannot be overstated, and simply sharing your problems with someone who listens can make you feel a lot better.

So, let Nightline Dundee serve as an inspiration—an example of what we can achieve when we come together to support one another. In the end, it is our collective strength, our willingness to listen, and our empathy that will continue to make the nights less dark, less cold, and hopefully less lonely.

As this year’s publicity officer, I must say it is an absolute pleasure to be part of Nightline!

Getting to talk to all of you at the Freshers stall has been truly amazing, and we cannot wait to welcome all the new volunteers to come!

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Keeping up with

the magdalen

Hey everyone we hope you've all had a Spooky Time!

Here's a bit of what your favourite Magdalen team got up to!

Images by ; Fiona Howard Luna Jezzard Megan Napier Joshua Harris

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Lifestyle

Design: Katy Blair

images by Fiona Howard Luna Megan Napier Joshua Harris

Send us in your photos at: editor.in.chief@dusamedia.com Lifestyle

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Words: Dani McFawns, Design: Megan Napier

Buddy or Bully?: The XL Bully Ban

Different breeds of dogs have always been perceived differently. Some are perceived to be the perfect family pet, like a Labrador or Golden Retriever, and some are made out to be child-mauling, vicious beasts, like the American XL Bully. The XL Bully is a crossbreed, although there is no surefire definition of what breeds are crossed to make it. This throws up some logistical problems for the ban on the breed that the Prime Minister announced in September 2023.

There are also concerns over the practicality of the ban for several reasons, but in this article I would like to focus on one. What is an XL bully? The American Bully Kennel Club and American Breeders Association, two reputable organisations, both define it differently, meaning a ban will be difficult to put into practice. The government states that the months leading up to the end of the year will be used to define the breed in the UK so the ban can be enacted.

Following several attacks in the previous years, some fatal, the XL Bully will become the fifth dog breed listed on the Dangerous Dogs Act, and the first addition since 1991. The ban on the breed has proven controversial. With the XL bully responsible for half of dog-related human deaths in the UK in the last two years, as reported by the Guardian, it seems to be sensible that the breed is added to the list. After all, these massive dogs can weigh more than the average human – they’ve been reported as weighing up to 90kg. This means they can easily overpower most people, should they choose to attack.

I strongly believe that no dog is inherently bad. This narrative has been applied to many dogs in the past – Staffies, Rottweilers, German Shepherds. Any dog, when poorly trained, is liable to cause harm and, likewise, any dog can be trained well. However, the difference lies in what harm the dog can do, and how easily it can do so. With up to 90kg of pure muscle, it becomes easy for it to do serious damage.

However, the Royal Kennel Club, the UK’s largest organisation devoted to dog welfare and training, opposes the ban. They argue “Breed-specific legislation ignores the most important factors that contribute to biting incidents – primarily antisocial behaviour by irresponsible dog owners who train their dogs to be aggressive or do not train their dogs adequately.”

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The fault, ultimately, lies with the breeders, who often do so irresponsibly and sell to people who use the dogs as status symbols or weapons. I don’t think a breed ban is the answer, but rather, control on breeding. Such as, on who can breed, on what breeds can be crossed, on where they can be sold, and on who can buy them.

My heart aches for these poor dogs, bred for aggression, then demonised for their genetics.

We could, and should, do better by ‘man’s best friend’.

Opinions

Words: Holly Teri, Design: McKenzie Sutherland

Sensitive Souls

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rowing up very in touch with your emotions or being the one that ‘always cries’ and ‘can’t take a joke’, I’m sure you’ve also been told you’re too sensitive and need to grow a thicker skin.

I think about this a lot, and I think we should instead embrace our sensitivity and stop berating people for feeling emotions so strongly. Rather we should celebrate it as it paves the way for being more empathetic and often better people. In my school, I was called out during our Burns Supper roast for being too sensitive and crying all the time and – although meant in good humour – it really made me think about how others see me.

Why exactly is it viewed as a bad thing to feel in such a powerful manner? It’s not like I can help it…right?

For years, statements regarding how soft and sensitive I am haunted me, and I would try to change it. I would try not to take things to heart or to worry, but this was all to no avail it’s almost like it’s how I am as a person!

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I’m not saying we should normalise being an anxious over-thinker. If you’re suffering in that manner, obviously consider therapy and how to manage it, but being a sensitive person is not automatically a bad thing. I feel it keeps me in touch with the emotions of others. I’m very careful about what I say, how I act, and the impact my actions could have on other people, and I think as a result I’ve become a more understanding person.

In fact, a lot of people I know who are viewed as ‘sensitive’ or ‘delicate’ are actually some of the best people I know, with patience, empathy, and understanding by the bucketload. These are the people that notice the little things, a change in your tone or mood, if you don’t order your usual coffee, if no-one’s listening to you in a conversation.

They are the people who see what we so often brush off and don’t have time for, and it’s the little things in our lives that often mean a lot.

If someone can tell how we are feeling, cares to check, or notices little details about us, we feel all warm and fuzzy, it is a language of love. I think being sensitive and seeing others in their truest forms is a beautiful trait.

