Issue 94 - Summer 22

Dundee Student-Led Magazine

Talking to Strangers 06 “A more rewarding way of engaging with society is to be curious about it and the billions of lives being led in parallel to yours.”

Trumpland & Me: A Political Autopsy 40 “I’ve long wanted to write about my exposure to political goings-on during this short stay in the US.”

SUMMER 2022

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Summer Sweet Treats 46 “The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and freedom from exams is in sight. I think we all deserve a bit of a treat, don’t you?”

www.themagdalen.co.uk @themagdalenmag The Magdalen Magazine @themagdalenmag The Magdalen Magazine

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A message from your Editor-in-Chief:

A message from your Creative Directors:

Welcome to our last issue of this academic year!

It’s been a pleasure and an absolute honour to serve as the fourteenth Editor-in-Chief of The Magdalen.

Summer is here! These months as creative directors have gone so fast! Summer will be a time for reflecting on our professional lives and in The Magdalen tradition we will be redesigning the magazine! Watch this space!

Looking back at our first issue which was published back in November, I feel so proud of what our team has achieved. I would like to thank every single contributor, editor, designer and photographer for making this happen. To you, our reader, I extend a generous thanks for being with us and supporting us throughout this year.

We would also like to mention the other exciting thing we will be designing in the summer, and that is The Magdalen Poetry Collection! There have been quite a few submissions and we are so happy people have such passion for this sort of thing. Keep your eyes peeled to witness the amazing works from these writers and show them some love!

I would like to thank Robyn Black and Zhaneta Zhekova for this beautiful redesign and their work on the first two issues of this academic year, which is now continued by equally skilled and amazing Livvie Baird and Phoebe Wilman – I am proud of you two and am sure your redesign will be smashing! Finally, I would like to congratulate my successor – Dani McFawns – and wish her all the best as the fifteenth Editor of The Magdalen who will take the publication all the way to its 100th issue!

With this issue we will be saying a bittersweet goodbye to our Editor-in-Chief who landed a pretty awesome job. We will miss our inside jokes and your memes that kept us all sane around deadlines but we are also so happy for you and we know you will be killin’ it!

We revived, we returned, and we remain!

All the very best, Marcin Kielczewski

We also say goobye to some amazing team members as they graduate and move into the next stage of their professional lives. We want to congratulate these people and wish them the very best in the future. We will miss you all but we are so excited for you. Thank you for your hard work on The Magdalen.

All that said, everyone should take a well deserved break in the summer so please wind down and enjoy our summer issue!

Livvie & Phoebe

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cknowledgement

SENIOR TEAM EDITOR IN CHIEF CREATIVE DIRECTORS SENIOR DEPUTY EDITOR DEPUTY EDITORS SENIOR FEATURE EDITOR

Marcin Kielczewski Olivia Baird & Phoebe Wilman Luiza Stoenescu Marleen Käsebier Sofia Rönkä

CREATIVE TEAM PHOTOGRAPHY MANAGER PHOTOGRAPHERS ILLUSTRATION MANAGER SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGERS

Lottie Belrose Ada Ung & Maria Touloupa Karly Yu Militsa Ruseva & Sonia Hanke

EDITORIAL TEAM ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT CREATIVE WRITING INTERNATIONAL ON/OFF CAMPUS OPINIONS SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Mareth Burns Dani McFawns; Andrew Young Sehar Mehmood Emma Sturrock Bronte Chalmers Flora Caldwell

COPY EDITORS

SENIOR STAFF WRITERS

PUBLISHED BY COVER PHOTOGRAPHY

Kathryn Boyle; Rhiannon Burnett; Drew Campbell; Maria Georgieva; Rachel Goodman; Pascale Lee; Cat Pritchard; Kyl Tan; Jennifer Thomson Akshay Anand; Dawid Czeczelewski; Freya Giles; Hannah Hamilton; Ryan Petrie; Georgi Zhechev Dundee University Students’ Association Lottie Belrose & Maria Touloupa

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contents 06 10 24 36 44 50 56

Feature

Talking to Strangers

06

Arts & Entertainment Review - The Appendix, Transmasculine Joy in a Transphobic Culture Moon Knight: A Story of Goldfish and Vengeance Review - The Northman Will Streaming Services be the Death of the Music Industry?

Lost in Translation and Her: Two Movies About One Divorce Michael Marra: A Radical Civic Pride Ivan the Terrible: The Intermingling of Politics and Aesthetics in Sergei Eisenstein’s two-part Biopic

10 12 14 16 18 20 22

Creative Writing Pasiphae A Daydream of my Reward Dreamscape Reaching the Summit Dreaming of Nightmares The Sailor

24 26 28 30 32 34

International A United Response?

Longing for a Better Future Trumpland & Me: A Political Autopsy Is Operation Condor Finally Rearing its Real End?

36 38 40 42

On/ Off Campus Tony Benn, Dundee University and the Transformation of British Politics

44

Summer Sweet Treats

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Contempt or Collaboration: How Will We Respond to Sex Workers’ Call for Solidarity?

48

Opinions Love in Other Words

50

Ambition and Reading

52

OCD - The Reality

54

Science & Technology Where the Fields are Lined with Gold Humans Vs Our Planet What Motivates Cyberstalking?

A Cauldron of Concoction Science Communication - It’s Not Just About Words

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56 58 60 62 64

Words: Mihaela Denkovska

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Feature

Talking to Strangers

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n times of procrastination and approaching deadlines, I find honesty to be a reliable starting point.

So, I confess, this article was supposed to be written months ago. It’s one of the many tasks and projects I voluntarily signed up for this year without much forethought and with a lot of lofty confidence. I was driven by an aggressive ambition to ‘accomplish’ as well as an underlying guilt and need to prove I’m worthy of the luck that I’ve been randomly assigned. But the problem with showing off to the world is that the world is too busy with their own burden of trying to prove themselves, and so the insecurities you project onto it are inevitably echoed back to you. A more rewarding way of engaging with society is to be curious about it and the billions of lives being led in parallel to yours.

And so came the idea to write an article about short encounters with people I was oblivious to, until

they became long-lasting memories – moments that felt untethered from everyday life. The chances of moments like these occurring feel as surreal and random as the strange people that walk our dreams at night. I like to reflect on this fortuitousness because it’s a good reminder of both how lucky we can be, and yet how insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things – living our lives, dealing with our problems, loving who we love.

On the Beach The first memory I have of such an encounter was during a family holiday in Croatia when I was probably about 10 years old. The memory of this unexpected meeting is a patchwork of little moments. Her name was Tanja and we met on the beach. It was one of my first attempts at speaking with a foreigner. We passed an inflatable ball toand-fro, standing in the shallow part of the water.

We shared a weird moment when we found out her

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Feature

Design: Livvie Baird & Phoebe Wilman

mother and I shared the same name. We exchanged addresses and parted ways. Years later I found her contact details in a memory box, but never got around to sending a message. Maybe someday I will. It’s strange to know you have a way of reaching someone from so long ago and so far away. I hope Tanja is enjoying life.

A more rewarding way of engaging with society is to be curious about it and the billions of lives being led in parallel to yours.

On a Plane The second encounter I remember distinctly was a year ago on a plane. The person in the seat next to me was restless, occasionally gesturing to her friend further down the aisle. I assumed they wanted to sit together so I suggested switching seats with her friend. Without thinking about it she said “no”, that her friend should get used to flying on her own. “That’s not what I would have said”, I immediately thought. For that reason alone, I concluded that this person was better than me.

“She must be the kind of person who’s harsh but also incredibly reliable and loving”. All this comparison and the self-centred noise in my head kept me distracted until Marija engaged me in conversation.

Just like with Tanja, we found a strange similarity early on: she was in a long-distance relationship like me. She went on to tell me that she

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Feature

Words: Mihaela Denkovska

studied computer science but was not terribly fulfilled by the job she found after university and was hoping to one day become a filmmaker. She looked much younger than she was, though I now have no memory of her looks nor her age. She seemed like a very calculated and reason-driven person, judging by the way she talked about her relationship with her partner.

At that very moment I didn’t feel comfortable enough to talk to her, since I was marinating in the leftovers of a bad day, so I responded with dull answers and very few questions in return. I remember this encounter with regret, but this regret has motivated me to be more curious about the people I meet each day. Marija probably would have made that flight pass by a lot more quickly.

Opening up more to people, especially to those who show they’re willing to listen, is always a worthwhile effort; if not for anything else but the satisfaction of knowing you contributed your best

to the random human interaction. Thank you for the lesson, Marija.

On a Bench I decided to apply that lesson on March 23rd, 2022.

The plan was to go out into town, find a nice bench and display a sign inviting people to stop by for a quick chat. I wanted to see if I could create more of these encounters instead of waiting for them to happen.

So, on that excessively warm, sunny day, I sat down on a bench, oblivious to the irony of the surrounding daffodils while asking for attention from random strangers. I felt ridiculous up until the point when the first person passed by: they didn’t approach me, but they smiled. I soon realised that a) my sign wasn’t big enough for everyone walking by to read but that b) it didn’t matter. I had gone out into the world with an agenda, instead of

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Feature

Design: Livvie Baird & Phoebe Wilman

letting the events unfold before me without trying to intervene with my own insecure ambitions. I eventually allowed myself to appreciate the smiles and counted them as short interactions of their own. By the end of the 2 hours I spent on the bench, I shared 26 smiles and 17 hellos, spotted 23 dogs, petted 5 of them, had 3 short chats about the weather, 1 short chat about the struggle of paying bills, and 1 long conversation with someone who actually sat down on the bench.

As dreamlike coincidences go, she also ended up being someone who had been in a long-distance relationship. She was going through a stressful move but seemed at peace – someone who takes walks by the river and is open to sitting down for a chat with a sweaty girl by a hand drawn sign on a bench. What surprised me, purely because I hear it rarely, was that she loves geography and studied it at university. And even more rare perhaps, she managed to find a job that at least in some way

relates to her interests. She works in golf and loves to play, saying that it’s her wish for the sport to become less “elitist.” She hopes people from all walks of life can be open to trying it because it’s a wonderful and therapeutic experience. I have since tried mini golf, so she certainly made an impact.

I hope she still enjoys her walks by the river.

Sitting on that bench didn’t produce the results I was planning on, but I walked home a lot more confident and satisfied than when the day started. It’s incredibly rewarding to try new things, even when the results are not the reward you had intended to reap. It’s even more rewarding when it’s an experience shared with someone else, where you can compare and contrast the randomness of your lives, realising how chaotic and beautiful the world truly is.

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Words: Stuart White

Review The - Appendix,

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Arts + Ents

Transmasculine Joy in a Transphobic Culture

O

n reading the title “The Appendix Transmasculine Joy in a Transphobic Culture” I really had no idea what I was letting myself in for.

As a transgender man, the recognition of myself in print form was novel and exciting. I came across this book in an innocuous corner of the DCA with several other small paperbacks branching various… let’s say contentious topics. I was convinced to buy this book for several very good reasons but honestly the clincher was that the cover was yellow and that was an unusually happy colour for a book about the transgender experience. I was more used to morose colours accompanied by titles such as “I wish I were anything apart from being a transgender man because this had made my life filled with unbearable suffering” or something of the sort.

The title “The Appendix” refers to the name of the project that Liam Koneman, the author, created to compile a personal list of evidence of transphobia in the British press. The list was made up of headlines, comments and articles. This short book opens with an account of the author coming across the last entry he would ever add. It begins with the end of the project, which was described by the author himself as “a terrible idea that will make you sick”. It then goes on to describe how it started out and works its way back in time to unfold the events in Liam’s life that lead to him ending up in a place where this seemed like a good and productive idea. Immediately I was gripped. The narrative voice of someone who wanted to prove to the world the damage happening to the minds of transgender people daily, the opening of this can of worms and the emotion present in the writing of all of this makes the first chapter of this book enormously fascinating. However, it was not the joy I was promised by the title. Not yet.

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The structure of the book makes it hard to see where the joy will be coming from, because the next place the story goes is Liam’s own experiences with homophobia and transphobia as a “stealth” transgender man. (Stealth meaning not out as transgender and socially living, as far as possible, as if he were cisgender). What I, in particular, appreciated about this section of the book was that Liam acknowledges here, that although he had a difficult time and really struggled with being queer in the way that he is, he also is privileged with a fair amount of luck. Being able to pass as a cisgender man is not something that is possible for all transgender men, not that that is even the goal of everyone. Additionally, Liam notes that being white adds another layer of privilege to his story.

Reading the real authentic experiences of another transgender man, whilst he also acknowledges the parts of his life that are not universally applicable to the queer story makes this little book an even rarer gem.

Now that I have covered why this book has been important to me as a transgender man, it is fitting to say why this book is important to me as a person in general. The joy. Although this story is one of a struggle that does not mean that it cannot be the most uplifting read. Despite the difficulty of the position from which he writes Liam talks about finding home in your own body, your life and your relationships. We learn of the support and acceptance that can be there if only you open yourself up to it. The beautiful world of queer solidarity that exists for people who do not feel like they fit anywhere at all. He talks about being truthful to yourself and your journey as he explores the magnificent happiness that is moments of gender euphoria. He tells the story of being alive.

