TN2 Issue 2 20/21

2020/21 ISSUE 2 WINTER TN2MAGAZINE.IE

ART/ FASHION/ FILM/ FOOD/ GAMES/ LITERATURE/ MUSIC/ SEX/ THEATRE/ TV/ ALT

THIS ISSUE’S ART TEAM:

Cover Photographer Andrés Murillo Featured Artists and Photographers Ren O’Hare, Ciarán Butler, Andrés Murillo, Nanami Ando Nic Suibhne, Catherine Breathnach, Oona Kauppi, Olivia Brady, Éadaoin Fagan

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Lola Fleming, Emily Thomas, Ding, Maeve Zahra Lockett,

Featured Photographer Éadaoin Fagan

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Editor-in-Chief Ursula Dale Deputy Editors Sophia McDonald, Sam Hayes Social Media Manager Ciara Connolly Online Editor Connor Howlett Art Oona Kauppi Catherine Byrne Fashion Gelsey Beavers-Damron, Ciarán Butler, Millie Brennan Film Connor Howlett, Savvy Hanna, James McCleary Food Dearbháil Kent, Grace Gageby Kiara Kennedy Games Seán Clerkin Robert Gibbons Literature Shane Murphy Fiachra Kelleher Music Sophia McDonald Ben Pantrey Sex Alice Payne Chloé Mant, Karla Higgins Theatre Larissa Brigatti Lucamatteo Rossi Television Ciara Connolly Gillian Doyle ALT. Clare Maunder Aditi Kapoor, Gráinne Sexton Layout Ursula Dale, Sophia McDonald, Sam Hayes, Fiachra Kelleher, Savvy Hanna, Ciara Connolly, Robert Gibbons

Head of Illustrations Lola Fleming Head of Photography Andrés Murillo

CONTENTS Letter from the Editor Art & Design Interview with Student Photographer Niamh Barry The Cultural Significance of Ireland’s Roadside Art Traditional African Art in the European Context Fashion

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Trendspotting: A Roundup of Must-Haves for Autumn/ Winter 2020 A Modern Renaissance: Fashion Month 2020 The 2010s: The Most Outrageous Era of Fashion Yet Channeling Fictional Characters’ Energy Through Fashion

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Tough Guys Like Sunsets Too Breathless // Dating’s last gasp: À bout de souffle

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Food Milk Cookbook // Review Mutual Aid and Food Solidarity Action

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Film

Games Video Game Music: An Art Form Among Us and the Oversaturation of Video Game Trends Literature The Weirdness of Capitalism in Exciting Times and Conversations with Friends Flash Fiction // In a Nickname

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Music From Dream Pop to Psych Rock: How Lana Del Rey Transcends Genre Lockdown Listens: Soundtracks to My Isolation

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Sex Interview with a Sex Therapist TN2’s Agony Aunt 3

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Theatre

Exhausted // Opinion Psychogeographical Voyage through the Cities and their Theatremakers TV Love in Schitt’s Creek: An Unexpected Narrative Driving Force Historical Accuracy in Period Dramas

Cobra Kai’s Back, Baby!

Keeping Up with Our Tears: Despair for the End of the Kardashians

ALT.

Killing Time: Attention Spans and Social Media There’s More to Houseplants than Decoration Unpredictable Reviews of Predictable Cafes Two’s Company: Travelling with Me, Myself and my Alter-Ego

GAEILGE Netflix Na Gaeilge: Ann Seinnteoir TG4 Cuir Le Do Chúpla Focal

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Featured Photgraphy: Éadaoin Fagan. ‘Trinity at Rest’

Letter from the Editor: When losing sense of a time, it’s important to remember the things, or the people, which ground us. A line from Diana Evan’s exquisite Ordinary People recently reminded me of this: ‘If you entertain and act on every impulse that passes through your mind... you will find yourself in chaos. Hold on to the things that bind you’.

Now that we have well and truly arrived at winter, and are approaching the end of a year defined by a seemingly endless summer, sources of reliability and time with loved ones, however limited, have become more valuable than ever. For many the burden of a new, even more constraining lockdown has been coterminous with the release of years of international tension. This, alongside news of the potential approach of a solution to months of skepticism and longing, suggests an onrushing of change — and some welcome optimism.

Some of the topics this issue discusses are the significance of Irish roadside art and ways to improve your own Gaeilge, a discussion of mutual aid and food justice, the art form of music in video games and a look at Lana Del Rey’s catalogue of music and poetry. Also featured is the newest instalment of our flash fiction series, as well as contributions from our talented team of student photographers and artists. Likewise, it is the launch of pieces written as Gaeilge in print, and I would like to thank the authors, as well as our team of Irish editors, who helped to achieve this decisive move forward for the publication. Once again, I would like to wholeheartedly praise each and every member of the TN2 staff who has patiently helped make this issue happen, especially in the context of unforeseeable restrictions.

Stay safe.

Sincerely,

Ursula

www.tn2magazine.ie ART BY LOLA FLEMING 1

Art & Design

Interview with Student Photographer Niamh Barry What inspires your photography most?

I think before COVID it was definitely travelling and experiencing new surroundings completely different to my regular

day. When I went to Boston on my exchange last year, that was just the most incredible gift for a photographer because it was just so much fun. I really feel inspired by street photography, especially that weird crazy kind of atmosphere that you're just not used to. Seeing all these things that you don't normally associate with your regular life and these small and peculiar moments that make no sense. And so, those kinds of moments really stick out to me. On a more personal basis, it's kind of grown into something a bit more personal because it used to be quite like you know street photography, which was personal, but it was less direct if that makes sense. With street photography, I think it can actually be really personal, but when you take pictures of more sentimental things then obviously it's far more directly personal, just because I have been kind of drifting in and out of those two things at the moment so that's what inspires me. My friends inspire me because we're always together taking photos and learning from each other and hyping each other up and also just, you know, photographers who I see myself in in their photos. Photobooks as well; all these different things. I try to stay off Instagram a little bit just because I'll start comparing myself and doubting myself so there definitely has to be a balance in terms of where you find inspiration online because sometimes they [social media platforms] can lead you to comparing yourself.

What challenges, and potential innovations, have you experienced during lockdown, that have influenced your art?

Challenges definitely would be restricted movement and not being able to meet up with people as much because a lot of the photos I was taking were of people. With street photography, it completely changed, well not completely but to a certain extent, so we did find it really hard at the beginning. I found it harder in the summer and that's why I started doing my own projects because I felt like I wasn't getting what I wanted out of photography anymore. I felt that I was able to come up with an idea that I could make my own and have a project, so that was definitely how we overcame that, but now I've gotten back into a photography slump again because of another lockdown.

It has been really hard because it is something that I really rely on too. It's good to have that outlet of photography and it's difficult not having that thing that gives you relief from stress. I'm growing into it now and I'm actually working on small little photo series as well. I think in terms of where I found inspiration, you just have to find it in the way that you live your life and all those things that are in your life that maybe you take for granted. Turning them into photos helps me stay inspired by going back to what makes me me and what makes my life my life. I think it's always a really good way to go about it if you're finding that you're just not getting what you need out of photography, considering what's happening in terms of limited contact, streets being deserted, etc. It's quite innovative as they're trying to adapt their channel to what's happening and it's hard for everyone so it definitely has been affected. Even film prices have gone up and trying to get your film scanned and all these things is becoming more expensive and more inconvenient so there are a lot of barriers. I definitely just try to channel who I am as a person and what I experience to kind of fill that void.

What advice would you give to any younger or less experienced photographers looking to carve out their own style?

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Carving out your own style is a really interesting question. I definitely think it takes a couple of rolls, if you’re shooting on film, to develop some sort of style and how you see. But I think style kind of comes naturally and I think it's all about just practising and taking shots and making an effort to go out and find those things or making an effort to actually bring your camera along with you. But also if you're getting into film photography, just take some patience too because it's not easy. It takes a while to get used to buttons and lights or light metering and film stock. And it's expensive, so you know it all just takes some time. Genuinely, go for it and I don't let things hold you back, like if you don't think you're good enough or you're comparing yourself honestly just go for it. It’s about letting yourself do something really and not giving a **** what anyone else thinks. Doing it for yourself is going to develop your style and it's just all about practise and getting to know what film stocks you like using or if you are more of a composition person or a colour person. Don't be afraid to reach out for help or advice because so many people want to help and no one, well not everyone, but a lot of people actually aren't gatekeepers of that kind of knowledge and do you want to help other people. Definitely linking up with people around your area who may be interested in photography, definitely getting involved with those kinds of people is the best thing you can do as well because then it becomes more than just you taking photos. It's building a community around you and also just having fun and meeting new people.

Do you ever find it hard to make time for your hobby, especially as a student in final year? If so, do you have any tips for staying in touch with your artistic side during times of social or artistic isolation?

I find it so hard to balance doing photo bits and final year because college is so stressful for me all the time. With photography though, it provides me with that relief of stress and so it does really help. I'm not doing it as much as I'd want to as I'm constrained by college work, which really does affect it unfortunately. Over summer when we were in lockdown, I couldn't really get a full-time job, so I turned to film photography and it was the best thing ever. I was always taking photos and it felt really good to take that many. It was like this is what I want to do all the time, regardless. It can be really really hard and I mean I probably should listen to my own advice because, in terms of balancing any kind of hobby, there's obviously some time you're going to have to sacrifice a little bit to get through your degree and get what you need and want. But then, there also comes a time where you need a break in order for you to be really productive the next day or the next couple of hours. So taking a break using your hobby is probably the best way to do it. It’s all about balancing things out and making time for it and planning in advance, if you can. To be in touch with your artistic side, I definitely think you could buy photo books or buy a sketchbook, look at photos and really immerse yourself in one person's art or get a sketchbook and even just draw out how you're feeling or visualising things. That's something I've actually started doing recently, journaling with visuals and showing how I'm feeling with visuals. It makes me really stay in touch [with my art]. It’s exciting because I used to draw all the time and then I stopped, so it's really nice to do that again. I do think it helps with photography because it stimulates my brain a little bit and means I’m not just looking up stuff and doing my coursework. Breaking up this medium is really good for me and I've actually only recently learned that.

Many artists look to physical and geographical spaces as their muse, would you consider Dublin, or even Trinity, to be such a space for you?

I do consider Dublin to be my creative muse sometimes. It kind of has to be for now because of lockdown, which is interesting as it means you have to find where you can bring out your creativity in the place that you're in no matter what's happening. But it is really difficult for me because I don't particularly find Dublin, like the landscape and stuff, that inspiring. But there are pockets of areas in Dublin that you really have to dive into and try and bring out what you're trying to show or communicate or express. In terms of Dublin being a muse, as a creative scene it is 100%. I've met so many people in Dublin who are photographers, film photographers and I've just learned so much from them and made friends with people. You know it's really bonded me with people who I know, so then they inspire me through that, and we get to do little trips in Dublin or little photo walks. So in that way it kind of overlaps, but I wouldn't say Dublin overall is like a creative muse in terms of where I want to be. I would ideally like to be somewhere else where it's a little bit like a city that's really that crazy and has a lot going on and a lot of inspiration—if that makes sense.

Finally, who are some artists - unknown or celebrated - who you look to for inspiration?

Some of my favourite photographers are, obviously, my friends and other people in the film community. There're so many incredible people in Dublin that you could check out but, outside of that and on a bigger platform, one of my favourite photographers is called Lauren Tepfer. She's so amazing and she has a very dreamy kind of style and it's really me. It’s like my photos in different ways; she has such an eye for colour and I love exploring colours. She has some incredible shots that I just cannot get over. I'm like, how is this even real? How did she do that? And she shoots on digital, which is amazing. There also is this amazing film fashion photographer and he is...I can't remember his name. He's really amazing. He's a Black man and he's located in America and he’s a fashion photographer...he's insane. He does these crazy images, the angles he takes...he just adds something completely new and different to regular fashion photos and I think it's absolutely stunning. I know his first name is Cameron (Cameron Reed, Camsvisualart) but I forget his surname. The last person that I really love is Helga Paris. I don't know if she's alive or dead, but she was taking photos back in the 60s in Germany in her hometown and I saw an exhibition of her. I never knew who she was before that. It was in Berlin when I was there last Christmas and it was so beautiful. It was all these small moments

within her community and there were people and so much emotion. It's all shot in black and white and she's really inspiring because a woman at that time with a film camera was probably absurd. Women barely even had rights back then, and we still lack a lot of them now, so she is really inspiring to me. I really love her photos and there's something completely like...you can't even explain how moving they are, if that makes sense. So a lot of female photographers inspire me because I think I just see myself in their photos a lot.

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QUESTIONS BY URSULA DALE

Art & Design

The Cultural Significance of Ireland’s Roadside Art WORDS BY CATHERINE BYRNE

This past summer of ‘staycationing’ and travelling around Ireland has led me to become more familiar

withthe incredibly unremarkable network that is the Irish motorway system than I think is at all necessary. I did, however, become aware of something that I have always noticed, but never truly contemplated; there is a lot of public art along our roadways. Over 1,500 pieces, to be specific; an astounding amount, really, for a country that can be traversed from east to west in around three hours. Along our major thoroughfares exists what is effectively a very, very widely spaced-out open air gallery; an ever-growing collection of public artworks for commuters and excursionists alike to regard and admire, though maybe not ponder for all that long.

Many of these pieces were conceived as part of the ‘Percent for Art’ scheme, which provides funding for public art features through the allocation of a small portion of each state-funded major construction project’s budget. And who do we have to thank for this wonderful scheme? None other than Michael D. Higgins. The scheme was first introduced in 1988, but it wasn’t until 1993 that it was actually implemented by Higgins, who was at the time Minister for Arts, Culture, and the Gaeltacht. Through this scheme, one percent of the cost of every new road built in Ireland (up to a cap of €64,000) is put towards the funding of public artworks, with local authorities commissioning the work and choosing the theme of each piece.

Even the briefest glimpse of one of these artworks can offer a good idea as to what the meaning behind the piece might be, and its significance to the area in which it resides. Many of these artworks feature symbols, mythological characters, and landscapes that are instantly recognisable, and that have great relevance within the context of their setting. A sculpture of a large violin made from corten steel that protrudes from the ground by a road in Longford, quite appropriately named ‘The Violin’, is a fairly overt reference to the musical heritage of the area, and a clever nod to the roadside ceilis of the past. Another well-known artwork is the Brown Bull of Cooley near Dundalk. It is fashioned from metal mesh and set on a concrete base, and it depicts the mythological brown bull of the early Irish epic Táin Bó Cuailnge. The sculpture’s location is notable, as it is not all that far from the story’s setting, the Cooley peninsula.

In fact, some of these artworks have such notoriety that it wouldn’t be wrong, really, to describe them as landmarks. One such piece, which is my own local motorway sculpture and perhaps the final boss of Irish roadside art, is ‘Perpetual Motion’, or Naas ball, as it has been affectionately dubbed. The significance of this artwork is so substantial to the people of Naas that the handle of the account on various social media that report on local happenings is @naasball. While this piece is very conceptual, and does not reference any particular local legend or emblem - possessing a love of road markings and gigantic ferrocement spheres is not unique to the people of Naas, Kildare - it is a meaningful work of art, and has taken on its own mythological status in the locality.

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These works of art that flank the highways and byways of this nation are significant in making art more accessible in this country. Public artworks such as these are an invaluable asset to us all; they express local culture and promote community identity, and articulate a sense of the place in which they are located. Scattered all over the country, where weary travellers can appreciate them, and near smaller communities’ that may not have much access to art, this network of art bears great significance for the cultural heritage of Ireland, and is a truly wonderful resource.

Traditional African Art in the European Context How many houses have you visited, where you’ve barely noticed the couple of African masks on the wall? Your friend’s

house with the giraffe statuettes on the dresser? Your grandparent’s flat, where the ‘Tree of Life’ statue stands in the corner of the living room? Or maybe even your own house? Colonialism and mass tourism has spread African art far and wide over the centuries, so much so that its significance in Western culture may be a lot deeper than it appears.

There is very little information on the authorship and motives of traditional African art, despite the importance attributed to singular works. One could argue that perhaps recognition, a concept of individualist cultures, was not a concern on the continent.

Isidore Okpewho, in his article ‘Principles of Traditional African Art’, thinks that, despite this, we should give African artists more credit. They expressed the various aspects of their daily life, such as religion, through the objects they created. Their art carried with it the traditions of their community: rites, ceremonies, and others. Yet the production of artistic objects, Okpewho points out, was also influenced by the amount of support behind each artist. If an institution sponsored them (such as royalty), the likelihood of artifact production as well as survival over time is higher. If, on the other hand, an object was produced in isolation from an institution, religion or a support system, there was a lower chance of survival.

This would explain why most of the African art that survived was religious by nature. In addition to this, tourism and demand may have affected which artifacts were marketed as ‘souvenirs’ (and still are). Due to the similarity in style among commercialized artwork, the originality of the artist was often compromised. African art, the art Europeans brought back home, became a fairly homogenous group.

Although African art is still considered to be about religion, it has been admired for centuries, mainly for its beauty. Despite the apparent homogeneity of the objects, the materials – wood, brass, ivory, among others – are expertly shaped. The details of what are mostly human (or semi-human) forms are delicately carved. The objects are smooth and shiny. Their style favours the geometric, and, more often than not, simplicity. As Okpewho claims, landscape would have affected this artistic style. Style also varied depending on the region in which the artist lived – as such, objects from Igbo and Fang tribes may have looked entirely different. The mix of realistic and symbolic factors, the first of which was often human faces/bodies and the second of which may have referenced deities and the imagination. This tendency is called ‘magical realism’ in literature and is common in South America; in art, it would have encouraged similar smatterings of unreal with the real. The Western art movements of Abstraction and Cubism, among others, can visibly be seen to have had some basis in African art. Some artists were even ‘obsessed’ with African art. Yet the propagation of African art, and its motivation as a colonialist souvenir, can be seen to have encouraged the cult of exoticism. As a result, racist behavior in the Western world may have had some roots in these dislocated artifacts, empty shells in their new context, beautiful but strange.

