University
Express
Volume 24 | Issue 5 | Tuesday 24th November 2020
“At the time of writing, the UCC Movember team has raised over €20,000, long surpassing their original fundraising target of €5,000 on the first day of the month.” - pg 4 -
UCCExpress.ie
“In the beginning, people would look at you as if you had two heads when you were out painting an electrical box. Now, everybody knows the craic.” - p 18 -
“Once a niche pastime, mountaineering is now a multimillion-dollar industry, fuelled by wealthy Westerners with little climbing experience and money to burn” - pg 36 -
UCC REVERTS TO PRE-PANDEMIC EXAM MEASURES, DESPITE LITTLE RELIEF IN SIGHT Writes Maeve McTaggart, News Editor The sudden onset of Covid-19 in early March required a rapid re-think of how normal assessment processes would work from home. Temporary measures were put in place to address the added pressure of the pandemic to the summer exam season, but UCC has made the decision to rescind such measures for this academic year. In a break from the traditional semester one exams taking place in December, they will now take place remotely over an eight-day period starting on Friday January 8th 2021. The measures in place for the second semester exams of the 2019/20 academic year were intended to “ensure no student [was] academically disadvantaged due to the current disruption to usual activity,” an email from the former Deputy President and Registrar, now Interim President, John O’Halloran read. These measures allowed students whose personal circumstances had been adversely impacted by the pandemic to defer their examinations; students who were unhappy with their grade could re-sit the exam; students who failed were able to re-sit the exam without academic or financial penalty. No repeat fees would be incurred.
now been incorporated into the mitigation process.” This semester, if a student is unable to sit an exam or if their performance is affected by “circumstances outside of their control (e.g. illness including Covid-19-related circumstance)” they can apply for mitigation or submit an appeal with supporting medical documentation. Each submission will then be assessed on a case-by-case basis by the Examinations Appeals Committee.
In an email on November 9th, Interim Registrar Professor Stephen Byrne told students that “for this Academic Year these measures are being rescinded and we will revert back to our normal examination and assessment processes.” The Interim Registrar underlined that “the direct personal impact of Covid-19 has
When asked about the decision Eimear Curtin, the UCC Students’ Union Education Officer, said: “Even though we may not be in the emergency situation we were in last semester, the Covid pandemic is far from over and the effects of this second lockdown in particular are affecting students im- University Express asked a number of Cover Story Continued on Page 3...
mensely, often in intangible ways.” students how their experience last semester was affected by the temporary “I would urge students to contact measures. One second-year student their lecturers about any tech issues felt they “really soothed the anxiety I they are facing, and, if they feel com- had when taking my exams.” Another fortable doing so, to let them know if shared these sentiments, explaining that they are feeling overwhelmed - hav- “knowing I could re-sit an exam I may ing this paper trail will firstly help not have performed well in or postpone provide feedback to the lecturer and the exams until a later time really took also be useful if you need mitigation.” the pressure off during an extremely difficult and stressful time.” A third Last semester was the first for which year student of Computer Science told UCC and third-level institutions across University Express how the measures the country assessed students remotely benefitted them directly when appealing and online. This was under the circum- their exam result, “without a [grade] cap stances of what would now be known or free repeats, the prospect of a failed as ‘Level 5,’ without the exceptions appeal would’ve driven me up the walls.” currently in place since October 21st.
Editorial
2 Editorial Team Editor-in-Chief – Fiona Keeley (Editor@UCCExpress.ie) News Editor – Maeve McTaggart (News@UCCExpress.ie) Designer – Fiona Cremins (Design@UCCExpress.ie) Features Editor – Elisha Carey (Features@UCCExpress.ie) Sports Editor – Liam Grainger (Sport@UCCExpress.ie)
Issue 5 | Tuesday 24th November 2020 | University Express
Shattering Glass Writes Fiona Keeley, Editor-in-Chief When I imagine the idea of trust I picture a glass, something that has taken time to construct; is sturdy in its own right; but has the capability of shattering into incoherent slivers if mishandled,an exact replica never possible if such an event comes to pass. Who we place this glass into the care of can vary. Friends, acquaintances, and political systems all hold some care over this glass; relationships are built around it and it is the responsibility of both parties to recognise the sacrosanct nature of the trust placed in them, treating it as a privilege that could be taken from them instead of a right of way. That, of course, is my idealism talking. We live in an imperfect world so it becomes necessary to place a guard of cynicism on your trust, not to shield it under lock and key but to act as a protector. My question remains however, what happens when the glass is broken? Like the long-told nursery rhyme, can all the king’s horses and all the king’s men put the glass back together again or is it destined to lie in pieces until enough time passes so another glass may take its place.
Eagarthóir Gaeilge – Édith De Faoite (Gaeilge@UCCExpress.ie)
Our current version of the world has provided us with too many examples of shattering glass.The cacophony of noise in-tune with all the senses as many are personally affected by the melee that expands from the primary incident. Recent events have seen thousands of nude images ofwomen shared across different social media platforms, all shared without consent. There is, and can be no excuse for such a breach of trust. There will be further reports on aspects surroundingthe concept of image-based abuse from this publication and the job of the journalist will be to tell the story to the reader with the rightful dignity it deserves. We are all storytellers, and while many of our stories are not happy each of them has the right to be heard.
Online Editor – Edel Lonergan (Online@UCCExpress.ie)
This issue of the paper sheds light on news in our world right now and some of the stories provide for moments of exploration through the media. Seasonal Affective Disorder is discussed in the features section while the interview featured in this issue explores the streets of Cork City through the artistic eyes of Kevin O’Brien.
Opinion Editor – Rían Browne (Opinion@UCCExpress.ie)
Marketing Executive – Fiona Keeley (Marketing@UCCExpress.ie) Webmaster – Jonathan Hanley (Webmaster@UCCExpress.ie)
Messages from our generation run along the lines of ‘keep safe’ and ‘look after yourself’ and in times like these such messages hold significance for everyone. Words cannot take away wounds of pain but they can acknowledge the hurt and verbalise the necessary steps needed to prevent the glass of trust shattering in the future. There is an onus on all of us to be part of that action, not to wait, or until history views us as leaving it too late to act. Until next time,
Photographers – Caoimhe Leahy, Célem Deegan (Photographers@uccexpress.ie) Byline Editor – Fergal Smiddy (Byline@ UCCExpress.ie) (Deputy Editor)
Fiona Keeley December on a deadline
Food & Health – Maeve O’Keeffe (Food@UCCExpress.ie)
Writes Maeve McTaggart, News Editor
Arts & Literature Editor – Imasha Costa (Arts@UCCExpress.ie)
I am going to have to level with you: it is very difficult to have thoughts on/between/ before a deadline, and it feels as if this last week has had a semester’s worth. The dark nights of November come as a surprise every year, and this year I am even more indignant - a global pandemic and we only get 8-ish hours of sunlight? It just doesn’t sit right with me... but maybe that’s just the COVID-19/MS Teams fatigue speaking.
Gaming Editor – Hugo Blair (Gaming @UCCExpress.ie) Music Editor – Cathal Donovan O’Neill (Music@UCCExpress) Fashion Editor – Maeve O’Sullivan (fashion@uccexpress.ie) Film & Television Editor – Kyran Leahy (Screen@UCCExpress.ie) Sexpress Editor – Jack Wrixon (Sexpress@uccexpress.ie) Deputy Sports – Sam Curtin (Deputysports@uccexpress.ie) Deputy News – Maebh McCarthy (Deputynews@uccexpress.ie)
In Normal Times, we would be preparing for study week right now, and that seems both hilariously premature to our coronavirus-delayed college year, and deeply unsettling to think we ever sat in lecture halls and not in front of laptop screens. I imagine if we at least took a poll, November would be the month to get the chop if the Gregorian calendar ever needed a hypothetical update. So, maybe emerging from our locked-down lives on December 2nd is not... so bad? Or maybe we are now so used to missing out on things that we are desensitised, that November just seemed the next logical step in what we can sacrifice to 2020. By the time this issue publishes, we will have just over a week to go before Level 5 lifts. As I write this, we are still unsure what our lives post-Level 5 will look like, but the general consensus is that we are very unwilling to sacrifice what of Christmas we can still salvage (is it too early for the C-word?). This issue reads as close to normality as I think we will be able to muster this semester, and maybe if you cover up the word “pandemic” with your finger as you read down the screen, things just might simulate a strange dream for a while. There is the usual exam-talk, Autumn-conferring-talk, research-talk, planet-talk... and hopeful vaccine-talk to drag you back to our skipped-over November. I hope this issue offers a welcome break from word-counts and deadlines - it’s just 37 days until we start to get that grand stretch in the evenings back. Stay safe,
Deputy Features – Eoghan O’Donnell (Deputyfeatures@uccexpress.ie) Staff Writer: Julie Landers
editor@uccexpress.ie
Maeve McTaggart news@uccexpress.ie #uccexpress
News
Issue | Tuesday 24th November 2020 | University Express
Cover Story Continued... A student reacting to the decision to rescind these temporary measures called it “disheartening,” telling University Express that they now “feel as though all support has been taken away from me. The pandemic hasn’t ended and neither has the need for these measures. The worry of knowing there is no room for error in my exams has caused my anxiety as a result of the pandemic to come crashing down even harder.”
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Taoiseach addresses UCC graduating Class of 2020 Writes Maeve McTaggart, News Editor
Other students raised concerns about WiFi service-issues and laptop access, and whether or not they could afford to appeal an exam if affected by these issues. Although current first year students will have neither experienced in-person exams or the remote assessment of last semester, they also have not experienced on-campus life yet in their college career and concerns were raised by one student about the mental health impact of having their first set of exams online. The country is currently under Level 5 restrictions under the Irish government’s plan for living with Covid-19, this 6-week period of ‘lockdown’ is set to lift from December 1st. No decision has yet been made in relation to what degree of health guidelines will come after this date but Taoiseach Micháel Martin has alluded to “a staged approach” to removing restrictions. The Taoiseach confirmed the exit plan is currently being worked on by the Government with consultation from the National Public Health Emergency Team. As it stands, it is uncertain what level of Covid-19 restrictions will be in place when Semester 1 exams begin on January 8th, or if the country will continue flattening the curve when Level 5 is exited. Students have been advised to first contact their Programme Director, Course Coordinator or Module Coordinator if dealing with challenges related to exam preparation or any issues with their studies. Further information on the exam mitigation and appeals process is available at ucc.ie/en/exams/appeal-mitigation-recheck.
The UCC Class of 2020 has been addressed by An Taoiseach Micheál Martin as they graduated through virtual conferring ceremonies this week and last. Almost 5,000 students graduated in the Autumn Conferrings, moved from the Devere Hall to a livestream on the university website as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. There were twenty-six dedicated ceremonies from all four Colleges and Adult Continuing Education held from Wednesday 18th November until Tuesday 24th November. An Taoiseach Micheál Martin, an alumnus of a BA, HDipEd and MA at UCC and a member of the Class of 1981, was the guest speaker for the Autumn Conferrings. In a short
video addressing the new graduates, An Taoiseach told the class that “UCC is not just my old alma mater, it was and is my old friend, my gateway to a world of learning and a great place to be young in.” “UCC is a special place for me,” An Taoiseach continued, “it’s where I met Mary, my wife, and where in the President’s Garden I proposed.” “Its famous motto—“where Finbarr taught, let Munster learn”—was and is a message of hope for countless thousands of undergraduates embarking on life’s journey. It’s an assertion that resonates in an imperceptible way into one’s very DNA. It’s an invitation–indeed, a challenge to the curious, the expectant, the shy and the bold to explore the riches of the human experi-
ence across the four colleges that make up this great university.” Interim President Professor John O’Halloran has also congratulated the Autumn graduating class for the way in which they navigated a final year struck by unprecedented circumstances. “I think completing a degree at any time is difficult; at this time, it was incredibly difficult – but you have endured.” “You have persisted through these times and achieved something remarkable,” the Interim President concluded. “Your resilience, your hard work and your commitment have brought you to this special moment today.”
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News
Issue 5 | Tuesday 24th November 2020 | University Express
UCC community raises over €20,000 for men’s health in Movember campaign Writes Maeve McTaggart, News Editor
The crisis in mental health—especially men’s mental health—predates the pandemic, but it’s impact has compounded the levels of anxiety, depression and other issues dealt with by people across the country. This November, the moustache-growing charity Movember has embraced the digital world of COVID-19 and wants to have a conversation about men’s health with a profound message: “Our fathers, partners, brothers and friends are facing a health crisis, yet it’s rarely talked about. Men are dying too young. We can’t afford to stay silent.” The campaign focuses on making change in the areas of mental health and suicide prevention, prostate cancer and testicular cancer, and UCC has accepted the challenge. The charity tasks teams of volunteers to fundraise by growing moustaches— for “MoBros”—or walking 60 kilometres in the month of November—for “MoSisters”—while hosting events to encourage donations. At the time of writing, the UCC Movember team
has raised over €20,000, long surpassing their original fundraising target of €5,000 on the first day of the month. Over 26 teams make up the larger college effort headed by UCC Movember Ambassador Jacques Kinane. In speaking to University Express, Jacques shared how collaborative the process has been between students, staff, societies, clubs: “All of our success can be directly attributed to the work of this amazing team working behind the scenes. It is also really important to note that you do not have to grow a moustache to get involved, our organising committee actually has more girls than guys.” “Anything that raises awareness or funds, whether you walk 60km in memory of the 60 men who pass away every hour worldwide due to suicide or ring a friend to check in, you are contributing to the cause. If our work saves even just one life, then it will be all worthwhile.” The Movember efforts were faced with the added challenge of navigating a virtual environment during the
COVID-19 pandemic, having had plans struck down by the announcement of Level 5 restrictions for the month of November. “Our initial plan was to create and sell Movember facemasks with a moustache on the front but as soon as Level 5 was announced, we knew we had to change our plans,” Jacques explained. Quickly, the initiative changed track and went online, seeing the pandemic as an opportunity rather than a reason to cancel: “Everyone is now effectively stuck at home and needs some sort of social outlet, because of this the engagement level has boosted dramatically. We are running many online events and attendance is much higher as people can join from the comfort of their living rooms. “ “There is also a large increase in those growing moustaches as they can now hide it under a mask if they need, but we always encourage people to wear their Mo with pride and let it start conversations!” Virtual events such as quizzes, bingo nights, and poker nights have helped the UCC Movember campaign quadruple
its fundraising target, and UCCSU has worked to keep the conversation around men’s health going, setting up UCC’s first Men’s Sheds. “We felt it was imperative as student leaders to take the initiative to get involved,” UCCSU Welfare Officer Jamie Fraser told University Express, “As men we need to talk, we need to listen and we need people to hear us.” “We started Men’s Shed for the first time ever here in UCC for Movember,” Jamie shared. “The main goal of Movember is to provide a platform for students to engage with and tackle isolation. We’ve run events such as Home Workouts and Quiz nights and continue to run events over the month. A group chat has been set up to keep everyone connected so if you wish to be added please send a text to 086 184 2697.” To get involved the Movember formation can UCCMovember
or to donate to efforts, all inbe found at @ on Instagram.