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Words: Sarah Mundt, Design: Megan Napier

Another Jump Scare The horror genre is hit or miss; ask anyone what kind of movies they watch, and they’ll hit you with an “anything horror” or “anything BUT horror”. For those brave enough to dip their toes into Camp Crystal Lake, some agree that horror now isn’t what it used to be.

Those Halloween classics that I tend to return to or recommend are decades old. But why? Why do older films hit a little better?

Well, when I watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre with someone who had never seen it, I got not only inspiration for this piece, but also perhaps an answer to that question. Finishing the film, they had told me it was alright, but took “way too long” to get into it. But that’s what the genre begs for!

The suspense, the anticipation, the lingering shots - it allows for the audience to drive themselves deeper and deeper into intrigue and fear. What comes from today’s silver screen selection of scary movies is jump scare after jump scare. It leaves little for the imagination, and we begin to associate these little frights we get with genuine, deeprooted fear that should be synonymous with the horrors we indulge.

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So, what then makes for a good watch?

In my opinion, let the audience meet the characters we are meant to root for against the monster, entity, villain, or whomever it is that makes the horror a horror. If we truly want them to succeed, then we have to like them first. Also, then, make the horror antagonist as mysterious as possible; let us find out what there is to know at the same time as our protagonists. These elements together is why a slow build up is necessary, it makes the payoff so much better. We simply cannot be expected to care if we are detached from the story, whilst also being terrorised by figures jumping up on screen unexpectedly - it’s just not good for the heart. A good classic allows for slight heart palpitations, but more importantly, we are on the edge of our seat, switched on, and actually enjoying the fear that it presents us. That is why many of the horrors we see today fail bigtime in the eyes of movie goers, even remakes of the classics they know and love. They try to adopt modern techniques and trends that just don’t work with loved classics.

I say, leave the remakes alone – stop butchering what is already done, and instead look to them as inspiration for perfecting the idea of fear in the new era of horror films.

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Words: Hannah Linda Hamilton, Photography: Alexander Stewart, Design: Luna Jezzard

Is Dundee Dun-dying?

Upon arrival in Dundee, you might be struck by the disparity between the shiny cityfunded events on the shore area and the ghostly, almost painfully empty main street.

People will tell you it’s not like it used to be.

They’re right. Change is inevitable and we can no longer hold onto a moment in time than we can a fart, sooner or later we must let it go. Does that mean the glory days are gone with the wind, never to return? Depends on your definition of glory, but I would say no.

Cities, like phoenixes and embarrassing memories, always come back to life.

Particularly following such rapid economic decline, it could only be expected that the pillars Dundee was held upon during its last cycle would come crumbling down so quickly. Names like ‘Groucho’s’, ‘The Reading Rooms’, ‘Conroy’s’, ‘Rad Apples’, are all ghosts to the new residents.

Not to be disregarded for their contributions, and still present on this plane by their legacy events/redefined formats, but no... it’s not like it used to be.

In this new landscape, businesses come and go with startling frequency. No matter how good their intentionssuch as social enterprise ran cafes like Opinions

Reboutique and Serendipities that closed during Summer- businesses crash.

There is no reason to resign the city to the coffin, however. The weak pulse of commercial business is precisely why small enterprises stand to blossom, even if only briefly.

There is opportunity here, but it must be approached the way one does the tiniest lick of a fire on kindling. Events may be smaller, they may be less frequent, but there is still community to be found.

It can be intimidating to think of taking a risk on an un-vetted venue or product.

It would be a disservice to the city not to, however. Haven’t you always wanted to be part of something whilst it’s rising?

Think of Dundee like a rock tumbler for your ideas. What you start and what you help grow here need not be polished or commercially viable, but with such low chance of booming success why not try to really burn up on the way down? There is no pressure to succeed. This city is a chance to start something completely new, completely strange, and completely our own. If enough people take to buildingeven if all the structures fall apart eventuallyDundee will not stay dead for long.

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Words: Oliwia Mruk

A Controversial Legacy Henrietta Lacks, a name that many are still not aware of, played a central yet unwitting role in scientific research. Born on August 1, 1920 in rural Virginia, as an African American woman, had her fair share of hardship. At the age of just 31, Henrietta succumbed to cervical cancer. However, her cells live on; the cancer cells taken from her during treatment live on to this day, making a remarkable impact on current research efforts. This is the remarkable story of HeLa cells; a testament of advancement, yet one that follows a path of significant ethical breach of consent and patient rights.

HeLa cells were the first human cells to be successfully cultured outside of the human body. But what was so remarkable about them? These cancer cells were obtained from a cervical cancer biopsy taken from Henrietta Lacks at Johns

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:

Hopkins Hospital in 1951. Like most samples, they were added to a medium, a nutrient rich substance that allows cells to grow and divide. The expectations were that these cells would divide a few times and later on die, as all the cells obtained prior. However, to everyone’s surprise, they kept on proliferating. And while cancer cells have a remarkable ability to rapidly divide, due to the loss of regulatory control within the cell, there are limitations, as with all living things. This was not the case with HeLa cells. They became the first human immortalized cell line and are used for research purposes to this day.