The question is, is this phenomenon a twisted form of cultural appropriation, and if it is, is it negative? Is the aesthetic value of traditional African art ultimately more important than moral implications? If the original purpose of an object was to be a souvenir and not to be appreciated within a community, is there any issue at all? And yet, is it possible that indigenous art, not so fundamentally different from other art, encouraged feelings of otherness in the Western world, despite the fact that it was greatly admired?

On one side of the looking glass, a Black statue is only a statue. On the other, moral problems appear in abundance when art is removed, forcefully or not, from its original setting.

WORDS AND ART BY OONA KAUPPI

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Fashion

trendspotting: a roundup of wardrobe must-haves for autumn/winter 2020.

WORDS BY MILLIE BRENNAN ART BY EMILY THOMAS

Another

year, another influx of new trends. As the weather continues to get colder and whisperings of Christmas exams begin to circulate, it is time to take a look at the trends that are defining this year’s autumn/winter season and to pinpoint what styles we will be leaving behind in 2020. Of course, there is no doubt that this has been an autumn/winter season like no other. No more late nights at the Pav, no more early morning coffee from The Perch; the list of sacrifices that we have made this year goes on. Usually one only has to look around the Arts Block at the usual swarms of trend-abiding, Doc Marten-wearing students bustling about to get a good feel for what the kids are wearing these days. But this year, when it comes to trendspotting, we have all been left to fend for ourselves. Well, if trends are what you are looking for, then you have come to the right place. Here at the Fashion Section, we have been compiling a short list of the top five autumn/ winter trends that we would have been seeing everywhere around campus this year. Here is what we came up with.

1: The Shacket A relative newcomer on the scene, the shacket (a cross between a jacket and a shirt, as the name suggests) has stolen the hearts of many. Easy to throw on over jeans and a chunky knit, the shacket has really made a name for itself this year as the preferred form of outerwear for many. However, after taking into account its lack of practicality (most notably its lack of hood and adequate insulation), do we think that the shacket might be one trend we don’t see around campus much next autumn/winter? Only time will tell.

2: The Chunky Boot I mean, this one basically speaks for itself. Chunky boots are the perfect answer to wet mornings trudging through the Courtyard, cold evenings waiting at the bus stop, and skirts that just don’t look right without a chunkier shoe. Students have been stomping around Trinity in Doc Martens for practically generations now, and this year the Chelsea boot has become a particularly popular choice for chunky boot-lovers wanting to try something new without deviating from that classic, cleated-sole look that we all know and love. I think that it is safe to say that this cult classic trend is not going anywhere for the foreseeable.

3: Slouchy Jeans Is it just me, or are jeans getting baggier and baggier every season? There is no doubt that the human race has come a long way from the days of wearing skinny jeans that we practically had to paint onto our legs. Last year saw the popularity of the classic high-waisted mom jean style rocket, and while mom jeans remain a popular choice for many, it seems that this autumn/winter the straight-leg style is stealing the show. As the name suggests, straight-leg jeans are cut with the legs straight, meaning that from the hips and all the way down to the ankles they are the same in width, making for a more relaxed fit. Due to their comfort and practicality these jeans are hugely popular this autumn/winter and we are sure to see them back on campus again next year.

4: Faux Leather This year, faux leather is back and better than ever. Popular last year in the form of the faux leather legging, this autumn/ winter faux leather has been taken to an entirely new level. Faux leather blazers, faux leather milkmaid tops, faux leather puffer jackets, this season we have seen it all and we are completely here for it. Faux leather is brilliant for adding drama to even the simplest of outfits (think: Sandy’s iconic black leather pants ensemble at the end of Grease) so why not milk this trend before it goes away?

5: Knitted Vests You either love them or hate them, this list could not be complete without mentioning the knitted vest. Definitely a “marmite” garment, the knitted vest has taken the fashion world by storm this autumn/winter for all of the right reasons.

Reminiscent of Cody’s cable-knit vests in Zack and Cody, the knitted vest has been resurrected this year in a way that nobody was expecting. Paired with a crisp white shirt underneath and a pair of slouchy jeans on the bottom, the knitted vest can look effortlessly chic and suitable for almost any event. However, it is still no substitute for snuggling up inside of an oversized jumper while doing assignments in the library, and for this reason there might not be too many knitted vests 6 around campus next autumn/winter.

WORDS BY CIARÁN BUTLER

A Modern Renaissance: Fashion Month 2020

This year, the world changed as we knew it. The Coronavirus pandemic has changed the normality of mundane life in

every single aspect and has affected everything. We as a race have ensconced in our concrete jungles, unaware of the storm facing us. The pandemic has forced us remold the way we live and think. We have adapted, and so has fashion. The introduction of the mandatory wearing of face masks gave us a new and very much essential fashion accessory. Fashion as an industry has had to evolve fast in very unprecedented and uncertain times.

Fashion month is a time that fashion lovers rejoice every year for. We are fed new ideas, silhouettes, fabrics and trends. Florals for spring? Groundbreaking. The typical fashion would have involved in person shows, complete with A-list celebrities, and exclusive after-parties. This year with a highly contagious virus rampaging all over the world, fashion shows were the least of most people’s worry. In true human fashion, we ushered in a new era of fashion shows - virtually.

Every designer has taken runway shows to another level, with a reformation of everything we have come to know and love about the catwalk. Zoom has become, arguably, the zeitgeist of the pandemic, playing its own role this fashion month, with Miu Miu using it as an invaluable resource to showcase their latest collections. Fashion Houses like Moschino and GCDS took a more artistic approach, using animation to feature models and stars like Dua Lipa to bring the runway to life. Louis Vuitton brough the experience of attending to the home, with viewers able to view a 360 view using cameras on the seats. J.W Anderson sent press packages to the attendees, with a photobook of the collection and a few pieces. These are just some examples of innovation that has been birthed from fashion month this year. Designers simply had no choice but to think outside the box and, really, is that not what fashion is meant to be?

I believe that in a way, this COVID19 renaissance was a healthy reminder for designers that sometimes, you’ve just made it work. It harps back to the days when these huge designers were starting back as students or novices themselves. One of my favorite episodes on every season of Drag Race is the sewing challenge. Why? ‘Cause they can be given anything and have to make something High Fashion and serve it.

Isn’t that the essence of fashion, doing something unpredictable yet beautiful. Maybe it’s time we rewind to a McQueen way of thinking with regards to runway shows, but with added socially-distanced flair.

Should we ever return to the normal fashion month spectacles, or is this a wakeup call to spice up the way we are marketed fashion by these brands? I think now is the time for houses to reinvigorate everything we have come to know about them, and usher in a new era for fashion. These are difficult waters to navigate, some may drown and others will swim — but only time will tell.

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Fashion

The 2010s:

The Most OutrAgeous Era of Fashion To Date The

roaring 20s brought flapper dresses, the swinging sixties brought mod and shift dresses, the noughties brought low rise jeans and frosted lip gloss, but what exactly did the 2010s contribute? The 2010s is possibly one of the most bizarre eras of fashion yet.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane and rediscover what the 2010s contributed to the fashion archives.

First up we have the moustache trend. I don’t even know where to begin with this bizarre phenomenon that bewitched us as a species. What possessed us to adorn a cartoon of men’s facial hair onto tote bags, earrings, duvets, t-shirts, mugs, backpacks and phone cases is beyond me. It came at the time during the surge in hipster culture, which also brought us man buns and harem pants. Quotes such as “I moustache you a question but I’ll shave it for later” and “I’d love to stay but I really moustache” often accompanied the sea of moustaches on duvets and t-shirts. Possibly the most bizarre trend of the 2010s, the moustache marvel first appeared around 2012, and thankfully, was short-lived.

Popular among teenagers and young adults, the Hollister and Abercombie brands took the world by storm. The sister brands represented a lifestyle of privilege and exclusivity. Not only were the store lighting choices and prices questionable, but remember the raunchy semi-naked models that adorned the shopping bags? The brands underwent criticism in 2013 for their size and race inclusivity after CEO, Mike Jeffries, made discriminatory comments as well as numerous lawsuits filed on basis of discrimination. This ultimately led to a rebrand in 2018, thankfully forcing the brand to include more sizes and diversity in their advertising.

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Reminiscent of university campuses and private schools, and unlike other trends, the preppy style is constantly reinventing itself decade after decade.

During the 2010s, thanks to shows like Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars, the preppy style was reborn yet again. Shorts with tights, oxfords, Hunter welly boots, skater skirts, peter pan collar shirts and knee high socks were some of the key elements that constituted 2010s preppy. Brands such as Jack Wills, which endorsed hoodies and t-shirts with graphics such “University Outfitters” displayed across the front, were at the forefront of preppy youth culture.

The boho trend was a key ingredient to 2010s fashion, influenced by the celebrity style culture of the famous Coachella festival and thanks to the likes of Lana Del Rey, flower crowns were no longer fated solely to festivals.

Gladiator sandals, kimonos, midi skirts (with a rise on the front), american flag shorts and dream catcher earrings were quintessentially 2010s boho. Another boho-esque style I look back fondly at was midi rings. Remember those little rings that didn’t fit below the knuckle? Perhaps it's more impractical cousin was the double-finger cross ring. The grunge trend made a reappearance in the 2010s, and took the shape of creeper shoes, cross jewellery, galaxy leggings, chokers, mom jeans and flannel shirts.

Other honourable mentions include crackle nail polish, ugg boots, EOS lip balms, infinity scarves, balayage, bejeweled owls necklaces and nerd glasses. But perhaps the most honourable of them all: The Wedge Sneaker. The wedge sneaker consisted of a trainer with a heel. The intention was there, to give height while being casual, but ultimately, why put yourself through pain of heels if you don’t have to? And finally, possibly the worst trend of the decade, and never to be repeated, was “jeggings” - the leggings that posed as jeans. The world was not ready for jeggings, and I don’t think it ever will be.

From walking down Grafton Street in welly boots, to wearing flower crowns to school. The 2010s was certainly an era of fashion that didn’t have to make sense. Fashion wasn’t allocated to a location or your role in society. It broke across the barriers of logic (I know we’re all thinking of the moustache trend) and for that, it has to be applauded. The 2010s may have underwhelmingly slipped under the radar of fashion history, but since fashion always comes back around, who knows what will be reinvented in 10 years time. In the year 2032, a fifteen year old girl will slide on her vintage uggs boots, throw on an authentic 2012 Abercombie hoodie, stick Taylor Swift’s Red album on and think to herself, “I was born in the wrong generation”.

WORDS BY LAURA WHEELER ART BY MAEVE BREATHNACH

9

Fashion

Channeling fictional character energy through fashion Halloween

lockdown, with its Zoom costume party quizzes and movie marathons, has come and gone, but that doesn’t mean we have to stop dressing up like our favourite characters.

TV and film character inspired fashion has been around forever. From Gossip Girl and Sex and the City to The Devil Wears Prada and Clueless, there are countless muses for the avid fashion fan. 2020 especially has been a year for channeling ‘main character energy’ and raiding our wardrobes for fictional character outfit recreations. Thanks to social media challenges, we’ve been getting creative with what we own, paying homage to fashion icons like Carrie Bradshaw and Cher Horowitz. However, my favourite challenges, mostly seen on Instagram and TikTok, have been the videos featuring outfits inspired by characters that you wouldn’t expect.

There have been a myriad of TikTok trends that have spurred this urge to look to unlikely characters for fashion inspiration, like the ‘What I’d Wear if I Was In...’ videos back in June. This trend has been mastered by the likes of @the.navarose, who looks fire as characters in Pokemon, Star Wars, Marvel and Harry Potter. Harry Potter TikTok is a whole breed in itself, and once you get past the dramatic Draco and Cedric love triangle POVs, there are hundreds of creators putting outfits together to match the spirit (and colours) of each Hogwarts house. One of my favourites is @janiceglimmer, who mashed up Hogwarts and Disney princess inspired fashion into one by placing Disney princesses in each of the four different houses. @soupytime on TikTok began the Harry Potter character inspired outfit trend in which you lip sync to some of the characters’ most iconic lines, while wearing outfits that are not exact replicas of the characters looks from the films, but that still radiate each character’s vibes.

Of course, Cosplay is a very popular way of dressing up like Hermione Granger or Tangled’s Rapunzel. But Cosplayers try to be as faithful to the original looks as they possibly can, whether they’re at a convention or just acting out scenes on TikTok. The beauty of character-inspired fashion that isn’t strictly Cosplaying is that you can add your own twists to the character looks, making them consistent to your own everyday style, while still embracing the characters’ identities.

It’s a beautiful blend of your favourite characters’ fascinating personalities with your own.

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The outfit videos that have stemmed from @soupytimes’ viral TikTok are some of the best on the social media app. Not only is it fun to hear your favourite characters’ witty lines in a compilation, but it’s exciting to see how other fans translate each characters’ personalities into ensembles from their own wardrobes. You wouldn’t find these characters at Fashion Week, like you would Blair Waldorf or Andrea Sachs, and that’s what makes it especially appealing. From Marvel Cinematic Universe fans quoting Iron Man dressed in suits and sunglasses, to the Star Wars fandom pairing modern outfits with lightsabers, I have been eating these videos up. To me, they’re the perfect fusion of my two favourite things fashion and fictional universes. I loved this particular fashion challenge so much that I had a go of it myself.

A cartoon I began to rewatch this year for the nostalgia (but binged and cried over for its sheer quality) is Avatar: the Last Airbender. There are so many endearing, memorable and well-written characters in this children’s show that it makes it the perfect cartoon to recreate outfits for. I aimed to stay true to the colour schemes of the characters, like Ty Lee’s pink or Toph’s green, but I also made sure to capture the key elements (get it?) of each character too. I wore a green jumper and pinafore (and carried a mug of tea) to show Uncle Iroh’s softness, and I sported a structured red dress with puffed shoulders to express Azula’s fierceness and elegance. What added to the fun was lip-syncing each character’s lines, from Sokka’s (‘I’d like to spend my vacation at the library!!’) to Mai’s (‘I guess you just don’t know people as well as you think you do. You miscalculated.’). The quote reciting pushed me to embody each character, though the clothes alone were powerful to achieve this effect. The way I put thought into each look, asking myself ‘would this character wear this if they were me?’, made me realise how easily clothes can help you become someone else. But I reminded myself that while I was embracing other identities, I was still being me - I was putting my own spin on each character’s aesthetic by using my own collection of clothes.

If I learned anything from creating that TikTok, I learned that fashion should be fun, and inspiration can come from anywhere, or anyone. The next time I think my wardrobe is dull, I’ll think of a sit-com or a blockbuster and set a challenge for myself to get creative. I highly recommend the YouTube channel StealTheSpotlight, who not only has fabulous fashion content in general, but also several videos on cartoon, TV show and film inspired looks that are to die for.

Channel that fictional character energy through your clothes, and you’ll start to feel like a main character yourself!

WORDS BY JANE LOUGHMAN ART BY LOLA FLEMING

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Film

Tough Guys Like Sunsets Too

Author S. E. Hinton is best known for her debut novel The Outsiders (1967), which is considered to be the first true

example of young adult literature, as it was the first novel to both be about being a teenager and to be marketed specifically towards them. Hinton wrote multiple young adult novels through the 1960s and 1970s, with all of them focusing on an open and honest portrayal of the issues facing working-class teenage boys. This subsection of adolescents have often been stereotyped as tough guys and troublemakers, both in fiction and in real life. Hinton’s honest exploration of their thoughts, feelings, and vulnerabilities breaks away from that, and offers a realistic view on the struggles of adolescence.

The 1980s saw the production of four film adaptations of Hinton’s novels, coinciding with a rise in the popularity of teen films. These four films—Tex (Tim Hunter, 1982), The Outsiders (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983), Rumble Fish (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983), and That Was Then... This Is Now (Christopher Cain, 1985)—stand out from other ‘80s teen films because of how they explore the conflicts of masculinity and vulnerability for working-class adolescent boys, which is rarely seen in film, particularly in such detailed focus. Bringing these stories to the big screen introduced a new way of representing troubled youth in cinema, just as Hinton’s novels did for literature in the ‘60s.

The exploration of masculinity and vulnerability found in these films is easiest to recognise in The Outsiders. The film focuses on a gang of teenage greasers, which immediately identifies the characters as lower-class boys who are considered delinquents by society. As the youngest member of the gang, Ponyboy (C. Thomas Howell) holds onto an innocence that the other greasers don’t have. He enjoys poetry and appreciates the beauty of sunsets, although he would never talk about that with anyone in his gang apart from Johnny (Ralph Macchio), who also comes to find beauty in them. When upper-class Cherry (Diane Lane) asks why a nice guy like him would hang out with a troublemaker like Dally (Matt Dillon), Pony sticks up for his friend and reminds her that, even though he doesn’t get up to trouble, he’s a greaser too.

In contrast to Ponyboy, Dally is always seen as a tough thug, even by the other greasers. He accepts this, and even plays into it. He harasses Cherry at a drive-in and takes pleasure in her annoyance. When Cherry asks that Dally “be nice and leave us alone” he responds with “I’m never nice”. While Cherry certainly believes this, and Dally probably believes it about himself, many of his actions show otherwise. Dally cares deeply about his gang, and is shown to be particularly protective of the younger members, Pony and Johnny. After Johnny kills someone to save Pony from drowning, Dally does everything in his power to keep them safe and out of jail, telling Johnny “You get mean in jail. I don’t want to see that happen to you like it happened to me”. This suggests that Dally knows that his actions have cost him his youthful innocence—something he still sees in Johnny and Pony.

Johnny’s death represents a final loss of innocence for Dally, making him believe he has nothing else to live for. His inability to express his emotions causes him to instead act recklessly, ultimately leading to his death when he points an empty gun at the police and is shot dead. In a letter that Johnny wrote to Pony before this tragedy, he says “The way you dig sunsets Pony, that’s gold. Keep it that way, it’s a good way to be. I want you to ask Dally to look at one. I don’t think he’s ever seen a sunset”. This line represents the contrast between Pony and Dally. Pony manages to keep his identity as a greaser while still appreciating the goodness of the world. Dally isn’t just a thug, but society’s insistence that he is forced him to toughen up, and, in doing so, abandon the ability to be emotionally vulnerable. Johnny’s letter suggests that if Dally could have stopped being so angry at the world and appreciated its beauty, he wouldn’t have died. Something as simple as admiring a sunset could have saved him.