Issue | Tuesday 24th November 2020 | University Express
News
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UCC Public Health Study calls on Government to take action Writes Maebh McCarthy, Deputy News Editor According to a new University College Cork (UCC) report released at the beginning of November, Ireland is falling behind in the fight against obesity. Some 300,000 children in Ireland are now classified as obese. Leaders in public health have cited findings from the study in the past few days; using it to highlight steps that need to be taken to tackle the obesity epidemic. The report has caused calls for a reform of Ireland’s food environment, including the introduction of ‘no fry zones’, enhanced education on food, and changes to food production and marketing.
obesity. The report cited four major gaps: These included a lack of government action on the introduction of targets for out-of-home meals; a failure to restrict the promotion of unhealthy foods to children on food packaging; no discernible progress in the public sector to provide and promote healthy food choices, and a failure to implement policies that encourage the availability of outlets selling nutritious foods.
“The government needs to seize an opportunity to improve the diets of the Irish population, prevent obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases by investing in the kind of policies and programmes which have demonstrated success in a number of The first ever ‘Irish Healthy countries,” Dr Harrington said. “The Food Environment Policy Index’ benefits are two-fold – aside from (Food-EPI) has highlighted how, improving the health of the general when compared to other coun- population, these measures are hightries, Ireland performed poorly at ly cost-effective, and in the long-run rolling out measures to reduce the can help counteract the rising healthmarketing of unhealthy food to care costs associated with obesity children in the media and online. and diet-related-non communicable diseases.” The report also had some The Food-EPI Ireland study is positive findings, including the fact led by Dr Janas Harrington at that Ireland rates well in ensuring UCC’s School of Public Health. the public has access to nutritional The report has been labelled a information. It also found that Ire‘landmark’ and hopefully a ‘turn- land has made significant progress ing-point’ in how the Government in monitoring overweight and obewill proceed in tackling the rising sity prevalence in the population. issue of both adult and childhood
Alarmingly, the number of children who are considered clinically obese is expected to rise by 10,000 per annum unless firm and immediate action is taken. Ireland has one of the fastest rising rates of childhood obesity in the world. One in five Irish children are now considered to be obese, with some clinicians sighting the surge in weight-related health issues at ‘near-epidemic levels.’ Dr. Harrington has proposed tough measures to ensure the health of the future generation. The report recommended five major policy changes including: ‘no-fry zones’ within close proximity (400 metres) of primary and secondary schools. The introduction of nutritional standards for schools, to include the goods sold in ‘tuck shops’ and cafeterias. The establishment of a committee to monitor and evaluate food-related income support programmes for vulnerable population groups. The report also suggested ‘ring-fencing’
of tac on unhealthy food to subsidise healthy options for disadvantaged groups in the community; as well as the implementation of a comprehensive policy on nutrition standards for food and beverage provision in the public sector. Dr. Harrington said that along with these measures, Ireland must overhaul the entire “food environment” – this includes a wide ranging process from food production, processing, marketing and distribution. The Food-EPI will now serve as a benchmark for the Government to monitor the nation’s health and food lifestyle. The study was conducted between January 2018 and June 2020 with an expert panel from academia, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Safefood, the HSE and various charities.
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News
Issue 5 | Tuesday 24th November 2020 | University Express
USI Plastic Reduction Week and UCC Green Campus aim to tackle environmental issues Writes Maebh McCarthy, Deputy News Editor The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) launched a powerful environmental campaign over the past week. USI, which is the national representative body for students in Ireland with over 374,000 members launched Plastic Reduction Week with results from a study that focused on Ireland’s contribution to plastic harming the environment and contributing to climate change. It was found that Ireland is the number one offender in the European Union for plastic waste, producing 300 million tons every year. According to the study, which was published both in English and Irish, about half of this plastic is single use plastic. Using the hashtag #USIPlasticReductionWeek, shared across as USI Social Media platforms. Another startling fact from the study was that 8 million tonnes of plastic waste is disposed of in the sea each year - “It kills the precious wildlife and de-
stroys the fragile ecosystems that we rely on.” The USI identified the three main producers of plastic waste in Ireland. These are everyday household waste, which is plastic disposed improperly and in landfills escapes into the environment through wind dispersal or bad practice. The second, micro plastics in products and clothing, which are tiny pieces of plastic contained in many everyday cosmetic hygiene products such as shower gels, face washes, and toothpastes when they get washed down the drain and make their way into the environment. The third category identified is industrial waste from poor practice and production; poor standards and practices for waste disposal in the industrial sector as well as fall off from the production process of items consisting of plastic alone. On Friday November 13th, the USI culminated its Plastic Reduction week in challenging students to do a ‘Plastic-Free Friday.’ The aim of this event was to show students how easy it is to go plastic free.’
A positive to emerge from the pandemic, however, is that electricity use decreased by 42% on UCC campus since March 2020. Another positive fact provided from UCC Green Campus is that as of May 1st 2020, 100% of the University’s energy is supplied from renewable sources. UCC Green Campus, which was a pilot Green Campus programme in 2007, saw UCC becoming the first university in the world to be awarded a Green Flag from the Foundation for Environmental Education, the ten year anniversary of which occurred in March 2020. The UCC Green Campus Autumn 2020 Newsletter addressed the impact Covid-19 has had on UCC Sustainability. “There has been much speculation over the last six months regarding the impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic on the environment. Many UCC voices have featured in the media discussing this very topic. As we head into the new academic term, it’s clear that the
pandemic will have both positive and negative impacts on our university’s environmental footprint.” The newsletter also addressed the challenges posed by disposable items as a result of the pandemic. “Unfortunately you are likely to see a temporary increase in the use of disposable items on campus, both to protect our community from the virus and also in our catering outlets. We would urge everyone to invest in reusable facemasks and avoid the single-use plastic ones. With regard to our catering outlets, the return to disposables is a temporary one and we remind everyone that the vast majority of these items are fully compostable and should be placed in the food waste bin. We are still committed to becoming single-use plastic free and fully intend on driving this agenda forward when the time is right to do so.”
Issue | Tuesday 24th November 2020 | University Express
News
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Vaccine hopes are lifted amidst breakthrough from pharmaceutical companies Writes Maebh McCarthy, Deputy News Editor
It was a source of great comfort and hope to many people around the world last week that a Covid-19 vaccine, jointly developed by pharmaceutical company Pfizer and technology company BioNTech, was said to be ‘90% effective.’ The vaccine is undergoing Phase 3 trials at the moment. It was even a further beacon of hope when a second company, Moderna, a firm in the United States, made a press release stating that they had also created a vaccination against Covid-19 that is 94.5% effective. As we go to print, Pfizer and BioNTech have updated their clinical trials and said that their vaccine is now expected to be 95% effective in the battle against Covid-19 as their trials are brought to an end.
week. Dr. Moore explained what is involved during Phase 3 of vaccine trials, “The Phase 3 trial is where we really look to see if the vaccine can work, as in it protects people against infection or disease”, she said. “We look at that in thousands of people so see if it really does provide protection and we also look at the safety signals in such a big population of people. This trial took place in over 40,000 people, both those who got the vaccine and those who got a placebo”, she said.
Pfizer presented their results, also known as interim analysis, to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier this week. “ Pfizer will more than likely aim to be granted ‘an emergency use authorisation’ for the vaccine. They will be Dr. Anne Moore, a Senior Lecturer in granted this licence, provided there are Biochemistry and Cell Biology at UCC no major health or safety signals – and joined Bryan Dobson on RTÉ Radio so far, there appears to be no adverse One to discuss the story as it broke last effects, Dr. Mooney explained. “If there
aren’t [adverse effects] for a further two months, then there will be a vaccine licence for Covid-19 by the end of the year. It’s a really positive breakthrough.” The Pfizer vaccine has been shown to produce both an antibody and T-cell response in the body to fight coronavirus. Pfizer and BioNTech expect to be able to produce up to 50 million vaccine doses globally in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion in 2021.
According to the press release issued by Pfizer, the efficacy of the vaccine developed was consistent across age and ethnicity demographics, and that there no major side effects, a sign that the immunisation could be employed broadly around the world. Other immunologists and biochemists have exercised a welcome but cautious reaction to the press release issued by Pfizer. The Irish Times have exercised caution at
the development, with Dr. Muiris Houston raised questions that haven’t been addressed; such as how long the protective effect of the vaccine last and will the vaccine work equally well in everyone and will it prevent transmission of the virus? Some practical issues with the Pfizer vaccine require storage at a temperature below minus seventy degrees Celsius. This is a global shipping challenge; at a local level, it means the vaccine will not be available from local medical practices. According to Dr. Anne Moore, of UCC, “there are at least half a dozen other vaccines which are on the same track so hopefully, we will have multiple vaccines which will be licensed. The fact that one vaccine will provide very early stage protection gives us a lot of optimism that other vaccines will be effective.”
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Features
Issue 5 | Tuesday 24th November 2020 | University Express
Seasonal Affective Disorder How it may be affecting you Writes Eoghan O’Donnell, Deputy Features Editor The winter months can be awful. In fact, they can be some of the worst months in the year, especially for a student. How many essays have you had due recently? I bet you have another MCQ coming up soon. We’re just over the halfway mark of the semester, and work just seems to be loading up and getting even more dense. Who’s looking forward to more online assessments? Okay, enough of that, I know you know - I don’t need to remind you. Stepping away from the mounting academic stress and focusing on life in general, not much appears to be as cheery or happy as things were during the summer months. The evenings are shorter, the nights longer, the weather wetter. Not only this, we are attempting to power through a second lockdown, and although there are slightly more things to do than before - hello, Boole Library - the potential possibilities to pass time and to have fun are limited. This is tough, I will be the first to admit it. My mood seems to have plummeted in the last few weeks - not for any one specific reason, but it’s harder for me than ever to kick this sense of groggy gloominess that continuously seems to linger on my being.
moods tend to persist, and eating habits can adversely change for no explainable Fortunately, this seasonal gloominess reason. This, on top of mounting presis something I’ve experienced before. sures from college can often lead to a very After suffering through this inexsombre experience. Dealing with all of plicable sadness for a few weeks in this on top of a pandemic? Fair dues to you! first year I came across an article by chance that explained to me a possiYet, just know you are not alone in your ble reason for my feeling dull. This arstruggles. In darker, wetter countries ticle I came across exposed me to Seasuch as Ireland this phenomenon is son Affective Disorder for the first more common than in sunnier countime. Seasonal Affective Disorder, or tries. Cork can be awfully gloomy during SAD according to the Mayo Clinic is winter - everything suddenly turns “is a type of depression that’s related grey in the rain, and it always seems to to changes in seasons — SAD begins be cloudy and combined with the wind and ends at about the same times every it can sometimes be overwhelming. year. If you’re like most people with SAD, your symptoms start in the fall Alleviating Symptoms and continue into the winter months, Of course, as I am not a health professapping your energy and making sional my advice is only that - advice. you feel moody.” Sound familiar? If you feel you need professional help, look for it. You deserve it and you should The severity of SAD differs from pernot feel any reluctance in doing so. son to person: certain people will feel It is good to know that for SAD there nothing at all, but for others it can are habits and devices you can implebe intense and all-consuming. Low
ment into your daily lifestyle to allevi- room while you work and rest is anate some of the more intense symptoms. other important factor. Although many days recently have been filled Sunlight with endless rain, even that extra Ensuring you have plenty of sunlight bit of light that filters in can make is an important factor on the road to a difference, if only the slightest recovery. Personally, I try my best to be amount. A tip also given to me was awake at an early hour - I’m aware this to face the window while working at can be hard, but I personally feel it does my desk. This involved a bit of awkmake a big difference. Spending those ward rotating, but if you can manage extra few hours in the morning soaking it I would advise it. A bonus I found sunlight out on your daily walk - even to was the shadows from my own hand the shop - can make a change. Sunlight that often irritated me while reading gives you Vitamin D, and Vitamin D is or writing at my desk have more or an important factor needed in your dai- less gone with my new desk rotation, ly lifestyle. A Vitamin D deficiency may so that may also be another benefit. contribute to low mood and can weaken brain health and general cognitive funcExercise tioning. So get up and go out, maybe As I’m sure everyone knows, exereven treat yourself to one of those fresh cise helps with your mental health. croissants that always seem to sell out Try to incorporate it into you regubefore 11:00am in some coffee shops. lar routine, and implementing the smallest amount extra into your lifeOpening your blinds to ensure as much style will surely be beneficial. Also, sunlight as possible filters into your if you go running or cycling outside,
Issue | Tuesday 24th November 2020 | University Express
you also get that extra bit of sunlight. Diet Diet, like exercise can work wonders for your mood. Of course treat yourself to the food you love when you want it, who doesn’t love looking forward to a nice takeaway or a big bar of chocolate after a hard day or studying? (It might be worth checking out some of Maeve O’Keeffe’s comfort food recipes over in the food section for some cooking inspiration). Still, it’s important to ensure you are nourishing your body too; try not to deprive it of essential minerals and vitamins and having an extra piece of fruit or veg here or there will do no harm. Also, processed foods can tend to make both your energy and your mood fluctuate, I think we’re all aware of that post-takeaway regret later in the night or early the next morning, and sugar crashes after a big sweet-binge can also make you feel awful - seven bowls of CocoPops later and watch me collapse in a heap onto my bed from sudden unexpected exhaustion.
