Contents Valentine’s Playlist……………………………………….……….…...1 Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse Review.......................4 The Month in Science.....................................................6 The Paradox of Woke Capitalism...................................8 If I Die by Climate Change at least it is with You..........11 He’ll be Okay.................................................................14 Is Instagram ruining or revolutionising poetry? ……….16 Knife Crime in London..................................................18 Beautiful Boy Review………………………………………………..20 Thoughts from Sarita…………………………………………….....22
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, here are some soulful tunes to spend the day in, for a little selflove (2019 is the year, after all!), songs to rave about, or a foot tapping number to start any day on a good note with.
Lorde – Homemade Dynamite (Feat. Khalid, Post Malone and SZA) The remix to this soulful number from Lorde’s new album Melodrama is a foot – tapping, electronic flourish of colour that will bound to have you keeping this on replay. A monologue on what will happen after the party, adding to Lorde’s soulful lyrics comes the deep bass of Post Malone, lilting chorus of SZA and the heartstring tugging chords from Khalid make this bubbly upbeat tune not one to forget. “Awesome, right?”
Ofenbach – Be Mine A new portmanteau of the music genres Folk and Electronic, “Folktronica”, this daring single by French electronic duo puts a new perspective on the *party rock anthem” with the tinny guitar strums fringing around the drums that dominate this single, perfect for getting ready, relaxing or for tuning into your favourite shows, deceptively simple but pushes the song from ordinary to extraordinary. ”Be mine”
Post Malone – Better Now
Troyboi – ili
From warm, post-tropical house synthesisers to icily Auto-Tuned R&B, from earnest acoustic balladry to mumblerap, Post Malone’s newest album “Beerbongs and Bentleys” is a diamond within the music industry at the moment, and “Better now” is just the tip of the iceberg. The perfect Valentine’s Day anthem for the post relationship, Post Malone’s feelings are rapt within this chart-topping number.
Perfect for the exercising individual, or for days when roaming around the city seems like the way, this playful remix of” I like it” by Debarge has the perfect mix of snares and trumpet flutes, with the immanence of the deep bass beat throughout the entire four and a half minutes (though you can find this song on repeat for one hour for the athletic). ”I love it”.
Kungs – This Girl
Khalid – 8TEEN
Melting the soulful voices of the Australian band Cooking on 3 burners with powerful hooks and a laidback bass, “This Girl” is the ultimate summer anthem with beautiful trumpet riffs interspersed with the funky guitar melody that will stick around for a long time. Kungs has blown the roof off tropical house with this special remix from back in 2016. “You'll never buy my love”.
“8TEEN,” like the title suggests, is an ode to being 18 years old. Khalid touches on first loves, strict parents, staying out late, smoking and being with your friends on the track, summing it up with a single refrain: “Let’s do all the stupid things that young kids do".
Johnny Balik – Honey
Kuwada – Cherry Cola
The “classy” music lover will love the bassline of this song, but the real star of this song is the vocals, reminiscent of Sam Smith’s own style. The simple lyrics murmured with the simple beat makes a band to look out for. “Think about when life goes by, all within a day”
Fans of Rex Orange County will identify with this number from growing band Kuwada (only 3.4 million views on YouTube?!), as this laidback tempo is perfect for unwinding after a long day, especially when getting ready for the weekend. The slow beat and the guitar solos are also made for the nostalgia lovers of the 90’s, the lead’s vocals blending seamlessly with the electronic chords that intertwine with the melody of this *sweet* tune. “Oh, hey there, I think I’ve found it”
TIEKS – Sunshine (Feat. Dan Harkna)
Petit Biscuit – Sunset Lover
This fun throwback, Daft Punk-esque single will make all listeners anticipate the summer feeling and will be enough to get the room moving at any party. The perfect slice of breezy pop built on smooth house beats and layered vocal tracks, this tune is enough to hang on to for the entire year and will lift all moods. “You are everything now that I've found you”
The nostalgia in this melody is intense but ticks all the boxes if you’re looking for tropical house with an inspired sprinkle of aesthetic for a new perspective on the electronic dance genre, Sunset Lover uses fragments of speech as a vocal melody, harmonising with the sparkling notes of the triangle, enough to feel all emotions and relive all memories.
Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse Review By Isabella Thompson
Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse was my favourite animated film of 2018. It was visually beautiful (unsurprisingly, seeing as it took a week for the artists to finish only one second of footage), with a traditional comic book style leaving every frame popping with colour and personality. Aside from the gorgeous animation it also left me in tears of sadness and laughter. This immaculate balance of aesthetics and story is hard to pull off and, to top it all, Spiderverse is a huge win in the representation front. If I asked you to name some superheroes, who would come to mind? Iron Man, Bat Man, Superman or Ant Man, maybe? Despite the obvious fact that men seem to dominate this genre, another trend is pretty clear - superhero movies are overwhelmingly white. Sure, you have Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and War Machine (Don Cheadle) but the characters of colour in these movies only seem to serve as plot devices or as assistants to the white heroes. Spiderman’s carousel of Peter Parkers had never had a mix up before now, sporting the same pale complexion, brown hair and shortage of lips. It’s surprising seeing fans accept Miles Morales with such open arms seeing as when Donald Glover (a.k.a. Childish Gambino) auditioned for the role of Peter Parker in 2010, fans were outraged and hurled racist abuse at him, but as time has progressed, so have our views and it’s about time that we see a person of colour as the titular role in a movie from such a prestigious franchise. Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) has his life turned upside down once he discovers that he has the powers of Spiderman, defender of New York City. Things get even more twisted once he realises he’s not the only Spiderman after Kingpin creates an opening to parallel universes, allowing characters such as Peter Porker, otherwise known as Spider-Ham, Spiderman Noir, a brooding and pessimistic cloaked figure, and Peni Parker, Spiderman’s resident anime alternative, to seep into Miles’ universe. Miles is sought with the task of learning how to use his newly found powers to close the opening before it destroys all of New York City. For such a character driven story casting a protagonist with Dominican and African roots and putting him at the
forefront of the movie is an amazing step for representation, particularly in this genre of film. Finally children of colour can grow up having a superhero that looks like them, they can dress up as Miles Morales for Halloween and not be glanced at for that one thing missing from their costume, and they can have a strong role model who subverts stereotypes of the Afro-Caribbean community. It’s so typical for the media to depict characters of Afro-Caribbean heritage as violent, angry, and devious and it isn’t common for people of colour to often play the villains in movies or TV shows. As a society it’s accepted for us to villanise people who don’t represent the norms; someone who is fair and appeals to Euro-centric beauty standards. Miles is a brave character, he faces his fears, he lets society know that black boys can be smart, black boys can be sensitive and black boys can be nerds. He is the hero little boys and girls of colour deserve. Luckily, this representation doesn’t fall victim to the common practice of just substituting a white character for a person of colour, this representation has all the bells and whistles of what life may be like for a black teenager. Rather than just writing a script around a character who lives a very ‘white lifestyle’ and seems very ‘white’ and then just making them black, Spiderverse creates a realistic lifestyle for someone like Miles growing up in New York. Miles’ mother is a nurse and his father is a police officer; having parents with jobs in civil service reflects how many children of colour may have grown up, myself included. Additionally, the soundtrack perfectly complements Miles’ lifestyles as we find him listening to songs such as ‘Sunflower’ by Post Malone, featuring Swae Lee. The soundtrack bursts with rap with obvious AfroCaribbean and Hispanic influences (e.g. ‘Familia’ which features Anuel Aa) this mirrors the kind of music a boy similar to Miles would listen to. The creators of Spiderverse clearly went to great lengths to humanise Miles and make him a character who black and mixed boys can relate to. In an interview Alex Alonso, one of the creators of Miles Morales, he commented that “Miles Morales is a reflection of the culture in which we live. I love the fact that my son Tito will see a Spider-Man swinging through the sky whose last name is ‘Morales’”- this sums up why Miles is such an important character. Miles Morales is paving the way for the future of the superhero genre and lending a feeling of pride to people of colour who can finally look at the silver screen and see a version of themselves staring back at them.
1. Saturn’s Rings are disappearing
Next to the 4 billion year old planet, Saturn’s rings are very young, and disintegrating fast.
In less than 100 million years the rings could be gone, falling into the planet in a process called ‘ring rain’
2. The Door to Hell
Located in Turkmenistan in the middle of the Karakum Desert is the ‘Door to Hell,’
Oil drilling in 1970s caused the natural gas to be released accidentally, so to attempt to burn the gas up, it was lit on fire, causing it to still burn today.
3. NASA’s Cassini probe takes its last photos
After 13 years of orbiting Saturn, Cassini is running out of fuel so NASA is preparing to send it burning in the planet’s atmosphere
Its final 5 orbits will give new information about Saturn’s atmosphere, gravity and magnetic fields.