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This is true for many characters in the other films as well. Johnny’s idea that tough guys can like sunsets too represents the struggle of balancing masculinity and vulnerability, particularly when being vulnerable is considered a weakness. Holding onto childhood innocence is hard when society forces you into a ‘tough guy’ stereotype, but is also often necessary for survival.

In Rumble Fish, Rusty James (Matt Dillon) worships his older brother, known as The Motorcycle Boy (Mickey Rourke), because of his reputation as a tough gang leader. The Motorcycle Boy, however, longs to separate himself from the ‘tough guy’ stereotype placed on him by both other gang members who admire him and by people in authority who assume the worst about him.

This leads to an obsession with Siamese fighting fish that he sees in a pet store. He believes that if the fish could reach the ocean and be free of the constraints of the fish tank, they wouldn’t feel the need to fight.

While Rusty James wishes to be tough like The Motorcycle Boy, he has an innate innocence to him. He drinks chocolate milk, he’s in awe of the city’s colours, and he even says to his brother, “I wonder when I’m going to stop being a little kid”.

Because of this childlike innocence and naivety, Rusty James doesn’t understand the danger of becoming tough like his brother. In a final attempt to break free, The Motorcycle Boy breaks into the pet store and sets the animals free. He carries the fish towards the river, but is shot and killed by a cop for robbing the pet store. Rusty James completes his brother’s final wish and brings the fish to the river. While The Motorcycle Boy couldn’t free himself, Rusty James learns from him, with the final shot of the film showing Rusty James looking out at the Pacific Ocean.

In Tex, Mace (Jim Metzler) has taken over the role of caring for his younger brother Tex (Matt Dillon—yes, he plays three different characters in three of these films) because of their absent father, which has caused him to grow up too fast and, like many characters in these films, lose his childhood innocence. He works hard to allow Tex to keep his innocence, but has to sell Tex’s horse—the one thing he cares about more than anything—to pay bills. Tex acts out because of this, but in the end matures enough to allow Mace to move away to attend college. Tex is the least ‘tough’ of all the characters in these films, but he is one of the strongest, overcoming many adversities while managing to retain his innocence by forgiving his brother and getting a job at a ranch to spend time with horses while also supporting himself.

As evident from the relationships in Rumble Fish and Tex, brotherhood is important for many of the characters in these films. Although Mark (Emilio Estevez) and Bryon (Craig Sheffer) in That Was Then… This Is Now are not related, they’ve thought of each other as brothers since Mark’s parents died and Bryon’s family took him in. This brotherhood begins to falter when Mark refuses to take responsibility for his actions. When Bryon finds out that Mark has been selling drugs, he kicks him out and tells him that they are no longer brothers, taking away the only support Mark has ever had.

Mark acts as an antagonist for Bryon throughout the film, getting him into trouble and holding him back from maturing and achieving his goals. But Mark also shows a deep affection for Bryon, even after Bryon has given up on him. When Bryon threatens to kick him out, Mark says with sincerity: “I love you Bryon, I’ve got nowhere else to go”. He keeps his ‘cool guy’ guard up until he realises the consequences of his actions and breaks down in front of Bryon, finally showing his vulnerability. While Mark believed he could get away with anything, without the support of his best friend, he goes off the deep end. When he can’t grow into his place in society like Bryon, Mark is removed from society entirely and sent to prison.

The characters in each film have a connection to either the natural world through sunsets, fish, or horses, or a connection to each other through their affection for one another. These outward expressions of their vulnerabilities allow for an examination of their inner thoughts and feelings. All four of these films explore the emotions of those whose feelings are often disregarded, and while the narratives are specific to working-class teenage boys, the topics of fighting against societal expectations, inability to express inner emotions, and the fear of losing your innocence can be relatable to all teenagers, and to people in general.

WORDS BY SAVVY HANNA ART BY EMILY THOMAS

13

Film

Dating’s last gasp: À bout de souffle

Despite playing with the tropes of Golden Age Hollywood, Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960) isn’t an action-packed film. It’s exhausting all the same. A study by NBC found that half of Americans’ sex lives worsened due to the pandemic and even as Tinder reported a 12% increase in engagement between March and June, many have found these romances to be a lot of talking, but not a lot of action. The lumpy communication and overstepping of boundaries it portrays feel so similar to the talking stage of dating. In the year it turns 60, I want to see what Breathless can offer in terms of consolation in a time where dating is restrained to two metre distancing.

Keeping connection from withering on the online vine can feel as detached as the drama of Breathless. Godard pushed the boundaries of cinematic tradition by pulling away at the point of action. As he recounts the story of small-time crook Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) stealing a gun and shooting a policeman, Godard tugs what could be high-octane into something much more subtle. The extreme close up as the gun goes off denies the viewerany real sense of the character’s violence. As with meeting someone online, this enforced separation provokes a bravery that might not otherwise be invoked when faced with the much more visceral threat of rejection in person.

Like the back and forth that comes with dating online, the couple’s extended tête-à-tête is the film’s main source of tension. Having fled to Paris in pursuit of money, Michel tries to take his girl Patricia (Jean Seberg) away with him to Rome. Godard transports the viewer to being ten again and hoping that complimenting the peas your friend’s parents made will stop them bickering. Michel begs Patricia to leave with him and muscles his way into her flat. He smokes when she asks him not to and dismisses her attempts to make it as a journalist. Tucked up in our own beds, we get to see that if someone won’t respect your boundaries, then they probably aren’t for you.

Any gulf in values with a new person can be telling of what’s to come. The film’s experimental nature means the characters feel far removed from real people. But where Michel isn’t likeable, Patricia seems vapid. The female characters in the film are consistently vain, childlike and objectified. In this flatness, it’s hard not to interpret a level of veiled contempt for women on the part of Godard, particularly as the female characters of his films consistently double-cross the male protagonist. After asking if women will have a place in modern society, the man Patricia interviews dismisses her question by telling her that they will if they look cute like her. It’s difficult to discern how much of this depiction of gender is self-aware. This serves as an indication that it’s worth digging past initial assumptions.

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As seemingly everything in our lives alters, it’s easy to feel desolate. Breathless, produced in a period that went through a similar pace of change, addresses this concern. Another journalist asks if Rilke was right to say modern life will increasingly separate men and women. Produced at the peak of the rigid and patriarchal society that the 1968 riots eventually reacted against, the film is an inevitable product of these attitudes. There is always an argument to be made that life is getting worse, but looking back we can see that life did improve for both genders. In the same way, in a period of surreal change, we can find hope that there is something better on the other side of it.

Watching the stilted acting and heavily accented French of Jean Seberg feels like noticing the food in your teeth only at the end of a date. As a forerunner to the Nouvelle Vague (the French cinematic movement that expanded what film can do), Breathless was playful in the way it pushed back against traditional techniques. The prolific jump cuts and fades to black were done for their cost-effectiveness, but combined with the hand-held shots and improvised lines leads to what can at times feel like the result of a home movie jolting about.

Without this innovation, however, we might not have seen the same creative curiosity of directors like Andrea Arnold and Quentin Tarantino today. The most exciting things happen only on the edge of your comfort zone.

Awkwardness on a date can lead to an urge to perform a version of oneself, and Breathless explores what it means to take on an identity. Michel strokes his lips, mimicking Hollywood actor Humphrey Bogart. The film was produced 10 years after the ban on American films in France, and Godard, a consistently vocal critic of big production studios’ domination over what got made and their formulaic a pproach, wanted to explore these tropes. Variety called it the shards of an American action film.

Michel is a knock-off version of a Hollywood movie star, which raises the question: if you take on the characteristics of a thing, do you then become it? Like Rene Magritte thirty years earlier claiming that representing a pipe does not make it a pipe, the film explores Sartre’s contemporary theory that what we do determines what we are. There’s consolation in the fact that everyone is in a constant state of performative becoming.

There is something to be gained even in what can be a struggle to communicate. In the final scene, Michel expresses his disgust at the situation, but when a policeman relays this to Patricia, it becomes an accusation that she is disgusting. This leads to her then mimicking the Humphrey Bogart lip trace—as with the separation of dating online, all meaning seems to be in flux. But where this can potentially lead to distress, it doesn’t always lead to loss. As Paula Marantz Cohen for The American Scholar notes, whilst the film’s title in the original French means something close to the last breath before death, the translated English title has a more superficial association of being overwhelmed by beauty. The room for more broad interpretation of the translation lends a subtle texture to the film not present in the morbidity of the French.

In its separation from reality, and beautifully framed shots, Breathless shows relationships for all their mucky grey lines. Without the way it plays with the formula of film, characters, editing and low-budget cameras, we might not have seen the same innovation in filmmaking today. Just as this iconic debut laid the ground for a whole legacy of film, struggling through dating online has the potential for cultivating a future of something more.

WORDS BY EVE SMITH ART BY CIARÁN BUTLER 15

Food Food

Milk refreshing our ideas around Irish produce WORDS BY FIACHRA KELLEHER Milk is a cookbook with a manifesto. Its authors, John and Sally McKenna, are among Ireland’s foremost food writers, and are perhaps best known for the annual 100 Best Restaurants in Ireland guide, which they’ve curated since 1992. In Milk, they aim to promote Irish dairy products as the best in the world. To this end, they borrow the concept of “grand cru ingredients” from French winemaking: just as a particular piece of land is perfect for growing a certain type of grape, the McKennas contend that Ireland’s climate and our unique grazing culture, particularly the fact that Irish cattle are predominantly grass fed, allows us to produce artisan dairy products on an industrial scale.

From its structure to its large typeface, this book emphasises simplicity and accessibility. After brief introductions to the major food groups (milk, butter, cheese) and some interviews with dairy farmers, the bulk of the book is given over to recipes from 60 Irish chefs, each using dairy as its chief ingredient. We begin with methodologies around compound (flavoured) butter, paneer and labneh, after which we whizz from overnight oats, through dips, snacks, mains, baking, and as far as the Lebowski White Russian. The McKennas have curated this cookbook as much as written it, with many of the recipes courtesy of Ireland’s best chefs and food writers, from Anne Marie Tobin to Martin Shanahan of Kinsale’s Fishy Fishy.

Sometimes we benefit hugely from having a credible source point out something obvious: sure, feta originates on the shores of the Mediterranean, but Irish farmhouse feta is guaranteed to be more delicious than anything we import from Grecian isles. The McKennas leverage their position as respected food writers and, alongside an army of chefs and even a team of scientists, they assure us that dairy is good for us and that Irish dairy is sort of a magic ingredient. The timing of this argument is interesting. On the one hand, the farm-to-table movement is gaining traction in Ireland and abroad, and yet we are seeing a shift away from dairy towards oat and soy alternatives, particularly among young people. Milk does not explicitly position itself within this debate, but it does make the point that “[due] to the grass-based production system, Irish dairy farms have some of the lowest levels of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU, with approximately 99% of the water used supplied naturally by rainfall.” The book implies, therefore, that a sustainable future for Irish farming must put dairy production at its centre, given our long and successful tradition as producers.

Given the book’s emphasis on simplicity, it follows that the detail on some of its more technical procedures is not as exhaustive as one might like. For me, however, it’s always more important that a cookbook convince you that you can and should make a recipe than provide the most exhaustive (and daunting) diagrammatic instructions, and this is certainly true of Milk, which is full of pride and possibility. Did you know you can make your own labneh, paneer, or chicken liver pâté? The McKennas are here to tell you that you can, and that they all taste better if made with world class Irish dairy.

Many of the recipes follow this lead. They draw from the cuisines around the world and make one basic, irresistible assertion: this would benefit from Irish milk, butter or cheese. So follow recipes for bolognese, khachapuri, and spinach dhal with tadka butter. For the most part, however, the recipes are familiar to an Irish audience: seafood chowder, cranberry and blood orange scones, even homemade jambons. The recipe for lambs’ kidneys with juniper is somehow both exotic and rustic, while the excellent sundried tomato and basil mash lends verve to an Irish dinnertime staple.

We’re informed what milk jam is (it’s the same thing as dulce de leche), and how to make it alongside a recipe for crisp, buttery churros from Mark Moriarty.

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Milk’s high gloss cover and the almost laminated-feeling pages detract somewhat from Mark O’Toole’s sumptuous food photography, and I wonder whether the book could have taken itself more seriously, given that its stated aim is to elevate Irish produce to international renown. Its focus seems, however, to be firmly on its Irish audience, who are sure to benefit from a book written expressly for them. It’s a welcome change for someone living in Ireland to read a cookbook cover to cover and not have to worry about where they can find the ingredients. Indeed it’s rarer still that a cookbook presents such an array of recipes that one feels both willing and able to make.

Ingredients:

250g haddock 235ml buttermilk Batter: 100g flour 100g cornflour 10g cayenne 10g smoked paprika 500ml oil for frying

Here is Tony Davidson’s recipe for crispy haddock goujons:

To garnish:

2 spring onions, thinly sliced 2 red chillies, thinly sliced Sea salt, black pepper

Dip:

200g natural yogurt Juice 1 lemon

Method: Cut the haddock into strips, roughly finger sized. Cover the haddock in buttermilk and leave for 20 minutes. Mix the flour, cornflour and spices together.

Heat oil to 190°C in a deep-fat fryer.

Drain the haddock and coat strips in the flour mix, about 4 strips at a time, and add them to the oil, cooking for around 4 minutes each until golden brown.

Once all the haddock strips have been cooked, transfer them to a serving bowl, and add thinly sliced spring onions and chillies. Season with a generous amount of sea salt and black pepper.

Mix the yogurt with the lemon juice and season, then serve on the side as a dip.

This new cookbook by John and Sally McKenna milks the most out of Irish produce

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Food

Mutual aid and food solidarity in action

Isabelle Allende fled Chile after the coup of 1973 with only her clothes, family pictures, a small bag of dirt from

her garden, and two books: an edition of Pablo Neruda’s Odes and “the book with the yellow cover: Las venas abiertas de América Latina.” Las venas abiertas de América Latina, or Open Veins of Latin America is the masterpiece of Eduard Galeano, who famously wrote “I don’t believe in charity. I believe in solidarity. Charity is so vertical. It goes from the top to the bottom. Solidarity is horizontal. It respects the other person.” In times of political, social and economic upheaval, the dominant narrative in the West is often to adopt well-meaning philanthropy; donate money to charity or those in what we call “the developing world,” or donate goods to those in need, often with little input from those on the receiving end. However, as Galeano points out, charity can often reinforce existing power dynamics, and further disempower those it aims to help. Ireland has a history of this often counterproductive and paternalistic philosophy, seeing the Church filling the gap left by the state due to underinvestment in public services opening the door to institutional abuse in the likes of industrial schools and Magdalene laundries. This legacy continues in the form of modern day direct provision centres, where residents are deprived of the right to cook their own food.

Anthony Bourdain once wrote that there is nothing more political than food; who’s eating, and who’s not eating.

He described the dinner table as “the great leveller.” If you want to get to know somebody, simply ask them “what do you like to eat?” But of course, it’s not just just what they eat, but where, where you shop, who you break bread with. In Ireland and beyond, mutual aid and co-operatives, though they may be small, fundamentally alter the power structure inherent in capitalist food production and distribution.

Pete Yen is part of the We Shall Overcome movement, which operates under the slogan, “a raised fist and a helping hand.” Yen explains this expresses “anger at injustice and dehumanisation caused by austerity,” and aims to transform this into something positive, while also “raising the awareness about the power of grassroots groups.” The WSO website lists child poverty, food banks, cuts to disabled support, soup kitchens, homelessness and begs the question “why do these things exist in one of the wealthiest economies on earth?”

WSO operates out of the Station pub in Ashton-under-Lyne, Manchester which Yen affectionately refers to as “our spiritual HQ.” He continues, “Pauline Town who runs the pub is a modern day mother Theresa, literally making the world a better place by saving one life at a time,” referring to the pub landlady who feeds the homeless out of her own pocket.

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WSO is about “demonstrating compassion and the politics of community and kindness as well as donating food, sanitary products and clothes,” and is active across the UK. As well as setting up a Unity Shop for food in Hull (“which is the total embodiment of solidarity and mutual aid”) pre-covid, WSO also held “regular jam sessions and poetry workshops with people who are, or were recently street homeless.”

WSO began in 2015, after the general election in which Labour abstained on welfare. “This was pre-Corbyn,” says Yen. “We took off because there was a psychological need to do something and so many people wanted something active to do. Austerity was hurting people, and a Tory majority meant more austerity would hurt more people.. “We’re about people helping the people; not hoping for a government to make a change.”

Closer to home, Dublin’s Food Co-op is a radically different way to shop, and be part of ethically sourced food at the centre of the community. Established in 1983, they aim to “make shopping a convivial, community experience.” Sam Toland, a member of the co-op said this is made possible by “having members fully involved in operating the shop. Members volunteer on a weekly or monthly basis which means people who shop with us have a direct relationship with the staff.”

Toland points to the co-op as a way for people to shop sustainably and ethically. “Other enterprises may advertise themselves as being these things, but it’s often superficial.” In contrast, in the co-op, “if people aren’t happy with how things are run there’s accountability.” It adheres to a membership run model, and aims to promote democracy and solidarity. The co-op sells organic and Irish produced food where possible, and “discriminates positively in favour of countries which uphold human rights.”

In a deeply polarised world, where food is both produced and distributed in an unequal and unjust manner, co-ops and grassroots organisations which promote a mutual aid system with community and sustainability at the heart, are now more important than ever.

WORDS BY GRACE GAGEBY

19

Games

Video Game Music: An Art Form When

writing to Nintendo for permission to use their music in the film Scott Pilgrim Versus the World (2010), director Edgar Wright described the music as “the nursery rhymes of a generation”. For many of us, that’s exactly what they were. But more than that, as video games have become more sophisticated and development has become more democratised, so too has video game music. Video game music is unlike any other genre or style of music. Here, I want to try (as much as word count will allow) to explore how and why that is.

One of the key goals of almost every game is immersion. We want to be taken out of our world and put into the world of the game. In Music, Sound, and Multimedia, Rod Munday points out that this immersion can be divided into two categories: cognitive immersion and mythic immersion. Cognitive immersion is best exemplified through Tetris (1989).