Features
Light Therapies Light therapies are also something which have come to the fore in the study of Seasonal Affective Disorder in recent years. Light boxes which are available to buy online are bright boxes or panels that emit light. Benefits of light boxes include “a reduction in the production of melatonin - a hormone that makes you sleepy” and “an increase in the production of serotonin - a hormone that affects Reduce Stress your mood”. Sound good? Likely yes, but A piece of advice I found the HSE gave to be aware some side effects include headcombat some of the effects of SAD was aches, eye-strain and even … tiredness. to “avoid stressful situations.” Oftentimes this can be hard, and stressful situ- Sun Lamps are another device used to ations can often take place when we least combat SAD, something which mimexpect them. Don’t worry, you know you ics light emissions of the sun rising and can manage them. If you find you need setting during the summer months. You that extra bit of help to prepare for deal- may find yourself waking in a dark world ing with a stressful situation Elizabeth to a super bright light in your room, Scott has written a very helpful article but it has the potential to benefit your titled “How to Adapt to a Stressful Sit- life and even help you wake up earlier. uation” for VeryWellMind. It might be worth looking at it. Taking steps to man- Still, as much as I hope the suggestions age your stresses before they occur can I have given you help, nothing I’ve sugbe greatly helpful to your overall mood. gested in this article may work perfectly for you. If this is the case, reach out for Keeping your caffeine and alcohol consumption to a moderate amount is no harm either. Trust me, a hangover when you already feel low is the worst - I’m sure you probably know. Also that fourth cup of coffee before 2:00pm probably won’t benefit you, your anxiety might skyrocket and your leg might keep doing that weird twitch thing. Take it easy, leg.
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help. Look after yourself always, you are the most important thing to you. And you matter to so many people! If you feel your mental health is taking an adverse toll on your life, or you feel affected by issues raised in this article, reach out to any of these services. Student Counselling Crisis Text Line: Text UCC to 50808 to chat anonymously with a trained volunteer. Any issue. Any time. Samaritans: Emotional support. 24 hours, Freephone 116123 Pieta House: Support for people at risk of self-harm: 24 hours, Freephone 1800 247 247 Aware: Support for people with depression or bipolar disorder. 10:00am10:00pm Freephone 1800 804 848
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Features
Issue 5 | Tuesday 24th November 2020 | University Express
Tattoos: Inklings from Industry Writes Elisha Carey, Features Editor Tattoos have long had a controversial reputation in the world of work, largely due to a perception of criminality or distrust. A Peninsula Ireland survey found that 76% of Irish employers would not hire someone if they were displaying a visible tattoo. The survey, carried out in 2015 also concluded that if two candidates were shortlisted for a job, 82% of employers would give the job to the candidate without visible tattoos.
But 2015 was a long time ago (one Brexit and an entire Trump presidency ago, in fact) and in the working from home era you don’t even have to put on pants to do your job. Could tattoos still affect your chances of gaining employment in the year 2020? And is there anything in the law to prevent employers from making hiring decisions based on your ink?
The human desire to make a statement and adorn one’s body with art can be traced back as far as 34003100 BC when the Tyrolean Iceman ‘Otzi’ is said to have lived. Otzi was shot in the back with an arrow high up in the Ötztal Alps in Northern Italy some 5,300 years ago and died. His body was preserved in the ice, making him one of the oldest and best-preserved natural mummies on earth. But that’s not even the coolest thing about this guy; studies of Otzi’s body detected 61 tattoos. Mostly consisting of groups of lines and crosses, the tattoos were produced by making fine incisions in the skin and rubbing charcoal into them. It is believed that they served a therapeutic or diagnostic purpose for the Iceman because the tattoo groupings were clustered around his lower back and joints, where scientists identified joint and spinal degeneration. The art of tattooing was also practiced in ancient Egypt as a group of archaeologists uncovered multiple Egyptian mummies with tattoos of sheep and bulls. Small bronze implements identified as tattooing tools were also discovered at the town site of Gurob in Northern Egypt. Amongst the Greeks and Romans, the use of tattoos or “stigmata” as they were
then known, were used as a means to mark someone as “belonging” either to a particular religion or to an owner, in the case of slavery, they would also tattoo criminals as a punitive measure, to make them more easily identifiable. This may be how the employers of recent times concocted their preconceptions about tattooed individuals. There is of course, a deep-rooted link between tattoos and the world of crime and a much higher prevalence of tattoos amongst prison inmates than the general population.
But is there anything to stop a potential employer from deciding against hiring someone based on their body art alone? Unfortunately, not. Tattoos are not a protected characteristic under EU or indeed, Irish law, unlike a disability, the colour of your skin, your gender or your sexual orientation. The Irish Labour Court did, however, protect the right to have a beard in the workplace in a 2004 case. The Court found that a Dunnes Stores employee who was sacked for refusing to shave a goatee beard he had worn for 38 years or wear a face covering at work was unfairly dismissed and should be reinstated. Company dress codes are common in Ireland, be it for health and safety reasons; to promote professionalism; or to communicate a consistent corporate image. Such codes can disproportionately affect one gender. For example, it’s entirely lawful for employers to enforce codes that necessitate the wearing of high heels by female employees or the wearing of a tie by male employees. The Employment Equality Acts 1998-2015, the governing Irish legislation on employment discrimination remains silent on the treatment of tattooed individuals, before, during and after employment. As such, employers are well within their right to enforce rules stating that those with tattoos must keep them covered up, or indeed, to not hire tattooed people in the first place.
on effect of the remote working era on the tolerance of employers towards body art is yet to be seen but if recent years are anything to go by a tide has certainly turned. In 2018, London’s Metropolitan Police partially relaxed a ban on recruiting tattooed candidates and in 2019, Air New Zealand said it would end a ban on body art to allow workers to express their individuality and cultural heritages. Air New Zealand is however, an outlier amongst airline companies, most airline companies like Qatar Airways and Emirates have a no-tolerance approach to body art when it comes to their cabin crew, even in 2020, with the former banning it outright and the latter only permitting tattoos that are not visible whilst in uniform. Online forums offering advice to aspiring cabin crew members recommend refraining from disclosing your tattoos during the recruitment process. A lot of it comes down to the career you’re pursuing, though, body art may But are policies like these still practiced restrict your chances of becoming a priin 2020? mary school teacher, but if you’re after a job in the tech sector, in culinary arts or as a personal trainer your tattoos most Working from home allows people to likely won’t hinder you. And attitudes dress more casually while on the job, are constantly evolving. It’s important to this begs the question: do exposed tattoos note that in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, when even matter anymore? A potential knock the previous generation was coming
up, very few people had tattoos. Today FM reported recently that 35% of Irish people have a tattoo and the average number of tattoos per person is two. As well as this, business managers and owners are becoming younger and younger, The New York Times has said that the average age of a tech company startup founder is 42. According to a study by the Pew Research Centre, 63% of people aged 60 and older find tattoos inappropriate in a workplace, while only 22% of people aged 18-25 share this opinion. This younger generation are entering the workplace and bringing with them a more progressive outlook. Employees without tattoos are not more skilled and do not have a better work ethic than those without. In fact, skill and work ethic have absolutely nothing to do with the presence or absence of ink on your skin, unsurprisingly. Preconceived notions of criminality, laziness or untrustworthiness are slowly but surely growing out of the Irish workforce and this growth is likely to be accelerated by the WFH movement.
Issue | Tuesday 24th November 2020 | University Express
Features:Careers Corner
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Spotlight On: Work Placement Writes Elisha Carey, Features Editor A period of work placement is incorporated into many of the undergraduate degrees here at UCC. Today’s employers are looking for candidates with both academic prowess and practical work experience. It’s no longer enough to study hard and achieve good grades, employers expect you to have hands-on experience in your chosen industry. The value of work placement includes networking and the chance to put your theoretical knowledge into practice. The Higher Education Authority recognises this value and is mandated to increase work placements in academic programmes over the next five to ten years.
University Express spoke with MSc Human Nutrition and Dietetics student Ciara O’Connor about her work placement at Anheuser Busch InBev in Belgium completed during her undergraduate degree in Nutritional Sciences, to gain some insight into what placement is like for UCC students. Ciara spoke about the work placement process, from her first interview to a typical day working at AB-InBev.
UCC Nutritional Sciences students undertake a 6-month work placement in their third year between the months of March and September. The work placement manager assigned to the programme, liaises with employers to source relevant opportunities. Students are then given a list of companies from which to choose a minimum number of companies that they would be happy to do their placement with. CVs are sent out to the companies by the placement manager and the students wait to be called for an interview. Ciara described this wait as quite stressful saying, “It was
about 3 weeks before I landed my first interview partially due to the fact that I had not chosen any of the companies that tended to interview early. Therefore, a lot of my classmates had already secured their placements and I had not even done one interview.” This period is one of the most nerve-wracking for students set to go on placement as Ciara told me that many rumours of “people not securing placements or going for numerous interviews and being unsuccessful” circulated. She was relieved when she was finally invited to an online interview with AB-InBev, a multinational drinks and brewing company with its Global Innovation and Technology Centre (GiTEC) based in Leuven, Belgium. It sounds strange to us now but in those pre-Covid times, the idea of doing an interview via Zoom was unheard of and this was Ciara’s first online interview. The placement manager put Ciara in touch with past students who had done their placement at AB-InBev for online interview tips and general advice, which she said was “incredibly helpful.” Ciara describes this experience of going through the recruitment process online as “a blessing in disguise” as it set her up well for her Master’s interview which was pushed online due to the pandemic.
Ciara was told she was successful just two days after her interview and she immediately set about preparing for her move abroad, she tells me that she found her work placement manager, Clodagh Kerr, to be a huge support during this time: “My work placement manager was a great point of contact to have going through the placement process to act as a link between careers and my college course. I linked in with Clodagh on numerous occasions between securing my placement and leaving for Belgium as she provided me with all of the ad-
ditional information and documentation for undertaking work placement abroad. I have to say she was incredibly helpful with any questions or concerns I had.”
Once in Leuven, Ciara was appointed to the Global Sensory and Consumer Science team as their Sensory Intern. Her role was to organise sensory testing sessions. All of AB-InBev’s products must go through the sensory testing process in order to find out how the product ages, what temperature it should be stored at and whether it needs to be stored in a brown or clear bottle.“A typical day for me would involve organising and attending meetings with various other departments that wanted to work with the sensory department, run sensory panel sessions with new alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages that were being developed, management of product shipments that were used in the sensory sessions and working on various project presentations” said Ciara. In terms of her knowledge in the area of sensory science, Ciara was lucky “I completed a module on sensory science a few weeks before going on placement which gave me some base knowledge into the area but I learned most of what I know now on the job itself.” Speaking on the culture at AB-InBev, Ciara describes it as “Quite relaxed. The
dress code was very casual, it was an open-office environment where the managers and interns would sit at the same desks and there was an open bar every Thursday to get to know your colleagues.” This was a great opportunity to network and Ciara told me that she secured references from the people she worked with. While her placement was not hugely relevant to her end-goal of becoming a dietitian, Ciara explained to me how she benefitted in other ways, “I really do think that my placement gave me lots of other skills such as good people skills, time management, initiative and overall a huge confidence boost in my abilities.”
“For anyone that has the opportunity to go abroad for placement I would recommend it 100%.”
For more information on gaining work experience; CV and interview preparation; or job searching hints and tips go to the Careers Website. The Careers jobs portal promotes both graduate and summer placement opportunities and the UCC Works Award is another great forum which enables you to develop your employability skills.
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Opinion
Issue 5 | Tuesday 24th November 2020 | University Express
An External Interest: Why are we outsiders so fascinated with the American elections? Writes Nathan O’ Connor
As the United States 2020 election slowly drudges to halt amidst discussions of recount and a spectre that is reluctant to leave the White House, we Europeans or even Irish people look at the election with an interest. But – why? If you take one look at Twitter or Instagram, modern American politics is discussed everywhere and the election has only intensified this. I can say for myself that I stayed up for until 5:00am watching some of the election live streams.
America is known as a destination for immigrants amidst the dreams of prosperity, a similar view to its past façade where it was an escape from a troubled land. A large section of my family moved over to Boston in Massachusetts and many people I know also have lots of relatives still living in the US. My friend Daniel is Irish-American, he moved back from America three years ago and believes that us outsiders should focus more on our own internal issues and to that statement: I half agree.