Liam redefines his transness not as a curse that is inexorably linked to pain but as a naturally occurring difference that should be celebrated.

That is what I found most readable about this book. You may be trans, you may be cisgender but everyone can find comfort in reading about coming home to yourself at the end of the day. Everyone can relate to trying to find joy.

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Arts + Ents

Design: Patrik Vojtas

Words: Valerya Krumova

T

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Arts + Ents

o be perfectly honest, I had no plans on seeing Moon Knight. I had heard very little about it and most of my knowledge extended to thinking Moon Knight was a superhero dressed up as a mummy.

It wasn’t until the first two episodes had come out and the series washed over my social media like a tsunami, that the series piqued my interest. I found myself scrolling past images of Oscar Isaacs feeding a one-finned goldfish, falling asleep on the bus, waking up with his ankle tied to the bed. Okay… now that’s a weird superhero. So, I gave it a shot. To say it brought something new to the table would be a gross understatement. Moon Knight sits on a table of its own. The problem now is, well, I simply cannot get enough of this series.

Before I get ahead of myself, establishing the premise will allow us to delve deeper into our discussion of the series. In the comic books, a former mercenary called Marc Spector makes a deal with the Egyptian God Konshu, becoming Moon Knight - a night-time vigilante who takes vengeance upon those Konshu judges to be evil. The series keeps close to the source material, placing more emphasis on Marc’s mental disorder which causes a fractured identity, thus creating Steven Grant who also lives in Marc’s body. The series traces Marc and Steven’s journey as they struggle to find balance with each other, all the while fighting yet another of Konshu’s battles for justice.

The series opens up with Steven Grant. He is kind, smart, honest, and a complete geek for Ancient Egypt.

However, while Steven fits the definition of cinnamon roll to a T, there is a lot more depth to his character.

Although externally, the series follows Moon Knight as he attempts to prevent the release of a dangerous Egyptian goddess, the inner journey of Steven and Marc is no less important and is in fact what makes this series so great. Though we don’t meet Marc from the start, we do later find out that he suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder or DID. While the series does a good job at portraying how Marc and his alter Steven deal with this condition, I think it is worth doing some research on the disorder in order to fully understand and appreciate how it is handled in the series. The portrayal of mental illness also makes the characters easier to identify with. Though many in the audience might not have DID, the feelings of stress, anxiety, and guilt present in the story, allow the audience to forge a close, personal connection to the characters.

What the series makes clear, is that Steven is just as much a person as Marc is. It is when Marc recognizes his love and dependence on Steven that he can finally begin to heal. This small moment serves to illustrate the importance of a support system. Moreover, as we meet Konshu’s former ‘knight’, the series creates a juxtaposition between him and Marc, thus inviting us to consider what effects Konshu’s manipulation produces on different characters. Throughout the entirety of the series, our perception of time and reality is challenged so that we feel we are in the psych ward with Marc and Steven. Marc and Steven’s inner reality bleeds into the physical world as they work through their problems. Though by the end of the series Marc and Steven act together instead of apart, the series rightly implies that this is not a solution for DID, and their journey has only just begun.

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Design: Alexandra Heal

Although the series expands on Marc’s mental problems, it also introduces another key aspect of his character – his Jewish background. In the scenes dealing with Marc’s childhood trauma, we are invited to look closer at his father’s resignation in not helping Marc escape from the abuse, and to consider what effect his father’s passivity and the familial abuse he suffers, have on Marc’s relationship with the Jewish faith.

What makes Moon Knight one of the best works by the MCU is perhaps its ability to stand on its own.

One doesn’t have to have any knowledge of the MCU in order to enjoy this series and I highly encourage everyone to go and experience this amazing story for themselves.

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The representation of Modern Egypt in the series breaks away from the stereotypical orientalist view thanks to director Mohamed Diab. The Cairo we see on screen has old-fashioned alleyways and crowded markets as well as luxurious skyscrapers and a busing nightlife. My favourite representation of Egypt comes across through the series’ score composed

by Hesham Nazih. The music retains the dark and gritty atmosphere of Moon Knight while the use of traditional Egyptian instruments and chants in Ancient Egyptian, transport us back to an age defined by the might of the Gods.

Arts + Ents

Aside from the many of the important themes the story deals with, the series also features a very talented cast including seasoned actors like Oscar Isaacs and Ethan Hawke, as well as less known actors including May Calamawy whose Egyptian background makes for a powerful representation of Egyptian women as strong and intelligent, creating a powerful image of the female Egyptian hero.

Words: Angus Coleman

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Arts + Ents

Review – The Northman

W

ho doesn’t love Vikings? It’s not particularly difficult to understand why their society and mythology are featured so heavily in popular culture. In our relentless quest for escapism, it’s hard to do much better than escaping into a world populated by a bunch of loud, violent, hairy guys hollering at the tops of their lungs while cleaving their unfortunate victims in twain with enormous axes. Our desire to immerse ourselves in this situation can be attested to by the success of games such as God of War and Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, and TV Shows like Vikings and The Last Kingdom.

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Design: Arwin Quiachon

When comparing it to these two films, The Northman is relatively simplistic. The film is based upon the medieval Scandinavian legend of Amleth, which itself is believed to have been based on a now lost old Norse poem. The legend is also known to have inspired William Shakespeare’s tragic play Hamlet.

Played by Alexander Skarsgård, Amleth is a young Norse prince who flees into exile after his uncle Fjölnir (Claes Bang) murders and usurps his father Aurvandill (Ethan Hawke). Years later, Amleth is a member of a group of berserker Vikings, and embarks on a quest for revenge against Fjolnir, and to rescue his mother Gudrún (Nicole Kidman).

As you can see, this film is a classic revenge tale that we have seen many times before, and it took a creative voice as original as Eggers’ to make it something truly fresh and exciting.

As far as the technical aspects of the film go, it’s nothing short of spectacular. Eggers is working on a much larger canvas and with a much higher budget in comparison to his two previous films, but his arthouse sensibilities are still on full display. They are just blended with the increased scale and action that is necessary for a film of this size and with this subject matter. Because of this, while the story is basic and not necessarily original, it never feels superficial. Furthermore, the decision to go for a more conventional story structure allows the performances and filmmaking to shine all the brighter. The props, environments and costumes are all wonderfully detailed, and Eggers’ decision to keep most scenes naturally lit helps to ground the film in reality. This aids the impact of the more trippy and surreal scenes in the film by making the visual difference more distinct.

The acting is also pretty uniformly excellent.

While I can imagine many criticising Skarsgård’s performance as one-noted, I think it works in the context of the film and falls neatly in line with what Eggers was going for. However, the stand out for me is Anya Taylor-Joy as Olga of the Birch Forest, a sorceress from Eastern Europe. Her role in the story was one of the most interesting to me. It’s refreshing to see a film that deals with its subject matter so unapologetically and with such conviction. The Northman is an extremely interesting blend of historical epic, action blockbuster and arthouse cinema. It is a testament to Robert Eggers’ talent as a writer and director that these elements are balanced so well and also compliment each other. Hopefully, this has opened the floodgates for more auteur-driven blockbusters that walk that line, as I believe that if they are anything like this, they could be the next big thing in cinema.

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Arts + Ents

In my humble opinion, Eggers is one of the most interesting directors working today. The Northman is only his third feature-length film, and yet each of his films are entirely distinct and unique, while still conveying his signature style and the storytelling elements that interest him. His first film, The Witch (alternatively The VVitch) is a horror movie which renewed interest in arthouse horror, focused on psychological horror and atmospheric tension rather than cheap jump scares. He followed this up with The Lighthouse, which more or less completely defies genre, containing elements of horror, thriller and black comedy.

“The Northman is an extremely interesting blend of historical epic, action blockbuster and arthouse cinema.”

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Despite this, Vikings don’t feature anywhere near as prominently in movies. Of course there have been some, but not very many. Furthermore, there seems to have been a noticeable decline in the number of historical epics in cinemas today. Changing tastes among the moviegoing public and trends in the industry have caused this. Once, films such as Lawrence of Arabia and Ben-Hur used to be the largest and most popular films coming out, whereas these days expanded universes and continuations of recognisable intellectual properties constitute most of what’s popular. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s the nature of the entertainment industry to change and go through different phases, but it does mean that Robert Eggers’ new film The Northman is somewhat of an anomaly.

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Arts + Ents

Words: Kirsten Moreton

M

usic streaming services have rapidly risen in popularity over the last decade, with instant access to your favourite artists even on the go. Spotify and Apple Music alone have gained over 300 million listeners in the last few years; however, these services could be damaging to the music industry and local music scenes.

Despite their convivence, is streaming music the best way of listening to and supporting artists?

Originally, up until 2010’s, artists would play small gigs: creating names for themselves in the local community and over time gaining a larger following before rising to success in their careers. Similarly, people would play auditions and perform for scouting producers and record labels. This meant the playing field was pretty even for

new artists and although there were some advantages, such as coming from wealth or knowing people in the industry, it was arguably much easier to make a living working within the music industry.

Without a doubt, today it is much easier for artists and producers to gain a following and promote themselves through social media, however the way in which artists make that name for themselves has completely changed. In order to start putting out music, musicians in the industry now will selfpromote using social media and release their music independently on streaming services like Spotify, instead of going through a record label. Many things have played into this becoming the most popular method, including how accessible

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these services are for new artists and the rise in the indie subculture throughout the 2010s which encouraged the idea of artists working independently from a label. But as easy as it is to release music independently now, it can be problematic for the industry.

These streaming platforms have become extremely competitive due to the sheer number of artists using them and the algorithm behind most of them. Spotify in particular, only really allows for big artists to thrive on it which in short leaves small artists battling for a top spot on a playlist or for a few streams that result in little to no pay. The main reason behind this is that Spotify, Apple Music and Soundcloud, among other services pay less than £0.005 per stream, an algorithm that only really works

Design: Lewis Elks

The only way out of this cycle for artists is by earning enough to pursue music full time, which, as previously discussed, is difficult to do. This is one of the reasons why supporting small artists is essential. There is nothing wrong with liking Ed Sheeran and Doja Cat, but there are thousands of small artists out there that are truly one of a kind and buying gig tickets or merchandise can help them survive in today’s brutal music industry. Not only would you be helping out the little guy, you would be helping rescue the music industry from the hard-hearted streaming era.

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These matters mentioned end up creating a vicious cycle for the artists: the poor pay means artists need to pick up other jobs to be able to afford pursuing music, which then means less time for recording, writing, producing and editing, which creates poorer quality music, and as a result, the recording will be less successful than a professionally produced album or song. This again shows how the algorithm makes it impossible for new artists to thrive, which raises the question of how we will get new artists in the future?

Of course, there will always be industry plants, children of celebrities and more to keep putting out the same four chord pop songs we have heard many times, but throughout history music has always seemed to progress. In the 60s the Beatles influenced the future of pop and rock, in the 70s we had an uprise of rock and in the 80s everything completely changed with the introduction of new technology. However, since the early 2000’s the development of music has seemed to slowly come to a halt, and we’ve been stuck in a cycle of pop and upbeat dance tunes for the last 20 years.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with a wee club hit or dance song, but it is sad to see that music has stopped progressing and changing in the way it used to.

Arts + Ents

for the artists that are already famous. Not only does this payment not cover the price of a song, it completely ignores the expenses of the equipment, marketing, recording, producing and editing that goes into creating music. On the subject of marketing, another issue that stems from the competitiveness of these apps, is that music has become a lot more about marketing and is much less authentic as artists need to make what’s popular over what they enjoy in order to thrive. Self-promotion is really the only way to do it as a musician now and this is particularly noticeable in pop music, where musicians have almost become a product of their producers.

Words: Sam Blood

Lost in Translation and Her: Two Movies About One Divorce

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Arts + Ents

I

n 1992, two aspiring directors, Spike Jonze and Sofia Coppola, met during the filming of a Sonic Youth music video. What followed was a marriage in 1999, seven Oscar nominations, two Best Original Screenplay wins, and an unhappy divorce in 2003. Undoubtedly, they helped each other realise their potential in the director’s chair.

While there may be influences from each other in their, at least early, filmographies, I will be concerned with their two Oscar winners, Lost in Translation (2003) and Her (2013). These films are connected through their similarities, and key differences between themes, characters, and conclusions. These differences reflect the directors’ marriage and subsequent divorce.

Lost in Translation is a meditative piece about Bob Harris (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), and their chance encounter in a Tokyo hotel. Bob is an ageing movie star, facing a midlife crisis with his 25-year-old marriage at its core.

Charlotte is a young graduate in a new marriage, unsure of her future and relationship. The two share a week together, where it’s unclear if their relationship is paternal, platonic or romantic.

Bob presents a cautionary tale to Charlotte, that marriage is the end of a fulfilling life.

“The most terrifying day of your life is the day the first one is born.

Your life, as you know it, is gone.

Never to return.” - Bob Harris, Lost in Translation It has been praised for its dreamlike tone and minimal dialogue, which compliments themes of loneliness and miscommunication. The film ends with a kiss (confusing their relationship more) and Charlotte is left to decide whether to continue with an unfulfilling marriage.