Cognitive immersion is essentially what cuts you off from the world. The music in the game, in this instance, is a simple tool to occupy the space in your brain devoted to nonlinguistic sound interpretation, thus preventing outside stimuli from creating an impact on your experience. This is also the general rule that underpins all “Lofi Hip Hop Radio-Beats to Relax/Study to”. This is often one of the key factors necessary when trying to achieve a flow state - a state of total concentration where the player feels completely immersed in the gameplay and is key for competitive gaming.

The most iconic song from Tetris is called “Korobeiniki” and is a Russian folk song from the 19th century. It works in Tetris the same reason it works as a folk song. It’s written in A minor, built on a three chord progression (i-V-iv) and the melody either moves in step or to notes of the chord. These are all things that are easy to listen to and could easily be boring, without a few small adjustments to add variety. Firstly, the piece is split into a very clear A Section and B Section which it constantly alternates between as such: AABB. Secondly, the melody starts on an E with an E major chord behind it. This primes you for a piece in E major before it suddenly switches out to A minor. Finally, and most importantly, there is a constant, pulsing, syncopated backbeat (not in the original folk song) which keeps the piece always moving forward, never letting the listener fully rest. This combination of very simple music with a few more complicated tricks works to keep the listener engaged without being distracted, the key to cognitive immersion.

The second type of immersion is mythic immersion: being transported into the world and story of the game. This type of immersion is linked with the abstract nature of music,

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how it can move and impact us in ways that are difficult to explain. This has been used to tell stories as long as music has had stories to tell, but in this instance, I want to focus specifically on the concept of the leitmotif. A leitmotif, in simple terms, is a musical phrase that represents something (a character, place, theme etc) in an artistic work.

Leitmotifs shift and change throughout an artwork to reflect how the story changes. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011) makes use of both the abstract storytelling of music and leitmotif in its main theme, composed by Jeremy Soule, “Dragonborn”.

It’s a theme that plays at certain pivotal moments of the game such as specific dragon encounters. The title relates to the fact that the player character is known as the Dragonborn because of a prophecy. The majority of the piece is a new theme for Skyrim; it is loud, half-shouted by a men’s choir backed by brass and aggressive drums, and “heroic” in a very typical high fantasy sense. However, it also includes the main leitmotif from “Nerevar Rising” the main theme from Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, where the player character is called the Nerevarine because of a prophecy. The recurrence of this leitmotif in this way connects the two games, two characters, two prophecies, and presents us with a fleshed out world. For new players, the piece is loud and powerful, telling the story of the Dragonborn. For returning players, it is a reminder that this story is a part of a larger continuum in the Elder Scrolls universe. It does both of these things in a much richer, more emotive way than mere words ever could.

I touched on something there which is at the heart of what makes video game music utterly unique from all other forms of musical expression. To quote Professor Karen Collins “the music [in video games] is dynamic; that is, responsive to game events and player actions. This can mean, for instance, that various parameters of the music (such as tempo, key, and instrumentation), or sequences or sections of music, are altered based in real time on what is #happening in the game.” So, for example, when you start fighting certain dragons in Skyrim, “Dragonborn” starts playing. This has been an aspect of video game music that has been baked in since its origins. Most notably it was in the arcade game, Dig Dug (1982). Yuriko Keino was tasked with creating a sound effect for steps when Dig Dug walks, but unable to do so on the limited hardware available at the time, she composed a 10 second melody that would play when the player took a step and stop when the player stopped. The music, the rests in between, would change depending on your playstyle. This type of reactive music could be programmed onto soundchips relatively easily for much of early gaming, however with the introduction of the CD-ROM, music began to be pre-recorded with live instruments and this type of dynamic audio fell out of favour due to technical difficulties. Yes, the music would switch when you encountered an enemy or entered a new room, but the pieces of music themselves were largely the same regardless of player input.

The tides on this, however, are starting to change. Journey (2012) is a beautiful, wordless puzzle platformer, where as you play you can encounter other players playing online. The music, written by Austin Wintory, surrounds a main theme with different instruments representing the various characters: the cello represents the player, the bass flute represents the elders, the harp and viola represent other online players, the orchestra playing altogether represents the end goal of your journey. As Wintory explained “The score is like this accordion that can stretch and expand and change shape depending on how you play the game [and who you encounter].” Ape Out (2019) is a game where you play as a gorilla trying to escape through a maze, grabbing and throwing the people who try to stop you. The game is split into four sections (called albums), each modeled after a different style of jazz percussion. The entire soundtrack is procedurally generated jazz drumming which draws from a selection of thousands of drum samples (mostly recorded by composer, Matt Boch), changing depending how the player moves through the level. The gameplay itself is tight and thrilling, but the dynamic music is what makes it so astounding and exciting.

This is barely the tip of the iceberg. I don’t have time to talk about the work of Koji Kondo, possibly the most influential game composer ever. Or how and why games like Bioshock: Infinite (2013) and The Last of Us Part II (2020) use licensed music. Or the entire genre of rhythm games. Or even the “DK Rap” from Donkey Kong 64 (1999) (though that one probably deserves its own article). Describing video game music as a genre is too limited. It brings in everything from Russian folk songs to jazz percussion, from tinny electronica to sweeping orchestras. It works to create a world and responds to the ways you create in that world. It is an artform and one more complex, skillful, and thoughtful than it has been given credit for so far.

WORDS BY ROBERT GIBBONS

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Games

Among Us

and the Oversaturation of Video Game Trends Among Us. We’ve all played it, or at least heard of it. It’s everywhere at the time of writing this article. Opening up Twitch

at any point during the day, you’ll see a staggering number of people both streaming and viewing Among Us, enough to consistently beat out heavyweights like Fortnite and Call of Duty.

Normally, I’d be happy for something to beat out the AAA stalwarts and demonstrate that you don’t need to have flashy sequences and million dollar motion capture to create something that people can have fun with, but Among Us is indicative of a problem at large in the video game industry: that of oversaturation of trends within the market.

Trends are, and will always be, a huge part of any industry.The larger the trend, the more profit to be garnered, the more the works within said trend are given an air of legitimacy, regardless of individual quality.

This mass market generalization also stifles the creativity within the industry at large. Looking at previous trends, there are very few cases where chasing a trend resulted in a quality game. In the wake of a trendsetter becoming extremely popular, developers scramble to copy that game’s formula, occasionally with a few minor mechanical changes, instead of striving for new innovations, like how Man of Medan offers nothing more than Until Dawn on a boat, despite new features like the online multiplayer.

Don’t get me wrong, finding new ways to innovate in an industry that moves as fast as the video game industry is difficult. What has proven to be successful in the past can provide a helpful safety net, but new ideas and new ways to play games have always been the main thing that has kept the video game industry so fresh and vibrant.

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The release of Dark Souls in 2011 gave rise to a whole rake of difficult fantasy games with a harsh penalty for failure. Aside from properties also developed by From Software like Bloodborne and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, I can think of very few of these which adapted to the genre well, Hollow Knight and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order being the only ones which immediately stand out from its competitors. In the same way that ‘Metroid-vania’ became an all-encompassing by-word for games which open up previously inaccessible areas with the acquisition of new abilities, so too has ‘Souls-like’ become the reductive generalisation given by the media for any even moderately difficult game.

This pigeonholing of genre coupled with copy-cat studios, I believe, adds to trends becoming oversaturated. If studios see games of a certain type becoming hugely successful, and any attempts to create something outside the norm getting lumped in as ‘like’ an already popular game, they may very well curb their creativity and only make what’s popular in the press. Similar situations can be seen in the sudden glut of battle royale games which arose in the wake of Fortnite and PUBG becoming global smash-hits, and the strange fact that there is a market competitor to Farming Simulator of all things in the Pro Farmer series.

The blame for this oversaturation doesn’t lie solely at the feet of studios, however. We are also at fault. I think fondly of Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout. Though billed as a cutesy battle royale, Fall Guys had heart, it had charm, and it came free on PlayStation Plus during the month of August, so, naturally I was in love. So too, it seems, was the entire internet. The sheer number of players at any one time was severely hampered by the game’s limited initial run of courses, largely due to the small size of Devolver Digital as a studio, and so many grew tired of the repetition. Add to that what I think was a large factor in Fall Guys’ oversaturation: YouTube culture. At Fall Guys’ peak, there were hundreds, if not thousands, of streamers and content creators uploading gameplay, with new videos daily. All the collective hours of Fall Guys content put out every day more than likely lead directly to the ultimate burnout for fans of the game, and its complete replacement by Among Us. Among Us , despite being a three year old mobile game, has arisen to the same heights Fall Guys was in months ago in a far shorter period of time. It’ll be interesting to watch and see if it can survive the sheer magnitude of its own popular footprint, but I don’t think it will.

Call me cynical, but I don’t think that Among Us can withstand the tide and remain as large as it currently is. And my opinion isn’t reliant on the fact that there’s very little space for it to grow in game – though that is a key factor. It’s a business model which the industry can’t sustain: While Among Us is an outlier in that it is as old as it is, it does allow us to see how flawed the business model of creating games to surf the rising crests of popularity, only to abandon them and repeat once more when those crests prove to be no longer financially viable, is.

It’s in the face of such that we must turn away from Triple A games, even ones which break the mould in as many ways as Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding, and look instead to the indie frontier.

Supporting games like Supergiant’s Hades, Infinite Fall’s A Night in the Woods, or PaperSeven’s Blackwood Crossing and fostering a generation of creatives who can make their game ideas a reality without needing to chase the latest trends. When we see and play Among Us , we should see past the fun gameplay and cute visuals, and instead use it as a reminder of an industry wide problem which we have the means to rectify ourselves.

If Among Us has taught us anything, it’s to vote out those who sabotage the running of the ship, and I’m urging you all to vote to eject money hungry corporations so we can make our ship stable once again.

WORDS BY JAMES MCKEON

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Literature

The Weirdness of Capitalism in Exciting Times & Conversations with Friends

When Sally Rooney’s debut was released, she was “the Salinger for the Snapchat generation”. When Naoise Dolan’s

first book was published, The Irish Times promised Exciting Times would “fill the Sally Rooney-shaped hole in your heart”. Both pitches feel thin and cheap. Neither of them are signifiers of talented writers, but of commercially successful writers. They relied on the mechanical wheels of the literary marketplace to turn on their own and carry both authors to the top of the bestsellers list. Rooney and Dolan share one more similarity: they are communists, as are their protagonists.

When the reviews came in for Rooney’s debut, there was a slight difference in how it was celebrated at home and abroad. International reviewers noted the awareness Rooney had of how Irish people spoke, but journalists from home celebrated Rooney’s transcription of what they spoke about. Speaking on writing the zeitgeist, Colm Tóibín said “no matter what you do – what’s going on in the background of society has to make its way into the novel; even if you try to keep it out it’ll come in in some way or other, doesn’t mean you have to foreground this, but you have to know it”. In Rooney’s and Dolan’s novels, it is this weirdness of capitalism that hangs over the narrative. They write about a country where the average three bedroom semi-detached home in the capital city is €440k, but the average Dubliner’s annual salary is €40k — before tax. The effects of the free market are both directly and indirectly seen here, there is a widening gap between what you should want, and what you do want; the classic adultery plot of Conversations with Friends, and Dolan’s perfect love triangle.

When Frances, Rooney’s narrator, and her ex-to-best girlfriend, Bobbi, meet moneyed-Melissa, their self-introductions are simple and painful: Bobbi is gay and Frances is a communist (the suggestion is there that Bobbi would also be a communist, if only she didn’t come from so much money.) Frances’ political views are complicated by the fact that she relies on the fruits of a free-market Dublin which places value on personal ownership. Frances can live unemployed, alone and rent-free in the Capital by living in a family-owned apartment in the Liberties with parents well-off enough to fund her college fees, social life, and French holidays abroad. The only time she struggles financially is because she is too proud to ask for money, not because there is none there for her. So her claims to “destroy capitalism” are equal parts embarrassing and hollow; they are contradictory and self-effacing. Yet she can claim moral purity because she effectively owns nothing. She shouldn’t want the life she has, but she does; she definitely shouldn’t pine for Melissa’s husband, but of course, she does. It is a moral question: can a communist enjoy the smell of petrol?

There is a special irony lurking in the background of all of this, the Celtic Tiger, and its litter of Celtic Cubs.

Frances may not be used to owning nice things herself, but she knows what those nice things are. She says so clearly herself: “I was always thinking about rich people then”. The dramatic excess and sudden restriction of the early 2000s is familiar to the Cubs that grew up in the boom and matured in the bust. Their thought patterns begin to mirror movements of the economic model, and the principles of the time influence their understanding of the world. Competitive morals bleed into interpersonal relations, easily imagining them as transactional, seeing people as resources, and affecting psychologies. This intellectual dynamic is the locomotive of the novel, and Rooney delicately steers it for maximum dramatic effect.

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Editor's note: Caution, this essay will now discuss eating disorders and self-harm; please read with care In one conversation, Frances suggests that Nick’s depression is a “humane response to the conditions of late capitalism”; it is one of the most obvious references to the novel’s impulse to point to global concerns affecting personal behaviours. A similar rationale is continued with Frances’ relationship with food. At a critical moment of deconnection in an important relationship to her, she describes her body as feeling “used up and worthless to me. I didn’t want to put food or medicine into it anymore.” As Frances’ hold on her surrounding networks slacks, her relationship with her body similarly distorts. The dissolved boundaries between abstract and literal are dramatised — eroticised, even. By the detachment from her surroundings — within which her body is included — “the world was like a crumpled ball of newspaper to me, something to kick around.” Her unconscious reliance on the capitalist framework was untenable, unsustainable, so she jettisons her personal wants and identity to allow her communist beliefs to operate without conflict. Is there a correct way to give love and receive it? If there is no way to safely, humanely consume, then a clear, fail-safe answer is not to consume at all. This is a severe snatching back, the personal “bust” after the boom. As a communist, there is a certain comfort from rejecting everything associated with consumerism, though put to a personal level, it reads as disturbing and unhealthy. Rooney writes this tense cycle of push-and-pull — this boom-and-bust — with incredible sensitivity.

In Exciting Times, Dolan is much more thorough in her investigation into capitalist living. Rooney’s characters deal with the effects of capitalism in a passive, non-responsive way. Dolan’s Ava is more cynical and clever. Dolan is authorial and autonomous as a novelist, taking Ava out of Dublin, out of the West entirely and placing her in Hong Kong. The economics of the Dublin market make Ireland an exciting place to leave. The slipping out of free-market Dublin to Communist-led Hong Kong is fantastically hollow. At the end of the 20th century, not unlike Ireland, Hong Kong adopted capitalist economic policies, a move that opened the state up to neoliberalism. This was a major influence in the metropolisation of Hong Kong. Quickly, there was a rise in bankers, real estate agents, and a suffocating middle class.

Like Rooney’s Frances, Ava views the world through the prism of economics. Time is money in Dolan’s novel, not ironically, but practically. Characters are miserly with their time — counting it, weighing its worth. The life she leads in Dublin could be counted in euros, the hours of her “dead life” spent working was currencied by a wage and transfered into her hypothetical “abortion fund”, the savings kept to make it “harder for anyone to force me to do anything.” This sounds like a line from Frances: “as a feminist I have the right not to love anyone.” I’m not sure to what political end these ideas lean into; there is a simultaneous lamentation of individualism, but a push away from collectivism too. Both novels deal with a strong personality straining to collapse under and into the networks of society, but how to do that ethically in a system that can flip on a dime, for a dime. The plot of Exciting Times revolves around a love triangle between Ava, and Edith and Julian. This healthy competition between two parties, Edith and Julian, operating for the affection of a single consumer, Ava, is what propels the narrative, which is decorated with kinks, twists and severences, along. Ava struggles with the ethics of human interaction: how can you receive love without exploiting your lover? If, on a global level, selfishness causes so much pain and suffering, how can it be reconciled on a personal level? The novel lives to ask these questions, and comes to a beautiful end.

The messaging in both novels agree in a strikingly similar fashion: capitalist systems fail us. The crush comes when both protagonists buy into these systems, when they distance themselves from pure social intentions. But remission comes from the healing of community and interpersonal solidarity. I think of Melissa, who is pained more than anyone in either of the novels, “Are you making my husband better, Frances? What gives you the right to do that?” It is confirmed in the final scenes of each text, (no spoilers) when Frances answers the phone and Ava runs up the steps. The connectivity and the cost-neutral indulgence in interaction and love is the rejection of commodification. Not able to be qualified, labelled, packaged, sold.

WORDS BY SHANE MURPHY

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Literature

Flash Fiction: ‘In A Nickname’ There were five cameras bordering the green. They were always there, if you snaked around the back curve of

Westminster, reporters in private, pinching hives. She wondered what the point was, in having five cameras and five channels to tell the same story.

She stood tall and fixed her face harsh as she walked, chest squared three-quarters to camera. It would be good to be a walking-woman. If she was abducted, the police would find this footage and release it with a timestamp. They would analyse the video, her hard face, debate whether she was escaping to or from someone. She looked at what was behind her; a mother who was sagging and her baby, also sagging. They would have an alibi. She wondered on how many screens she existed as a backgrounder, cast against trees that would one day be felled, sliced, cocooned as chairs or tables or fire. This would matter, in twenty years: it was inevitable.

She had watched a documentary on The Falling Man. It did not matter who he was, how he landed, if his spine went through his skull or his shins into his stomach. He was forever a man and he was forever falling. ‘It made him immune from death,’ she had told Eliza in History and Eliza had said ‘I think that it is immune to, not immune from.’

She enjoyed being seen. She had learnt to track people’s eyelines up and down her body: you learn that by sixteen. She felt new and she stared at her legs, often, reflected back at her on shiny surfaces. She looked taller than she felt. She was a historical X. This she could not help, framing herself in front of parliament as she had. Every day she walked this way around the green and every day she was on film.

She leaned her left hip into one of those rooted black-street-bins that said LITTER on it in gold, so that you knew what not to do. She was just to the left of one of the reporters’ heads. He had shiny brown hair that puffed itself around his shirt collar. She had a honeyed urge to slide up to him and untuck it. She imagined the watchers in their living rooms sitting up and laughing and she got why people waved to their mothers or flashed their breasts on live broadcasts.