While I pondered this idea in my head during our discussion, I thought “He’s right, we have our own issues and why should an election an ocean away bother me so much and waste my time”. Then Seán chimed in – “Donald Trump is a symbol of the decline in compassion and unity in our world”, he was completely correct. The incumbent President Trump is a divisive figure in our world, which is fully natural for any politician but he isn’t your regular runof-the-mill political now is he? Whilst we might want to pretend that the U.S isn’t the centre of the Western world, it’s effectively true. The idea that a global leader can hold repugnant allegations around him, can be publicly racist and one who supports blatant and reprehensible tribalism is truly a harrowing one.
I sometimes feel annoyed when I see young Irish people who know extensively more about American politics rather than the mere basics of Irish politics. It’s an interesting sight and definitely an outcome of our ever-connected world. Instagram and Twitter have become the new public forum, where ideas clash and figurative jabs are thrown. I can say at least that I find it good that more
and more people are gaining interest in current affairs and modern politics, albeit from a country across the globe.
Donald Trump’s appointment four years ago has sparked new ideas that still float and will continue to float around modern politics, His withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords have thrown a spanner into the works for reduction in emissions and his blaming of fake news has caused a wave of distrust in media outlets which has lead to an increase in popularity of conspiracy theories. One could say this is talking about a distant politician in a foreign land – perhaps you’re overreacting, maybe you should focus more on your own country’s issues? – This is somewhat true but at the same time hypocritical. Donald Trump can be diagnosed as a symptom in the disease of a lack of compassion in politics, when what the world truly needs at this current moment is compassion and unity in the face of adversity. The rise of Trumpian politics is a small lighter that can burn a bridge.
An opposition to the Trump presidency
is the main take of those who discuss American politics in Ireland and also Europe. They feel the same thing as I – compassion and understanding is needed and not divisive finger-pointing. Whilst I feel somewhat off about those previously mentioned who pay all their attention to American politics while there are extreme social or economic issues in their own country, it isn’t a totally terrible thing. Compassionate social policy discussions can teach us how to develop our own society and that is what we need. There are homeless people sleeping on our cold and harsh streets, there are asylum seekers living in bedlam and squalor, there are people who have dreams of an escape – something that has to be better than what is.
We, Irish people, need to develop our own thoughts, ideas and responses to the growing social issues in our country whilst also grasping the emergence of unity and compassion as a partner to bring along with us. We’re fascinated by our American neighbours because they show us what can happen to us if we let it happen, tribes can re-emerge and fury can erupt.
Opinion
Issue | Tuesday 24th November 2020 | University Express
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A Year in Numbers Writes Kim Neiland Nothing will damage you so ferociously as the expectations you have for yourself. Our lives are defined by goals, by figures, by opportunities missed and taken. This year has taken its toll on all of us. Very few will look back on this year fondly, if anyone at all. Holidays were cancelled, weddings postponed, days spent waiting for any hopeful turn of events. We have lived with daily HSE press conferences announcing new infections and deaths for what has felt like an eternity, barraged with speak of a ‘new normal.’ How we are living at present is not normal. How we interact with our friends, relatives and colleagues is not normal. The mirage of days spanning weeks, unfolding into months, has been anything but normal. Retaining hope has been a challenge in itself, let alone attempting to grapple with how your life has ground to a halt. Many have and may continue to lose their jobs, perhaps their homes. The city streets you once knew bustling with activity now reduced to a mere few passing through it. Our lives are now spent at distance. For the moment. In some capacity we have all been dealt a shorthand. That much is pervasive. A litany of political scandals laying the rocky foundation for will be a long road ahead for our country. Our health system has barely coped with the hand it has been dealt. The economy is on its knees, ravaged by a virus that we cannot grapple with. Goodbyes never made in the way we wanted to. Mental health among people of all ages has deteriorated significantly, and understandably so. It is okay to not be okay. You will have many attempting to reassure you that it will be alright. How can it be when the next three, six, nine months seem so bleak and uncertain? What followed the onset of Covid-19 manifested itself by way of an onslaught of information. Not that it has never been present, but our lives have suddenly become defined by the latest ministerial statement, the latest daily figures. Our emotions were heightened. Our heartbreak and longing for the lives we had known and lived universal. It is never an appropriate time to
have a pandemic. If not for this year it may well have been next year, perhaps several years down the line. What would have happened then? Possibly the same scenario. Maybe we would have been more prepared. Perhaps you would have been more prepared. But being older never made you wiser in the same way being young bestows youth. If I have learned anything, the pandemic has reaffirmed the simple fact that being personally unaffected by a situation does not allow you to disregard others circumstances. The ever present ‘Well, it doesn’t affect me’ attitude
should be swiftly thrown to the gutter.
for this year shattered in March.
I have learned you can only control your own actions, that the simple things can mean everything. That giving a metaphorical hand can lift someone else’s spirits. Those sacrifices are never easy, but almost always necessary. That you can wait your whole life for the timing to be just right and never do a thing. Why wait? Covid-19 has been a wakeup call for us all. The fragility of our lives, the implications of globalization, how we rely on one other, no matter how distant we feel from each other. My expectations
Now here we are, anticipating the end of this period in our lives. Maybe we are no closer to it. But our lives must go on, however they can. We must always retain hope. We must never give up on each other, even when all the odds are against us. As for those targets you have not met? Make new ones. Opportunities missed? There will be others, perhaps better ones. I take comfort in that.
Editorial
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Over The Hill.
Writes Fergal Smiddy, Byline Editor Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about age. Just this past week, I turned twenty-two - an aggressively unremarkable milestone, if you’d even call it one. I joked with my family about dreading the day - “sure any year past twenty-one is a year over the hill” - but if I’m to be truly honest with myself, there wasn’t much joking involved at all. Birthdays, at least nowadays, aren’t all red-faced smiles, melting Vienetta, skinned knees and goodie bags. Coming full circle on another year of your life and hauling yourself up to the next rung, unaware of where exactly you are being led, is not always easy. This time last year, I was on the other side of the world - celebrating my 21st with friends I’d only known for three months on a Study Abroad year in Toronto. I sat engrossed obliviously in a heated game of Mario Kart, sipping occasionally on a home-mixed vodka Fresca as the crew who were steadily becoming my inner circle rendezvoused outside, having gone to the effort of surprising me with a cake. Life had velocity to it then. I was bobbing carefree in a sea of the new - new faces, new ideas, new life - and it meshed deliciously with the milestone that was twenty-one. As far as I was concerned, things were only just jetting off. The funny thing is, that birthday - a year ago already - feels like it’s barely gone by. I suppose it makes sense; the changes brought by 2020 have created a feeling of suspension in our lives, with things as we know them put on pause - resumption promised, but too airy for us to sink our teeth into. We’re kind of just floating around the place, but then again, when haven’t we been? I didn’t even really have much time to dwell on my birthday this year, thanks to it being plotted almost impressively smack-bang in the middle of the covid calendar’s Winter exam season (I’ll take the caffeinated marathon of beginning an assignment on its due date over a mere thirty seconds of glassy-eyed existentialism, thank you very much); and in the week or so that’s gone by since, my mind has been elsewhere. The past week or so has surfaced the latest in what seems destined to be an ongoing failure of the Irish state in protecting its women. Files containing multiple thousands of nude images and videos of young Irish women were found circulating in online forums. Some were underage, none were consenting. At the state level, we unquestionably need a criminalisation of image-based abuse; As a University, our SU needs to be mandated in supporting this. A change.org petition is still doing the rounds online, and is well on its way to 75k signatures at the time of writing. Sign it, share it and tell people about it. Mná na hÉireann dragged this country up to speed with Repeal the Eighth in 2018 - don’t doubt that they’ll do it again. Over the hill at twenty-two? Afraid not, there’s plenty of climbing to be done yet.
Fergal Smiddy
byline@uccexpress.ie
Gaeilge
Eagarthóir: Édith de Faoite
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An Grá i bhFad i gCéin A scríobhann Seán Ó hUallacháin
Aoibhinn beatha an scoláire, nach é sin a deirtear? Oícheanta amuigh sa chathair, cairdeas, agus craic. Fiú má tá saol na gcaorach ag mic léinn sa lá atá inniubh ann, ní hé sin le rá, áfach, nach mbíonn ár gcuid deacrachtaí againn. Is minic go mbíonn fadhbanna ag mic léinn le cúrsaí airgid, cúrsaí tithíochta, lena gcuid caidrimh phearsanta, agus le cúrsaí ollscoile iad féin. Bhí deis agam féin labhairt le triúr mac léinn atá ag streachailt le caidrimh fhadtriallaigh, agus na deacrachtaí uilig a bhaineann leo. Cad é an rud is deacra leis an long-distance? An mbíonn fadhbanna cumarsáide ann? Seo hiad na smaointe a bhí acu: Ábhar oidí is ea Molly, atá ag siúl amach le fear as Luimneach. Conaíonn sí i gContae Chorcaí agus má theastaíonn uaithi dul ar cuairt go dtí a páirtnéir, turas bóthair 90 nóiméad ar a laghad a bhíonn i gceist. Mhínigh sí dhom cé chomh deacair is a bhíonn sé ar orthu: ‘Sé an rud is measa ná nach féidir leat an tacaíocht fhisiciúil a thabhairt do do bhoyfriend nuair a bhíonn sí ag teastáil’
a dúirt sí. ‘Má tharlaíonn rud éigint diúltach dó nó má tá drochlá aige, ní féidir liom a bheith in éineacht leis chun lámh chúnta a thabhairt dó. Ní féidir liom geallúint dó go mbeadsa in éineacht leis fé cheann cúig neomat, toisc go bhfuil an achar fada bóthair sin eadrainn. Ní bhíonn fhios agam an chéad uair eile a bhfeicfidh mé é de ghnáth. Ní rud éasca é a adhmháil, ach sí an fhírinne í.’ Bhí deis agam chomh maith labhairt le Megan. Tá Megan i mbun Erasmus sa Spáinn i láthair na huaire, agus tá a páirtnéir fós ag maireachtaint i gCorcaigh. Labhraíomar ar FaceTime, agus bhí cómhrá deas againn, í suite amuigh fé sholas na gréine, lasmuigh dá hárasán i gcathair Seville.
sé níos fusa le himeacht ama. Le bheith macánta, bíonn roinnt laethanta ceart go leor agus an chuid eile ana-dheacair. Measaim gurb í an chumarsáid an rud is tábhachtaí. Má thagann aon rud aníos, ní mór dúinn é a phlé chomh luath agus is féidir. Muna bpléann, bíonn an baol ann go n-éireodh an fhadhb níos troime agus go tobann titeann an tóin as gach rud. Le cúnamh Dé tá mo chuid eitiltí curtha in áirithe agam don Nollaig agus beidh mé in ann é a fheisicnt tar éis an oiread seo ama scartha uaidh. Is fiú an frustrachas ag deireadh an lae.’ Gailleamhach ó dhúchas is ea Dara atá ag dul amach le fear as Corcaigh. Mac léinn dlí is ea é chomh maith, atá i mbun bhliain na céime. Mhínigh sé dhom conas a bhíonn sé a bheith i bhfad óna pháirtnéir.
‘Mar a shílfeá’ a dúirt sí, ‘labhair mé féin agus mo bhoyfriend mar gheall ar mo bhliain Erasmus arís is arís eile sular d’fhág mé na tíre. Ní cómhrá éasca é. Bhí a fhios agam go mbeadh sé deacair, ach níor thuigeas cé chomh pianmhar is a bheadh sé. Mheasas go mbeadh sé níos deacra i dtosach báire agus go n-éireodh
‘Tá cleachtadh mhaith againn ar bheith i bhfad óna chéile, ní raibh fhios againn a mhalairt go dtí le gairid, ach fós féin bíonn sé deacair. Ní fhaca muid a chéile ar feadh cheithre mhí i mbliana nuair a bhí an chéad thréimhse dianghlasála ar siúl agus bhí sé sin an-chrua go deo. Cé go nglaodh muid ar a chéile chuile oíche ar
FaceTime, scaití ní bhíonn ag teastáil ó dhuine ach teagmháil fhisiciúil – fiú fáisceadh láimhe nó póigín mar thacaíocht nuair nach bhfuil tú ar fónamh. Bíonn roinnt imní agus faitíos ag baint le bheith i do chónaí i bhfad ó do leannán freisin. Dia idir sinn agus gach anachain, ach dá dtarlódh aon cheo do cheachtar againn, dá mbeadh ceachtar againn i gcontúirt mhór ar bith, is beag cúnamh a bheadh muid in ann a thabhairt dá chéile agus achar 200 ciliméadar eadrainn. Ná tóg mícheart mé, is mór is fiú ár gcaidreamh agus cibé ceard den domhan mór ina mbeinn, fiú dá mbeadh muid na mílte míle ó chéile thar tír is thar farraige, ‘sé an fear ceannan céanna a bheadh uaim.’ Is léir ón méid a chuala mé ón triúr gur deacair an rud é a bheith scartha ó do ghrá geal. Gan amhras, bheadh ort a bheith foighneach agus tuisceanach mar dhuine dá mbeifeá ag iarraidh triail a bhaint as caidreamh fadtriallach. An rud a chuir áthas orm i ndiaidh na n-agallamh ná go raibh fhios ag gach éinne acu go raibheadar i ngrá ag deireadh an lae. Faigheann an grá an lámh in uachtar i gcónaí, is cosúil.