“I went to a shrine today and all these little monk’s were chanting... and, I didn’t feel anything…” Charlotte, Lost in Translation

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“...that’s also the hard part: growing without growing apart or changing without it scaring the other person.” - Theodore, Her

Her features a familiar “dreamy creamy” tone according to the New York Times. Disconnection and superficiality are also thematically dominant. Theodore embodies the, ironically, robotic archetype, struggling to understand others around him. In one scene, Samantha arranges a sexual encounter between Theodore and a surrogate for her absent body.

Theodore rejects all advances.

Notably, Theodore also works for ‘BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com’ where he ghost-writes intimate letters for strangers. Implicitly, he revels in inserting himself into heartfelt relationships. Theodore happily fabricates affection for strangers but rejects superficiality when the surrogate does the same.

Where Coppola argues that an unfulfilling marriage is a preventable occurrence, which Charlotte may avoid. Jonze argues romances failing due to people changing is an inevitable fact of life, experienced

by Theodore in his relationships.

“You wanted to have a wife without the challenges of actually dealing with anything real. I’m glad you found someone. It’s perfect.”

- Catherine (Theodore’s ex-wife), Her

I urge any reader to add these to their watchlist, and for those who have seen both, you may better appreciate them through understanding the personal positions from which they were written.

Lost in Translation is Coppola’s reflection on the throes of her marriage, herself personified in Charlotte, and Jonze in Charlotte’s, largely absent, husband. Charlotte’s feelings of isolation, and fear that her life has reached stagnation, are surely based upon her thoughts regarding her marriage.

Undoubtedly, Jonze and Coppola share similar focuses in their work: dreamy aesthetics are present in both, as are themes of superficiality and disconnect. This is not to say they are perfect parallels to each other. Similarity makes their differences more striking. Their outlooks on marriage - perhaps reflective of the person, or their respective times contrast and harmonise with each other in an interesting sister-film relationship.

“Dear Catherine...

I will always love you because we grew up together. And you helped make me who I am. I just wanted you to know there will be a piece of you in me always, and I’m grateful for that. Whatever someone you become, and wherever you are in the world, I’m sending you love. You’re my friend til the end.

Her likely personifies Jonze in Theodore, and Coppola in Theodore’s ex-wife and Samantha.

Theodore discusses how his love interests grow apart from him. The film finishes with a spoken letter Love…” - Theodore, Her to his ex-wife, acknowledging she is now a different person, and expressing gratitude for knowing her.

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Spike Jonze’s Her follows Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) through the final stages of a divorce as he starts dating again.

The film is set in the near-future, allowing Theodore to download an AI assistant named Samantha (Scarlett Johansson). After failed attempts at intimacy with other women and a bond forming between the two, Theodore and Samantha’s relationship becomes romantic. Surprisingly, the film does not linger on ethical questions of dating a computer, rather, it focuses on Theodore’s struggle to ‘keep up’ with Samantha, who changes too quickly for him.

Arts+Ents

Design: Tania Sutton

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Arts + Ents

Words: Liam McClurg

Michael Marra: A Radical Civic Pride the magdalen issue 94

Design: Lewis Elks

Marra - though a proud Scot - loved and embraced Dundee over Scotland. His songs consistently centred this city, its areas and inhabitants. Glasgow and Edinburgh are faraway lands, the audience share a knowing chuckle at the mention of Blairgowrie and Pitlochry. No more so than when he performs ‘General Grant’s Visit to Dundee’, in which Marra describes comments made by Ulysses S. Grant on an 1887 trip to the city.

The track opens with a monologue, punctuated with audience laughter, which observes: “Dundee was the last stop, they say he was not fascinated” But when Mara does not provide the self-deprecation the audience expects, the laughter stops.

“When U.S. Grant paid a visit to my hometown They spruced it up with a lick of paint and they showed him round Two bands played in fierce competition as the rain fell down Not a pretty little bandstand or a lovely little steeple Or charming little houses, or cheerful little people But what a mighty long bridge to such a mighty little old town” Grant is challenged; he was too self-important, too smug to appreciate the effort the city put into his reception. It’s a radical civic pride, Marra’s Dundee demands mutual respect and rejects those who reject it. The album also contains the charming ‘If Dundee was Africa’ where he plays at teaching someone who can’t read where North Africa is, using references to the city (“Take it from mee, North Africa is Lochee”). Every track on the album, almost every Marra tune, follows the format. His ‘Frida Kahlo’s Visit to the Taybridge Bar’ casts Dundee’s Taybridge Bar as heaven:

“

Dundee is not merely where you find heaven, but a refuge for a creative dealt a shoddy hand by life.

”

“Then she made her way up to the pearly gates She saw Saint Peter, he was pumping weights He said "Hitch a lift upon this falling star Make your way down to the Tay Bridge Bar" He said she'd never been so happy in a long, long time Her mind was relaxed and her body felt fine She said "put on Perdido, tonight's the night I wanna dance with Jimmy Howey in the pale moonlight’” The love for the city is matched only by the tenderness of his view of Kahlo. Dundee is not merely where you find heaven, but a refuge for a creative dealt a shoddy hand by life. She is welcome in Dundee, in Marra’s Dundee - vibrant and diverse, somewhere that you would choose to live. Michael Marra was born in 1952 in Lochee, travelled the world, saw success and died in Ninewells hospital ten years ago this October. What stays with me after listening to Marra, aside from the wit and empathy, is his love for the city.

I study history, and you can become disillusioned with a place as you learn its past. History is complicated, historical figures are multifaceted, the great men of Dundee’s industrial revolution -who built much of this city- had questionable labour practices and in some cases much worse. It can lead you to ask what Dundee is. What sets it apart culturally? Michael Mara, for me at least, solidifies that Dundee should draw its pride, not from emblems of Victorian progress, but from its proud and radical tradition in the arts.

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Arts + Ents

s an emigrant to this city, I wasn’t aware how large the late Michael Marra looms. The musical legend, with song writing credits for The Proclaimers, Van Morrison and Barbara Dickson, was immortalised in mural in Lochee main street last year. I finally picked up (selected from the album menu on Spotify) Marra’s High Sobriety, recorded live at our very own Bonar Hall. I expected what I love most from The Proclaimers, beautiful song writing, familiar accents, and a healthy dose of vague civic nationalism. What I found fascinated me.

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A

Words: Georgi Zhechev

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Arts + Ents

Ivan the Terrible: The Intermingling of Politics and Aesthetics in Sergei Eisenstein’s two-part Biopic

T

he last major work directed by the visionary director and film theorist Sergei Eisenstein is a film which is heavily imbued with symbolism, metaphors, and allegories, some of which, even up to this day, remain hotly debated. The aforementioned Soviet filmmaker made a name for himself mainly thanks to his excessive montage sequences featured most prominently in films such as Strike (1925) and Battleship Potemkin (1925).

However, in the latter part of his oeuvre Eisenstein began to explore and to grapple more confidently with other cinematic techniques such as staging, performance and composition of the mise-enscène. While the justification behind Eisenstein’s artistic decisions is to this day still not completely ascertained, the techniques speak for themselves as part of a complex visual vocabulary which juxtaposes the political climate at the times of the first Russian Tsar with the era in which the renowned director himself lived.

The first visual technique that I would like to analyse is the one which Eisenstein himself calls “expressive movement.” In the second part of the Ivan the Terrible unfinished trilogy, the movement of the characters, especially their mimics and gestures, is emphasised through the general stillness of everything that surrounds them in the frame.

Moreover, the specificity of the gestures is inspired

by Eisenstein’s fascination with the ways in which human beings are able to convey different emotional states. Ever since Strike, Eisenstein assigned specific animalistic actions to the protagonists, and to the antagonists in his films. For example, according to film scholars Ivan himself represents an avian, perhaps a heron or an eagle, because of the jabbing bird-like head movements he enacts.

Overall, the use of this technique emphasises and further underscores the importance of every single movement which reveals a lot about each character’s ‘inner self’ and motivation.

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Design: Alessia Tavacca

Another type of “expressive movement” is the action/re-action shots in which characters’ react to other characters’ distinct gestures. In those shots, there is a cause-and-effect pattern where one action provokes another that immediately follows the first.

For instance, when Ivan’s aunt Evfrosinia rears back triumphantly while entertaining the notion of her son becoming a Tsar, her son Vladimir responds by leaping back in the opposite direction. That pattern takes place once more at the very end.

Even formal staging devices such as increasing the importance of a character by moving him closer to the camera are subverted by Eisenstein who breaks the fourth wall several times. By doing so, he underlines the importance of certain scenes such as Malyuta’s arrival and the invitation he offers to Vladimir. Eventually, that invitation and its subsequent consequence make Evfrosinia and Ivan even. This kind of direct address aimed at the viewers ultimately makes the film comparable to a cinematic painting with movement and cutting which presents a constantly changing spectacle.

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Arts + Ents

All things considered, the “subversive affirmation” of the despotic tyrant exemplified by Ivan ultimately brings to light the obscene underside of the system in Žižek’s words. Thus, it is used ostensibly to criticise the establishment through enabling the viewers to over-identify with the tyrant, and in that way to realise what he, i.e., the system, needs to repress in order to retain his position. For these reasons, combined also with the many parallels between Ivan’s oprichniki and Stalin’s NKVD, the film was banned in the USSR until after Stalin’s death. Even up to this very day, the Russian people have not been able to effectively “over-identify” with their rulers. They have not realised who actually rules them, and thus as Karl Marx points out: “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.” Hopefully, one day the history lessons taught in this film, and not only, will finally be learned.

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The second important device through which Eisenstein emphasises the actions of his characters is the use of parallels. One example of it is the socalled ‘garment motif’ which repeatedly showcases the sliding in and out of garments of different characters within the movie. Moreover, one of the most significant recurring motifs is intricately connected to the persona of Ivan. The way Ivan’s mother is dragged away and out of the frame in the film’s prologue evokes the way Ivan’s cousin Vladimir is taken care of near the film’s denouement. That parallel is paramount because it is precisely the murder of his mother that shapes the behaviour of the future monarch more than anything else, and what makes him so ruthless and determines the period in which he rules. Eisenstein interprets this moment as a determining factor, or at least portrays it to be so, based on his readings of Otto Rank’s book The Trauma of Birth. In that book, death is described as a symbolical return to the mother’s womb; hence, that explains why people are buried under ground in caskets, etc. That description of death finds its place onscreen in the last scene of the film where the womb-like look of the cathedral is achieved through the use of a chiaroscuro low key lighting, and a light reminiscent of the one shown in the prologue.

Words: Orla Davey

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Creative Writing

Pasiphae I dreamed of grief without a grave walking a gorgon’s path flickering behind

blank eyes

we tread skin, bone, minds and hearts they’re the soil we build upon I dreamed of grief shoved down the throat blood beating through a maze each corridor a hollowed oesophagus echoing frenzied thoughts marbled by time, impossible to digest Minotaurs roaming my mind Craving more more more yet still wondering why the hands that feed you fear you Hooves scraping bone into powder floating like thistles on the wind One day I’ll birth the blankness an iris bursting full bloom in my sockets but my bones will remain marble

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Design: Robyn Black

darkness will simply melt into the depths

skewered and shattered a labyrinth clutch no screams no blood no tears no maybe ifs no way out Mothering legends isn’t enough the golden glory flickers a brief flame snuffed in a single breath We never overcome the bad thoughts, we simply learn to ignore them I dreamed of grief tamed, sedated rewarded for its silent sacrifice But pounding under the grave of my mind are the swivelling throbs of bull eyes searching for red

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each shadow an elongated finger

Creative Writing

and root me

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Creative Writing

Words: Kitty McQueen

the magdalen issue 94

Design and Illustration: Megan Hunter

The flood sweeps in, materialising all that it touches, and leaving in its aftermath a crisp, recognisable sight.

Another day has begun. With that, weights seize onto my body, willing my mind to dig its way back to the previously unconscious state that offered tranquillity for the night. Yet, possibility bleeds through my eyelids in the form of sunlight and the pressure of time scratches at my sides with torn nails, urging me to get up, and I do. The hours, upright, punctual, and always on time’s side, march past me without a care. Each one trailing me along the ground until I am left flailing for my reward, despite the ominous nature of such a prize.

All of those around me are ushered by similar hours, patrolling our lives, stomping their feet, nudging us to the next hour that passes by. Yet all of those alike to me, humans wandering aimlessly from door to door, clouds soaring in no particular direction, or the trees stretching for the sun’s fiery embrace, feel gratitude for their reward of finite life. Why then, must I suffer with the stress that each second darts from me? How often have I foolishly attempted to clasp them between my limbs and hold them captive? These stressful thoughts are the hail in my morning flood, a flood that threatens to become a deluge with every passing day.

The thoughts tease me, they plague me, they tug at my hem and drizzle down the back of my neck. If only

I could be more human, unaware, ignorant, as they savour their blissful and brisk encounter with time. Or the clouds, gliding in and out of one another without a care for any final spot in which they are condemned to rest. Or the trees, scraped, swaying, breathing in every breathe of air without consideration for their inevitable rot. I move through time in a daydream, doing whatever necessary to prop myself up, omitting myself pleasures and occasionally abusing vices.