Gabriel appeared opposite. She saw him, on the side of the green that ducked behind the cameras, hoist himself up onto a wall. He fiddled in his bag as she climbed up next to him, extracting a cardboard triangle that was a ham-and-cheese sandwich. He had clean, pink nails.

She said, “I can’t eat meat anymore, it makes me sick.”

Gabriel said, “since when?”

“I had an epiphany on the banks of the Ganges.” She was joking, sort of, but she had just got back from Christmas in Delhi, where she had seen a chicken’s neck snapped and its arms plucked and felt sick from the smell.

“Sure you did, sure.”

“I knew suddenly that it was wrong.”

“I see.” Gabriel had put the sandwich on his lap and little brown crumbs sugared the top of his trousers. “I will inform the press.” He gestured down from the wall and Jane smirked at the idea of all these men severing their pieces-to-camera to look up to the wall. She liked them like this: torn from politics and captivated by two small faces and brown-bread.

“Why thank you, Gabriel, you do that.”

“No problem, Janey.”

Gabriel split the sandwich and Jane watched it tear, tissuey. He folded one half of it down into her hand.

“You know that I’m on the news every day.” They were owls, now, perched on the wall, watching.

“What about when they edit the background in?”

“They don’t. There would be no point in them being out here if they used editing.” Jane stuck her nose into Gabriel’s shoulder. “Would there.”

“I dunno. They do most stuff in post.” Gabriel thought this might be true. Jane squirrelled her hand up the

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“If you had seen me on the TV, you would think I was a Lady or a Mistress or a Politician, wouldn’t you.”

“No, because you’re wearing your school blazer.”

“I wasn’t, it was in my bag.” Jane had been wearing it.

“Well then. In that case.” Gabriel smiled and leaned backwards into the sky.

The reporters were having lunch now. Crisps. They broke off into little burrows of silent eating, shoulders dropped and eyebrows flat. She did not know that reporters ate crisps. The one with the shiny hair had a napkin on his neck like a toddler and was fanning red crisp-dust onto it. He was unshelled. There was a new rhythm to the place, the deep, frenzied munching of farmed pigs. Deadlines, Jane thought, with a twinge of the adult, deadlines.

Gabriel took out a Ribena and poured her a shot into the lid and she tipped it into her throat. She watched his long, soft fingers scroll up the cap. She stretched her leg down to see where it came to on his, which suddenly seemed the only marker she had ever had of height and length. He put his hand on the small of her back and rubbed it up and down.

It was warm when he did this, like she had suddenly been given a back and it was precious. She knitted her hand into his and they sat in bloated moments, like families over a tee-vee dinner, taking in the world.

She wasn’t with Gabriel but they ate together every day. She was seeing a thirty-two year old with crow’s feet. He was a lecturer at Birkbeck and took her to watch all sorts of classical music – if classical music existed in sorts. Jane wasn’t a connoisseur and often fell asleep but she loved to appear whisked and naïve. The crow’s feet were deep and purple at the sides of his eyes.

There were so many things that she wasn’t, yet. But she was here, with Gabriel. She took a bite of the sandwich.

There were some things you would tell people, she thought, because they are better stories. There are some things you do for the words-of-it and for your children to pass on and there are some things you do just because you are hungry, like eating ham.

Gabriel walked her back to school and they parted ways by the bus-stop outside. No problem, Janey sat still in her ear. It was definite and silver to have her name on his lip, like she had been christened. She went to the sink in the arts building and began to wash her hands and face. She so wanted to be Janey. Jane looked very pale in the mirror. She sucked in her cheeks and pictured what her death mask would be like. She parted her lips and widened her eyes and imagined being in an open casket with a stranger doing her eulogy: a celebration of a Vegetarian Life Well-Lived with Older Lovers. By then she would be all those empty, weighty descriptors. She often imagined eulogies and obituaries, people boiled down into one-liners like bones to stock. You can know someone in a line, sure, but it is a specific sort of knowing.

She imagined floating above the church, through dough bodies and wooden pews. She saw herself moving through faceless mourners in their deep black coats, lurching for their hats and hands and completely unable to feel them.

Her stomach tripped when she held that feeling of weightlessness. She squeezed her toes against her socks. Her stomach tripped when she invoked that feeling of weightlessness. She squeezed her toes against her sock. She imagined Gabriel’s Janey emerging, sure and angular. She felt it jabbing her floating ghost on the nose and slapping her back, rigid, into the wooden casket.

“He was the first person that I really knew,” is what she thought that she would say about him in twenty years, but even that was false. Descriptions cheapened him. Ella said that she was sleeping with Gabriel but Ella was a fantasist - most people are. Besides, it was she who lunched with him on the wall, Jane thought, looking up from the mirror and drying her hands, and that is what mattered.

This story is part of TN2’s ongoing flash fiction series, which aims to give a platform to exciting new writers from Trinity. If you would like your fiction to be considered for publication, simply submit it to literature@tn2magazine.ie along with your name and a one-sentence bio.

WORDS BY MAYA KULUKUNDIS

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Music

From Dream Pop to Psych Rock: How Lana Del Rey Transcends Genre

After the lyricism and critical success of Norman F*cking Rockwell! Del Rey’s first poetry collection ultimately disappoints

The

past few months have seen several high profile artists toying with genre, and creating music that is more akin to poetry or storytelling compared to conventional pop lyrics. Taylor Swift’s Folklore received widespread critical acclaim for its expressive and accomplished lyrics which marked a radical departure from her previous orientation towards top 40 hits. Lana Del Rey also published her much anticipated Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass (VBBOTG), her first poetry collection in late September. While Del Rey is famous for her haunting, expressive song lyrics, with her most recent album, Normal F*cking Rockwell! (NFR!) arguably being her strongest yet lyrically, this poetry collection unfortunately disappoints.

Video Games, released in 2011, sparked Del Rey’s career as she began to make famous for her aesthetic which she characterised as “Lolita lost in the hood,” and “the gangster Nancy Sinatra.” The commercial success of Born to Die, and later Ultraviolence, created a cult following around the honey-voiced, old Hollywood image of Del Rey. ‘Cola’, ‘Lolita’, ‘Off to the Races’ and ‘Million Dollar Man’ cemented this image, and while these songs identified Del Rey as a pioneering voice of alt pop and indicated evident talent, they often felt repetitive and somewhat inauthentic. Up until the much anticipated Norman F*cking Rockwell!, Del Rey’s lyrics were so derivative that it was essentially possible to make a Lana Song Generator with the words ‘cigarettes’, ‘California’, ‘cocaine’, and a tale of tragic romance with a man twice your age thrown in for good measure.

Lust for Life, Del Rey’s fourth studio album, seemed to break out of this rut, featuring an increased lyrical celebration of agency in her collaboration with The Weeknd. The fusion of old school and new influences in her flirtation with hip-hop production melded much more successfully than in previous clunky attempts in Born to Die. Although a difficult album to coalesce, given the collaborative songs featuring an eclectic mix of artists including Stevie Nicks, Sean Lennon and A$AP Rocky, Del Rey struck a skilful balance. ‘Tomorrow Never Came’, with Sean Ono Lennon managed to walk the line between classicism and modernity with the subtle Beatles-like chord progression mixed with delicate percussion, interspersed with mystical instrumentation and Del Rey’s elusive X factor.

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That being said, it was the much-anticipated Norman Fucking Rockwell! that was the true hallmark of Del Rey’s evolution as a lyricist, as it was her most poetically accomplished work so far. The titular song, which denounces her love interest as a “goddamn man child” rather than the typical bad boy or knight in shining armour she previously rhapsodised about, demonstrates Del Rey presenting herself in a more empowered role than in her previous work. The Grammy-nominated album features some knock out tracks, most notably ‘Mariner’s Apartment Complex’ and ‘Hope Is a Dangerous Thing’ as the lyrics and organic instrumentation truly put Del Rey’s stereotypical image as a one dimensional artist to bed.

The strong, impassioned vocals of ‘F*ck It, I love You’ marks a significant departure from the often vapid, breathy croons of her earlier work, as does the wry nihilism and tinkling piano of ‘Happiness is a Butterfly’. The extended psychedelic rock adventure of ‘Venice B*tch’ is impressive as it doesn’t grow tiresome, with the synthesised strings and lulling chorus carrying the listener through all nine beautiful minutes.

While Del Rey’s poetry collection Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass is visually stunning with her own photography, and thick, yellowed typewritten manuscript pages, the poetry is very much of the bitty Instagram caption-esque genre, desperately trying to flex a degree of intellectual prowess the author doesn’t seem to have; an example being an entire page being dedicated to lines like “The universe exists / because we are aware of it.” However, the collection contains glimpses of Del Rey’s widely loved trademarks. A penchant for old Americana shines through strongly in her allusions to Whitman and Plath, similar to the dark and brooding longing of ‘California’, or coy nod to Mama Cass in ‘F*ck it, I love you’.

NFR! ultimately demonstrated a striking lyrical maturation and a new-found ability to balance nostalgia with modernity. While ‘Mariner’s Apartment Complex’ promised great things to come, instructing us to take the outstretched hand Lana offers on the NFR! album cover, “catch a wave, and just take in the sweetness,” VBBOTG was a step backwards for her, damaging her reputation as an outstanding lyricist.

NFR! managed to merge genuinely emotional lyrics without spilling over into sentimentality or cliche, and was brimming with wit and complexity as it lamented failed romance in a crumbling America where “Kanye West is blonde and gone.” VBBOTG unfortunately failed to follow suit. The collection leans heavily on Del Rey’s keen ability to evoke moving and vivid images in a few words, and while it has echoes of tragedy and nostalgia for a country that no longer exists, its inability to stand on its own two feet, divorced from Del Rey’s existing fame, means it is enough to please only the most die hard of fans.

WORDS BY GRACE GAGEBY

29

Music

Lockdown Listens: Soundtracks to my Isolation Lockdown has meant many different things for many

different people. Some of us have had to deal with the loneliness of isolation, others with the anxiety that comes with frontline work and even some have found some solace in a break from our usually fast paced life. It’s not surprising, coming with this uncertain territory that the music that has become our accompanying soundtracks to the pandemic will vary drastically.

We might need to rave in our kitchens to 80s cheese, go for our government-approved run to hardcore metal, or just stare at the ceiling to acoustic folk. During the last lockdown, I found myself drawn to contemplative music that told stories rich in emotions and description. I craved music that could leave me with images of other places but also sympathise with the general feeling of despair and longing. While my Spotify playlists became overrun with several different songs that captured this mood, there were two albums in particular I couldn’t stop replaying.

The first was Punisher, Phoebe Bridgers’ second album after her much-acclaimed debut Stranger in the Alps, which I had already listened to obsessively. It’s release in June was one of the highlights of lockdown and it genuinely seemed like the album I needed. It’s cathartic in many senses. Throughout the album, Bridgers takes the space to explore her feelings surrounding a multitude of complex relationships. Her relationship with her father is explored with dry humour and understated sadness in the album’s most musically upbeat track, ‘Kyoto’.

“Punisher” is a beautiful ode to Elliott Smith, Bridger’s greatest influence, and about feeling deeply connected to an artist that will never know you exist. My personal highlight of the album is “I Know the End” which perfectly captures the sense of anxiety and dread that currently permeates the world as it is. It’s not an album to raise your spirits but it likely has a song that fits whatever scenario you end up overthinking while remaining unable to do much else.

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The other was a revisit to a classic, Blood on the Tracks, one of Bob Dylan’s greatest albums and in my opinion, has some of the best written songs of all time. Despite being released in 1975, I consider this one of the albums of my childhood, but not one that I properly appreciated until last lockdown. Like many music fanatics, I had a parent who was also a music fanatic. I don’t think I ever had a long car journey where one of my mother’s many Bob Dylan CD’s wasn’t playing.

While it’s pretty much universally agreed that Bob Dylan is an incredible songwriter, the main example of this being his Nobel Prize for literature, I saw him as an annoyance for most of my life, an obstacle to what I wanted to listen to on the radio. Despite my rebellious ingrained distaste, I ended up spending the lockdown completely proving myself to be an idiot. Nearly every song on that album is a work of poetic art. He weaves astounding imagery within tales of love, heartbreak and longing. Many of these songs use poetic techniques and literary tropes to such a tremendous extent that it would make an English teacher dizzy. The possible interpretations are many and if you’re that way inclined, you could spend hours pouring over them trying to grasp the full weight of their meanings.

Listening to “Tangled up in Blue” is like having a perfectly succinct short story bouncing in your ears over acoustic guitar and folky harmonica. But despite what sounds like what could be a pretentious mess, the album is incredibly enjoyable to listen to. “Meet Me in the Morning” is an excellent example of the swaggering sexiness that can come when the blues merge with folk rock. The album switches from upbeat to subdued, energetic to mournful as you move through the album without losing its sense of cohesiveness.

We still have a few weeks left of the second lockdown and it will continue to be a difficult time for many. The stress of this isolating time combined with looming deadlines will mean that it’s easy to feel guilty when we binge through whatever we haven’t yet seen on Netflix or read something that hasn’t been assigned. Yet the beauty of music is that it’s art that can be enjoyed in the small pockets we have between Zoom university and our booked library slots. I personally find these albums great for that as well as a deeper listen when I have the time. The vibes of both actually pair really well with the cold winter walks I’ve started doing to stave away boredom. Good music can liven up the most boring of scenery and make the most mundane of tasks seem profound. The continued lockdown seems to be full of both, so good music is an essential service.

WORDS BY KATE L. RYAN 31

Sex Talking to Natalya Price: Interview with a Sex and Relationships Therapist CONTENT WARNING: references to sexual assault, abuse, gaslighting, gender and sexuality Could you briefly introduce yourself?

My name is Natalya Price. I’m a psychotherapist and I practice relationship and sex therapy.

Do you often speak to young people about their sexual/relationship concerns?

About 70% of my clients are younger than 32. My younger clientele particularly come to me to discuss sexual issues.

How do you think that dating/relationship practices have changed over the past decade?

We have seen the rise of dating apps and hook-up culture. Sexual imagery is now available to us 24/7, even from a young age. We are surrounded by social media.

What advice would you give to a young person who is looking to start dating for the first time?

I would tell that person to really get to know themselves better. You need to get to know your body, your mind, and your relational self. Your relational self concerns how you are with other people around you. You might think about who knows you well, who you know well, how you open up. You should also clarify to yourself what your vulnerabilities are, what your strengths are, as well as your boundaries.

What advice would you give to a student who has been looking to date for a long time, but has been struggling to find someone special?

You should think about what is special to you; question what you are really looking for – be that furthering your sexual experiences, deep connection – anything you can think of. You really need to make yourself aware of what is special to you right now. If you meet someone you like, you should consider how this person matches up against what is special to you.

You should also consider whether you would date you. Question whether you are special, if you invest enough in yourself. You should try to clearly determine what your hobbies and passions are. If you decide to step away from online dating you could try to meet someone whilst doing an activity that you enjoy. If you prefer to use the online dating format, you should remember that where people get stuck the most is in the chatting phase - they forget to connect, either in person or over video call. You need to remember that, even online, there are ways you can do things with another person, so that you can create shared experiences.

What advice might you give to students who are just starting to date someone new?

You should pay attention to, and reflect often upon, how you feel. When you make judgements about this new person, you should question why you are making these judgements – are these judgements coming solely from yourself and your own mind, or do you feel that they have been formed by culture and its expectations?

You need to talk a lot. You must communicate if someone crosses your boundaries, or makes you feel uncomfortable.

How do you broach more serious topics with someone you have started to date?

By talking and being very honest. You should think about why it is important for you to discuss this topic. Ask yourself: ‘What is this about?’ You need to learn to analyse and express your own values or opinions.

How do you bring up the topic of safe sex?

You just need to make sure you talk about it. When you bring up the topic of safe sex with your partner, you are contributing to setting different standards of sexual discourse; you are encouraging others to realise that it is not embarrassing to talk about safe sex, it is embarrassing not to talk about it.

What advice would you give to someone who is considering making their sexual début?

You should ask yourself, ‘Why now?’ You should question what taking this step means to you. Remember that you have the ability to choose how you want to approach sex. You should prepare yourself ahead of your sexual début; allow yourself to read as much as you can, take your questions to good, reputable sources, and find the answers you need. Take the time to explore your own body – you need to know your own body before you decide to share it with someone else.

As a good rule of thumb, I would recommend not having sex until you feel comfortable talking about sex with your partner, as you need to be able to comfortably talk about contraception and consent. You should make sure that you and your partner are on the same page in terms of why you’re initiating sexual contact.

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You definitely don’t want to have different agendas.One other top tip is to try and ensure that neither you or your partner are drunk when you first engage in sexual activity. You both need to be fully in your right mind.

Any tips on how to introduce your S/O to your friends/family?

There is a little test involved in the act of introducing your S/O to those who are important to you. It forces you to ask yourself whether you feel comfortable enough to make these introductions. If you don’t feel comfortable enough, ask yourself why this might be.

What advice would you give to students who are struggling to find balance between spending time with their S/O, their friends, their studies, work, etc.?

Balancing your time and energy is something that you have to sit down and really look at. Different aspects of your life might have particular importance at different times. It might even help you to draw a pie chart, so that you can visually acknowledge what you want to prioritise/deprioritise.You might stumble in matching your own ideal balance with your partner’s, because people have different ideas about what is too much or too little time to invest in someone. This is okay, you just need to make sure that you are always being honest about how you feel.

Is it okay to find other people attractive when you are in a relationship?

Yes – you’re not dead! You should find other people attractive, as attraction is central to how we connect with people.

Just make sure not to act on your romantic attractions if you are in a monogamous relationship.

How do you recover from your first/any fights/disagreements?

It is impossible not to have conflict in a relationship, and the repair period after an argument is very useful. After an argument, you need to really look at how the fight was for you. You should ask yourself if and how you can understand your partner’s opinion. You should question to what extent you can have empathy and compassion towards your partner and their position.

Do you think that it is vital for a couple to be sexually compatible?

What is sexually compatible? When you start being intimate with somebody, you are starting to really co-create your sex life. Being in a sexual relationship with someone is a case of figuring things out together.

How important is communication around sex?