INTERVIEW
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Painting the Town Red - An Interview with Cork Street Artist Kevin O’Brien By Fergal Smiddy, Byline Editor Outside the Lloyd’s Pharmacy on Grand Parade, on an electrical box tucked inside the shadow of the imposing St. Patrick’s Buildings and plotted neatly between two trees is a mural commemorating the American abolitionist and writer Frederick Douglass. A gesture of artistic solidarity with #BlackLivesMatter installed as the movement caught flame across the U.S. earlier this year, as well as a clenched fist of support to the #EndDirectProvision movement which continues to gather steam on our own island, the mural is an impassioned international statement with its feet planted firmly in Cork. The man behind this mural, along with a collection of similar staccato bursts of visual culture pasted across the peoples’ republic is Kevin O’Brien. A UCC alumnus and self-proclaimed passionate storyteller, Kevin is the co-founder of Mad About Cork, a street art and guerrilla gardening volunteer group responsible for numerous such murals which have been splashing the city in colour since 2017. Kevin’s involvement dates back further still, with similar work being done from 2015 under the remit of Reimagine Cork, an antecedent group which first sank the anchor of this Cork institution almost six years ago now. “We were motivated in those days by the recession and the dereliction that could be seen across Cork at that time. Lots of empty shops and buildings that were left fall into a state of ugly
disrepair. Many still lie idle today” Bringing vibrancy to that which seemed laid to waste offered a noble motive for the group, with a desire to whet cultural appetites and inspire pride among the people of Cork quickly establishing itself as the goal. “The challenge we set ourselves was to try and improve the appearance of these places through street art and guerrilla gardening, and by doing that we wanted to build on Cork people’s pride of place in the hope that more people would get on board and look after their buildings and premises.”
The concept of guerrilla gardening was new to me, but it comprises a good portion of the work done by Mad About Cork. A once derelict patch of gravel on the Coal Quay is now home to a vibrant vegetable garden, installed as part of the ‘Get Ireland Growing’ campaign. As well as promoting sustainability and offering aesthetic value, it’s a monument to history. The garden occupies the site of Cork’s original Irish market, set up in 1840 on the back of local government reformation as somewhat of a riposte to the renowned English market. Another inkling from the past etched afresh on the bones of our city.
For Kevin, the project also represents a cosmopolitan touch which - before Mad About Cork got going - the city was in need of. “It seemed to be something that was happening in other cities across the world for a while. In Cork, [I] think it was the People’s Republic of Cork group that probably got the ball rolling here with the street art on electrical boxes.” Electrical box murals have become a staple idiosyncrasy of the group as they have steadily worked their way into the city’s cultural fabric over the past half-decade. Frederick Douglass on Grand Parade; the Ballintemple-born ‘Schindler of Ireland’ Mary Elmes on the South Mall, who drove Jewish children hidden in the boot of her car to rescue through a WWII-torn France; Irish Traveller and Folk legend Maggie Barry Leeside on the quays - all figures who crossed the water to shape the world, but - like the murals which honour them - left their mark indelibly on Cork. “We try and keep it simple really when coming up with ideas, so there’s only a small set of criteria to meet. All the artwork needs to be positive and we try to make it relative to Cork - its history, its humour, or just famous or otherwise noteworthy Corkonians”. With a master’s degree from each of the Rebel County’s most renowned third-level institutions - specialising in
19 the history of the Irish Revolutionary Period at UCC and Journalism & New Media at CIT - Kevin O’Brien is a man with Cork running through his veins. As for putting his work on show for the whole city to see, he has no qualms: “For me, the most rewarding part when you’re painting on the street is seeing the reaction from passers-by. In the beginning, people would look at you as if you had two heads when you were out painting an electrical box. Now, everybody knows the craic. They’re excited to see you painting and love to know what the artwork is going to be”. Indeed, this guerrilla beautification has not gone unnoticed among the people of the Real Capital, and in true Cork fashion, they show little hesitation in having a friendly word with Kevin if he’s spotted out working on a project. “There has been a fair few [interactions] and overwhelmingly they are positive. It’s one of the main reasons why I love doing them. One of the standout moments for me
was while repainting a tribute to Mary Elmes on South Mall. It had become a bit weathered so needed a bit of a touch-up. Elmes was from Cork and had worked as a humanitarian during the Spanish Civil War and World War II, becoming well known for saving hundreds of children from entering concentration camps. Anyway, while we were there doing it, a young guy approached us and introduced himself. It turned out he was a great-grandnephew of Mary Elmes’. It was great to hear that the painting was well received by Elmes’ family”. These icons, though immortalised on the walls of our city, thus remain among us - people of Cork, lineages still unfolding. As for any murals which may serve as standouts, Kevin seems indifferent: “Hard to say which are the most popular but there’s really something for everyone with such a great variety of subjects depicted, from famous Cork people, history, Cork slang and just general good humour”. Calling to mind the homage to Sultans of Ping’s “Where’s Me Jumper” situated outside Bishop Lucey Park, I broach the subject of vandals, and the effect they have on the work being done by Mad About Cork. “In the five years since I’ve been doing this, there have been very few incidents of vandalism, and at that they have been only minor incidents. It was a worry at the start, but it’s been very encouraging since then to see them being well received. When it does happen, the best thing to do is to just fix it up as quickly as possible and move on”. Fixing up and moving on encapsulates the spirit of Cork in more ways than one, though if recent circumstances have taught us anything, it’s that not every problem can be made right with a lick of paint and a can-do attitude. “Unfortunately, this year has been very hard for the group because of the pandemic and we haven’t been able to work on as many projects as we would have liked”. It’s a story that’s become all too topical: artists and their work kept in a Covid chokehold, with not enough being done by way of funding. Whether it’s theatre at the Everyman or the Opera House, independent booksellers smothered by closures and restrictions, or something as fluid and nomadic as street art - the effect of Covid-19 across the arts has been ruinous. Yet, a glimmer of hope for what
the new year may bring shines on: “We’re still here, and we’re just biding our time before we can get back into the swing of things. All going well, we’ll be able to kick back into gear early in the new year”. Though recent stimulus packages for music production and distribution as well as a million-euro scheme involving Cork’s own Crawford Art Gallery to buy and sell Irish artwork offer some solace, the struggle for artists is far from over. Frederick Douglass’ trip to Ireland will forever be imprinted upon history as a proud testament to the compassion of our nation. And outside 8 Grand Parade, standing proud, is a symbolic reminder of this history. It is only due to the voluntary efforts of a few good rebels who are simply Mad About Cork that such historical echoes remain breathing. And now, at a time when our shared responsibility for each other is greater than ever, we cannot let them choke. Pictures and accounts of all Mad About Cork public artworks, as well as more information about the organisation can be found at madaboutcork.com. Go to vivamediacork.com for more information on Kevin, as well as to access his amazing print store in time for Christmas.
Food and Health
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Diving into Fish wRITES Maeve O’Keefe, Food & Health Editor For an island surrounded by waters yielding an abundant variety of fish and shellfish, we Irish consume very little fish. In fact, the vast majority of fish caught in Irish waters are exported to the likes of Spain, France, Italy and Poland, where it is guzzled up with relish. In contrast, many Irish people are stuck with the tired mentality that fish is a punishment food, reserved for Fridays, when historically, eating meat was discouraged. Fish wasn’t meant to be enjoyed, and so no real effort was made to embrace what can be a versatile, healthy, cheap and greener alternative to meat. The benefits of a diet rich in fish are well known; but you may not be aware that it is recommended that we consume fish at least twice a week, including one portion of oily fish, such as salmon, sardines, trout or mackerel. Fish is an excellent source of high biological value protein, which means it can be broken down by the body easily, to be used in the growth and repair of muscles, as well as the production of hormones, enzymes, and antibodies. Fish also supplies us with vitamins D and B, as well as a host of minerals to boost your health and wellbeing. One of the primary benefits of fish in the diet is that it does not contain saturated fats, which can contribute to cholesterol and heighten the risk of coronary heart disease. Instead, oily fish like salmon is rich in Omega-3, which has a multitude of health benefits, such as reducing the risk of heart disease, potentially aiding mental health, and improving brain development. There is even some research to suggest a possible link between fish and enhanced concentration. For this reason, fish is often termed ‘brain food.’ Even in Irish mythology, in the story of ‘An Bradán Feasa’ - otherwise known as the salmon of knowledge - fish was associated with heightened knowledge and wisdom. So, with exams and assignments just around the corner, why not give fish a try? Irish fish can be purchased from almost all supermarkets, just search for produce with the Bord Bia Quality Assurance symbol or visit your local fishmonger for high quality fresh fish. Bring the fish home and store it in the fridge immediately to preserve its freshness, as it can go off very easily when not refrigerated. If you don’t think that buy-
ing fresh fish is practical for you, don’t despair! Tinned fish carries its own benefits of heightened calcium levels, due to the edible softened bones in the fish. Most of us will also be familiar with frozen fish, which may not match the flavour and texture of fresh fish, but nevertheless is a handy method of including more fish in the diet, and is often coated in tasty crumb coats or batter. Fish fingers or breaded frozen fish with oven baked chips or home-made wedges is a fail-safe supper if you’re not in the mood for much food preparation in the evening. Another cheat way to include more fish in your diet is to buy hot-smoked fish. Having already been cooked, hot-smoked fish is ready to be included in pasta bakes, fish pie, tacos, wraps or however you choose to enjoy fish, with no time wasted in cooking.
Whether you’re buying your fish from the supermarket, or fishmonger; fresh, tinned or frozen, try to opt for sustainable fish if available. This simply means that the fish is caught in a way that allows stocks to replenish, minimising damage to marine life. As well as that, it’s good to try out different kinds of fish, straying away from familiar favourites like salmon and cod every now and then, as these are sometimes subject to overfishing. Try swapping cod for hake, or sardines for tuna, for instance. You might just find that you prefer a bit of variety! In terms of culinary inspiration, there are so many exciting ways to include fish in the diet. I always rely on Bord Bia’s website for straightforward fish recipes that promote Irish produce, in a fuss-free, easily followed way. As well as that, eatmorefish.ie provides recipe
inspiration, fish delivery services and practical advice on storing fish if you’re still uncertain about where to begin with eating fish. Think outside of the frozen fish box, and try out fish curries, fish tacos and pasta bakes. Mimic your favourite fish and chip shop by trying out your own battered cod at home, or coating your fish in an easily prepared layer of breadcrumbs for a delicious oven-baked crunch. Leftover spud in the fridge? Why not try making some fish cakes; they’re surprisingly easy to make, and you can’t beat the homemade kind. You could even try adding prawns to your next stir fry, as they cook so quickly there’s no excuse not to. Or, for a comforting winter-warming classic, you can’t beat a good fish pie. When push comes to shove, however, there’s nothing wrong with some fish fingers for supper; guaranteed to take you back to childhood.
Editor: Maeve O’Keeffe
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The Best of Cork’s Coffee Writes Maeve O’Keefe, Food & Health Editor
One aspect of my daily routine during lockdown that I have clung to for the preservation of my sanity is a walk in the fresh air, either solo or with a friend, almost always punctuated by a stop for coffee. We are fortunate here in Cork that so many coffee shops have remained open for takeaway coffee and sweet treats, to warm our hands and provide the little buzz of energy that we sometimes need in order to face a day of online lectures, assignments, and assessments. Even if the comforting aroma of coffee doesn’t perk you up, a brief stroll in the bracing cold, hands dug into the pockets of your warmest coat, should do the trick. Here is a list of some of Cork’s finest spots to stop for takeaway coffee, so you can support local businesses while treating yourself to a well-earned cappuccino, flat white, mocha, or whatever you fancy! 1. Bosca Coffee Co. Bosca Drive Through is a brilliant bright yellow addition to Carrigo-
hane Straight (opposite Lee Fields) in Cork. Serving Soma coffee and offering gorgeous baked goods, you don’t even need to leave the car to enjoy this gem of a coffee shop. You can also walk through to pick up your coffee and take a stroll through what remains of the largely flooded Lee Fields. 2. Beantown Café I recently discovered Beantown Café while on a walk with a friend, and quickly became obsessed. With superb customer service, Beantown Café is situated on Model Farm Road, and not only offers delicious coffee, tea and smoothies, but also has a host of lunchtime snacks to fuel you, consistently served with a smile. 3. Green Frog Café Located right across from the UCC Main Gates, Green Frog Café is another recently opened coffee shop that is thriving due to its tasty selection of coffees, smoothies and frappés. Orna-
ments align the walls of the café, all coinciding with the theme indicated in its title which add to the overall experience inside the café. Its proximity to campus means that it is an ideal option for your study breaks from Boole, and with a new assortment of Christmas themed hot drinks available, such as the After Eight Mocha, Gingerbread Latte and Orange Hot Chocolate, there’s no reason not to try this gem of a café.
eaten from Café Gusto to be honest!
4. Café Gusto Café Gusto was one of the first cafés I stumbled upon in first year, and it has been a firm favourite of mine ever since when in need of brunch and a frothy cappuccino. A quick walk from UCC’s main campus, Café Gusto is a brilliant spot on Washington Street to perk yourself up with some (generally) virtuous takeaway breakfast, brunch or lunch, and a good quality coffee. Personally, I recommend the grilled halloumi toast, but I’ve never not loved whatever I’ve
6. Sicilian Delights Last but not least is Magazine Road’s beloved Sicilian Delights. For an authentic Italian cup of coffee and an affordable lunch option located a stone’s throw from UCC’s main campus, look no further than this great spot. There’s a reason everybody raves about the place; the food and the coffee are simply delicious, and great fuel for a brisk wintry walk around The Lough.
5. Cork Coffee Roasters When it comes to grabbing the perfect cup of coffee in Cork City, you’d be hard pressed to beat Cork Coffee Roasters. Although I miss sitting in the cosy nooks and crannies of this compact café, the takeaway coffee is as good as ever and is a sure-fire way to elevate your mood.