Pressing obstacles become accomplishments that set with each sun, and each day all is forgotten but the things to come. Yet even in an attempt to congratulate myself on such past victories, my body twitches with the memory of uncomplete tasks ahead as the stress mounts me, reminds me, and feasts upon my flesh.

And no matter what I do or where I go, I cannot escape time. I move within it, yet it runs from me. I will attempt to imitate the best of humans, to chase after each minute that hurls itself towards me, leaping, catching minutes in my arms until the final thrust from my body commands me a victor of life. But even upon running, I find myself dodging the cruel blow of each passing minute, huddled in the open air that offers no protection from time. Perhaps the clouds and their placid presence in the sky is what I should imitate. Yet, as I encourage my limbs to fall loose and my body to float silently, my mind cannot be hushed, and I am fixed to the spot. Maybe I should use this minute to breathe like the trees. I try, and I try, but in the enforced calmness all I envision are the seconds sprinting from me, pointing with harsh laughter as they pass me by.

The reward of finite life terrifies me, and as I consider each day’s passing, and the final minute I will one day grasp at, my body lurches, causing me to fall overboard into the flood. The music of swallowed air rings throughout my body and evokes in me an admiration for life. As a few seconds wave me by, I hold onto this gratuity, as perhaps finality can be a form of such peacefulness. If I am to be anyone, anything, let me be one of those that embraces their finality. Let my gratification for life be so strong that I collide with my final minute, and it is in their arms that I am cradled to the dirt, and thus gifted my last reward.

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In the mist of the morning, my flesh wriggles before I wake. It stretches and writhes and squirms and swells to soak up the early air. My mind, still a daze, concentrates upon the sensations swarming my body, the lick of cool air or the pinch of scornful sunlight.

Amidst my dreamy confusion there lies a stillness, a serenity that fills me up, allowing me to think clearer than ever before. Though despite the virgin ambience of such seemingly undiscovered peace, this too is part of a daily routine. With every periodic break in the sky, where the claw of sunlight crawls outward to pull back my eyelids, my mind is granted the fleeting disguise of a blank canvas, sugary pale and sweet to the taste.

Only upon arrival of the flood will it be liquidised and drowned, memories of stress swelling and splashing within my mind until the stillness becomes a mere dreamlike recollection.

Creative Writing

A Daydream of my Reward

Words: Rebecca Raddatz

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Creative Writing

D R E A M

• the magdalen issue 94

Design & Photography: Maria Touloupa

S C A P E

dusty fairies danced the light of the sun pouring out of heaven

thick streams, upturned bowl gilding coast, ocean, air

over it expand

Creative Writing

whipped clouds & starry sprinkles,

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warm, liquid gold

strawberry cream skies look up memories between clouds drifting, drifting, drifting…

whispering we’re nothing but dreams and dust scattered by the wind

✴ the magdalen issue 94

Words: Samuel Chesters

Reaching the Summit

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Creative Writing

Standing on the mountain peak, high above the clouds, the sense of achievement is almost tangible. I take a deep breath of the icy-thin Himalayan air as I marvel at the view; underneath the vast expanses of clouds, glistening white valleys and rugged rocky ridges stretching out as far as my eyes can see.

Squinting, I can just make out the black and red shapes of other climbers making their way up to the summit.

I allow myself to rest back against a rock as the other members of my party join me, their weary faces smiling at me as they pass by. I observe the group, as they cheer and embrace one another, before unfastening their rucksacks and resting for a moment. We know we can’t stay here long, the air is too thin, but we allow ourselves a few minutes of respite and reflection before moving on to begin our descent.

It hasn’t been an easy journey. Two months ago, we started out on the first legs of the climb, working our way through blizzards, up steep and uneven paths and

trudging onward through heaps of frozen snow.

It will be hard to forget the early and erratic starts (fully dependent on the weather), rationing food and long days. Not everyone made it; our party was initially made up of eight climbers, falling down to seven after the first month then ending with six. The two who couldn’t make it were forced to turn back, beaten by the adversity of the climb. It was understandable of course, the conditions were especially challenging, and potentially deadly for those who were already under strain from injury or exhaustion. I was lucky enough to suffer from neither, having long prepared myself for the trek by practicing my climbing technique to avoid hurting myself, although I have to admit near the end of the journey, I was feeling tired. I think if not for my own personal drive and dedication to chase something which had been a lifelong dream, I would not have been able to stave off the pain of overexertion.

Although it feels wrong to say, in a way knowing that I overcame the hardships which others could not only amplifies the sense of accomplishment I feel.

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Design: Maria Touloupa

I smile as I begin to make my way along the path, still relishing in the rewarding sense of achievement I feel.

I stand as the others begin to pick up their climbing gear, ready to continue on to the next part of our journey. The descent won’t be by any means easy, but the hardest part of the trip is over. By estimation, we should reach the bottom of the mountain in about fifty-four hours, a time which seems like nothing compared to the six weeks it took to reach the summit.

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Creative Writing

I look forward to returning home. In these long two months, I think that, through being forced to ration and survive on the bare minimum, I have learned a lot about how to appreciate what you have.

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I blink hard and clench my teeth, trying to avoid getting lost in my memories of the climb. I am at the summit; the long journey and years of training have finally paid off. I want to be present, to take in the view, and make sure I remember this moment for the rest of my life. I focus on the cold I can feel, biting at any skin exposed under my layers of determined insulation. After so long, the cold feels as if it is a means of affirming life.

I am so used to it by now, it is hard to imagine life without it.

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Creative Writing

Words: Michaela Lafferty

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Design: Joshua Medcraf

I soak up the freedom of the landscape while my anxieties pollute the air, dip of the valley laying wake to my sorrows. Aware of what lives past this moment, smothered by the need to work and the need to succeed. Expected to hit milestones, collect achievements and continue on until society deems it enough. The darkness gnawing away on what you once believed to be a dream but now it appears to be far more sinister. Turning into something unrecognisable while the expectations turn cold.

What happens when the page no longer moves me?

When it becomes a burden and the clicking of the keyboard taunts and scoffs at my attempt to create something that moves and heals the reader.

I am moving now, up ahead lays a beaten down fence which seems to run on forever. The first sign of life stares me in the eyes, its antlers billow out from each side of the creature’s skull. The silence that has been following me since I arrived seems to grow louder as we remain frozen, observing one another. It stands bathed in light; the stag often linked to freedom; the creature mocks me. Roaming the mountains and land without a care in the world, while it took me several months to step into this tranquillity. The everyday appears as such: a cacophony of to do lists and schedules with something or someone demanding your time. This creature lives in ignorance of what lays beyond this space, it does not know the stress of rush hour traffic or adhering to deadlines.

The stag looks towards the crawling clouds, its head tilted upwards while it appears deep in thought.

Several minutes pass before the creature shifts its focus to my eyes before turning to the right. Following its gaze, I notice a tunnel that wasn’t there before, it appears out of place between the light and dark, the dream and the nightmare. It is the prolonged stare of the stag and the rumbling overhead that steer me in the direction of the arch, walls splattered in graffiti.

The colourful spray paint contrasts with grey walls that are peeling with age, my shadow moves from the hues of nature to the darkness of the city. Turning back, I look at the stag one last time, no clouds in sight, it nods in my direction as if stirring me forward.

The light calls me from the opposite end of the space, moving towards the exit until the silence is replaced by the buzz of life. Laughter, yelling and delicate whispers, it is the unfolding of the city that reminds me there is beauty in nightmares. A sea of grey covered in splashes of colour, the snippets of life.

The city and the mountains like nightmares and dreams; one cannot exist without the other.

The moments trickle past, waiting for the other to make a move to exit the scene yet we remain.

A storm looms overhead surrounding me in shades

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Creative Writing

Standing on the cusp of silence, the space empty yet full. The image contained as far as the eye will go; greens and oranges blurring together to create a spectacular canvas. It sits two hours away from reality, the space does not feel the weight of achievement or success. The city nourishes the hustle and bustle of the mundane; masked by dazzling lights and late nights. Time does not exist here; the sun shines overhead encouraging the journey away from the everyday. What I seek can never be found here or anywhere for that matter, it resides in my dreams and nightmares. They twist together, the darkness and light fighting for dominance over my every accomplishment and goal.

of grey while the deer remains a beacon of light. The landscape only adds to the picturesque moment, I understand why this would appear to be a dream but when my eyes drift upwards it begins to shift into a nightmare. This moment seems to mimic the inner workings of my mind, the light and dark competing.

Fumbling through the day to accomplish something wonderful but also struggling against the routine of it all. A reflection of the day previous yet this day, this day appears to be different, this day plucked me from the clutches of reality and placed me into dream like state. In this space I am forced to contemplate the delicate balance of nightmares and dreams, how one cannot exist without the other. The nightmares push you into the warmth of dreams and blow away the greyish fog that threatens to trap you in its coldness.

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They tell me it was all I dream, that such blurry recollections could only be produced by the imagination, but it was all real, I can feel it.

Words: Andrew Young

The Sailor:

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Creative Writing

Selected Poems

by Andrew Young

An Expression of Feeling A flowing – Steam - cascades the Rocks It tries to grip holding back a trickle it quivers on the Lip. The Boat A lonely Boat Sails across The empty Ocean

Shallow – River - paid no Tribute It’s Bank has no Deposit shaken in its Bed by the Lord’s fearsome Hands.

Rough – Ocean – Disordered it rides against the Bay orderly ordered and unable to say what It must say.

A lonely sailor – Sits and Prays A Poem co-written with Rachel Simpson I lie in Earth – unfurled – Furrowed into the folds And cracks and crevices – Collapse holds –

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Creative Writing

Design: Lucas Ferguson

Slips from form to formless – My Margins bend and blur Becoming Unbecoming – I am Not – The Blackbird A blackbird Twitching – In Morning’s garden Day A bright orange stripe Spanned Outrageously

Lighthouse Keeper I looked out to the Sea God’s Storm was raging strong And there I saw a Boat For this World it was not long The glaring Light shone upon That little Boat - and through the Hail I shouted But the Wind too harshly blew And then a green spectre Flew down from the sky – That little Boat was taken up And away from God’s storm it did fly.

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Words: Cameron Doherty

A United Response?

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International

W

hen the first Russian missiles landed in Ukraine, the whole world sprang into action, abhorred at the grievous violation of state sovereignty. But since the initial U.N. General Assembly vote to condemn the invasion of Ukraine, the global response appears increasingly less unified. Three camps emerged from the vote: the first, and largest by number of countries, were those who voted to condemn the invasion, the second were the 35 states who abstained, ranging from Russian allies seeking to avoid the status of international pariah to democracies whose abstention arguably came as a surprise, India chief among them. The final camp were states who voted in support of Russia, this includes Belarus, Russia’s neighbour, North Korea, Eritrea, Syria, and of course Russia - five of the most autocratic regimes the world has to offer.

Is this really a globally united response? On the one hand, 141 U.N. member states, a substantial majority, voted to condemn Russia. Many of these states, led by the United States and Europe, have levied devastating sanctions against the Russian economy and elite. Moreover, a number of the 141 states have also been quick to provide Ukraine with military and humanitarian aid. Europe, particularly Ukraine’s neighbours Poland, Romania, and Moldova, have absorbed millions of refugees, whilst becoming conduits for military and humanitarian aid into the country. Overall, Europe has united in support of Ukraine, aside from the outliers of Hungary and Serbia, whose response has been significantly restrained.

On the other hand, over one third of the global population resides in the 35 abstainers. This includes the world’s two most populous countries: China and India. China’s abstention surprised

the magdalen issue 94

Design: Livvie Baird

South Africa, another democracy, has also abstained. However, unlike China and India, they point to a resurgence of Cold War narratives.

No state, especially in the global South, seeks a return to Cold War times. But broad strokes are dangerous in this analysis. In Africa opinions are varied. Kenya’s U.N. Ambassador Martin Kimani delivered a powerful speech to the Security Council comparing Russia’s treatment of Ukraine to the plight of African nations under colonialism, whereas South African Ambassador Mathu Joyini alleged hypocrisy in the US response to Ukraine, citing the invasion of Iraq. And when

Disunity is clear in the Middle East, too. Key American allies like Israel, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia have refused to do more than condemn Russia in the General Assembly and call for peace. Israel has kept in constant communication with Russia due to their complicated (and perhaps worsening) relationship in Syria - a primary security concern for the Israelis. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia denied American President Joe Biden’s early request to produce more oil in order to combat the price rises in the onset of the invasion. The inability of the US to wrangle its supposed allies, who benefit from billions in American aid, investment, and trade, is a worrying sign for the supposed global hegemon, and unfortunate for Ukraine.

Overall, the world is split. For most states, the invasion of Ukraine is an abhorrent violation of sovereignty, but they are unwilling to sacrifice their own economic or military ties with Russia. Others reject the resurgence of the Cold War narrative, unwilling to be involved in a European conflict.