4. Clean water discovered below Mars’ surface
Where erosion has occurred on Mars’ surface, several regions have revealed large areas of water
These deposits can be fairly shallow, with some being only a meter deep whilst others are beyond 100 metres into Mars
This ice being so pure is an essential requirement to be able to make Mars habitable, as well as it being so close to the surface
5. The first ever plant just sprouted on the Moon
China has made history by germinating a cotton seed on the Moon, which is the first biological matter to be grown on the lunar surface
This is the start of the first lunar biosphere experiment
6. Detected beneath Antarctica is a huge void
Retreat and ice melt are causing many areas to lose ice quickly, with ice in Thwaites Glacier retreating up to 800m every year
The space should hold 14 billion tonnes of ice, and yet over the last 3 years has been emptied out
For further reading: 1. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46911945 2.
https://www.physics-astronomy.org/2019/02/the-door-to-hell-giant-hole-indesert.html
3. https://www.physics-astronomy.org/2019/01/these-are-some-of-closest-ever-images.html 4. https://www.physics-astronomy.org/2019/01/scientists-discover-clean-water-ice.html 5. https://www.physics-astronomy.org/2019/01/china-just-sprouted-first-ever-plant-on.html 6. https://www.physics-astronomy.org/2019/02/breaking-scientists-have-detected.html
The Paradox of Woke Capitalism By Rochelle Meaden Why the emergence of social justice as a marketing tool in the fashion industry isn’t a step forwards
We live in an undeniably nebulous political climate but one thing is for sure: activism is trending. In the last year alone, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the street whether it be to advocate for women’s rights, stricter gun laws in the USA or to protest the state visit of a certain American despot. With Merriam Webster and the Oxford Dictionary naming the words of the year for 2017 ‘feminism’ and ‘youthquake’ respectively, activism and a desire to affect social change has clearly (re)entered the mainstream. So, it’s hardly surprising that in recent years fashion houses and retailers have decided to follow suit and produce garments and campaigns to reflect this. There is a copious amount of examples of feminism infiltrating the world of high fashion, one of which could be seen at the Dior SS16 show. On her debut as artistic director, Maria Grazia Chiuri clad models in t-shirts with the slogan “We Should All Be Feminists”, sending shock waves throughout the industry. In 2017, supermodel Bella Hadid was seen sporting a shirt with the 70s lesbian feminist mantra “The Future is Female” at the Prabal Gurung New York Fashion Week show and the infamous pink ‘pussyhats’ (popularised at the 2017 Women’s March) made their catwalk debut at the Autumn 2017 Missoni show. This trend has also trickled down to high street retailers in recent months, with shops such as H&M, New Look and Topshop selling clothes with ‘empowering’ slogans. Instinctively I viewed this trend in a positive light, heartened by the idea that the corporate powers above had taken the bold decision to endorse feminism and excited to buy clothes that appear to support social justice at an affordable price. However, upon further reflection, I realised that there is nothing ground-breaking or revolutionary about fashion brands selling feminist apparel; their decision to do
so has been meticulous, calculated and executed to a tee. In a climate where activism is an easy avenue to clout, supposedly ‘pro-feminist’ fashion campaigns should be viewed as part of a larger trend of brands spinning a socially conscious, ‘woke’ narrative in an attempt to entice an increasingly progressive young market. The motivation of fashion houses and brands, like all capitalists, is the pursuit of profit. Therefore, the likelihood of the sudden influx of attire emblazoned with socially conscious slogans being a sign of pure solidarity as opposed to commercial opportunism is infinitesimally small. It’s easy to see, then, why I find it jarring when businesses (fashion or otherwise) are praised for selling commodities or running campaigns that seem to promote social justice as if they aren’t fully aware that doing so is likely to increase their revenue. My real ethical qualms with these brands are rooted in the fact that the existence of capitalism (the economic system that creates their profit) is impossible without exploitation. As philosopher Karl Marx outlined, a commodity always comes from a process of production that involves two things: the means of production (machines, factories) and labour. The money that capitalists must pay for the means of production is largely beyond their control; they have to purchase machines at their exchange value - what someone will sell them for. This is also true of the raw materials used in production, the cotton, the wool, the silk. Someone wants a price for them and will not sell for less; Marx referred to this as ‘fixed capital’. There is no profit in fixed capital so profit must come from labour power (variable capital). The worker is obliged to work for longer than the real exchange rate of their labour. This enables a capitalist to sell a commodity (a top, a dress, whatever) with an exchange value that contains within it more labour value than was actually paid for by wages. In other