Film & T.V.
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Toy Story turns 25: The Story of Pixar Going Beyond Infinity Writes Kyran Leahy, Film & TV Editor
Time to acknowledge the obvious here before we start. I am a big Pixar fan. I, like many others, was raised on the stories that the film company showed through the art of 3D animation. I remember having nearly all of them on VHS when people still knew what a VHS was. The non stop watching of Monsters Inc religiously as a toddler, followed by the out of this world experience of witnessing those famous first few minutes of Up in a packed, emotional cinema as a child. Being a part of the group of teenagers who eagerly awaited the release of The Incredibles 2, fourteen years in the making. Now I am a college student, and even then, I made sure to watch Onward as soon as it came out on Disney+. Pixar has been a part of my entire life. It’s only fair to celebrate the anniversary of their first feature film, Toy Story. Toy Story premiered nationwide across the United States on the 22nd of November, 1995. It was the first entirely computer-animated feature film ever made. That still blows my mind. Before that, people only ever associated computer-animation with short films or minor parts in big movies. Dozens upon dozens of computer-animated films are released every year from multiple companies. They are a big part of cinema and
one of the biggest money makers at the box office. Toy Story was the absolute first, the grandfather of computer-animated films. How I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to see the reactions of cinemagoers as they observed Woody flail around and run in all different sorts of directions - groundbreaking for its time. We have a high standard now when we watch animation, while that alone was revolutionary for them. Unless you have lived under a rock for the last twenty-five years, I am pretty confident everyone knows the plot of Toy Story by now. Toys are alive and Andy’s toys are led by Sheriff Woody. Andy gets a new toy called Buzz Lightyear, making Woody jealous. Woody and Buzz fight, get separated from Andy and must get home. Bish-bash-bosh, it is a tale for the ages. Eighty minutes of pure, hectic fun has inspired a multitude of computer-animated films and three sequels of its own. Such a revolutionary movie for its time, other film companies tried desperately to better it. Believe it or not, the second fully computer-animated film was released by DreamWorks, with Antz releasing in 1998. ‘90s DreamWorks spent the latter part of the decade attempting to surpass Pixar and Disney with their
own takes on computer-animation and traditional animation, respectively. If it was not for Toy Story’s success, then we probably would not have gotten the animated franchises that we grew up on. The noughties were the period where computer-animation began to dominate the cinemas. Moving away from Toy Story for the decade, Pixar instigated the golden age of computer-animation with seven high-profile releases. From Finding Nemo to Ratatouille, Pixar continued to outdo itself with brand new innovative technology being used between each release. Serene deep seas, Barren wastelands, tropical forests; each film took a different approach never seen before. Pixar’s continued success brought a battle for the ages, with DreamWorks and Blue-Sky Studios looking to stamp authority with their own releases. Yes, Shrek fans, you can thank Pixar’s success for inspiring DreamWorks to give you four films. Even as the noughties rolled into the 2010’s and Disney displaced Pixar as the main driving force of advanced computer-animation (because Disney needs to be the absolute best at everything nowadays), Pixar continued to roll out successful movies in the shape of sequels to
beloved classics. They appealed to their main demographic – i.e. my generation – as we got fantastic sequels such Monster’s University, Finding Dory, The Incredibles 2, while we do not speak of Cars 2. While there has certainly been a few more misses than the prior decade, the hits have been legendary. I do not think I ever managed to sit through Inside Out or Coco without shedding a tear, and I probably will never be able to. You mention Pixar to one random person on the street and you are bound to get a unique memory from one of their many movies that has had an impact on their life. Pixar has been a part of film and pop culture for a quarter of a century now, and it is here to stay. I could talk about Pixar for hours upon end, but I only have 850 words to celebrate the impact it has had on our lives for this paper. From the fun and chaotic stories of a rat making food to the tear-jerking moments of saying goodbye to a young friend you grew attached to, there is a Pixar movie for any occasion that will appeal to adults with its brilliant storytelling, and kids with its colourful animation. Pixar has given us so much these last twenty-five years, who knows what they can accomplish when they get to fifty, to a hundred, to infinity and beyond.
Editor: Kyran leahy
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The Sheer Horror that is Irish Reality Television Writes Kyran Leahy, Film & TV Editor It is that time of the year again. The time where an abundance of reality TV shows come back onto our televisions during these harsh Winter months to provide us with some stellar, albeit mindless, entertainment. Families from across the country pinpoint these shows as creating the one time of the year where everyone sits down in the same room to willingly watch the same thing together. One show in particular, I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! has become somewhat of a tradition in my house. There is something about all of us in the same room watching mostly C-List celebrities eating bugs and arguing with each other for three weeks as the fire is lighting and we snack on whatever is in the cupboard that just gets me excited for this time of year. Even shows like The Great British Bake Off or Come Dine with Me are perfect to watch with the family. They do not take much fixation to watch, and they are perfect to have in the background as you talk about your day with everyone else in the room. Wait a minute, those are all British shows. What about Irish reality shows? I would like to compare reality shows to a box of Celebrations, the ultimate Christmas treat. There are eight chocolates in a box, all of varying popularity. British reality shows are the Maltesers, the most popular one available and the most quality. American reality shows, while not necessarily Galaxy quality, are always taken without any hesitation. Irish reality shows are Bounty. You have the majority that hate them and would not touch them, but you also have that passionate minority that will always choose Bounty before anything else. That small minority allows Bounty to stay in Celebrations. The small, passionate, usually older community that Irish reality shows have, that always watch them, keep Irish reality shows in demand, even if the quality is considered poor by some. For those that the Irish reality shows do not appeal to, however, it is a bit of a wild ride. In terms of reality television shows, Ireland has had some absolute stinkers down the line. Speaking of stink, RTÉ genuinely thought it was an entertaining idea to have Mairead McGuinness present a show about eight “celebrities” as they…worked on a farm. Celebrity Farm was Ireland’s competition for the UK’s increasingly popular I’m A Ce-
lebrity back in 2003. It may just be me, but I would rather watch Caitlyn Jenner eat scorpions instead of some lad from Fair City milk a cow. Heartbreakingly, Celebrity Farm only lasted a season, but what about Ireland’s other 2003 reality show, Cabin Fever? The idea was a stroke of genius: putting eleven randomers with no prior sailing experience on a ship as it sailed around the coast of Ireland, with the last man standing winning €100,000. What could possibly go wrong? Well, the boat ran aground off Tory Island two weeks into its eight-week run. The ship broke into pieces, the contestants nearly got seriously hurt and the show was cancelled. Lord have mercy. It is probably fair to say that Irish reality television’s disastrous year of 2003 inspired RTÉ to not think of any original ideas anymore. Because Britain had Ant & Dec presenting every success-
ful British reality show, and American TV was plastered with images of Donald Trump – while he was still just that businessman who said “You’re fired” – Ireland decided to just make their own versions of these kinds of shows. Bill Cullen became an unlikely TV star with Ireland’s The Apprentice, while Lucy Kennedy turned into Ireland’s answer to Holly Willoughby with presenting roles for about ninety percent of Irish shows. We got Irish equivalents to almost every popular reality show. Fade Street, that show where Vogue Williams rose to fame, was our version of The Hills. There came a point where Ireland just dished out reality shows just for no reason. It was a copy and paste job, except for the odd original concept. Anyone remember Fáilte Towers? I was sadly reminded of it thanks to this. Nowadays, the Irish reality show genre is not nearly as over-saturated as it was
once. They have decided to play it safe with their own versions of Gogglebox and First Dates. Nowhere near as good in quality as the parent versions, but not as bad as watching someone clean pig styes. We do have Ireland’s Fittest Family, which has become a smash hit and is somewhat of a diamond in the rough, but that cannot hide the embarrassment of the reality shows that our nation has had to suffer through over the years. Hopefully RTÉ sticks to what they have and do not try anything mad. Could you imagine Ireland’s own version of I’m A Celebrity? We would be having the likes of Samantha Mumba doing Dingo Dollar Challenges with Des Bishop down some field in Mullingar. Ireland is significantly weaker than its competitors when it comes to this genre and it will remain that way. Honestly, it is probably a good thing.
Music
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“TULLE is a fabric made up of tiny connections”: Constance Keane, interviewed writes Julie Landers, Staff Writer
Constance Keane is a force to be reckoned with. Alongside being drummer for punk band M(h)aol, making her own music under Fears and managing Laura Groves, Keane is also about to launch the collective and management label TULLE. TULLE is specifically for women and non-binary musicians which, in a heavily male-dominated industry, has the potential to be a community and an alternative to what are all-too-often objectifying and patronising patterns of behaviour and power structures. Keane isn’t doing this alone; with her are Emily Kendrick (XL Records), Melika Mills and Hannah Partington (Young Turks), each bringing with them significant insight and experience. Ahead of launching TULLE, I got to talk to Keane about her vision for the label and her own experiences within music. University Express: How are you feeling about launching TULLE? Constance Keane: Overwhelmed, but excited! I can’t wait to be talking to people about it in a concrete way. There are so many different elements to a label, and with the type of label that we’re doing it’s more of a collective surrounding the label itself. So the label is a part of it but it expands beyond that. I think when you’re starting anything like that you just have so many connections to make before you’re even able to say that you’re doing something. So I’ve really just been building those connections,
dealing with legal things and just doing all of that background stuff, which I find really exciting. But it is at the point now where I’m just like “I wanna do the fun bit,” you know? It’s been a huge amount of work but absolutely worth it so far. UE. Where did the idea for TULLE come from? CK: I was putting together my own album and I really wanted to release it on a label that was owned and run by majority women. But it was in the process of making this record and not being able to find the home that I wanted for it that I was basically like, ‘Maybe I should give this a go’. There’s this really inspirational woman called Katie O’Neill who works at Domino [Recording Company]. She was recording some of the vocals for my album. We spent days in the studio talking about what I should be doing with the album, and she asked me if I would ever start a record label. And I was like ‘I don’t really have enough connections for that, I would need more money for that, etcetera’ and she was just like ‘Nah I think you should just do it though’. So we got the tube from Brixton to Northeast London after one of those sessions and I was like ‘Maybe I will just do this!’ UE: Where did the name TULLE come from? CK: The reason I thought TULLE was so appropriate for the label and the collective is because tulle is a fabric but it’s made up of all of these tiny little
connections. When all of these connections come together, they form something really big. It looks like it’s a soft, delicate fabric from faraway, but when you’re actually up close to it it’s quite robust and it can withstand things. This network of stuff that is in a way reclaiming femininity, celebrating it, not defining what it had to be and at the core of it something really strong that you don’t wanna mess with! UE: How have your own experiences within the music scene affected your ways of finding community? CK: I’ve been engaging with feminism since I was a teenager. I started playing the drums when I was 9 and basically since then I’ve had a lot of strange conversations with people about why I’m playing the drums. I keep getting asked why I don’t play a more ‘feminine’ instrument and I’m being met with discrimination based on my gender. It was this relentless, insidious thing that went on for as long as we were playing shows, whether that was telling us everything that we were doing wrong with how we were presenting ourselves or telling me exactly what I was doing wrong. For me, experiencing all of that really put it into my head how important it was that if I could in any way make a difference in making a ‘not-straight-white-cisman’ feel welcome in a scene then that’s absolutely what I should be doing. I see there as being no excuse for being a bystander when it comes to stuff in music
at this point. I’m basically trying to build a life where I have such a supportive network around me that we can make whatever we’re doing as inclusive as possible. UE: How do you envision the future of the Irish music scene? CK: I feel very confident and optimistic about the fact that there are now so many women involved in the Irish music scene that it can’t go back to what it was before. If it tries to, well we’ll just make a parallel scene! A scene where we don’t have to deal with lads playing guitars because that’s boring. There’s so much power behind women and non-binary people making music in Ireland that I just think it’s waiting to explode once we’re able to have a live scene again. Everybody knows what’s up. We trade stories. And naturally these bonds start forming. It’s quite empowering and it gives me so much energy to have conversations with people who have empathy and who understand the experiences. It can be really exhausting working on things when you’re trying to make something that the system wasn’t already built for. But to have these conversations and these gatherings, to me it really shows a want for a scene outside of your own bedroom. Find TULLE collective at @tullecollective on Instagram and Twitter, and Constance at @fears___ (three underlines) on Twitter and @fears____ (four underlines) on Instagram.
Editor: CATHAL DONOVAN O’NEILL
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UCC Singer/Songwriter Competition moves online Writes Elle Kelleher
With live music events essentially cancelled, I checked in with Rebecca Dineen and Robin Daly, Chairperson and PRO of UCC MusicSoc, to see how they’ve been adjusting to Level 5 restrictions. University Express: Was there a degree of apprehension in how you were going to get the ball rolling this year? Rebecca: Totally! I was just hoping that things would be kinda back to normal. I saw the Kino, where we’ve had our Battle of the Bands before, were running socially distanced gigs. I thought “Maybe we could do something with this,” but with UCC Societies, we couldn’t get the go-ahead. That’s so fair though, I mean, look at where we are now, level 5. I was still hoping it would all work out! Robin: We knew we were kind of scuppered, but when they announced level 5, quite late, it was like “Aw, now we’re really screwed”. UE: What was it like bringing the Singer-Songwriter Competition online? Rebecca: It’s definitely our biggest semester one event, and we had money for a live event in our budget. We were really hoping we’d get to do it in person. Such a huge part of music is the live element. It’s a different adrenaline performing, that crowd atmosphere can really push you to be better. Robin: The sound of a person can be
so different live, too. Previous years, you’d get a submission and it would sound great, but then you’d see them live and go “Oh my God, who’s this?” It’s a really good social event as well, and it’s really upsetting that we don’t get to meet everyone and make friends. Rebecca: We decided to go with uploading videos as opposed to a live stream, purely for quality. We had an event in the summer where we streamed and the video was kind of shaky and the audio wasn’t great. The videos as well gave the artists more freedom, if they wanted to edit or do a few takes. We have judges that can watch it as well from home, but the videos being online was great for the audience vote. We
created a great buzz around it online because everyone was liking and sharing trying to get their friend’s through! Robin: We’re all about that free clout! Rebecca: We definitely got more submissions for it this year than last year. We had so many, and the standard was so, so high. The fact that it was online encouraged people who maybe would be a bit stage-shy to submit.
it sussed with the Kino, we’ll just have to wait and see! It’ll be a much bigger stumbling block if we have to do it online. We’re also thinking about trying to get a third big event up and going, which would be an event for producers. There’s a lot of people [who are] into mixing their own stuff, so maybe getting something like that up for next semester. Robin: Every Wednesday, we’ve been uploading covers too, to replace the open mics we used to do in Barbarella.