And the wealthy Western democracies are largely the only ones to have acted quickly to sanction Russia and support Ukraine. The risk of the conflict spiralling is ever present, but for now it seems Western partners have successfully supported the Ukrainian defenders. More violence is never good, but no matter the opinion of states, sovereignty is an integral part of the U.N. Charter – essential to the foundations of the international system, and it must be respected.

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International

Unlike China, India has had less qualms about taking advantage of the situation, with Indian officials having reportedly sought discounted prices on Russian oil, following the decline of European imports from Russia. Politically, India has refused to condemn Russia, but ,like the Chinese, has called for a cessation to the violence. This attitude has been met with a lukewarm reception by Western democratic partners, who are more than aware of the longstanding India-Russia relationship (largely centred on arms imports), but unwilling to isolate an increasingly important actor who will play a key role in counter-balancing China in southern Asia.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was asked why his country had not condemned Russia’s invasion, he highlighted Libya as the example of a double standard for the West. As for other African states, their ties to Russia are more important than any ideological feelings they possess: Cameroon, Mali, the Central African Republic, and others have signed arms deals with the Russian state and private Russian entities, particularly with the infamous Wagner Group of Russian mercenaries.

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many as it was expected to back Moscow, rather than distance itself. In the leadup to the invasion, relations between Moscow and Beijing strengthened, with a Chinese official claiming that there is “no ceiling” for cooperation between the two states. This followed a closely watched visit from Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Beijing Winter Olympics, inviting speculation as to whether he intended to gain Chinese Premier Xi Jinping’s approval for the invasion, although the reaction of the Chinese government calling for peace would indicate otherwise. So far, China has refused to take part in the global sanctions levied against the Russian economy and elite, interestingly, though, it has not engaged in the level of economic outreach with Russia as was expected, perhaps for fear of attracting Western sanctions.

Words: Chelsea Dalscheid

LONGING

for a better future I

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International

n our day and age, the climate crisis is becoming more and more aggravated as time passes, which is why I find it important to acknowledge what different countries and people are trying to do for a better future. Using paper bags as opposed to plastic ones for instance is already a little accomplishment towards a more sustainable future.

In my article I aim to shine a light on the different actions taken by the places I’ve lived and traveled to: Dundee Scotland, the Netherlands and my home country Luxembourg, to reflect on the efforts of everyday people and small businesses to counter the Climate Crisis and its horrible consequences.

Walking through the city of Dundee, I see electric cars on every other street and from the West End to Riverside Drive I have seen stations with blue electric bikes. Not only are they appealing to the eye, but they also encourage students and even tourists to ride them to university or museums and parks.

In the West End area of town you can even buy your groceries in the two low to zero-waste stores along Perth Road, where unlike a usual grocery store, one can largely complete their shopping lists without producing more plastic waste, and buying more sustainable products and foods.

In the Netherlands bikes are one of the most practiced modes of transport, it almost seems as if you’re “excluded” when you don‘t ride your bike through the town centre. I recently visited Maastricht and Utrecht, whose city centers are filled with more bikes than cars. I even had to pay way more attention to bikes than cars when crossing roads. The popularity of bikes in the Netherlands helps to keep the country’s CO2 emissions on a low level, as well as makes their cities less dangerous, since there are clearly marked

pedestrian and bike lanes along the road. Furthermore, you do something for your own health too, not only for the planet’s.

Lastly, my local town in Luxembourg has recently introduced the “bio-boy”, which is basically a green bin meant for organic food waste-items you would throw into a compost bin. The bins were given out for free to each citizen, and the first few lucky people even received the biodegradable bags for free too. Ever since having the green bin, I have become more aware of how much waste should actually be separated and put into the food waste container. You can even put tea bags in there!

Apart from this new initiative which raises awareness to the importance of recycling, Luxembourgish public transport has been free of charge for everyone since 2020, thus encouraging people to rely on bus lines and trains.

In each grocery store the plastic bags have been removed and either replaced by biodegradable ones, or by paper bags, with people encouraged to bring their own canvas or net bags. Moreover, In some stores, it is possible to limit plastic consumption further, by bringing your own glass jars, which you can fill with pasta, nuts, cereals and nut butter, without having to look for a zero-waste store.

All of these little steps show how consumers can individually take initiative, without spending a lot of money, breaking down the view that sustainable living is “too expensive”. No matter how small the initiative seems, as long as it exists and it is done, it can help grow towards a better future. I am sure that mother nature will thank us in 30 years time for our commitment to stopping the rapid expansion of climate change.

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International

Design: Sonia Hanke

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Words: Curtis Large

TRUMPLAND & ME

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International

A Political Autopsy

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rom August to December 2018, I was an exchange student at the University of South Carolina. I’ve long wanted to write about my exposure to political goings-on during this short stay in the US, but was fearful of reifying what Freud called the ‘narcissism of small differences’. With hindsight, however, I’m now able to appreciate the significance of what I couldn’t before. In those days, President Trump wasn’t faced with a pandemic which would force him to implement uncharacteristic policies. Nor were there any Democratic rivals with the opportunity to usurp him. Put simply, he governed as he pleased.

I had two periscopes through which to spectate Trumpian rule. The first was an 82-year-old named Donald Fowler, my esteemed tutor. He’d been Co-Chair of the Democratic National Committee in the 1990s under President Clinton, but I simply knew him as a sympathetic caricature of the ‘Southern gentleman’, blessed with his disarming drawl and immaculately pressed corduroy trousers.

My second lens came in the form of the College Libertarians, the student wing of America’s third party (joining the Democratic or Republican groups as a Brit seemed laughable). Far from my fears of encountering trigger-happy maniacs, its amiable membership

surprised me by drawing several students from the LGBT+ community, as well as the ideological left.

Foremostly, these touchpoints helped reveal Trumpland’s casual comfortability with social discrimination. This is hardly an original pronouncement, but its percolation through South Carolinian society, from national politics to the grassroots, was impossible to overlook.

The biggest scandal of the time involved Brett Kavanaugh, who’d been nominated for the US Supreme Court but first had to attend a confirmation hearing in the Senate. In the event, Kavanaugh was accused of sexual abuse by psychologist Christine Blasey Ford. It dominated the news, and Dr Fowler streamed the live proceedings. Later, a member of the College Libertarians made a memorable speech, castigating the misogyny of Washington under Trump.

Sitting in another class, I mentioned to a colleague that I witnessed her appearance on a Republican YouTube advert for the upcoming South Carolina gubernatorial election. Nothing. I then argued that local Senator Lindsey Graham’s support for Kavanaugh was deeply questionable. Without hesitation, she fired both barrels as to how she’d interned for Graham, how wonderful he was, and how I was a snarky foreigner.

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This leads into my second key observation of the period, that being an incapability of anyone to lance the boil. Dr Fowler once organised a guest lecture by Trav Robertson, Chair of the South Carolina Democrats, who held the unenviable job of selling blue in a solidly red state. So unenviable that he declared the post to have been thrust on him simply because his number was up.

Unsurprisingly, Robertson was keener in harking back to President Obama’s breakthrough campaign of 2008 than to the contemporary situation. He boasted of Democratic outreach to African-Americans in the Deep South back then. Very many have failed to support them since.

This shortcoming was self-consciously justified: ‘political parties used to play on hopes, then, since the 1980s, Republicans have used fear to disparage Democrats’.

Still, what President Reagan had to do with the electoral inadequacies of Hillary Clinton was not dwelled upon.

Alongside oppositional incompetence was the nastier business of deliberate suppression. During a College Libertarians meeting in November, we tested allegations that Trump’s people had doctored footage of a CNN reporter, Jim Acosta, to have him appear violent towards a woman intern during a White House presser. It was agreed between us that the video was spurious owing to apparent jump cuts. Alas, it didn’t matter; Acosta was officially banished.

Such was the Trump presidency in its purest, unbridled form; a blindness or active preference for social discrimination, coupled with a weak resistance crippled by nostalgia and censorship. Looking back, I recall the political messaging that subtly peppered the campus–a ‘Bernie 2020’ sticker on the way to my lecture, another demanding ‘Hillary for Prison’ on a classmate’s laptop once I’d got there. I’m reminded of how much of a Martian I really was, but also of how remote the America of President Biden, with its relative quietness and outward dignity, would have looked only four years ago.

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While the Senator ignored the principle that power should be questioned if it’s said to have terrorised the disadvantaged, so too did many of his constituents.

Worst in this respect was a widespread reverence towards the late Strom Thurmond, likewise a Senator for the state, who spoke for over 24 hours to filibuster the 1957 Civil Rights Act and preserve legal segregation.

A young fan went so far as to describe to me the urinary arrangements ‘Ol’ Strom’ prepared for the futile stunt. This posed a conundrum. The disdain for equality as evidenced by Graham: Trump or Thurmond? Chicken or egg?

International

Design: Daniel Somoghi

Words: Remus

Is Operation Condor Finally Nearing Its Real End? O

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International

peration Condor was a global system created to coordinate the persecution and elimination of leftist political activists and governments of the Southern Cone. It operated from the mid-1970s until the early 80s in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. Although it has been decades since the operation officially ended, the ones behind it and the victims are still carrying the consequences with them, making it impossible to call the operation a closed case.

The leftist movements in Latin America in the middle of the twentieth century, which included feminist and workers’ movements, were not stopped simply because they were seen as ‘radical’ leftists or terrorists, but because the changes they could bring to their governments would threaten not only the power of the local elite but Western business interests, too. Washingtonbacked dictatorships in the Southern Cone had so far successfully prevented social changes from happening and had overthrown all governments these movements succeeded in forming - a good example would be Richard Nixon backing the coup d’état against Salvador Allende and his democratically elected (socialist) government, and helping Augusto Pinochet to power in Chile in 1973. The dictator’s regime was, like that of many others, responsible for disappearances, murder, and torture of political opponents - his government killed at least 3,000 people and tortured about 29,000.

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Design: Arwin Quiachon

However, the region’s anti-communist paranoid leaders wanted to take things one step further by launching Operation Condor. To say that this global campaign of violent repression was known about by the US government would be an understatement.

Although this fact was denied at the time, years of investigating and releasing documents have proved that the CIA and top-ranking US officials not only supported the operation, but also laid the groundwork for, and were even directly involved with its crimes.

Operation Condor had a data bank with information about thousands of people who were suspected of being their political enemies, as well as photo archives, psychological profiles, personal and political histories and lists of family members and friends. As no other country on the continent had the technology to store this information, the computers were provided by the US, or more specifically, the CIA.

Uruguayan Anatole Larrabeiti and his sister are two survivors of this violent system. Anatole saw his parents last when he was four years old in his home in Buenos Aires, where his leftist parents had moved only three years earlier, fleeing a military coup in their native Uruguay. His father was killed in front of him and his 18-month-old sister, both of whom were kidnapped and taken to Chile.

They were handed over to an orphanage and then sent to separate foster homes until a dental surgeon and his wife decided to adopt both siblings.

The case of these two children is much better than many others’ - some were adopted and raised by the same people who murdered their parents.

Anatole and his sister first took their case to a civil court in Argentina in 1996. They wanted to know the truth about what had happened to them, and receive compensation. More than two decades passed without any satisfying outcomes, until finally, in 2019, their case was taken up by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which has the power to call on states to change laws and pay compensations.

Anatole believes they can win, and finally receive compensation. However, what matters most to him is something different. ‘Up to now, the task of finding evidence has too often been on us. We want that changed,’ he said. Another trial in Argentina which started in 2016 and centred on 109 Condor victims from six countries - including Juan Hernández, Manuel Tamayo, and Luis Muñoz, members of the Chilean Socialist Party whose whereabouts remain unknown since 1976 - ended with 15 prison sentences.

These positive outcomes could open doors to many other similar cases by obliging both Argentina and other countries to change the way they handle them.

It has taken decades of research and investigations to fully expose Operation Condor. Although the murdered cannot be brought back and the disappeared ones might never be found, the people who survived are, after years of waiting, getting some answers and can see the changes they have waited for while the ones responsible for this system are finally being prosecuted.

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International

“It has taken decades of research and investigations to fully expose Operation Condor”

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The operation was founded in November 1975 in Santiago, Chile. The fundamental mission of Condor according to a CIA report was the assassination of ‘top-level terrorist leaders’, that is leftist governments. A confirmation of this being the main objective of Operation Condor was found in the face of a copy of the correspondence between the Chilean and the Paraguayan police, where the former asked the latter ‘to promote coordination and establish something similar to what Interpol has in Paris, but devoted to subversion.’ It is worth noting that by that time, the Cold War had been going on for almost 30 years, meaning the concerns about Communists and leftist sympathisers in the USA who might actively work as Soviet spies and pose a threat to US security had grown into extreme paranoia. This in turn motivated the North American superpower to fight against Communism and Soviet Russia’s allies in Southern America even more actively. While the antiCommunist paranoia of the time, only intensified by the similar terror in Europe, somewhat explains the apparent need for the operation, it does not excuse the 60-80,000 murders - some of whom were tossed into the sea from planes, being tied up, shackled to concrete blocks or heavily drugged - and the 400,000 imprisonments of real or suspected enemies.