Everything! You should talk about sex before sex, during sex, after sex, and between sexual encounters!

How do you increase intimacy in your relationship?

You increase intimacy in your relationship by allowing yourself to be vulnerable with your partner, and inviting them to be vulnerable in return.

How do you know that someone is right for you long term?

It depends who you are and what long-term means for you. Does ‘long-term’ mean that you’re looking for stability, or is it something else? For example, ‘long-term’ might mean, in certain circumstances, that you want somebody to explore the world with. You really need to ask yourself what you need and how that person matches your needs.

How do you know if you are ready to live with someone?

Ask your roommates how you are to live with. You need to come to an understanding of what you need from someone you live with. Make sure to ask yourself what your boundaries are, and whether you are ready to have that person in your space.

How might your relationship change if you/your partner finishes college, or enters the work-place?

Your relationship probably will change, as these are life-changing events. These events affect your location and your availability.

It is okay to feel afraid whilst also feeling happy for your partner, but I would encourage you to look at this developmental step as an opportunity.In the long-run, you need to think about how you will negotiate the results of these changes, and think about how you/your partner will integrate into the other’s new life.

What tips do you have for building/maintaining a successful/happy long-distance relationship?

Ask yourself how you can stay connected to your partner. Think about who is more comfortable using video-call, who prefers to simply telephone, etc. Ask what activities you can do together remotely. Think about who will take charge of organising specific activities. It is important to create experiences that you can share - even if it’s just a quick cup of tea.

Sometimes it might be nice to organise a call whilst your friends are with you, so that it feels like your partner is still present in your day-to-day life.

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Sex Sometimes, it might even be as simple as putting the laptop in your room and doing your own thing.

When you reunite, make sure to be gentle with each other. Just because you have been physically reunited for a period of time, it doesn’t mean that you both have to be the best time ever. Try not to set unrealistic expectations. Make sure to reassess your situation a lot. Tell your partner if there is something that you are unhappy with.

How do you know if someone is the one?

You don’t, and I don’t think that there is one.We have far more choices now as to who we pursue. Our choices aren’t just limited to those in our sights.Lots of therapists today are coming to the view that there are a lot of unrealistic views about love, relationships, and what partners should be for each other. These unrealistic expectations start from vows. If you elevate someone to the position of ‘the one,’ then the one can’t be human. You enforce the idea that the one can’t make mistakes or hurt you, etc.You will both make mistakes and you’re going to work on them together. You need to bring yourself into the mindset of, ‘This is who I’m with now, and this is who I choose for however long.’

What advice would you give to anyone who is questioning/struggling with their sexuality/gender identity?

We are lucky that, today, there is much more cultural encouragement to question our sexuality and gender. Both are aspects of your identity which are pretty big things to question. Instead of finding this overly daunting, give yourself permission to not know exactly who you are at all times, to wonder, and to stay in the questioning mode.

I would advise you to find a neutral support, like a counsellor. You could also find a like-minded group. In fact, I would advise you to find several sources of support. I would also advise you to direct your questions to several different, trustworthy sources. I would stress that counselling may be a really good resource to use.

Do you have any top tips for anyone wanting to learn more about/develop their sexuality?

Sex education is a good idea, and there are loads of good resources out there now. You just need to be brave and start reading!

Make sure that you’re finding reputable sources. Personal stories can be fabulous tools for helping you to feel better understood, but it is important to try and find sources devoid of emotional attachment as well, in order to try and gain a balanced perspective.

What advice would you give to someone who has started to date someone from a different culture?

Be prepared to be open and curious. See any cultural differences - however big they are - as an opportunity for your own development or enhancement, rather than as a source of conflict. Don’t be threatened by things which you haven’t experienced before or don’t understand. Instead, ask yourself: ‘How can I see this from the other person’s point of view?’

Do you have any advice for someone with a mental/physical disability who is looking to better understand/develop their sexuality?

Maybe come and see a therapist to get some specialised personal advice.

What advice would you give to someone who is looking to date again after being in an abusive relationship?

Spend a good amount of time with yourself, hopefully with a trained professional. You need to understand yourself and how you operate in a relationship. You must ask yourself: ‘Why didn’t I spot it sooner?’ The process involves a lot of self-reflection, but also a lot of healing.

What advice would you give to anyone who is looking to date again/is in a relationship who has recently been the victim of sexual assault?

I would advise you to remember that sexual assault is a trauma. This means that you need to do trauma work – hopefully with a trained, trauma therapist. Then, once you feel ready and you have dealt with the trauma, come back to see a sex therapist. It is key to remember that there are two parts to this process. Trauma therapists are fantastic at facilitating healing, but tend to leave out the sex bit.

How might you tell if you are the victim of gaslighting?

Ask yourself if you often second-guess yourself. If you feel that you do, then ask: ‘Where do I start questioning myself a lot?’, ‘Where are my words twisted?’, ‘Where do I not trust myself?’

What are your top dating red-flags?

If you feel that the person doesn’t have proper boundaries, and that they are not respectful of yours.

If your values massively differ from your partner’s.

If the person is not really interested in you. A key sign of this might be that they only talk about themselves.

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QUESTIONS BY ALICE PAYNE

TN2’s Agony Aunt 3

Unfortunately, we are in lockdown again. When the first edition of this series was written, I made reference to the fact that

we were in a global pandemic. It’s a difficult time and it’s made relationships all that more difficult to form and maintain.

I’m here to provide advice and — since no one has suggested I quit yet — I must be doing something right.

I have been having sex with my boyfriend for about six months and in that time I don't feel that I have orgasmed once. However, he says I have! I have all of the signs - lots of vocalisations, very wet and he says I have muscle spasms when he's inside me. Whatever we do obviously feels great but I haven't ever got to that like 'release' stage so I don't know what to do. We're trying new stuff all the time but he's getting exhausted having to rub me for so long and not getting a big result. Any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks!

Chloe: First of all, many women have trouble achieving orgasm and it’s unfortunate that you’re experiencing this. Sex is subjective and what we enjoy and what makes us orgasm is so unique to us that sometimes it can be tricky to achieve that. The first piece of advice I can give you is to familiarise yourself with your own body. While your boyfriend may recognise what he perceives as signs of orgasm (which he’s not wrong about!), if you feel that you haven’t reached that point, then you probably haven’t. Nobody knows your body better than you, and it may be helpful to try and figure out what helps you achieve orgasm by yourself. Then, maybe bring this forward to your boyfriend. One of the most important things you can do in a relationship is to communicate with your partner. If you can recognise something that works for you, then you should let him know about it. While you say you’ve been trying lots of new things, these new things might not necessarily be what works for you and the key aspect of achieving orgasm is finding that one thing.

If it’s more a case of you knowing what works for you and your boyfriend being unable to recreate that, maybe it could be worth exploring other avenues, such as introducing sex toys which can help aid with orgasm.

It’s also important to remember not to put too much pressure on yourself to reach the point of orgasm. Your frustration is completely understandable, but the added pressure that exists when orgasm is considered the ‘conclusion’ of sex creates a lot of anxiety that may actually impede what you’re trying to achieve.

I'm 23 and my boyfriend and I have been together for 6 years in which time I have had doubts, like everyone I'm sure.

I've never really been with anyone else we got together when I was 17 and I never expected that we'd actually still be together now. I love him but I think being alone is an important part of adulthood and I don't want to get older and regret not having that time. Am I just being greedy wanting something I don't have when the situation I'm in is pretty great anyway?

Chloe: What you are saying is right: being alone is an important part of adulthood. Crucial development takes place between the ages of 17 to 23, and it might feel like being in this lengthy relationship has stunted or taken some of that from you. It’s completely normal to feel like this, but I think it’s important to consider what it is that you feel you need space from. Do you want some time alone predominantly to be away from your boyfriend, or, do you want time alone to focus on your growth?

Both of these things are completely fine and it’s not greedy to crave either. But it is important to consider the consequences of what taking a break from a relationship will do. Once the fundamental dynamics of a relationship change, it’s hard to reclaim the ‘previous’ relationship that once existed, and this could be a very real issue if you do decide to take some time alone.

Communication is key to any relationship. While it may be a daunting topic to approach, you might find that your boyfriend has similar feelings and, even if he doesn’t, nothing bad should ever come from telling someone how you feel.

Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide what you need space from, and then to make a decision based on what you need. However, it is important to talk to your partner so that you can make an informed decision, whatever it is you decide.

WORDS BY CHLOÉ MANT ART BY CATHERINE DING 35

Theatre

Exhausted // Opinion WORDS BY ANONYMOUS ART BY LOLA FLEMING

(A note for the reader, this is not a bash against any artist or organization in this industry. These are just an amalgamation of thoughts and observations over the past couple of years..)

I have had it, quite simply.

I am exhausted of the Irish Theatre industry. It is like whipping a dead horse. A horse that has been decaying for years, but the same jockey and stables owner keeps trying to muster something from it.

I know there is the age old adage “theatre has been dead for years”, or “western theatre died with the Greeks”, but, given the current state that the Irish Theatre Industry is in, it simply cannot go on for much longer. COVID-19 aside, it has been an industry marred with artistic decline for years; I am sick to death of seeing the same ideas, people, companies, aesthetics, egos, themes, actors, adaptations and interpretations of plays, directors - you name it. I remember fondly saying to a close friend “if I see another [redacted] country kitchen setting again, I will just leave the theatre.” She wholeheartedly agreed.

I once stumbled upon this industry with eyes like saucers, and possessed a bright hope that someday I could be successful like the Theatre Greats. I built up an understanding and a repertoire of people, plays, styles, techniques, even enjoying the sight of the “country kitchen setting”. But years of putting blood, sweat and tears into trying to make a reputable name for myself, has exhausted me.

The realization came to me upon reflection, when journaling about my career in this supposedly “dead” industry. I surmised that the reason why I am so exhausted is simply due to trying to fit in with “The Established” and their structures of existing and operating (would Modus Operandi be a better phrase?). The Established is a term I am using to convey those in this industry who decide on the ‘artistic vision’ or how theatre should be, or how an artist should convey themselves. I don’t know who came up with this, or if there is some ‘1984 Big Brother type of control going on’, but, whatever form it takes, it is most definitely there. I have succumbed to this masking, this trying to fit in with The Established.

From the age of 19, I was deviating from my authentic self by trying to fit in with the popular “Established” in my course. Moulding into an image that is accepted is something that I have battled with, and subsequently lost. My time in college was marred by feelings of inadequacy based on my socio-economic background. I was in class with people from all walks of life, international students, students from outside of The Pale, middle/upper class students, but, here I was, in a place of privilege that I fought tooth and nail to be in, and I was terrified. I needed a structure to hold on to, and it was badly built.

Fast forward to me trying to navigate my way through early adulthood and college, and I really hated it, but could never admit it. I despised how my clothing style was warping into what The Popular in my course were doing (I look terrible in culottes and Doc Martens). I hated that I was becoming more self-conscious of my thick Dublin accent. I began trying to fit into a size that, quite frankly, I would never fit into. Theatre is a safe space where those who didn’t fit into social norms could have a place of feeling acceptance from peers. But, within that microcosm, popular, or Established, power structures emerged yet again.

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Now that I have some more theatre and career experience under my belt, here is some guidance of staying true to yourself and not trying to play in with the crowd.

Accepting the fact that you will never be “Them”.

Why would you want to be a part of the Crowd who does everything the same? To feel socially accepted? All that matters is your character, how you treat people, your work ethic, and passions.

Show kindness and interest in others. The right people will gravitate your way. It’s ok to be an outsider.

Realizing that you’re only in competition with yourself.

This is something that you need to remember. Other people can be working on a lot of productions or are creating new works constantly, and you have yet to pick up a pen or open the laptop. That is ok. Do what you’re interested in and when you have the time. They have their work, and you have yours. Once you stop rushing and throwing yourself into a cesspit of anxiety, your creativity will flow and you will feel at peace. Once you narrow the race down to one, then you’re obviously going to win the race (you see, it’s smart thinking.)

To celebrate other artists' works.

Look at the work going on around you. Let that inspire you to keep trucking along and keeping your passions in place. Don’t despair that you don’t have work that is being produced. You will get there. I promise you. In the mean-time, congratulate your peers for getting their work out there. This industry can be vicious, and it just takes one sincere comment to make someone feel like it’s all worth it.

Carrying yourself with confidence.

This is hard to do in an age where we all project faux images of who we are in order to feel accepted. Look at yourself in the mirror, think about where you have come from, what you’ve been through, and where you are now. Know that you will soldier on through any shortcomings because you have the strength and assurance in yourself to keep going. Even on days where you feel so low, remember that you can only go up from there. You will always have a good head on your shoulders, trust it.

Going off on instinct and passion, rather than what is mandated.

How many times do we hear of actors, or artists, deviating from what is expected? This is the essence of creativity.

Yes, you can learn how others create, but you need to bring your own instinct and passion. If everyone learned how to act or create the same, it wouldn’t be creativity, just a mass manufactured idea of how someone should be creative.

Living your own truth and story.

Nothing is more inspiring and interesting than being and celebrating who you are. Your culture is important. Your story is important. Your religion is important. Your passions are important. Take the stage and tell us.

Just keeping trucking along. You’ll get there!

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Theatre

A Psychogeographical Voyage Through the Cities and their Theatremakers

“The city is a discourse, and this discourse is actually a language: the city speaks to its inhabitants, we speak to our city, the city where we are, simply by inhabiting it, by traversing it, by looking at it.”

Roland Barthes, Semiology and Urban Planning

If we consider the artistic act alone, to what extent does it affect the city and how much does the city affect the artistic act? “Hugo has written a very fine chapter of an extremely subtle intelligence, ‘This will kill that’; ‘this’, which is to say the book, ‘that’, which is to say the monument.”

Psychogeography is essential to understanding the spiritual relationship between the city and its inhabitants. The most famous definition of psychogeography is: “the point at which psychology and geography collide, a means of exploring the behavioural impact on the urban space.” The behavioural impact on the urban space, however, may also be approached in a spiritual way. Indeed, psychogeography is related to the research of the genius loci, which is the spiritual sense of the place as perceived by one subject. In an artistic context, the research of the genius loci leads to the elimination of any boundary between art and urban space, so that every artistic act and any other person’s behaviour leave a trace in the spiritual stratifications of the city. Psychogeography is popular for its tracing maps which follow the spirit of the place as perceived by one subject, who is always a wanderer, rather than representing how the city physically appears.

The first psychogeographical map is considered to be contained in Daniel Defoe’s novel A Journal of the Plague Year (1772) which depicts London through a fictitious eyewitness of the plague that infected the city in 1665, imaging how the urban signs became unrecognisable to its very inhabitants, providing a map of this disorientation. According to psychogeography, each urban element has in itself this stratification of spiritual and virtual meanings that any subject leaves by living in the city. Both the psychogeographical and linguistic study accept that there is a mutual influence between the people and the city.

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Let us now take into account The Roman amphitheatre built around the 1st or 2nd Century BC in Lucca, a city located in Tuscany. Originally the amphitheatre was built outside the city as it was common during the Roman era and its capacity was about ten thousand people. The first account of change of the function of the building happened with the barbaric invasions when the theatre was employed as a storehouse and its decorations were removed.

Under a semiological point of view we can see how the advent of a new cultural code, the primal function of the theatre (capacity of people) was substituted with another primal function (capacity of goods) and the elimination of the decorations that connoted the entertaining, cultural and social aspect of the space was deformed through their removal, adapting to the new function and code. The function of the amphitheatre changed again during the Middle Ages, when it was employed for the citizen assembly as witnessed by a parchment dated back to 980 BC. In modern times, buildings started to rise around the central empty space, originating the sui generis town centre that maintains the elliptical shape of the original theatre whose walls are still visible as they merged with more recent buildings.

If a theatrical space can become the city, can the city materially become the theatrical space beyond the metaphor of Theatrum Mundi? How can theatre-makers detach themselves from the cultural code they belong to in order to look at the urban space, beyond its denoted signifiers, and conceive new ones for theatrical purposes? The artist, in particular the theatre-maker, can detach themselves from their cultural code and look at a given architectural element beyond denoted and connoted signifieds, and therefore contribute to the evolution of the code.

Philippe Petit is a French high tightrope walker whose performances we shall explore in order to understand how the argument from the previous paragraph can be translated in practice, explaining, at the same time, what makes Petit an artist and not only an athlete. We shall start by considering the list and locations of Petit’s early performances: Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris (1971), Sydney Harbour Bridge (1973), World Trade Center in New York (1974). Analysing these buildings with semiological lenses, we notice how they all have different denoted and connoted functions; however, they must also have a common structure that goes beyond their current functions that made Petit elect them as suitable buildings for his performances. This structure consists of the void between two towers. Hence, he necessarily detached himself from the code, looking beyond the different functions in the height of these buildings, such as proximity to god and economic power. So why is Philippe Petit a theatrical figure? Because he was able to look at an object for what it is, overturning its meaning and leading viewers to an inevitable physical change of their senses which are fitered by the code.

Without official permission, Petit walked over buildings that connote high social symbolical powers, and through the act of stepping over them, he automatically subverted those values which are instead meant to be above the single citizen. Accordingly, his was not a physical exercise, but his mere body, without use of words managed to convey and generate a physical and biopolitical difference, leaving a psychogeographical trace in thegenius loci of the cities where he performed.

Another analogous example is the performance Lectura Dantis that took place in Bologna on 31st July 1981 in the Asinelli Tower, one of the main symbols of Bologna. It was edified during the 12th century and it is located on the crossroad of the two thoroughfares of the city. The tower is 97 metres tall and it is famous due to its slight leaning to one side. Carmelo Bene, one of the most important theatre directors and actors of the last century, read passages from the Divine Comedy, employing a 40-thousand-watt amplification system as he did so. From the tower Bene could not be seen by the 100 thousand people who were estimated to walk around the streets of the city centre, but they could hear his amplified voice. Once again, a building was devoid of its signifieds (touristic site, historical building) to fulfil a new function, that of the actorial machine, which does not belong to the code. The actorial machine is one of the fundamental concepts of the theatre of Bene, it is the tool that allows theatre to grind language, representation, object, subject and history. In this case, the actor does not make a scene of himself, but he is hidden in his private space and elevates the rendezvous point with the audience through semiological subversion of the urban space.