words, the workers spend time working for nothing, putting more value into the commodity than they are paid for: they are exploited. Even the most liberal, well-meaning capitalists ventures can’t help but involve indulging in this exploitation. In 2015, the Fawcett Society (in collaboration with Elle Magazine and high street brand Whistles) released a line of t-shirts with the motto “This is what a feminist looks like” and these t-shirts would go on to be worn by celebrities and politicians such as Benedict Cumberbatch, Emma Watson and Ed Miliband. Ironically, the t-shirts (which cost £45) were made by women in a Mauritian sweatshop, who earn a criminally low wage of 62p an hour. Sadly, this is not an isolated example as the garment industry- where approximately 70-80% of the workers are female- is plagued by similar accusations of unfair treatment. When fashion brands claim to care about women and our fight for equality which women are they referring to? Do they care about the women of colour earning poverty wages in their sweatshops? Do they care
about the women of colour working up to 12 hour days on a regular basis in their sweatshops? Or do they instead care about the pursuit of profit, regardless of the impact this has on female workers in the Global South? The fact is, feminism cannot and does not work under the influence of capitalism. In fact, capitalism and the patriarchy work hand in hand in order to subjugate women everywhere. This can be seen in the unequal distribution of wealth between different genders; globally, women are in the lowest paid work and earnon average- 23% less than men. This disparity in pay (which at the current rate of progression will take 170 years to close) means that women on average have a lower quality of life than men and are often economically dependent on them, reinforcing the patriarchal role of men as the main provider in a household. Furthermore, capitalism doesn’t view the household labour of women as a commodity that deserves payment in the market economy. Women do at least twice as much unpaid care work, such housework and childcare, as men globally, often on top of their paid work (a phenomenon dubbed by ‘70s feminists as the ‘double day’). According to Oxfam, the global value of this labour per annum is estimated at $10 trillion, which is equivalent to a staggering one eighth of the world’s entire GDP. So in this way capitalism often reinforces and informs the immense social inequality women already face. Perhaps, the only positive conclusion that can be drawn from the rise of so called ‘feminist fashion’ is that it proves that social justice movements have been culturally impactful (enough so that brands view them as potentially profitable). Similarly, the reduction of social justice to a trend can be dangerous as it means that the principles of equality and justice for all could fall out of fashion as swiftly as they rose to prominence. Nevertheless, as long as fashion brands continue to contribute to an unequal system that helps repress the female proletariat their products should not and cannot be considered ethical. We live in an undeniably nebulous political climate but one thing is for sure: the liberation of women can only be achieved by addressing the social and economic roots of our oppression. We must therefore acknowledge that capitalism has no place in feminism and thus social justice as a whole. In other words, we must acknowledge that there is no such thing as woke capitalism.
Is Instagram ruining or revolutionising poetry? By Maddie Exact At its most literal definition, insta-poets are simply poets who post their work on Instagram. Despite this seeming like a relatively uncontroversial and basic concept, Instagram poetry is a highly stigmatized and ridiculed way of sharing art. Critics argue that Instagram poetry has become its own genre of simplistic and overused language spanning two or three lines per poem, so that they read more like motivational quotes than pieces of art. The more melodramatic reviewers claim that the rise of the shallow, formulaic style of some insta-poets marks the death of poetry. In a scathing review of Holly McNish’s work, Rebecca Watts declared that “The reader is dead: long live consumer-driven content and the ‘instant gratification’ this affords”. Many academics of poetry share this romantic idea of the tortured and penniless artist. They love imagining T.S Elliot struggling to buy food or clothes, whilst being classed as one of the greatest poets of all time. Therefore, you can imagine their dismay at this surge in the popularity of new poetry, and the ability of instapoets to make a living from their craft. For example, Rupi Kaur’s collection ‘milk and honey’ has sold more than 3 million copies and has achieved the title of #1 New York Time’s bestseller for over 100 consecutive weeks. Unlike other forms of literature, many of poetry’s lovers wish to protect it from the world of commerce. There is much less of an outcry when a contrived and poorly written novel makes its way onto bestsellers lists, possibly because poetry had been neglected by the mainstream media for so long. But is it not a good thing that poetry has become popular again? It is more accessible than ever before for readers and writers alike. The process of going through a publisher can be almost impossible and extremely selective; social media offers an