Words: Curtis Large

Tony Benn, Dundee University, and the Transformation of British Politics

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On/Off Campus

n 6 December 1991, socialist firebrand Tony Benn MP flew up from Heathrow to visit the University of Dundee. He was on an ideological mission. That May, Benn had presented proposals for a radical reordering of the British constitution in a debate at Wvestminster. The Bill contained plans for a new ‘Commonwealth of Britain’, promising the rupture of thousand-year-old institutions and a stark redistribution of authority across our islands. Lecturing first-year politics students during his trip, the parliamentary veteran outlined his motivations: “The people of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland are still treated as if we lived in a colony governed from Whitehall; local democracy has been virtually destroyed; the security services and the police are out of control; the judiciary has lost the confidence of the public, while privilege is carefully protected at the expense of those seeking social justice.”

But why talk to Dundee students in particular? What role could they play in such monumental affairs of state?

Benn wrote to their lecturer, John Berridge, on 11 July.

“I am delighted that you have initiated a course of study on the Bill … As for the invitation to Dundee to address your students, I like the idea in principle, and it would be the first meeting of its kind”.

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Design: Phoebe Wilman

Of course, none of these things have come to pass.

But Benn still insisted on his sincerity, dismissing doubts over whether the plans were at all realistic.

In some ways, the Bill can be viewed as a piece of progressive prophecy, even if it never, ultimately, became law.

His call for devolved parliaments across the three nations of Great Britain has been partially realised, while Benn’s preference to lower the UK voting age to 16 has been achieved outright in Scotland.

Equal membership of men and women in the House of Commons has a way to go, but representation of the latter nonetheless jumped from 9% following the 1992 general election to 35% after 2019’s contest.

The tangible contribution that the Bill has made to these reforms, if any, is difficult to discern.

What is certain is that the undergraduates made an impression. In addition to being

In 2017, I myself was a politics student at Dundee.

Our lecturer, Richard Dunphy, was present for the MP’s appearance 26 years beforehand. According to him, as well as encouraging students to ask questions on the nature of “power”, Benn offered a more colourful remark on the floor of the D’Arcy Thompson Lecture Theatre: “There have been three attempts made in our history to force Britain into a Common Market: William the Conqueror, Adolf Hitler and Jacques Delors”. Delors was President of the European Commission. By this time, Benn had become a hard-line Eurosceptic.

Indeed, also up for discussion in 1991 was Benn’s ‘Commonwealth of Europe Bill’, the lesser-known sister proposal to his UK-focused agenda. Rather than advocating for a Brexit per se, it demanded wholesale reform of European politics to return to a group of entirely self-governing states, united only by a loose framework similar to the pre-existing Commonwealth of Nations.

This ambition was a stretch too far, and the plan made no great waves. However, with hindsight, its ripples seem of potential consequence. Jeremy Corbyn had in fact seconded Benn’s militant propositions to Parliament over 1991–92. Years later, as Remainers scratched their heads as to how the Labour Party leadership had not stood firm to help the UK keep its place in the EU, perhaps a clue lies forgotten on the ground floor of Dundee’s Tower Building.

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On/Off Campus

In the event, Benn looked on as Dundee’s students analysed his vision of the future, picking apart photocopies of the draft legislation.

Its contents must have stirred them. Included was a revolutionary blueprint that, among other measures, sought to abolish the monarchy and Church of England, ensure a united Ireland, instate an elected upper chamber instead of the House of Lords, and replace the sovereign with a British president to serve as head of state.

impressed by their grasp of the constitutional subject matter, The Courier quoted that “[Benn] revealed they had unearthed one flaw in his Commonwealth of Britain Bill and he pledged to rectify it in the next draft.” If these students did not help to change the political tide, they at least saw it coming, whether they were confident of its eventual arrival or not.

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Berridge himself was politically active and something of a walking contradiction. Obituaries would later recall his moniker of being a “Tory Marxist” owing to joint-membership of both various trade unions and the Conservative Party.

There was nobody, therefore, more suited to test Benn’s self-assured claim that “pressure for constitutional reform is going to become stronger and stronger – the response to the Bill from people of widely differing political persuasions convinces me of that.”

Words: Ayanna Cullen

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On/Off Campus

ere comes the sun do-do do-do! Just a wee musical interlude there from The Beatles.

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and freedom from exams is in sight. I think we all deserve a bit of a treat, don’t you? Although, this is Scotland so the sun will most likely be rain and the birds singing will most likely be seagulls trying to steal your chips. But the treat thing still stands! From ice cream to boba tea, here’s some sweet treats for you to start off your summer on a high note.

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SUNDAES What’s not to love about sundaes? A word of warning - these things are huge, so they’re great for sharing or, if you’re not up for sharing, they’re great for sending you into a food-coma if one of your friends dares you to try and finish the entire thing by yourself and you, being the idiot you are, never backs down from a dare.

I can highly recommend the Very Cherry Sundae. If you like the taste of glacé cherries, you’ll like the taste of this. Piled high with whipped cream, cherry gelato, vanilla ice cream and cherry syrup, this mouth-watering treat is absolutely divine. The sundaes paired with the décor of a 50s diner really makes you feel like you’re in a movie.

SMOOTHIES What’s better to wash a super sweet sundae down with than a nice fresh smoothie. I honestly can’t tell you how they manage to make them so thick using only fruit, ice, and fruit pureé, but it is amazing. I tried their Pineapple Sunset smoothie with pineapple, papaya, and mango because I love tropical flavours and it definitely delivered. Sweet, but with a nice edge of tartness to balance it out, this smoothie brings you that nice summer feel in a glass. Kaspa’s is available for walk-in dining as well as on Just Eat, Deliveroo and UberEats.

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Design: Joshua Harris, Photography: Ada Ung

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Boba tea, otherwise known as bubble tea, has been around for a while but only now seems to be increasing in popularity as more little shops open up. From my experience, most of the places I have been to serve drinks that are incredibly sweet and even though they’re nice, do not resemble tea. Boba Time is unique as it’s the first place I’ve come across that manages to make the tea actually taste like tea. The menu is very specific so you can order your flavour, how sweet you want it, what temperature, as well as what tapioca or popping balls you want. My go-to order is a cold honey and peach oolong tea at a standard sweetness with peach popping balls. It’s fresh, it’s sweet, you get the lovely little zing of sweetness from the popping balls, and the best thing about it: it actually tastes like tea! Currently my favourite shop in Dundee. 10/10, 5 stars, everything!

On/Off Campus

BOBA TEA

DOUGHNUTS Some of you may not know what that little van always parked outside the V&A is. Maybe you’ve never gone to find out. I thought it was just a little van selling coffee but no… they make fresh donuts! Not only are they made to order, but they come with a range of sugars and toppings. There’s regular sugar but if you’re looking for something a lot more jazzy then there’s cinnamon sugar and, my personal favourite, rose sugar which compliments the sugary treat perfectly with subtle floral notes. For the chocolate lovers amongst you there’s the classic Nutella chocolate sauce which, if my own experiences have taught me anything, you cannot eat while wearing white. A lovely little van that you should certainly make a trip to visit.

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Words: Eamonn Custance

Contempt or Collaboration:

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On/Off Campus

How Will We Respond to Sex Workers’ Call for Solidarity?

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he best, most inclusive feminism is one that ignores sex workers’ opinions, refuses to involve them in policy decisions and as the sex worker-led charity SCOT-PEP describes “poses an existential threat to sex workers’ safety and livelihoods”. At least that’s what the Scottish Government thinks, and it’s what our University is at risk of passively accepting.

This September the Scottish Government will likely announce a bill to introduce the so-called “Nordic model” of partial criminalisation of some sex work. This will criminalise the purchasers but not the sellers of some sexual services, i.e. prostitution. Under the cloak of a feminist desire to reduce violence against women, the Government ignores the voice of sex workers they pretend to include.

The only Scottish-based organisation run by and for sex workers, SCOT-PEP, has publicly denounced their sham inclusion in a working group on the legislation. The unanimous opinion of all sex worker-led organisations in the UK, from the oldest established groups like the English Collective of Prostitutes to the newer radical groups like SWARM, is that the best legal regime to protect sex workers is decriminalisation. A survey of student sex workers by the National Union of Students in 2015 estimated 75% would support decriminalisation as the best method of protecting their health and well-being. Both the National Union of Students and the lecturers’ union UCU support decriminalisation, as does the general public which polling shows is against criminalising either the seller or purchase of sex.

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Design: Patrik Vojtas

Next year will see the largest public discussion of sex worker rights in Scotland since the Scottish Government was created. We should participate in that debate: through our societies – what do Kink, LGBT, Feminist, Sexpression think about this issue?; through DUSA and our University – how will they implement the SRC’s motion?; through our elected representatives in Parliament – are they listening to current sex workers and their organisations?

We have a lot more power than we realise to make the world just. Make the most of this opportunity.

What’s the situation at Dundee? Your Student Representative Council voted in May to call on DUSA and our University to support student sex workers by a three-part practical plan: firstly by calling for the decriminalisation of sex work and advertising our support for student sex workers so they feel comfortable approaching the University and our Students’ Union for support; secondly by implementing specialist training led by academics and sex worker-led organisations for frontline support staff and the rest of the University community; thirdly by campaigning against the Government’s attempt to ignore sex workers and legislate for the Nordic model.

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On/Off Campus

In reality, the toolkit provides facts on sex work that should spur universities to support students.

5% of students have engaged in sex work, while 20% have considered it. Only 15% of student sex workers feel their student union or university do enough to support them. Studies have consistently shown that student sex workers are more like to be female, more likely to be transgender or non-binary, to be disabled, to be international students, to be disabled and to be LGBT. In other words, the issue of sex work is fundamentally an equalities issue, yet no Scottish university has any policy or data on this matter. Failing to support student sex workers is a dereliction of duty towards creating a safe, diverse university community.

Sex workers at Dundee need to know their University and DUSA will support their needs as individuals and as a community, not seek to stigmatise or ventriloquise their voices. We should publicly make clear our support for sex workers and ensure that we have properly funded, properly trained support services across the University.

It is when we fail to make clear our unambiguous support for sex workers that we silence them through passively accepting their stigmatisation.

We should undertake a genuinely inclusive and accessible consultation with sex workers at Dundee so their voice – which should be paramount – can lead the way. It is especially important on a controversial issue such as this that those most directly affected should not only be listened to but encouraged to participate, whether publicly or anonymously.

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Expert support is available for universities. The University of Leicester has worked with Support for Student Sex Workers to create a toolkit and deliver expert training to multiple universities across England on supporting student sex workers.

It is appropriate, informative, compassionate, expertly researched and entirely lawful. It has also been slandered by senior civil servants in the Scottish Government, which is why Scottish universities are afraid to engage with their expertise. An unpublished letter in April 2021 to universities from the Government, obtained only through Freedom of Information requests, falsely accused the toolkit of “endors[ing] activity which may be in some scenarios illegal, exploitative and put women at risk of serious harm.”

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Opinions

Words: Ryan Petrie

the magdalen issue 94

Such is the beauty of love. Its most poetic and beautiful descriptions have come from the Bible: ‘Love is patient, love is kind…’ and from the novel Captain Corelli’s Mandolin: ‘Love is like an erupting volcano…’ Both of these quotes have been used, and still are, in wedding ceremonies. It is a poignant statement for so wondrous a feeling.

I

t is a November night, and the world is at peace.

Except for the world of one individual. A gentleman of the early nineteenth century is standing outside the door of his friend’s bedroom. He is anxious, he is afraid; what he has to do in a few moments is the most terrifying thing he has ever done.

‘Come in,’ says the voice inside. He enters, they talk, and the gentleman confesses his love to the friend he has known since they were children. His friend confesses the same. But their love must be hidden, it must remain so. If only it could be different, they sigh; if only they did not have to hide.

Nowadays, they would not have to hide. Or, if they did, they would not have to hide for so long. One day, they would be able to come out. One day, they would be able to share with all the world that they love each other.

But love is not always patient; love is not always kind. And love is not always anything like an erupting volcano. Some love is quiet, some love is gentle. Some love is hasty and full of terrible mistakes. Who among us can claim to have not made any mistakes in love? It is only natural that they be made, that we trip up, that we do not quite match. Finding the right person is often one of the greatest trials of all.

With the latest Netflix show Heartstopper capturing the hearts of its watchers, with its more than wholesome presentation of same-sex love, one that I wish I had when I was young and more than confused about my feelings, love is claiming the attention of the young now more than it ever has. And now they have something to aspire to. Because love of this kind is very rare, and it can only be hoped to be made a little more common.

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Opinions

Design: Alexandra Heal

Words: Roshni Baillie

Ambition and Reading A

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Opinions

s a child, I was many things. I was a St Claire’s Head Girl, I was a witch, I was a princess with a lumpy mattress. The world of books that I found myself immersed in allowed my dreams and my ambitions to flow, something that has stayed with me ever since. The growth of technology brought with it a danger towards the dreamers with their noses in novels as children have become more drawn to television and video games to scratch the itch of new content to fuel their imaginations.

The issue lies with the lack of resources available.

One tablet won’t take up as much space as 200 books, so children with fewer than 10 books in their homes are far more likely to be less avid readers, with 42% saying that they do not enjoy reading.