HeLa cells have been pivotal in many areas of biology and medicine.

This includes, but is not limited to: * Vaccine Development: HeLa cells played a crucial role in the development of the

Science & Technology

Design: Fiona Howard

* *

*

polio vaccine, saving countless lives in the process, Cancer Research: These cells have been instrumental in studying cancer biology and drug testing.

Genomic Research: The sequencing of HeLa cells have significantly contributed to our knowledge of human genetics.

Cell Biology: They have been used to understand fundamental cellular processes, including cell division and cellular signaling, ultimately contributing to the basis of systems biology understanding.

While there is a whopping number of over 100,000 publications involving HeLa cell research, and many articles about Henrietta and her contribution, the conversation of consent is a repeating theme throughout human history; a never ending story. Thus, ensuring transparent information transfer and consent at every stage, particularly in research, remains at the forefront of open science and human rights. Anonymity is also another key characteristic that was an unbelievable breach of privacy. To quote Dr. Sean Valles, director and associate professor from the Center for Bioethics and Social Justice, Michigan State University - “What was done to her, the reuse of her information, the attaching of her name to the cells — the HeLa cells are named after her — that’s a massive violation of her privacy.

All of those practices are of a bygone era where consent and privacy were just not taken as seriously or even thought about at all.”. While this era is long behind us, the remnants of this ideology persist to this day; calling out questionable practices and

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recognizing our own biases is ultimately what leads to quality research.

But why Henrietta Lacks? Was it by chance or a premeditated effort? While the observed immortality of the cells was a huge shock to everyone, how did all of this happen without consent? While in the 1950s informed consent and transparency was not a common theme to be aware of, Henrietta’s race and gender certainly had an impact on her treatment. It is important to remember that, even now, the rights of women and people of color are routinely disrespected. While without concrete proof there is only speculation, the structure of the healthcare and research system has undoubtedly influenced this outcome.

It is important to note that this ethical dilemma has sparked ongoing discussions about the rights of individuals regarding the ownership of their biological material, the importance of informed consent, and the benefits of such donations. Addressing these concerns through the involvement of Lacks’ family and further laws put in place to prevent such treatment in the future were fundamental building blocks in shaping how research is conducted today.

HeLa cells remain the enduring legacy of Henrietta Lacks that she never got to know or accept. Despite that, this immortalized cell line led to significant scientific progress, ultimately saving countless lives. Was this breach of trust a justifiable occurence for the betterment of science? The question remains - was it worth it? I will leave that for you to decide.

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Words: Hazel Surtees, Design: Joshua Harris

Slutty Symbiotic Halloween Near You!!!

Fun Halloween Group Costume Idea!!

Grab a friend! Grab another friend! Grab another friend! You’re going to the Halloween party as Mixotricha paradoxa, and everyone’s going to love it.

The microbiome is all the rage now, anyway.

Everyone is taking their probiotics, their prebiotics, eating their live yoghurts and kimchi (you are, right?)

Why not give those little microbes some love and attention too? Okay, M. paradoxa is part of the termite’s microbiome, not ours, but that’s beside the point. This party-loving protozoan (a general term for a single-celled organism) was first found in the gut of the Australian Darwin Giant Termite and plays a crucial role in the insect’s tough job of digesting wood and plant matter. (“But, aren’t microbes like, super small?”

“Yeah, microscopic.”

“Then, how are we going to make a M. paradoxa costume?”

“Oh! Where’s your dress? You know, the really short one – “) But wait, here’s the spooky thing: M. paradoxa was thought to be a singleorganism, even if a slightly strange one, like we might find in guts all over the world.

The advent of more powerful microscopy techniques and genome sequencing revealed a different, weird and wonderful story.

Let me reintroduce you to M. paradoxa. It’s a beastie in a termite’s, belly, right? Or is it!

The cell itself is one organism. Cilia cover the 42

cell in a dense carpet, beating rhythmically to generate movement. Except the cilia are tiny bacteria! Lots of them! They are attached to the cell surface by brackets, which they share with another bacteria (it possibly plays a digestive role).

And that’s not all! What’s the powerhouse of the cell: the mitochondria? No! Not in M. paradoxa, which hosts two more bacterial species inside itself, digesting cellulose and providing energy.

That makes for a total of 5 distinct genomes, belonging to organisms so friendly they appear to be a single cell, found exclusively in Australia, in the gut of a giant termite. Who needs science fiction?

It’s another example of nature turning up weirder solutions than you could feverdream of. One thing becoming increasingly apparent is that no animal is just that animal (and no man is an island, if you will). We’re all just hundreds of symbionts stacked inside a convincingly human costume. Wearing a trench coat.

So, why not have a look around Yvonne’s costume shop for a slutty M. paradoxa costume?

Maybe grab another friend while you’re at it.

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