alternative, meaning that anyone can share their work. This might be why the poetry scene on Instagram is so diverse, and dominated by women (which is uncommon in traditional platforms for literature). As well as this, more and more people are accidentally stumbling across these poems on social media, and consequently falling in love with poetry. Insta-poets have been described as a gateway to the classics, and they often cite Plath, Yeats, Bukowski and other renowned poets as their influences. I would also argue that, if Shakespeare and Wordsworth were born as millennials, they too would probably take full advantage of the opportunity to share their work on social media. Defenders of Instagram poetry would claim that quality of the work is not inhibited by the platform that it appears on and reading is still reading even if it’s seen through screens rather than paper. Social media (in general) has a
bad reputation for being a meaningless void, lacking any creative substance or productivity. However social media is a blank platform, which can be used for absolutely anything, including the creation of a community of poetry lovers. Seeing an honest and sincere poem in a sea of perfectly instagrammable lives and bodies can have a massively positive influence on a young person’s self-image. So, why are insta-poets hated so much? One explanation offered by many feminists, including the video essayist Lindsay Ellis, is that people typically hate the things that young girls love. Anything supported by a majority of young women is automatically construed as vain, meaningless and laughable. The poetry available on social media is typically written by women for women, and is therefore far too easy to dismiss. We might also argue that certain academics are trying to claim a monopoly over poetry out of a fear of the new generation challenging the old. However, it is easy to dismiss the critics as elitist, old snobs and it should be recognised that there are legitimate flaws with the platform of social media for any kind of art. One key concern is that the meticulous creative process, which is arguably essential to good writing, could be compromised by the immediacy of Instagram. A poem, which will be seen momentarily and then quickly scrolled past, is likely to take less thought than one that will be printed in a book. Additionally the desperate need for validation, which all humans experience and all social media exploits, might hinder the poet’s creativity and originality. The best way to use social media, therefore, is simply as a platform for your art, rather than something to respond to or seek approval from. Instagram poetry is far from perfect, although that could be said for any form or way of producing art. The existence and popularity of insta-poets does not suddenly remove or negate the importance of other poets. If anything, it has sparked a new interest and passion for all kinds of poetry, including the traditional forms. Instagram poetry has not replaced its predecessors. There is enough space for it all
Is Sadiq Khan to blame for the rising knife crime in London? Since 2015, there has been a dramatic year on year increase in London’s knife crime, averaging at about 2,500 more offences each year. The Metropolitan Police recorded that from 2016 to 2017, there were 12,106 cases of knife crime in London, and from 2017 to 2018 those figures rose to 14,769. This has left many people eager to place blame on political officials and as Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has come under a lot of fire. This is not helped by the fact that, in July 2018, Donald Trump claimed that Khan was doing a “bad job on crime”, even though crime in general has increased across England and Wales, not just in London. Khan’s somewhat temperamental relationship with the media has led many to believe that he is indifferent towards issues such as knife crime. This is fuelled by statements like the one he made in the summer of 2017 where he remarked that London is a “safe global city”, implying that compared to the rest of the world, Londoners were not in any real danger. Though that may have been true at the time, it did not reflect the people’s concern that, in 2017, knife crimes recorded by police in England and Wales had risen by 22%. In 2018 there were many aspects of London’s violent crimes that were a cause for concern, as (according to the Sunday Times) London had more murders than New York in February, most of which occurred through stabbing. Even though it could be perceived that Khan is not doing enough to prevent knife crime, there are many factors that could be the root cause of the recent increase. Retired Borough Commander for the Metropolitan Police, John Sutherland, told the Independent that we now have the lowest number of police officers “since compatible record keeping began”. Sutherland explained that across England and Wales there are 21 000 less police officers than there were in 2010, and that it “defies common sense” not to expect that to influence crime rates. However, though the police numbers have dwindled, the sentence for carrying a knife has increased by 4 months over the past 10 years, now at an average length of 7 ½ months. Despite this extended sentence, Peter Kirkham, a former Detective Chief Inspector in the Metropolitan Police, who now acts as an antiknife crime campaigner, claims that this is not a deterrent.