As of 2019, almost 800 libraries had closed in the UK since 2010, which equates to 17% of libraries.

For many families, libraries are the only way to encourage children to read as buying new books isn’t an option.

The rate at which children’s reading patterns develop means that a birthday present book will likely not be applicable 6 months later, keeping the child’s reading level in place and their interest in books halted due to lack of variation.

The creativity that reading gives to young people results in ambition, and strong ambition leads to a stronger sense of self and improved performance in academic settings in children. It also gives a drive, a dream, and a goal. Without this motivation, it is hard to understand how one can go through life.

The ambitions picked up may be those of empathy and love.

Exposure to fiction gives people a greater sense of empathy. We see characters go through good times and hard times, and the way that we are allowed to witness their growth can start that seed growing in us, the readers. Stories of love or overcoming struggles, both unrealistic and akin to those that we face every day, will allow children to implement these mindsets in their own lives. They will want to be the heroes in the story, helping rather than hurting. The worlds that can be joined through turning a page in order to take you away from your bedroom and into somewhere more exciting can teach far more than just grammar or phonetics.

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Design: Design: Jenny Thomson

For me, reading has always been a pleasure. Being able to remove myself from any situation through books that taught me, not only how to read or enjoy reading, but also who I am. The way I love, the way

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Opinions

I think, the way I empathise and the way I decide to hold my adventures have all been influenced by the books that I checked out of the library bus when I was a child – as well as the books currently sitting on my shelf. This is slipping away for many children as times go on, and that lack of dreaming is a tragedy that we need a solution for.

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Reading for pleasure also brings up the likelihood of achieving these ambitions. The gap in socio-economic backgrounds and exam scores can be closed with the encouragement of reading for pleasure. Year 5/P6 students who like reading will score, on average, 45 more points than those who say that they do not enjoy reading. The grades that we achieve make a big part of our ambition, as they show the chance of progression through university or college degrees into jobs that we may not be able to get without this level of higher education.

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Opinions

Words: Anonymous

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Design: Ada Ung

OCD – The Reality !

CONTENT WARNING: MENTAL HEALTH, OCD

OCD? Not really.

Most people aren’t entirely oblivious to the meaning of OCD. It’s in the name after all – obsessive compulsive disorder. It involves obsessions and compulsions.

Scenarios or concepts that you anxiously obsess over, and compulsive behaviours that you do to help relieve this anxiety (usually only temporarily, resulting in repeating behaviours).

OCD is experienced by 1-2% of the population. No, this doesn’t include people who ‘don’t like mess’. Clinically diagnosed OCD is a severe and often debilitating mental health disorder, and when its name is used inappropriately, it minimises the struggles faced by those with the condition, often humiliating and belittling them and their families.

OCD can be an incredibly difficult disorder to treat and live with. It’s not quirky, it doesn’t help you stay organised. If you’re ever unsure, you can follow this simple rule: if you don’t have obsessions + compulsions, don’t say you have OCD. It’s easy to say that those who aren’t diagnosed don’t have it, but there are many obstacles in obtaining a diagnosis, not least waiting for a psychiatrist’s assessment in the NHS, which usually takes months, even in very severe cases, with an average delay of 12 years between the onset of symptoms and treatment being started.

Unlike some mental health conditions, sufferers of OCD are entirely aware that their obsessions and compulsions are irrational. A sufferer will know that washing their hands or checking things in fives won’t make them less afraid of their obsessions. They don’t need to be told. That’s why those who suffer from OCD can be reluctant to seek help, fearing they will

not be taken seriously, or that their irrational behaviour will result in them being sent away to an institution.

Some believe, simply, that they can’t be helped.

Mental health awareness campaigns and events can sometimes be hesitant to address the very ugly and upsetting areas of mental health, as if people are cautious to approach mental health issues that can’t be solved with going out for walks and taking time off work. OCD manifests violently – blisters from using so much soap, hours wasted away unable to move on from a task because you have to do it just one more time.

Your mind tells you that one more wash, counting one more set of five, folding all of your t-shirts again, locking and unlocking the door again – it’ll work. Just one more time. Actually, wait. One more. The last time didn’t work, but this time will. Just do it again. Just once more.

Work and school can become almost impossible, and your behaviour can really drive a wedge between those you know and love, who can’t comprehend the irrationality of your behaviours or the constant intrusive thoughts about scenarios that will almost never happen. The rigidness of compulsions can be impossible to live with, with family often having to build their lives around them to avoid being blamed for the sufferer’s negative feelings.

Having experienced OCD destroy someone I love, the pain in my chest and flash of pure anger I feel when I hear someone describe their neatness as OCD is unjustifiable to someone who doesn’t know how life-ruining the condition can be. Mental health conditions are still being romanticised and minimised, especially on social media by those who don’t understand the conditions they talk about.

Mental health awareness campaigns need to address the scary, complex and commanding behaviour of those who live with severe mental health conditions, because that’s the reality they face.

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Opinions

o you like to keep your pencils sharp? OCD. Things must be organised? A neat freak?

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D

Words: Hazel Surtees

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Science + Tech

Where the Fields are Lined with Gold

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n the year 2000, researchers published a paper on Golden Rice. Rumour had it that it could change the world.

20 years on, Golden Rice still hasn’t been grown commercially anywhere. Was it just the stuff of fantasy?

Ingo Potrykus and Peter Bayer, along with their labs, had inserted a daffodil gene into rice which would enable it to produce a beta-carotene, which the body can turn into Vitamin A. Five years later, the daffodil gene was replaced with a maize one, resulting in a grain containing 37 µg/g of beta-carotene: cooking just 60g of this rice could provide an adult with half their daily Vitamin A requirements.

Not all that glitters…

Just over a decade earlier, a UN International Conference on Nutrition had declared control of Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD) would be the most cost-effective strategy to ensure child health and survival. It’s been estimated that VAD kills 4500 children daily. Providing a readily accessible, global source of Vitamin A could prevent 23-34% of all deaths in children under 5.

Essential for healthy functioning of the immune system, visual system, reproduction, and epithelial integrity, Vitamin A deficiency is prevalent across Sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia, particularly in women and young children.

Poverty leads to a reliance on rice, and exclusively on rice, to provide daily calorie requirements. No rice, nor any of its wild relatives, contain Vitamin A in the grain.

On the 16th of May 2000, Zeneca (now Syngenta) announced their collaboration with the creators of Golden Rice. They suggested the grain wouldn’t be commercially available until 2003 at the earliest. Fast forward to 2019 and Golden Rice was finally granted permission by a national government — the Philippines — to be planted commercially. Bangladesh may be the second to permit this, though nothing is set in stone.

You may assume it’s been delayed by regulatory processes, but it’s a bit more complicated than that.

The delay in bringing Golden Rice into the paddies is associated with easily frightened governments and passionate advocacy by NGOs like Greenpeace. Their arguments ignore the countless studies proving safety in humans and the environment, and the proven efficiency in combatting VAD. No toxic side effects were observed. It isn’t associated with any allergens. As an inbreeding crop, it’s unlikely to contaminate non-GM crops.

Perhaps more convincing is the suggestion that Golden Rice is a ploy to indebt poor, rural farmers to “Big-Agro”. This would be easier to deny if large the magdalen issue 94

agricultural companies hadn’t behaved so poorly in the past.

Yet the intellectual property license on Golden Rice has been designed to be freely available to farmers earning less than £10,000 annually, and farmers of the crop will be able to freely cultivate, store, replant the seed, and sell their harvest locally.

Before and alongside the development of Golden Rice, several strategies were attempted to try combat VAD, but fortification of flour and oil drove the prices up, and supplementation through pills and syrups failed to reach the rural communities who needed it the most. Many strategies are fundamentally short-sighted: VAD rears its ugly ahead again as soon as the funding stops.

Golden rice, as a biofortified crop, is unique in its sustainability, efficacy, and the autonomy it provides its target audience.

Good as gold.

Daycha Siripatra, a vocal critic of GM crops and director of Technology for Rural and Ecological Enrichment commented, “The poor don’t need vitamin A. They need vitamin L, that’s Vitamin Land. And they need Vitamin M, that’s Vitamin Money. Malnutrition is because of poverty, not [a lack of] technology.”

Design: Phoebe Wilman, Photography: Lottie Belrose

It’s naïve to dream of a place where the fields are lined with gold. But perhaps dreaming of a future which empowers rural communities and cuts mortality rates is the first step to a bright, shining future. Golden Rice will save lives: that was the big dream 20 years ago. Now, finally, this dream is becoming reality.

But to constantly decry scientific advances — or worse,

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advocate against them, then act surprised when there is no evidence of their success — will go down in history again and again as a direct cause of millions of preventable deaths in the most vulnerable populations.

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He’s right, of course. Scientists can dedicate their lives to defining, testing, and implementing a single gene into a single species and then step back from the lab bench with a great “Hurrah!”, but micronutrient malnutrition exists because of deep-rooted, systemic problems spurred on by our intensive agriculture, Western-centred globalisation, and the destructive impacts of climate change. The 2 billion globally experiencing this ‘hidden hunger’ aren’t suffering a lack of scientific innovation, and the solutions to it lie far outside the laboratory.

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Words: Priyasha Bachu

Humans vs Our Planet

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Design: Katy Blair

We “officially” live in the Holocene epoch (‘the age of man’) - which began around 11,700 years ago, but geologists have debated for years whether the impact of humans on the planet has been so significant that a new epoch should be considered – the Anthropocene.

Anthropocene A word derived from Greek meaning “recent age of man” and an unofficial time coined by geologists to describe Earth’s recent history where humans have created a significant impact on the planet’s climate, ecosystems, fossils etc. While in recent times the term is often used metaphorically, scientists are bringing new information (especially rock strata) to argue the existence of the Anthropocene. An Anthropocene working group (AWG) was set up to get this proposal to the International Union of Geological Sciences.

There was much debate going around whether the Anthropocene began when man discovered fire, the industrial revolution in the 1800’s or during the World Wars - where radioactive particles from the first atomic bomb were found in rock sediments. In 2016, the Anthropocene working group finally suggested that the Anthropocene epoch began in the mid 20th century – with the evidence supporting it being various chemical constituents being found in sediments.

as to the fact we are entering a new epoch. However, a dramatic increase in extinctions occurring during this period is said to be the most significant piece of evidence. With over 35,000 species threatened with extinction in 2020 it seems obvious that this is a human made mess.

The impact of the Anthropocene also has reduced the planet’s capacity for reabsorption and regeneration.

Reducing water footprint and carbon dioxide emissions may still not be sufficient to save our biosphere. The environmental issues caused by the Anthropocene are still not being given top priority over all political and social issues. Humanity has become quite accustomed to sitting back and letting the world pass by, by living on the ‘what will happen, will happen’ mentality. While Anthropocene may not be a geological term just yet, the word has described the impact of our past, present and our future. It all depends on us now with what we do with that information.

With over 35,000 species threatened with extinction in 2020 it seems obvious that this is a human made mess.

Will Steffen, who heads Australia National University’s Climate Change Institute says, the new name sends a message: “[It] will be another strong reminder to the general public that we are now having undeniable impacts on the environment at the scale of the planet as a whole, so much so that a new geological epoch has begun.” It couldn’t have been summed up any better.

To understand the impact of humans on Earth, geologists compared rock strata – the relative age of all the rock layers and fossils within the sedimentary rocks. This allows us to interpret the sequence of geological events taken place in the Earth’s past. So as the human population began to grow, the increase in energy usage, the expansion of the burning of fossil fuels, changes in weather patterns, increase in carbon dioxide concentrations, increase in population and the development of technology brought about significant changes. Many geologists argue that these changes created unique layers of rock. They further pushed on saying that the increased rate of soil erosion and raising air temperatures caused by global warming would increase the sea level and would be an indicator

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asn’t all the history we were taught in school revolved only around humans? Doesn’t it make you feel that we have been around for the longest time? With Earth being 4.5 billion years old, you could be surprised to learn that humans have only lived a very small portion of it - around 200,000 years! It’s surprising how Homo Sapiens, compared to all our predecessors’ epochs on earth, created such a drastic effect on our ecosystems, an irreversible effect.

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Writer’s Name Words: Madhupriya Roy Chowdhhury

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CONTENT WARNING: HARRASSMENT, CYBERSTALKING

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Section Title Science + Tech

What Motivates Cyberstalking?

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yberstalking is a web-based offense, a harassment perpetrated through emails, instant messages, internet forums, blogs, chat rooms, electronic monitoring using video cameras etc. to cause intimidation and blackmail manifesting in real consequences in the lives of victims.

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Design: Your Name,Design: Photography: Emma Power Name

Cyberstalkers use cyberstalking to cope with psychological discomfort or realize unfulfilled emotional needs. Motivations of cyberstalking are varied – anger, jealousy, desire for revenge, and misperceptions about the victims being some of the factors that fuel the crime. Motives are also influenced by the personality of the offender. In cases where the offender is involved in romantic pursuit, Smoker and March’s 2016 paper lists traits of “Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy and sadism” as predictors of stalking behaviours.