UE: What’s the plan next? Rebecca: As long as we can do Battle of the Bands in person, we will. Whether that’ll be with restricted numbers or not, we’ll have to wait and see. We have
Find the finalists of UCC Music Society on their Facebook page.
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Photos
Issue 5 | Tuesday 24th November 2020 | University Express
Cobh, County Cork by Caoimhe Leahy University Express Photgrapher
Issue | Tuesday 24th November 2020 | University Express
Photos
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SEXPRESS
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Tales from the Bedroom Writes Jack Wrixon, Sexpress Editor
To preface this, I just want to discuss how nobody talks about how awkward sex is. There is such a standard and expectation for what sex should be like, that very often we forget that we’re all human and that we’re allowed to make mistakes. This is something I’m guilty of as well, so this piece is coming from the heart. You don’t always have to look like a pornstar, and sex is usually never smooth sailing, so why do we hold ourselves to such a standard? For this piece I asked around and compiled some interesting and anonymous stories from real students, so have a read and take some pressure off yourself. It could be a lot worse, as I’m sure you’ll soon find out. ‘A Broken Handjob’ “I randomly went out one night with a friend, dancing away to The Smiths in the Bróg and this soft Indie boy started coming on strong, and he was the boy for me. Hadn’t had sex in nearly a year so I invite him back to mine, and on the way back he’s being really romantic, giving me kisses, so naturally I assume we’re getting married. We get back to mine and I tell him to wait in the kitchen while I tactically and drunkenly go upstairs to
clean my room because it was a mess. Cut to me coming back down and falling down the stairs, ultimately breaking my hand but being too drunk to notice (or care). Bróg boy saw everything and started asking me if I was okay; I brushed it off and said yes so we could get to it. So, we have a wonderful night, honestly really good, but the next morning when we wake up, we’re kissing and my hand kind of hurts, but I assume it’s the hangover. One thing leads to another and
I take my hand out to get busy and it is HUGE. My hand is very obviously broken and Bróg Boy is nothing short of freaked out, to the point where he asks me to stop fishing with his rod, if you get me. We were getting on really well up until that point and after he leaves, I realise that he has blocked me on Snapchat and unfriended me on everything.” ‘Planning is Key’ “In a house made up of two boys and
my cousin, I was sleeping with the two boys (but not my cousin obviously) at the same time. We made a schedule.” ‘A Trip to the Wild West’ “Started getting with a guy at a sesh and we soon realised that neither of us had a condom. Did we do the sensible thing and stop? Nope. As an alternative we decided to do anal, but it was my first time and no preparation was made at all. Do not do anal as an impromptu de-
Editor: Jack WRIXON cision. I was walking like John Wayne just off his horse the entire next day.” ‘-REDACTED- in Paris’ “So, it wasn’t bad sex. A fairly casual hook-up with a lad I didn’t know, grand job. He was down in Cork on a stag night, I was out for drinks with the girls. He seemed fairly sound and lathered on the compliments. Between one thing and another, we ended up back at my flat and did the dirty. He finished within 15 minutes, rolled over in the bed and started talking nonsense. My mistake from earlier in the night had come back to haunt me – I hadn’t asked him enough questions when we were out to verify if he was a fool or not. And now, I had this fool revealing just how misogynistic he was next to me in the bed. He asked if we could go for round two, I said not without protection (look after yourself and your boundaries!). He said it would be grand to just take the condom he had already used out of the bin, turn it inside out and go again. Now, I knew that would not only wreck my pH balance, but also my self-esteem. So, to get him out of the gaff, I faked going on holidays. At 3:30 in the morning, I sat up in bed in mock horror at the realisation that I had to get on a flight to Paris at 7am (I didn’t). I jumped up and, still naked, started packing a suitcase I pulled from the wardrobe. He asked if I wanted him to book a taxi for me, I said it would be best if he just left as I was in a hurry. Once I had closed the door after him, I threw the suitcase back into the wardrobe and went back to sleep.” ‘The Ice Lolly’ “Wanting to play around with temperature, I grabbed an ice lolly from the freezer (Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles for anyone curious) and rubbed it all over his dick. It was grand and fun, but in retrospect I would use an ice cube, or at least wipe the residue off instead of sucking it off like I did before riding, because guess who got a yeast infection?” ‘Sliders but as Gaeilge’ “In the Gaeltacht, I slept with one boy for the first two nights and got on grand. Night three rolls around, and I end up taking home boy number two, who kindly leaves once he realises that I have passed out drunk about halfway through. Boy one returns looking for the sliders that he somehow lost in the previous two nights, comes in to find me in all my glory, half-naked wearing one of his sliders. And he came back the next night for more.”
‘Rude Interruption’ “One time, my mom walked in on me masturbating while I was watching porn. I panicked and told her I was just answering emails, but I don’t think she believed me, because when she closed the door she said “Don’t be taking nude pictures of yourself”. Stealthy.” ‘What are you doing in my swamp?’ “Imagine getting your ass eaten while Shrek 2 is playing in the background. It’s not as enjoyable as it seems, but it put a whole new perspective on the idea of ‘Netflix and Chill’ for me.” ‘Into the Wild’ “I was getting onto this guy for a while, and he was gorgeous. There was always a bit of sexual chemistry, so one night I decided to bite the bullet and head over to his. Spent the day hyping myself up, and as we were getting down and dirty, I remembered that I had forgotten to shave. We’re not talking about a couple of stubbly patches; it had been a while and my 70s bush sprung forth the moment my pants came off. I’m in no way against body hair (and neither was he, thankfully), but what was getting to me was that I had somehow remembered to put on full lingerie but had not seen the Australian Outback that was my vagina. It worked out though, so that’s a bit of a plus.” If these stories did anything for you aside from horrifying you, I hope they made you laugh. The important thing is to stop being so hard on yourself when you have sex, so take a breather and try to enjoy it. It is okay to make mistakes, and whether you forget to shave, or whether you inadvertently shove an ice lolly into your vagina, try to remember that odds are the other person is also probably feeling as awkward as you are. Being vulnerable, especially during sex is never easy, but the moment you embrace the vulnerability, Everything will start to feel better. So, take a second, relax, and go with the flow. If mistakes are made, then embrace it. Odds are the other person will appreciate an acknowledgement and it’ll make everything a whole lot less awkward. And unless something has gone astronomically wrong, it probably won’t be remembered. Many, many thanks to the people who contributed, and hopefully this piece has got you thinking in a new way. Questions? Comments? Got an embarrassing story? Email me at sexpress@ uccexpress.ie and I’ll do my best to help you! Many thanks once again to everyone who contributed. XOXO, Sexpress.
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Gaming
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Pokémon Crown Tundra: A Redemption for Sword & Shield, or Just More Fuel for the Fire? Writes Hugo Blair, Gaming Editor The eighth generation of Pokémon games was always going to be faced with a difficult challenge. The first new generation to be released on the Nintendo Switch, and the first in the mainline series to be released on a home console, the announcement of Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield led to some of the highest fan expectations in the series’ history. However, given the direction Game Freak had been travelling in recent years, fans were also wrought with scepticism. Unfortunately, the Pokémon Company did little to alleviate fans of their worries, and in fact, at the beginning of 2019 did the opposite, creating one of the largest controversies seen during the lifetime of the series. For those unaware, Pokémon Series Producer Junichi Masuda announced in early February of last year that not every Pokémon from previous generations would be available in the Galar region. Additionally, members of the Pokémon team seemed to suggest this was due to the increased workload that came with creating all new models and animations, utilising the enhanced graphical capabilities of the new console. Fans interpreted this as a statement that the new games would boast much improved visuals when compared to their predecessors. Some fans were, rightly or wrongly depending on who you ask, outraged that they would not be able to battle and trade with all their favourite old pokémons on their shiny new Switch, which led to the now infamous #Dexit. Moreover, from promotional material Game Freak themselves published as well as various data mines conducted prior to the games’ release it became clear that the boost in graphical capabilities of the Switch’s hardware was not translating to an improved graphical experience as fans had hoped. This only added fuel to the fire, and led to many calling for a boycott of the games as a whole. It was onto these shaky foundations that Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield were launched in November of last year, and as a long-time fan of the series I have to say, I was massively disappointed. Mark-
ing the start of a new era for the series on home consoles, the eighth generation of games had the potential to bring the beloved series into the modern era, much as Breath of the Wild did for Zelda, however they simply did not deliver. Even ignoring the stripped back National Dex, and relatively minor graphical improvements, the new titles lacked in many other key areas. The primary issues were with the new mechanic; Dynamaxing, which while interesting at first, quickly became repetitive and began to feel like little more than a worse Mega form. Additionally, the story, if indeed it even qualifies as one, was so bland and predictable that I doubt even the games’ target audience of 10-year olds found difficulty anticipating the “twists”. Don’t even get me started on some of the one-dimensional characters and the insultingly basic post-game content. However, the game did not suffer in all areas; the gym leader puzzles, some areas within Galar region itself, the new generation of Pokémon and Galarian
forms – They all provided a pleasant experience, but crucially, I was always left with a sense of what could have been. What forms could the games have taken had the developers been allowed more time, more freedom to innovate & create, and perhaps had less influence from the Pokémon Company? I provide you with this background to give a sense of my apprehension when diving into the new expansion for the game: The Crown Tundra. Having heard murmurs of good things and following a peek into the new region and liking what I saw, I decided to give it a go. I wondered if this could be the missing piece in Gen VIII’s puzzle? My journey began by grabbing a train from Wedgehurst Station. One quick cutscene later and I had arrived. The first thing to grab my attention was the gorgeous atmosphere. Perhaps I’m just a sucker for snowy environments, but I found the peaceful music, faint drifting of snowflakes, and soft crunch of ice underfoot had the effect of lulling me out of the station and into the tun-
dra to explore this seemingly vast new landscape. This tranquillity was almost immediately shattered with the appearance of Peony. His boisterous, jazzy backing track and loud personality immediately laid to rest any thought of serenity I might have had. From the get-go I found the characterisation to be above the mark when compared to the main game, which definitely instilled confidence in me for what was to come. And indeed, what came next was the most enjoyable experience I have had with Pokémon Sword to date. The overall premise is that the player is tasked by Peony to explore the region in order to discover and capture various legendary Pokémon native to the tundra; some familiar and some not so. There is a clear “main quest” involving the primary new legendary, and additional threads to follow involving others. In terms of the story, while I’ve unfortunately come to expect very little from Game Freak in this department, surprisingly they deliver in The Crown Tundra.
Editor: HUGO BLAIR I will admit, the main quest is shorter than I would have liked, however what is presented is fun and light-hearted, and genuinely got a chuckle out of me at times. It’s certainly not complex by modern RPG standards, but in comparison to elements of the base game, it’s leagues ahead. I enjoyed following clues and trekking around the various locales within the icy biome, all with the aim of tracking down legendaries. However, what truly tied the experience together was the structure of the tundra.
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when standing still for a while the player character will begin to reach out to catch snowflakes. Elements like this help to add a degree of polish to the experience.
Long cutscenes with stilted animation, the stark absence of voice acting, texture pop-in, copy-pasted models and simplistic visuals; all these issues hold the game back. We have seen the de-
So, in conclusion, did I enjoy my time with The Crown Tundra? For sure. Do I wish the bar was not set so low? Absolutely. As to whether the expansion acts as re-
Unfortunately, for all that the Crown Tundra does for Pokémon Sword & Shield, it cannot remove the imperfections of the base game, and I was consistently reminded of this even as I enjoyed the expansion’s content.
gree of quality Nintendo can produce for the switch with titles such as Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8, Animal Crossing, Luigi’s Mansion 3, and the aforementioned Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Why can Pokémon not achieve this too?
demption for Sword & Shield, I can only say yes to a degree, and not without dropping some kindling in its wake. It’s my hope that Game Freak both learn from Gen VIII’s failures and develop on its successes in order to create the next title – one that’s worthy of the Pokémon name.