Budget cuts are also speculated to have had a detrimental effect on the crime rates. A study conducted by the trade union Unison estimated that £387 million was cut from youth services by local authorities from 2010 to 2016. This has greatly affected knife crime rates since, 95% of those caught with a knife are male, over half of whom are 25 or younger. The lack of activities for this young male demographic is correlated to increased knife crime rates as, according to Craig Pickney, a criminologist and lecturer who specialises in working with ‘at risk’ youth, “there is a direct link between boredom and anti-social behaviour”. Pickney, as well as many other figures in the media, has since suggested that the UK takes a “public health approach” towards knife crime, especially in London. This would be mirroring Scotland’s approach to Glasgow's high knife crime rates in the early 2000s. When questioned about his suggestions to solving the London knife crime ‘epidemic’, Pickney also remarked that “it’s really quite simple - we need to change the whole system”, which suggests a pessimistic perception of the effectiveness of London’s law enforcement. This then begs the question: what can be done about London’s knife crime? Glasgow managed to turn its knife crime around since it was dubbed the murder capital of Europe by the WHO in 2005, and London can too, given the right funding. By setting up a Violence Reduction Unit, the Glaswegian police focused on early intervention. They invested money into counselling for victims of violence, football clubs to keep young men busy, and mentors to reach out and prevent young people from carrying knives (typically those from the poorest areas). It was of financial benefit, as the cost for each murder in Scotland was greater than the VRU’s annual budget. Though many of Scotland’s tactics could be replicated in London, the challenge would be the police force. London’s police are separated according to the boroughs, which means that there are 32 police teams instead of just 1. Though this would be an obstacle to tackle, it is surely one that we can work around. Sadiq Khan already made efforts to tackle knife crime in September 2018, by directing an initial £500,000 towards establishing his own Violence Reduction Unit. However, even this seems inadequate when one considers the amount of money being cut each year from the local authorities. Additionally, by appointing a Labour MP as a head to this unit (rather than someone with experience in this field), Khan has again painted himself as misguided in his strategy. Khan has proved himself in other key capital issues, such as improving London's air quality with mass tree planting, and transport infrastructure to balance road use, but in order to gain public support, Sadiq Khan needs to show that he takes London’s knife crime issues seriously and prioritises and funds them accordingly.
It’s the first day back at school after an enjoyable Christmas holidays and everyone’s looking a little dispirited. Granted, the first day back is never as abysmal as one tends to anticipate – in fact, it’s usually far better than the apocalyptic vision sometimes conjured up in dread at some point during the night-before restlessness. That being said, I’m fairly sure no one’s ever described their first day back as anything better than ‘actually it was okay’. I would say my Monday 7th January was something along these lines. Well, to be honest, I can’t really remember but I think that pretty much sums it up. Not awful but not great. You get the gist. Now let’s talk about the second day back. How was your second day back? I would presume not much different to the first, unless like me your drastically changed sleeping schedule doesn’t take effect until the second day. Usually, for me, that means drifting through the day in a semi-conscious state, half-listening and less than half-interested. This year my second day back was spectacular. Firstly, I know I have an unwitting tendency to sound sarcastic so no, I don’t mean this in any ironic sense at all. Secondly, I promise I’m not just saying it to rub it in. So, you’re probably wondering: how can two consecutive days be so different? What miracle transformed a regular working day into one that was in any way remarkable? Please allow me to kindly alleviate your burning questions.ld be disliked for excessive eccentricity
The answer lies below my knobbly knees at the end of my lanky legs. No – it’s not my feet. Well, not quite. You see, the second day back I had worked up the courage to wear my funky new shoes. Colourful, exciting and bordering on gaudy, it was love at first sight. My main concern was that everyone else would think their chaotic pattern merely tasteless and I would be told off for their lack appropriateness for school. (Here, I should point out that they are technically navy and so do conform to the ‘plain’ colour outlined in the sixth form dress code.) I would normally refrain from finding joy in such a superficial matter as a pair of shoes. However, with fear of sounding a tad ludicrous, I think these are more than that as, not only do the elicit a sneaking smile when I indulge myself in examining them at random moments, but I think they spread joy too. I see others smile when they notice the two masterpieces at my feet. I received a compliment from one friend, who the next day exclaimed: ‘I’m blown away all over again!’ I’m not proposing anyone go out and buy a new pair of shoes every week – far from it. I reckon it’s not the shoes themselves that harbour such power, but the individuality they represent. For want of a better expression, they’re very ‘me’. I think people sense that too. Therefore, the very footwear I’d assumed would be disliked for excessive eccentricity or downright ugliness had rather the opposite effect. As such, my advice is as follows. Embrace your individuality. This doesn’t have to mean a quest for shoes, it could take whatever shape you wish, for example music, cooking or maybe stamp collecting. That doesn’t mean you have to define yourself in a particular way, just that when you do come across something that makes you tick, don’t pass it up for fear of what others might think.
We hope you enjoyed issue 13 of the Wally Street Journal. We are looking for new submissions every issue, so please send work to collinsd@wallingtongirls.org.uk or williamss@wallingtongirls.org.uk. Have a great half term break!