In 2003 McFarlane and Bocij categorised perpetrators into four groups which gives us insight into their motivations: ‘vindictive cyberstalkers’, who persistently harass their victims for no actual reason; ‘composed cyberstalkers’ whose main objective is to cause exasperation to victims without establishing any kind of relationship with them; ‘intimate cyberstalkers’ who are usually motivated by feelings of desire towards their victims, have thorough knowledge about them and try to attract their attention; and ‘collective cyberstalkers’ who are a group of people inflicting harassment through the use of the web.

Disputes between corporate companies, or organisations and individuals, can invoke political motives behind cyberstalking. As the internet allows easy involvement of third parties, information is not only sought by a group but also misrepresented to intimidate the victim. In these cases, the offenders resort to cyberstalking solely for the purpose of achieving desired objectives and do not have any mental health issues. For example, a dispute between British Airways and Virgin Atlantic in 1999 and a case involving the Woodside Literary Agency in 1996.

It is important to understand that victims of cyberstalking suffer a great deal of trauma and in extreme cases may have their lives or reputations ruined in a world ruled by internet presences. Not only does cyberstalking set the stage for cyberbullying and sexual harassment in the world of teenagers and professionals, the threat of physical aggression is also plausible as cyberstalking may not just remain limited to the world of the internet. Current research states that the academic findings about cyberstalking is limited but as the number of cybercrimes increase each day, a directed effort is required to understand the psychology behind cyberstalking and prevent future harassment.

A case study by Bocij in 2003 elucidates the personality traits and behaviours of a cyberstalker in UK. The offender in this instance was a highly intelligent IT professional, who along with special software, also used different identities to stalk people online and found pleasure in inflicting fear upon his victims.

These fabricated identities were convincing and used to deceive his victims so that he could prolong the magdalen issue 94 90

Section Title Science + Tech

Although the behaviours of online stalkers are directed by motivations similar to those of offline stalkers, knowledge about them is limited. A 2016 study states that online stalking is encouraged not only by the internet’s provision for anonymity but also the chronic access to the surveillance of individuals. Apart from that, the internet enables the offender to reach people all over the world rather than limiting them to a small geographic area.

harassment. He not only took pride in the fact that his victims would not be able to track him down but also in the current and extensive knowledge he had about his victims. On getting caught, this offender claimed innocence and finally discontinued his onslaughts. The study also states that this cyberstalker did not suffer from any mental health issues, and this made it difficult to explain his actions or situate him on the spectrum of mental disorders. This case gives us a glimpse of what goes on in the mind of a cyberstalker.

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Research has shown that offline stalkers act on their feelings about the victim such as anger, attraction, desire for control, search for attention and other such factors. These offenders themselves often suffer from mental health and substance abuse disorders or personality disorders. These individuals are characterised by a heightened sensitivity to rejection, desertion, or loss. However, they are not necessarily less intelligent than the average human being.

Words: AditeeA

A Cauldron

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of Concoction

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Design: Belle Roach

Among the many leaps of biology to a bright future, taking a little peek at the past and its foundation to build a future is explored here.

The Greek schools of thought have been a cradle for new-age perspectives on numerous fields of expertise. Similarly, medicine has travelled from these schools.

The journey of contemporary medicine finds its roots in the practices of Greek medicine. The most primordial outlook seen in many civilisations comes from mythology, and in the case of Greek culture, it came in the form of Asklepios and his famous staff.

He was the god of medicine and the son of Apollo who had the potential to heal and even resurrect.

A more foundational approach to medicine though comes from humorism. According to this theory, health depended upon the balance of blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm.

“Hope lies in such pre-existing classifications, which acknowledge the genetic inclination guided by the environmental impact on the cell.”

Using this theory, Hippocrates practised and devised many cures for patients. Following him, the field of medicine saw many advances at the hands of multiple scholars.

As we delve deeper into the work of Greek scholars, this author cannot help but identify the parallels between Greek and Indian Schools of Thought. One such resemblance can be drawn between the theory of humorism and the Ayurvedic view of tridoshas.

The two approaches are distinct in the taxonomy they follow and yet rely on the idea of balance for good health.

A study published in Scientific Reports showed a significant correlation between these tendencies and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) seen in the people belonging to each category. The study found 52 significant SNP differences for the types without confounding effects. The analysis focused on male participants alone – the study suggests this was done to reduce the confounding variation introduced by female biology, particularly hormonal fluctuation.

Among the many genes studied, PGM1 - the gene for Phosphoglucomutase 1 - correlated with the phenotype of Pitta. This makes Ayurvedic sense, since this tendency is associated with transformative activities that the body can perform. Such a genetic basis for classifying the human body type is an important development for P4 medicine – medicine that is predictive, preventative, personalised and participatory.

The future of medicine lies not only in exploring the genetic basis of diseases but also in catering to everyone’s personalised needs with a well-organised taxonomy for the classification into broad categories. A deeper analysis of the traditional past in this context has shown a new way into the future.

Now that the human genome has finally been sequenced telomere to telomere, it is the process of annotation that will add value to this information.

Hope lies in such pre-existing classifications, which acknowledge the genetic inclination guided by the environmental impact on the cell. As Sydney Brenner said: “I believe very strongly that the fundamental unit, the correct level of abstraction, is the cell and not the genome.”

Now is the time to scrape the cauldrons of the past to devise concoctions of the future.

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a form of repetition.” - Siri Hustvedt.

The ayurvedic tridosha theory relies on a balance between Vata (associated with the nerve force within the body), Pitta (associated with transformative activities like metabolism) and Kapha (associated with maintenance). The theory believes that the human body has a predefined habituality to one of the three tendencies mentioned above. After identifying this tendency, the patient can be treated to attain a sense of physical and mental balance.

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is no future without a past, because “ There what is to be cannot be imagined except as

Words: Zara Findlay

Scientific Communication It’s Not Just About Words

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here is quite a stark contrast between creativity and STEM subjects, often being viewed as right or left-brained and most of us end up being encouraged down different paths depending on where our skillset tends to fit in during school.

Rarely are we encouraged to enjoy a mix of the two. However, there is beautiful art to be found from those in STEM subjects which is often overlooked. I hope to encourage you to investigate these after reading!

Creatives in the STEM field seem to be able to find artistic nooks and crannies everywhere - whether that’s using music, photography, painting, or sculpture – they create art through biological mediums and nature. “Plantwave” is a genre of music in which biocurrents from plants are fed through electrodes, an amplifier and finally through software which converts the currents into sound. Plantwave is an eclectic and chaotic sound that Mileece Abson uses for interactive and immersive experiences in “Tree Weaver” pods.

As a renewables ambassador, Mileece wishes to convey the symbiosis between nature and technology and inspire a deeper connection with the nature that surrounds us. The plantwave music illustrates the reality that plants are alive around us as it

communicates their internal happenings - not something we can usually experience - and this encourages greater respect for nature.

Photography and videography in astronomy is a particularly fascinating field as the content is so very foreign from anything we can experience on the ground and around us. The love for astronomy photography rarely goes unappreciated because of this, for example, NASA’s photo of the day gained popularity for showing us what was being photographed on our birthdays, which was a brilliant way to involve people, especially young people in art and astronomy often as a way to boast to friends about having the best picture.

Videography capturing fierce solar storms brings us closer to the sun than we could ever hope to venture, and recordings of black holes look and sound eerily unwelcoming - just as one could imagine it would.

Despite our inability to see these things up close for ourselves, the technology we’ve created out of nosiness and curiosity is quite incredible.

Dr Mehmet Berkmen uses non-pathogenic (safe) bacteria to create art. Painting with invisible ink made of bacteria is challenging enough, but the artist uses different species of bacteria to create diversity in

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Refik Anadol creates his artwork in collaboration with AI. Wishing to articulate data collected from different sources into a collective memory, Refik creates beautiful visual installations that he calls data sculptures. He has created tributes to the LA Philharmonic Orchestra for their centennial by inserting thousands of recordings and photographs

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of the orchestra into AI and projecting it for 10 nights onto a building created by one of the artist’s own inspirations - Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Another piece of his called “Winds of Boston” depicts data about wind direction, strength, and temperature from Logan Airport in Boston.

The data was fed into the AI and depicted on LED screens to make fluid changing representations of the data. The collection of data from many perspectives instead of just one individual’s point of view allows the creation of collective memory. This allows us to experience the world in a new way through the lens of a computer AI, which learns and fills gaps in its knowledgecreating surreal depictions of the world we know.

There are many other creatives who use their skills in STEM to create incredible art and designs whether that’s large installations you pay to visit, or the electronics you use for work and the car you drive. Thought has been put into every detail of these and it is important to recognise how art is progressing from traditional methods through the creativity of individuals using modern techniques and technologies.

Science + Tech

colour in his art which often depicts cells. This conjoining of traditional art and live bacteria is quite fascinating not only due to the quality of the finished pieces but the difficulties of encouraging different bacterial strains to coexist together.

The aim here is to demonstrate the coexistence between ourselves and microbes, as these invisible “things” are seen as a nuisance, or disgusting the majority of the time. It is only recently that people discussing their “gut microbiome” has become popular as something to nurture and care for, which is an emerging area of study as it is so imperative to health and mood. Rarely do we discuss the presence of bacteria in our industrial processes and the need we have for them to break down our waste and improve our water quality. It’s interesting to see someone use their art like this to show the public that bacteria can be beneficial and even important in our daily lives.

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There are many other creatives who use their skills in STEM to create incredible art and designs whether that’s large installations you pay to visit, or the electronics you use for work and the car you drive.

Design: Livvie Baird

Words: The Magdalen Team

The MagTeam Flora Caldwell

Section Editor (Science + Tech) I have loved my first year working at The Mag, facilitating amazing articles on a variety of wonderful topics, and getting to work with so many talented people. Looking forward to more years, and more stories.

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Hazel Surtees

I thought I knew how much I loved science and writing, but writing for The Magdalen has taught me so much and in this role I’ve been able to share stories and narratives I’m so passionate about, and learnt so much.

Aditi Atmasidha (AditeeA)

My journey with The Magdalen has been enriching! As a university blogger I was well versed with the informal manner of presenting my journey but with the magazine (thanks to Flora) I was reminded of the importance of precision and flow. A big thank you to all the illustrators who have added life and texture to my words!

Dani McFawns

Section Editor (Creative Writing) My first year in The Magdalen has been a game-changer for my university experience. I’ve gained valuable skills, won an award, and more importantly made amazing friends who I love working with. I’m so excited for the years to come!

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Design: Livvie Baird & Phoebe Wilman

Bronte Chalmers Madhupriya Roy Chowdhury

dalen Sign Off Emma Sturrock

Section Editor (On/Off Campus)

I never thought that my second year at The Magdalen would be better than my first. I loved forming a community with my section and watching us improve with each issue. I am excited to see what awaits!

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I have enjoyed writing for The Magdalen Magazine although I have not been able to contribute recently because of work pressure and sickness. I do hope I am able to contribute more in future as writing is a hobby and The Magdalen is an amazing platform.

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This year with The Magdalen has been amazing and I’m so grateful for the ability it has given me to encourage and support those who want to communicate science! I know the section will keep growing exponentially with these writers.

Words: The Magdalen Team

The MagTeam Catriona Pritchard

I have absolutely loved being an editor for The Mag this year. The articles have been fantastic and the teamwork has been epic. I think we’ve produced some excellent work. Go team! :D

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Marleen Käsebier

My time at The Magdalen has been one of the most impactful and inspiring aspects of my Undergrad.

I’m grateful to all that I’ve met and thanks especially to Dani and Mareth for being fantastic Section Editors this year, and Marcin, our wonderful Editor-in-Chief.

Mareth Burns

Mihaela Denkovska

Section Editor (Arts + Ents) My time at Dundee really wouldn’t have been the same without being part of The Magdalen, and I’m so grateful for all the opportunities and experience it’s given me. I have worked with so many talented people, and watching the section develop has been a joy.

The Magdalen has been a great introduction to the university and the student community. Looking forward to contributing even more next year and challenging myself to experiment, be bolder and more honest.

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Georgi Zhechev

Writing for The Magdalen has been such a good experience this year!

Having friends and acquaintances tell me they enjoyed my writing has really helped me open up creatively!

It has been a great privilege for me to write for The Magdalen.

My experience with the magazine has been beneficial for my writing aspirations, and thanks to The Mag I have met many other like-minded students. All those encounters and opportunities I deem invaluable.

dalen Sign Off Priyasha Bachu

It being my first year of university, writing of The Magdalen has been a wonderful opportunity and has allowed me to express my opinions in the form of writing. I hope to continue this adventure in my future years as well. :)

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Zara Findlay

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Design: Livvie Baird & Phoebe Wilman

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14th -24th JULY 30th july

SUMMER (BASH) STREETS FESTIVAL Dundee Summer (Bash) Street Festival will leave no one in doubt that Dundee is the home of comics, celebrating the characters, stories, history and upcoming talent.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM Five couples - three human, one fairy, and one mythical find their relationships sorely tested, intimately probed and indecently exposed when a troupe of amateur theatricals bumble into the forest to rehearse a play. Starts at 6:30PM at the University of Dundee Botanic Gardens.