Literature is not the only art capable of affecting the urban space, i.e. the act of killing that the book perpetuates against the monument. Instead, I argue that theatre can achieve the same result by exploring the way the theatre maker can subvert the signs of the city’s language because of their faculty to look beyond the code. This subversion leads to the transformation of the code and of people’s senses as a consequence, establishing new functions for the object. The artistic piece can leave a trace in the very substance of the building, influencing not only present viewers but it has the potentiality to affect the spirit of any human being who experiences it. The city is thus a poem that goes beyond human comprehension, but of which people can feel the effects.

WORDS BY LUCAMATTEO ROSSI 39

TV

Love in Schitt’s Creek: An Unexpected Narrative Driving Force Spoilers ahead.

I’ve watched many comedy shows in my time, usually for

the purpose of distracting me from something stressful going on in my life, maybe even eliciting a genuine laugh or two if I’m lucky. Faced with a second lockdown and an increasing college workload, I decided to give the comedy on everyone’s lips, Schitt’s Creek, a try, with admittedly low expectations.

However, what I discovered was so much more than just a comedy show. In just six short seasons, Schitt’s Creek encapsulates what it means to love, and to be loved, in all its various forms.

This core message seems obvious in retrospect when you realise the show’s origin is grounded in familial love. Creator Daniel Levy sought the help of his esteemed father, American Pie alum Eugene Levy, to get his idea off the ground, with the two ending up as both co-creators and co-stars. The family connections don’t end there, with Daniel’s sister Sarah also playing a main role in the series. Additionally, Eugene recruited his long-time comedy collaborator Catherine O’Hara onboard to play his wife, firmly cementing the cast’s strong bonds from the get-go, giving a genuine foundation to the stories to come.

Throughout the show we follow the formerly wealthy Rose family; businessman Johnny (Eugene Levy), his dramatic wife Moira (O’Hara), and their two children David (Daniel Levy) and Alexis (Annie Murphy), as they try to get their lives back on track after relocating to Schitt’s Creek, a small town they once purchased as a joke. At the start of the series we can see these relationships are strained, with the family forced into close quarters living in two adjoining motel rooms after spending years jet-setting as far away from each other as they could. It’s clear they don’t even know that much about each other, illustrated best by Moira not even knowing her own daughter’s middle name. However, as the show progresses, we see these bonds begin to grow, slowly but surely. Moira and Johnny support their children’s personal endeavours, such as David’s store opening, not by throwing money at them, but by actually showing up and believing in them enough to get things done without their financial interference. David and Alexis never quite lose their aptitude for bickering (“ew, David,” will be forever ingrained in my brain), but by gradually confiding in each other, they gain insights into their respective romantic relationships and grow as individuals. This all goes to show that, in the end, when you take money out of an equation – money that has been the superficial plaster for deep-rooted problems for far too long – the only thing inevitably left, is love.

Daniel Levy takes this love one step further by extending it to include the LGBTQ community. Levy’s character David comes out as pansexual in one of the most nuanced ways I’ve seen on screen; no fanfare, no debates, just a clever metaphor – “I like the wine and not the label”. In what is portrayed as a relatively backwards, rural town, their ideals are anything but, with everyone accepting David and all his eccentricities as is. His romance with business partner Patrick (Noah Reid) is a joy to watch – and one of the best on-screen relationships I’ve ever seen, LGBTQ or otherwise. Unlike many other shows featuring same-sex relationships, there are no shocking twists or painful betrayals shoe-horned in, just some realistic drama that is drowned out by a myriad of sweet moments (you’ll never be able to listen to Tina Turner’s ‘Simply the Best’ without crying ever again). Levy cleverly uses his own experiences to inform his storytelling, never letting LGBTQ suffering take the reins over the characters, who are so much more than the opinions and actions of those who would discriminate against them. This fresh perspective uplifts the community, allowing those unfamiliar or previously prejudiced to view LGBTQ people as fully rounded members of society rather than martyrs. This can be attested by the countless letters Levy reports to receive from viewers thanking him for opening both their minds and their hearts, which has in turn earned him a Human Rights Campaign Visibility Award.

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All in all, Schitt’s Creek is a salve for the turbulent times we find ourselves in, and is guaranteed to warm even the iciest of hearts. Unexpectedly, I found that this unassuming comedy show has the most genuine heartfelt moments I’ve ever seen on screen. It’s a show that clearly loves its cast, characters and fans – completely deserving of their Emmys sweep this year, where the show won a total of nine awards, including all seven comedy-related trophies, the most ever for a comedy in a single year. Evidently, no matter how bleak the world around us gets, in Schitt’s Creek, love always wins.

WORDS BY CIARA CONNOLLY

ART BY MAEVE BREATHNACH

Historical Accuracy in Period Dramas Over lockdown I decided to revisit a programme from my teenage years. The CW series Reign, with its intense drama and lavish costumes, was the tonic I needed during the Leaving Cert years and it was fascinating to rewatch it as a history student.

Reign is infamous among fans of period dramas. The series is loosely based on the life of Mary Queen of Scots, but as a reviewer for The A.V. Club put it the show is more, “an alternate-universe fanfiction than anything pretending to approach history”. Within the show, stories about assasination attempts and political intrigue are treated with the same gravitas as the various romantic subplots that have little-to-no historical basis. The show’s costume design in particular has inspired many a lengthy YouTube video criticising the lack of historical accuracy - the outfits often look like something you’d see Betty and Veronica wear to prom in Riverdale.

The topic of historical accuracy in period dramas is a controversial one, and I have mixed feelings on the matter. It’s true that on one hand, shows like Reign are meant to be a form of escapism, allowing us to admire gorgeous clothes and fantasise about living in a castle. If the show touches on an event or a period in history that sparks my curiosity, I’ll happily research it for myself. These programmes aren’t documentaries, and I don’t treat them as such.

However, many casual viewers might not do further reading on the period, or the people being depicted. It’s ridiculous to suggest that one has to prove themselves an expert on a period of history in order to watch a TV show that explores it, but it can cause problems, especially when it comes to historical dramas that involve real figures. In one episode of the ITV series Victoria, the show overplays the extent to which the eponymous queen cared about the Irish Famine in the 1840s. This is dangerous when the Famine is largely uncovered by the English education system, and while the episode highlighted the role that British landlords played in the disaster, the fact that the show still reassured viewers that their beloved monarch did her best for the Irish people left a sour taste in my mouth. The media we watch has an impact on the way we look at the world. Historical dramas have a responsibility in this regard, and certain narratives need to be challenged.

Often the ugliness of the past is airbrushed out of these shows in order to appeal to our modern sensibilities. This can have negative effects when certain figures from history are romanticised. At the same time, the argument for historically accurate media is often weaponised against programmes that decide to explore certain social issues. While Call The Midwife (50s-60s) has been praised for its handling of a variety of topics such as abortion and domestic violence, I have seen criticism of the fact that none of the main characters ever express racist views. The same can be said for Anne With An E, which has received criticism from certain groups for being ‘too PC’ due to its feminist themes and gay representation. The mere presence of black actors in the most recent BBC adaptation of A Christmas Carol led to backlash from a loud minority online who considered the casting choice ‘historically inaccurate’ - an argument that’s built on a fallacy, as people of colour have always existed in Europe, in spite of what many period dramas would suggest. It’s telling that many viewers are willing to accept the presence of ghosts in their story, but consider a black man playing Bob Cratchitt beyond rational belief.

When discussing historical accuracy we have to ask ourselves, who benefits from what is presented in our media? I’d argue that the drama in Reign, as well as the questionable costume choices, while annoying, are relatively harmless. Black actors shouldn’t be expected to only ever play slaves or Civil Rights leaders - a trope which doesn’t resemble the realities of world history but nevertheless persists due to colonial narratives. Additionally, while it might be ‘unrealistic’, as a bisexual woman it meant a lot to me to see Anne - a character I’d loved since childhood - stand up for other members of the LGBT+ community.

I don’t think that there’s an easy answer to the question of historical accuracy.

However, I believe that showrunners should be transparent about their intent in making these shows - are they going for a sensationalised story, or trying to accurately depict events? Perhaps we should try to make the subject of history more accessible so that viewers can read up on the backgrounds of their favourite shows. That being said, I’d still rather look at Toby Regbo on my screen than the real Francis II - accuracy be damned.

WORDS BY MARY O HARTE ART BY EMILY THOMAS

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TV

Cobra Kai’s Back, Baby!

It seemed like, for all of last summer, you couldn’t move

anywhere on YouTube without being greeted by an ad for Cobra Kai. Kai. It felt inescapable, and so I wrote it off in annoyance. YouTube as a vehicle for original content seemed then, and still does, like an unlikely cash-grab in an attempt to copy Netflix’s million dollar model of original streaming content. On top of that, to me, most revivals of beloved eighties and nineties properties come off as merely mining the depths of your nostalgia for a quick buck; Terminator Genisys, Alien: Covenant, Covenant, and, yes, even Mary Poppins Returns spring to mind. And so, Cobra Kai slipped from my cultural awareness.

Until, one evening, after introducing my girlfriend to the joys of the original 1984 Karate Kid, Kid, we were searching for something to watch together. With the first two seasons of Cobra Kai added to Netflix, we decided to give it a go. To put it simply, I was blown away. This was unlike any other revival of a classic franchise I had ever seen.

Cobra Kai is a sequel to the original trilogy of Karate Kid films, and stars Ralph Macchio and William Zabka in their original roles as Daniel LaRusso and Johnnie Lawrence respectively, 34 years on. While Robert Mark Karmen – the creator of the original trilogy - is not involved in the making of the series, Macchio and Zabka also serve as co-executive producers of the show, carrying on the legacy of the original.

Cobra Kai parallels a lot of Karate Kid’s story beats. However, instead of presenting a face-lifted retelling of the source material in an attempt to assuage fans of the original a la The Force Awakens, Cobra Kai instead uses its new protagonist to grow and expand on the themes and ideas that Karate Kid espoused back in ’84.

The narrative of the show focuses on a rudderless Johnny, now a washed up alcoholic struggling to make ends meet, instead of the plucky Daniel of the films, who now heads a successful auto dealership in Reseda.

Johnny’s saving of Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) from bullies is of course meant to parallel Daniel’s being saved by Mr. Miyagi from a similar situation in the film. Far from being a clone of the original, Cobra Kai instead diversifies its narrative by examining the impact of the film’s legacy on the character’s lives, and the emotional impact Karate Kid’s narrative had on them. Cobra Kai forces all of the characters, especially Johnny, to confront the trauma of their pasts, something not at all touched upon in the films. We finally see the deep scars that training under Sensei Kreese (Martin Kove) left on Johnny’s psyche, something he now has to deal with and try to overcome.

Where Karate Kid was a traditional underdog story, Cobra Kai uses its slick fight scenes and impressive camera work to underscore a powerful narrative about redemption and hope. Unlike other revivals of nostalgic properties like the Star Wars sequel trilogy, whose narrative focuses on passing the torch to a new generation, Cobra Kai also allows for legacy characters to grow and develop into more than just figureheads. The contrast of opposites is what makes Cobra Kai so wonderful in this regard. Johnny has to step out from the shadow of what he learned in the 80s and address both the pain he has inflicted and received, and to do this he needs to create a new world, a space in which he can teach and help others grow in a way he never had himself.

Cobra Kai is the perfect example of how a revival show should be done. It demonstrates the perfect amount of respect for the original property, while also growing and expanding on its themes. It successfully balances development for returning franchise characters along with setting up a new generation of karate kicking heroes to root for. It’s got pathos, guts and heart, and draws you in with an engaging narrative.

Cobra Kai is one of the best pieces of television I’ve seen recently, revival or otherwise, and I encourage both fans of Karate Kid and newcomers to the series to give it a go. I promise you won’t regret it.

WORDS BY JAMES MCKEON 42

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Keeping Up With Our Tears: Despair For The End Of The Kardashians It’s a truth universally acknowledged that 2020 was

(or should I say, unfortunately, is) a catastrophic year, as many great things have come to an end: wearing lipstick, coughing in public without having everyone stare at you and, of course, the iconic reality TV show featuring our favourite American family, Keeping Up With The Kardashians. One truly wonders what more anyone can take at this point. After 14 years, hardcore Kardashian-Jenner fans will shed a tear at this awful news, and possibly not only them. Love or hate them, this family has been the true blueprint of reality TV and celebrity drama, and it’s hard to imagine a world where we do not keep up (no pun intended) with all their juicy gossip and exaggerated fights. So, what does the future hold?

Fans of the show had been complaining for a while about a marked lack of interest in the later seasons, claiming that the spin-off Rob and Chyna had been far more entertaining (with just one season!) to watch than the entire run of KUWTK had ever been lately. This is highly indicative of what people like to watch nowadays, or what one expects from reality TV in general: short-lived, petty, highly dramatic outbursts of rage between siblings, other family members and especially between couples. This is probably the general trend of reality TV, which feeds the audience with shallow but entertaining content: a guilty pleasure one cannot get rid of that keeps coming back, despite those publicly claiming to despise it. It’s just like that one last piece of cake before the diet supposedly starts, and it certainly does not help that the majority of reality shows feature endless seasons with very brief and spicy episodes, making this an extremely binge-watchable genre.

But the fizziness and feistiness of the content is not enough to make a good reality show: the secret ingredient is that it needs to be relatable too, at least in some way, to the point that audiences will want to keep up with its main characters.

As much as crying because you have lost your diamond earring in the ocean doesn’t seem very relatable now (or ever), it was hard not to sympathise with Kourtney’s affirmation to Kim that, “there’s people that are dying”. We all have that friend who is a little bit overdramatic and bubbly and needs to be brought back to reality at times, and we have all found ourselves crying over stupid things that at first we thought were the end of the world, only to suddenly realise how foolish we have been to do so. In short: being relatable is not necessarily about situations (aka: losing a diamond earring), but about emotions, and having the right to feel them. We laugh at those situations because, admit it or not, we secretly enjoy experiencing them with the Kardashians as they happen. We too want to have the diamond earring to lose, and by participating in the moment as we are watching, it makes us feel as if we too are part of that glamorous, crazy life.

What people love about this family is, in truth, their honesty. They live their lives thoroughly and allow themselves to acknowledge their emotional reactions to things. We, the audience, have loved with them, cried with them, held our breaths with them, but mostly laughed with them, because it wouldn’t be reality TV if it wasn’t comedic and enjoyable to watch. The repetition of situations, dramas, plot points and, of course, people, fills the audience watching with a certain comfort. At times, we believe we know them so well we can predict their reactions, and indeed what works best in reality TV is that one gets the sense of knowing the protagonists deeply; because everything about their lives is so public, we feel like we are their best friends. We, too, feel like we are part of the Kardashian family, and we certainly are, for its amazing success must be attributed to the dedication of the fans, who haven’t stopped ‘keeping up’ with them for more than a decade.

So, in case any producer is reading this and wondering about how to create another money-making reality TV product as good and enduring as KUWTK , I have the recipe for you. All you need is comedy, comfort, binge-watchable short episodes, but, most importantly, truly human and flawed characters, relatable in their realness, that can make us live and feel things with them at the same time as they do.

WORDS BY MARTINA GIAMBANCO

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ALT.

Killing Time: Attention Span and the Effects of Social Media In a world dominated by social media - especially in 2020 when everything is online - we are surrounded constantly

by a ton of apps, devices, and a barrage of constant information. This makes it difficult to concentrate on one thing at a time, meaning that we have become a generation of “multi-taskers”, which can be very helpful when we have many things to get done, but can also be extremely detrimental to our focus and attention spans. Before the time of Tik Tok, Snapchat, and even the Internet, people could focus on reading a book and absorbing everything without thinking about their phone, their laptop, or their social media feeds. Now, we listen to music while doing everyday tasks such as cooking and studying, and we mindlessly scroll through social media while walking down the street or drinking coffee in the morning.

Social media isn’t directly ruining our attention spans - instead, our brains have too much to process with all of the social media and other content that we see, making it very hard to concentrate on one thing at a time.

We in turn find it increasingly difficult to keep up with everything that we see, hear, and attempt to process.

There is another effect social media has on people, especially from a young age - it becomes a distraction, a way to escape everything else, and therefore starts to affect self-control. Instead of focusing on work or completing tasks efficiently, we aimlessly scroll through media or watch Netflix. This scrolling becomes so automatic that we can double task, and even multi task while scrolling through media and not even realize it - suddenly we can’t concentrate on any specific task at one time. There is so much information coming at us from all angles that we begin to become desensitized to certain things, such as violence and guns. Social media has an extreme effect especially on people’s minds, in many ways affecting how they feel and act. This often expands into warping their self-esteem and invading their minds with uncontrollable thoughts about how they should look, act and what they should be doing. There is an influx of edited and fake information and photos on every platform, and this causes pressure on people that can come up at any point during everyday life.

While there are certainly negative consequences of social media usage, it is also arguable that social media can be used in a very positive way. Especially in the midst of the current pandemic when many aspects of life have been forced online, we can clearly see the role social media played in spreading the message of political movements, creating accessible forms of online protest, amplifying the voices of the body-positivity community and connecting with others. People can share so much information with each other - their favorite recipe for a pasta dish, their favorite playlist on Spotify, or even their Christmas movie recommendations.

While social media, admittedly, has the negative effects of making us think in certain ways, and shortening our attention spans as we try to take in an exorbitant amount of content, it also has positive effects and keeps us in a community with other people, connects us, and gives us content that we want to find at the end of our fingertips.

WORDS BY JULIA BOCHENEK

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There's More to Houseplants than Decoration Houseplants

and the ‘plant aesthetic’ has grown in popularity in the past few years, particularly amongst Millennials and Generation Z. Could it be attributed to the majority of young adults spending a large portion of their time online, desperately craving the physical and permanent bonds that digital screens cannot provide? Do we simply purchase houseplants because of their beauty or does it go much deeper than that?

Contemporary interior design trends change every couple of decades and currently we are at the peak of minimalism, where less is more. It’s part of a generational revolution which places great emphasis on spirituality and the individual’s journey through life rather than seeking meaning in materialistic possessions. Without a doubt houseplants brighten up any room and create the feeling of tranquility, but most importantly they aid us in our spiritual journey-taking us out of the digital mindset for a few moments to appreciate our biotec roots.

The pandemic has presented the opportunity for individuals to reflect on the spaces they are forced to spend countless hours in and in turn, transform them into hubs of love and comfort. During the first few months of lockdown, garden centres saw a dramatic increase in plant purchases, so much so that some companies such as Woodies closed their online checkout for a period of time. Anyone who purchased a houseplant over quarantine can most certainly tell you it didn’t end with just one or two trips to the garden centre. Could the current obsession with plants be attributed to their scarcity during lockdown? Hearing friends and neighbours brag about their green fingers most certainly influenced many of us to participate in this ‘plant frenzy’, until it had become a competition of who had the best garden or home.

WORDS BY ZAHRA LOCKETT ART BY EMILY THOMAS

The beauty of interior gardening is that most house plants require minimal maintenance and act as dual purpose decorations, fulfilling much more than an aesthetic purpose. They satisfy our instinctive need to nurture. It may be that houseplants serve as a potential substitute for the dogs/cats that many young people cannot adopt, whether it be due to renting restrictions, lack of open space or a busy work schedule. For a generation that is now forced to exclusively interact digitally, we yearn for physical connections even if it is with our houseplants. Plants are viewed as living members of the household, often allowing individuals to create bonds with the plants they care for, particularly for those who engage in propagation methods. There’s a sense of gratification that comes with gardening that could be comparable to a mother watching their infant grow.

It will be interesting to see whether plant culture will be passed onto future generations or stop with Gen Z given that plants have, for many, the potential to replace pets. Will there be something that replaces plants in the near future?

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ALT.

Unpredictable Reviews of Predictable Cafes

Bestseller, Dawson Street

Look, the coffee here isn’t nice, and you won’t enjoy drinking it. However, Bestseller has one thing that no other Trinity-adjacent cafe can possibly claim: it is the perfect place to get dumped in. The walls are lined with copies of Ulysses, so you can pretend you’re just crying because that book you have definitely read is so good. The gorgeous decor means that at least you’ll get a cute insta out of it! If things get really bad, you can always ask for the wine menu.

Cloud Picker, Pearse Street Yes, okay, the coffee here is great. Yes, it’s the only place in town that does a proper flat white. The atmosphere is nice, the staff strike the perfect balance of being intimidatingly cool but also friendly and warm. On top of it all, there is a certain clout that comes with carrying around a Cloud Picker keepcup. But honestly, would you be f**ked walking all the way to the Hamilton side of campus? Three stars must be deducted for this obvious location oversight.

Lemon, Dawson Street (2005-2018) Dawson Street Lemon lived a fulfilling life as the closest thing to utopia Trinity students could access. In 2018, this cafe was torn from our hands by the rapid economic development of Dublin city. We didn’t know what we had until it was torn away— a heated smoking area thirty seconds from college. South Williams Street Lemon, if you’re reading this— f**k you. It will remain forever in our hearts.

Carluccio’s, Dawson Street All of the chairs outside Carluccio’s are uncomfortable, and they’re always inexplicably wet— even in Summer. The coffee is fine and the staff are all lovely. However, the real appeal of Carluccio’s is being near something fancy. As the old married couples walk in to their three course meal, you can hiss at them, sucking on a rollie, clutching your 4€ half-portion carbonara, feeling like you’ve truly done something for the class struggle.

WORDS BY SOPHIE FURLONG TIGHE ART BY ANDRÉS MURILLO 46

Two’s Company: Travelling with Me, Myself and My Alter-Ego WORDS BY ZOE TIMMONS

Admit it, we’ve all done it.

You’re not quite sure why, but you give a different name to the barista in Starbucks at the airport. You get a taste for it, et voilá, you become a professional, jet-setting liar.

Chatting to the woman squashed beside you on the comically small plane, suddenly your older sisters are non-existent and you’ve become the beloved only child of an obscure yet wealthy philanthropist. (What?

Oh, nevermind why you’re flying economy.)

It might almost surprise you, how easily you slip into this fabricated identity of yours while travelling.

The old you was left behind the moment you huddled across the rainy tarmac and stepped onto the plane, luggage and new persona in tow.

Alright, so in reality you’re only in Barcelona for three days during reading week… but as far as the chic shop assistant in the eye-wateringly expensive boutique knows, you’re a journalist who’s editor sent travelling to scope out interesting stories for some up-and-coming magazine. She also thinks you’ll be back to buy the pure silk shirt that costs more than a week’s worth of shopping in Aldi. Either she’s delusional or you’re a damn good liar.

Why do we do it?

Is it for the thrill of being someone new? The chance to be a better, more interesting, more worldly version of yourself?

Or is it simply downright sociopathic?

Well, for one thing, it’s fun. Interrailing is practically a rite of passage for university students; mine was spent drinking copious amounts of wine and weaving an intricate web of little white lies spanning Europe’s top tourist attractions. The security guard at the Louvre was surprised to learn of my familial roots to Vermeer, while the tour guide at the Colosseum gave a VIP tour to who he assumed was a close friend of the Versace family – hey, go big or go home, right? I was basically Leonardo diCaprio in Catch Me if You Can, minus the illegal fraud.

But there’s more to it than chancing your arm. When travelling, reality is put on hold: the mundane, meaningless worries of daily life suddenly become clear. It takes us outside of ourselves, the distance giving us a chance to reflect on who we are and explore the endless possibilities of who we might become.

Being abroad is almost like a trial-run for the life we could lead. It isn’t that we are unhappy in ourselves.

On the contrary, perhaps pretending to be someone we’re not teaches us something about who we truly are.

A quick scroll through Instagram and we are inundated with inspirational posts demanding we “appreciate the little things” and start romanticising our lives: playing pretend is just another way of doing that. I see no difference between donning a witches costume for one night of the year than trying on a new identity for size. If you have to play at being a socialite or royalty to better appreciate your morning coffee in the piazza, I say go for it.

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Gaeilge

Na Gaeilge: An Seinnteoir Ag deireadh lá éigin i rith an chéad dianghlasála agus mé tuirseach traochta, réidh chun m’intinn a chasadh as

agus gach aon smaoineamh a chuir as mo cheann, chuaigh mé chuig Netflix chun breathnú ar “Always Sunny” arís don deichiú huair, ach nuair a thosaigh sé, dún mé síos an táb. Tar éis cúig mhí sa bhaile, bhí mé braon de. Bhí rud éigin úr, nua, nach raibh feicthe agam go dtí seo de dhíth orm. Rud ar bith. In áit féachaint ar Netflix, chuaigh mé chun scroll ar Twitter agus ansin chonaic mé an cuntas TG4 ag chuir amach tweet éigin (ní chuimhin liom cad faoi, b’fhéidir Michael D fancam nó rud éigean mar sin). B’shin seinnteoir nár smaoinigh mé air. San alt seo, táim chun dul trí chuid de na rudaí a tháinig mé orthu, ar an seinnteoir TG4, ach ar dtús, táim ag iarraidh a rá go bhfuil an tséirbhís seo go huile is go hiomlán saor in aisce do dhaoine a bhfuil ina gcónaí in Éirinn agus an rud is fearr faoi (an rud nach féidir a dhéanamh ar an stáisiún teilifíse) ná gur féidir leat na fotheidil a casadh as más mian leat. Ar aon nós, ar aghaidh linn.

Faisnéis

Má tá aon rud soiléir tar éis na dianghlasáilí seo, is aoibheann le daoine cláir faisnéise. D’fhéach na mílte, mílte daoine ar Tiger King agus muid díreach ag tosach an chéad dianghlasála. Le déanaí, bhí American Murder: The Family Next Door agus The Social Dilemma. Bhuel, má raibh tú tógtha leo siúd, tá dea-scéal agam duit: tá cláir agus scannáin faisnéise den scoth ar TG4. Tá clár Ciara Uí hÉ: Saol trí Gaeilge (2020) faoin tsochaí Gaeilge atá ina gcónaí i gcathracha éagsúla (cosúil le Béal Feirste agus Baile Átha Cliath). Breathnaíonn an clár ar conas do chuid Gaeilge a úsáid taobh amuigh den Ghaeltacht. Is clár suimiúil, macnamhach é, ach freisin is fiú é chun an taobh istigh de na tithe tábhairne a fheiceáil arís agus iad dúnta faoi láthair. Freisin tá Puncaí (2019), clár faoi cheol Punc agus na daoine a bhí agus atá páirteach ann. Tugann sé léargas ar shaol, stair, agus ar fhealsúnacht na bPunc i rith na seachtoidí agus sa lá atá inniu ann i ngach cearn den oileáin ó Bhéal Feirste go Corcaigh. Má tá rud níos faide de dhí th ort, tá sraith iomlán ann faoi stair dearadh faisin na hÉireann: Snáithe (2018). Is clár é a léiríonn na saghas scéalta atá le hinsint ag faisin na hÉireann ón Meánaois go dtí 2018.

Saolchláir Ach tá seans (agus tuigim é) go bhfuil na rudaí seo ró-dáiríre agus níl uait ach beagán siamsaíochta agus spraoi.

Le déanaí, cuireadh an tsraith ar fad Paisean Faisean (2005 - 2007) ar líne. Is sraith í seo a thosaigh sa bhliain 2005, agus is léir sin ó thús an chéad éipeasóid. Muna bhfuil aithne agat ar an tsraith, is clár cleamhnais atá ann ina bpiocann triúir fir roinnt éadaí do chailín agus piocann sise an ceann is fearr léi chun í a thógáil amach ar ‘date’. Is saghas taiscéadan todhchaí é ó thús an míle blianta. Déan dearmad ar Sex and the City, is é seo an t-aon féachaint siar atá uaim.

Ficsean Den chuid is mó, is deacair cláir ar TG4 a roinnt idir drámaí agus cláir grinn; bíonn gnéithe den dhá chuid i ngach clár ficsin. Mar shampla, tá Éirí Amach Amú (2016) faoi triúir fear i 2016 a dhéanann taispeántas faoi Éirí Amach na Cásca, seoltar ar ais iad go dtí 1916 agus tá orthu páirt a ghlacadh san éirí amach iad féin. Tá roinnt de greannmhar agus iad ag déanamh iarrachta gan a bheith ina n-ámadáin ar fad in aice le Séamas Ó Conghaile agus a leithéad. Ach freisin, tá roinnt de an-tragóideach ar fad. Tá scéal amháin ann faoi hathair a mharaíonn a iníon i dtimpiste bóthair, agus é ag déileáil leis an gcrá sin. Is féidir leis bogadh idir na dhá mothúcháin seo gan stró de bharr an caighdeán scríobhneoireachta atá ann. Is féidir an rud céanna a rá faoi chlár a cuireadh ar fáil cúpla seachtain ó shin: Le Ceangal (2020). Tá sé faoi bheirt atá ag baint triail as caidreamh a cruthú lena gcéile thar Zoom. Is clár éadrom, siamsúil é faoin dianghlasáil agus an crá a bhaineann leis agus daoine óga ag iarriadh grá a aimsiú. Tá na heipeasóidí gearr go leor freisin. Níl siad ach cuig nóiméad an cheann, mar sin is féidir ceann a chuir ar siúl agus tú ag ullmhú cupán tae.

Le críochnú, táim ag iarriadh labhairt libh faoi rud nach féidir a dhéanamh ar Netflix: féachaint ar TG4 beo. B’fhéidir gur ait an rud é, a bheith ar bís faoi teilifís beo, ach i mo shaol ina bhfuil na seirbhísí sruthú amháin agam, is rud deas é gan bheith ort rogha a dhéanamh ar an gclár a bhreathnaíonn tú air. Is féidir liom TG4 a chuir ar siúl agus beidh rud éigin suimiúil, éirimiúl ar siúl. Mar sin, ar aghaidh leat!

Téigh ag cuardach trí an seinnteoir TG4. B’fhéidir go bhfuil an clár nua is ansa leat ag fánacht ort ann.

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FOCAIL LE ROBERT GIBBONS

Cuir le do chúpla focal!

Bealaí éagsúla chun do chuid Gaeilge a fhorbairt i rith an dianghlasála

Sna

laethanta seo, is dócha go bhfuil níos mo ama againn agus go bhfuil roinnt againn ag iarraidh rudaí nua a phiocadh suas. Cloisim an t-am ar fad ó dhaoine idir óg agus aosta nach bhfuil ach ‘cúpla focal’ Gaeilge acu agus gur bhreá leo a bheith in ann ár dteanga a labhairt i gceart. Is cinnte go bhfuil pobal na Gaeilge i gcónaí ag fásadh. Airimíd uainn uilig an ‘Pop Up Gaeltacht’ - nuair a bhailíonn Gaeilgóirí le chéile i dtithe tábhairne timpeall na cathrach chun a gcuid Gaeilge a chleachtadh. Is deis iontach í an teanga a úsáid ach, faraor, leis na srianta ar fad atá i bhfeidhm anois, tá imeachtaí mar seo ar líne, nó curtha ar ceal. Ach, más rud é go bhfuil fonn ort an Ghaeilge a chleachtadh agus tú sáinnithe sa bhaile, seo iad cúpla bealaí chun cur le do chúpla focal: An Cumann Gaelach: Díreach i gcroílár an choláiste, is cumann iontach é An Cumann Gaelach chun an teanga a scaipeadh trí phobal na hollscoile. Is liosta le háireamh é na himeachtaí a bhíonn eagraithe acu i rith na bliana, cé go bhfuil neart rudaí ar líne faoi láthair. Is féidir leat páirt a ghlacadh ar Zoom agus sult a bhaint as díospóireachta, ceardlanna agus aoichainteoirí iontacha (sa téarma seo, labhair Niamh Ní Chróinín leis an gcumann - iar-scoláire an choláiste atá ag obair le Conradh na Gaeilge anois). Is seans é chun taitneamh a bhaint as an teanga leis na mic léinn eile - agus ní chosnaíonn sé ach €1.50 chun ballraíocht a fháil!

Podchraoltaí: Ar thaobh na teangacha, is rud iontach é an podchraoladh. Clúdaítear téamaí éagsúla - ó chúrsaí polaitíochta go cúrsaí litríochta - agus is féidir leat ceann a aimsiú do gach duine, cibé suimeanna atá acu. Tá a lán podchraoltaí as Gaeilge ar fáil ach seo cúpla ceann is fearr liom: ‘Beo Ar Éigean’: Seo é podchraoladh de chuid Raidió na Gaeltachta agus tá sé curtha i láthair ag triúr ban: Siún Ní Dhuinn, Sinéad Uí Uallacháin agus Áine Ní Bhreasláin. Labhraíonn siad faoi achan rud, mar shampla ciníochas, feimineachas agus cúrsaí reatha ginearálta. Bíonn aoichainteoirí acu uaireanta agus bíonn meascán cánúintí ann chomh maith, rud atá tairbheach do fhoglaimeoirí.

‘Canbhás Uí Chiaraidh - BLOC TG4’: Thosaigh an podchraoladh seo níos luaithe i mbliana agus tá sé curtha i láthair ag TG4. Tá sé ceangailte leis an bpobal idirlíne ‘BLOC’ - cruthaíonn an grúpa seo sceitsí, gearrscannáin agus neart rudaí eile (acmhainn iontach - is féidir leat BLOC a aimsiú ar na meáin sóisialta ar fad!) Sa phodchraoladh seo, bíonn agaillaimh ar siúl idir an láithreoir, Micheál Ó Ciaraidh, agus Gaeil eile aitheanta.

‘Motherfoclóir’: Is ceann cáiliúil é an podchraoladh seo, atá curtha i láthair ag Darach O’Séaghdha. Ní sé an-oiriúnach do dhaoine atá ag iarraidh an teanga a fhoghlaim ó bhunleibhéal mar tá sé i mBéarla ach tá sé dírithe ar stair agus struchtúr na teanga agus cúrsaí Gaelacha. Labhraíonn na cainteoirí faoi cheisteanna an aistriúcháin, stair na sochaí Éireannach agus bíonn aoichainteoirí suimiúla ann freisin.

TG4: Thosaigh TG4 mar stáisiún beag i 1996 agus anois, ní féidir leat acmhainn níos fearr a aimsiú chun an teanga a fhoghlaim leis na cláir ar fad atá ann. Má théann tú go dtí an seinnteoir ar líne, beidh sobaldrámaí, cláir fáisnéise, scannáin, cluichí spóirt agus cláir do pháistí ann.

Leabhair Gaeilge: Má tá suim agat sa léitheoireacht, ní deireadh ar bith leis na leabhair Gaeilge atá ar fáil. Mholfainn tús a dhéanamh leis na leabhair atá scríofa ag Máire Ní Dhufaigh. Scríobhann sí faoi dhéagóirí i gceantar tuaithe i rith an tsamhraidh - níl an plota nó an teanga ró-dheacair ach is leabhair iontach iad mura bhfuil a lán taithí agat le leabhair Gaeilge. Má tá caighdeán níos airde agat, tá aistriúcháin déanta ar leabhair cáiliúla, cosúil le ‘Harry Potter’ agus ‘The Hobbit’. Is féidir leat leabhair ficsean a fháil atá bunaithe ar na clasaicí nó úrscéalta grafacha don óg agus aosta - má théann tú go dtí an Siopa Leabhar, beidh an lá ar fad de dhíth agat chun bhreathnú ar na roghanna ar fad! (Faraor, tá an siopa ar Sráid Fhearchair dúnta anois, ach is féidir leat leabhair a ordú uathu ar líne - seans freisin chun tacú le gnó Éireannach!)

Ní hiad seo ach roinnt bealaí chun forbairt a chur ar do chuid Gaeilge. Tá na hacmhainní foghlamtha ag fásadh an t-am ar fad agus, sa domhan teicneolaíochta, is féidir linn snas a chur ar ár dteanga, fiú leis na cúinsí deacrachta atá againn faoi láthair. Is cuid tábhachtach den sochaí í an Ghaeilge agus mar a deirtear, ‘Beatha teanga í a labhairt’.

FOCAIL LE ELAINE NIC ÉIL EALAÍN LE NANAMI ANDO NIC SUIBHNE

49

PHOTOS BY ZAHRA LOCKETT AND OLIVIA BRADY

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