In the base game, there is a large region known as the “wild area”. In this zone the player can roam freely in an open space and has free control of the camera. Many different Pokémon can be found wandering the area depending on the weather and time of day, and there are no loading screens. The impact this feature had at launch cannot be understated, as it indicated a move towards a more modern and open Pokémon title, one in which the player has the freedom to explore as they desire, without the restrictive boundaries of linear routes and encapsulated towns, and one in which Pokémon can be discovered in a more natural environment. It indicated a more seamless experience, one that a large proportion of the fanbase has been pining after for years. Unfortunately, in the base game there was only one such zone, which effectively neutered this positive effect. Each time I would leave the wild area to progress via a route or town, I would feel as though I was losing that sense of freedom. In the Crown Tundra, however, the entire region is a wild area. This is a total game changer and feels like what modern Pokémon titles should be – open and immersive. The simple fact that camera control is unrestricted and the act of walking into a town doesn’t prompt a loading screen truly does make a difference. So much so that in the few areas where the camera is fixed, it felt quite jarring and alien. It’s clear that Game Freak put some thought and care into this expansion, as evident by the many little touches that help to complete the experience. For example, the player can have their lead Pokémon follow behind them, a feature fans have wanted to see return since it was removed from Gen V onwards, and one which leads to some great moments: Who knew Eternatus was so big? Additionally, I liked the mission title cards, the use of readable clues and graphical touches, such as
Fashion
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Eric Daman Who? Writes Selina Dufner Hey, Upper East Siders. Gossip girl here, and I have the biggest news ever. One of my many sources sends us this: “Spotted on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art: ...” Well, who exactly is spotted is yet to be known, as the cast of the Gossip Girl reboot just started filming. While we eagerly await the release of the first episode, why don’t we pass the time learning more about Eric Daman – the amazing costume designer behind the outfits on Gossip Girl. And yes, he is also on board for the reboot. Before having a career in fashion, Daman studied French Literature at the Paris-Sorbonne University in Paris. His whole life changed when he came home one day and heard the following message on his answering machine: “This is Steven Meisel’s office in New York, we are looking for Eric Daman. Steven is interested in shooting him for an upcoming Calvin Klein campaign.” Which is exactly what he did the very next week. Shortly after that, Daman appeared on the cover of L’Uomo Vogue, again shot by Meisel. “The following year was a flurry of supermodels, fabulousness and flashbulbs. I loved it! I felt like I was being offered the best insider scoop available, being exposed to and learning from the best of the best”, he recalled. And that must have been true, as he even modelled alongside fashion icon Kate Moss. Daman started to develop an interest in what happens behind the scenes, and working as a model opened many doors for him to eventually becoming the costume designer he is known as today. Another turning point was when he ran into Patricia Field, an old acquaintance from his days in Paris. At that time, she was the costume designer for Sex and the City, and the first season had already aired. She wanted Daman to be her assistant for the upcoming seasons, which he gladly agreed to. In 2002, he was rewarded for his hard work by winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Costumes for a Series. All that led him to dress our favourite
Upper East Siders. For those who wondered, Serena van der Woodsen’s style was inspired by Daman’s former model partner Kate Moss, whose look could be described as effortless and rock-chic with a touch of bohemian hippy. Blair Waldorf, however, valued elegance and glamour and, according to Daman, he found inspiration in the likes of Audrey Hepburn and Anna Wintour. After Gossip Girl, he provided costumes
for the Sex and the City prequel The Carrie Diaries, which definitely was a challenge for him. He stated that it was “hard to fill those Manolos”, referring to Carrie Bradshaw’s love for the designer’s shoes. Young Carrie’s look was naturally inspired by 80s fashion, but Daman wanted to keep what he calls “an aspirational authenticity”. Given Eric Daman’s past experiences
with styles of different eras, I can’t wait to find out how he will dress the new generation of privileged New Yorkers. Thanks to the recently published pictures of the cast, we already got a glimpse of what to expect. The most striking piece to me so far? The Fendi baguette bag, an accessory that even used to grace Carrie Bradshaw’s arm.
Editor: Maeve O’Sullivan
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Behind the Scenes with Lough Garments By Maeve O’Sullivan, Fashion Editor Fashion editor Maeve speaks with new business Lough Garments, run by UCC student Pádraig, and Sam, who is a recent UCC graduate. Do you believe that sustainable fashion is more important to the younger generation today than let’s say, millennials? I would definitely think our generation is more environmentally conscious than the ones that have come before. There is a conscious effort amongst many of our age group to reduce the amount of new clothes they buy, and try to extend the life of clothes they already own before looking to buy new ones. You can definitely see this taking off with the amount of customised clothing, shoes, and reworks (if you’re into reworking, get in touch!) and of course, technology providing us with a space to swap or sell our clothes, making sure they get another life before they end up being recycled. At the same time, with clothes being so expensive, it’s quite easy to turn to ‘fast fashion’, with high-street names like Zara and H&M and online stores like Shein providing those essentials that feel too cheap to pass up. As Black Friday comes around, it’ll be big business for these stores, while you can find more individual, more ethically produced and distributed clothes on Depop and locally. What was the initiative to start up the company? Well, during coronavirus, I think we all are facing a lot of challenges, but people have a lot of unwanted spare time to themselves – we decided that despite the uncertainty, we might never again have this opportunity to try to start the company. We knew of two or three suppliers that would allow us to access high street goods from stores like Urban Outfitters, and plenty of vintage suppliers in North America and the EU at a large discount – one we pass onto our customers. Depop and Instagram can be a hard place to market a new company, how did you do it? Up until now we’ve mainly been marketing through word of mouth, friends, and Instagram stories, but we’re looking forward to our upcoming Black Friday sale
and ad campaign too. Fortunately, our very competitive pricing has let us build up a >15,000 following on Depop, and we’re working on bringing this success to our Instagram – @loughgarments – also. Is fashion something you have always been interested in? Maybe not always – the bulk of our fashion experience as kids was how to look class at Savoy! As we got older, I was particularly interested in Virgil Abloh and his minimalist design philosophy he carried from Off-White to Louis Vuitton, and more traditional designers like Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger. One thing that always interests us is the unusual items we come across – highlights so far include a handmade duck hunt gilet and a handwoven native Cowichan Tribe jacket, among many other handmade goods, and these show fashion can still be something small-scale and individualistic.
What does a regular business day look like for Lough Garments? As a small business, I don’t really know if we have a typical business day yet, as a lot of the work we do has to fit in around the busy schedules of final year and work life. The business can really be split into three main areas, those are purchasing, photography and writing descriptions, and the shipping. The sourcing of the clothes is something we do continuously, as we are always looking for new suppliers. This part of the business feels the least like work though, as it is similar to online shopping and the unboxing afterwards is always fun. The photography and editing posts typically take up the most time. We try to make sure we post a new item a few times a week so that our customers always have something new to check out when they visit our Depop, although it can get a bit boring just writing descriptions all the time. The postage is
also a fun part of the business as we try to include a small note/sticker in each one to show our thanks to our customers. We also live about five minutes from the post office, so we take it in turns going to the post office each day. What are your plans for the future? In the coming months, we are looking forward to further shipments from high-street names including Nike, Adidas, Fila and Champion and increasing our stock of heavily discounted haute couture brands like Moschino, CDG, Armani, Alexander McQueen, DSquared2 and Burberry. We’re also having our sale on Friday 27th November and can’t wait to slash the prices on our already discounted stock. Follow Lough Garments @loughgarments on Depop, Instagram and Facebook to check out their collection.
Arts & Literature
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What will Now look like? – On processing trauma through art Writes Julie Landers, Staff Writer
When I get overwhelmed looking at all of the things I have to do, I try and picture the tasks as a cluster of tangled necklaces. And with each effort I make to chip away at the work, I figure a new slip in the knots, loosening the chains until eventually the mass slides away into each individual necklace. It helps me see that the bigger problem, my overwhelm, consists of multiple, much more tangible, and do-able tasks. I’ve heard people call this moment in time ‘transformative’, which my cynical self feels is a very positive spin on ‘traumatic’. I do not see a way of mov-
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By Claire Aherne whatyouwant light slowly prisming thru my town i go home there is no word for this, i am just about to be born, hold on i have told u this as long as always, and always will – there is nowhere to meet me, we pass, flies to lamps, lamps to rosy memoir, and are gone travelling the width, the glowing belly we float on only fireflies
ing forward as if things have stayed the same when really, we have seen too much change to ever go back to a way of thinking that we once had. We are living in a period of intense collective trauma, whether we admit that to ourselves or not. And this trauma can have repercussions across a lifetime if it is not adequately recognized, communicated, and worked through. In The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel Van der Kolk talks about how the body processes and holds trauma and how ‘In order to change, people need to become aware of their sensations and the way that their bodies interact with the world around them. Physical self-awareness is the first step in releasing the tyranny of the past.’ This is where art and making come in. By externalizing the body’s trauma through art, that trauma becomes more accessible to learn from and the person can start to re-learn how to navigate that trauma in a safer way. It is hard to vocalize the often-complicated emotions that come with living through an intense period of upheaval and loss. In art there are tones, colours, textures, and metaphors that can help us to communicate our individual experiences and translate them into something that is coherent and, once expressed, expelled. In this communication, there is a healing. In studying art history and in looking back over the last year, one question frequently surfaces to the front of my mind: what will what we have gone through look like to future generations? And I don’t mean that in terms of news reports, charts, and figures. Rather, in terms of what we will leave behind in terms of the art we made in coming to terms with a new normal. The processes of creation within os-
cillating ideas and collective attitudes in the Weimar Republic, established between World Wars I and II is particularly interesting to look at in relation to how artists communicated a collective reckoning with tragedy, complicity, and political upheaval. Thousands of men were returning from World War I in states of not only physical, yet mental fragmentation. Victims of shellshock were presenting with recurring violent flashbacks, insomnia, tremors, and other excruciating symptoms. They were irrevocably altered, and the question arose of just how much was truly lost in the war. A society had to start to make sense of the senseless. Dada, which started in Zürich and spread to Köln and Berlin, embraced the incoherent in quite a nihilistic way. There was no ambition to make sense. Rather, it highlighted the seemingly nonsensical. The style of Dada artists like Georg Grosz and Otto Dix evolved into what G.F. Hartlaub called ‘New Objectivity’. These artists rebelled against the violent, distorted style of their contemporaries and instead chose to communicate their disillusionment through highly realistic, often perturbing satirical paintings. And simultaneously, the Bauhaus institution and movement evolved. Walter Gropius’ ambition to integrate artistic disciplines with constructional techniques. Clinical order. Striding steps towards ergonomic design and clean-cut lines. A desire to rationalize. Prototype designs were created by students that would have the potential to then be mass-produced. These were all reactions to a wider state of collective trauma and, in my opinion, efforts at recalibrating, stabilising. Working through the intensity of emo-
tions and looking towards a new way of existing as a way of processing trauma. The question of how we are going to process this trauma is an important one. What will this moment sound like? What language will develop? And what pictures? Will we turn towards symbols and references rooted from a past that we recognise, or could we even conclude that these symbols no longer communicate with us and within our wider cultural dialogue in the way they once did? These questions are, though terrifying, so exciting to consider. We are at an impasse socially, culturally, politically, morally, and personally. What will that look like? How is that changing our thoughts, actions, and behaviours? Humans are doggedly persistent. As strange and as sinister as these present times feel, we will, one day, see the end of them. But the end of the event does not mean the end of the trauma. We need to talk about what we are living through without the fear of judgment. We need to create without the need for what we create to be ‘good’. It just needs to be as close to honest as we can manage. Maybe a century from now, what we will have made together will have a name of its own. Future historians will see what we created, and it will give them a clue as to the resilience and the elasticity of the human psyche. This piece isn’t a prescription, but an enquiry. Our ideas of self and security have been completely overturned and annihilated. What we have been left with is something very intangible and scary. We have found tangled necklaces in jewellery boxes we had never seen before. What will our process of unravelling and unknotting look like?
Editor: imasha costa
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Winter Papers 6: A tradition that does not fade with the light Writes Fiona Keeley, Editor-in-Chief
Winter Papers 6 was published by Curlew Editions on Thursday 12th November. Now in its fifth consecutive year, Winter Papers brings together contributors from across Ireland into one complete book that boasts fiction; non-fiction; photography; poetry; and visual art, along with in-conversation pieces on writing, film, and craft interviews. Unlike previous editions, Winter Paper 6 was launched virtually this year at the Dublin Book Festival by co-editor Kevin Barry who was joined by a few of
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By Claire Aherne Finding underwear That is not mine, looking at It blankly, forget Easier to be Blind and deaf, than choosing to Discard eyes and ears I am but a blunt Knife, couldn’t kill myself if I so wanted to That cloud looks like a Mushroom. That cloud looks like a Bedroom. That cloud looks Beautiful – were I To stop crying, like a small Baby cloud myself
the many contributors to the volume, Roisin Kiberd; Tim McGabhann; and Kerri Ní Dochartaigh. Nearly 300 people logged in to attend the launch and watch the dialogue and conversation between the four novelists, each with incredibly different styles of writing. Joining the call from all over the world, the Zoom launch brought these authors together to talk casually and perform readings from their own work. Kilberd began the evening with an excerpt from her piece ‘Life Force Frequencies’ which explored the concept of the internet as a physical element; how we depend on it; and is it healthy during this time of lockdown. As IT becomes an evermore present part of our lives, how has the intense presence of the online world affected humans’ perception of the world? MacGhabhann’s contribution, titled in Spanish, explored an obviously new experience to the narrator as the piece describes the experience of disengaging from drugs and alcohol all against the backdrop of Mexico City. Quoted at the beginning of MacGabhann’s reading was a line from the novel Victor Sedges: Memoirs of a Revolutionary, “The dead are very close to the living and I do not see
them separated by some frontier” a poignant moment of the evening considering our place in history at the moment. Kerri Ní Dochartaigh contributed an excerpt of her piece from Winter Papers 6 ‘Thin Places’. A deeply personal piece, it speaks about an individual’s experience as they personally reflect on what is happening in the world around them. The forensic nature of the piece speaks to the nature of the artistic form of humanity. Self-described as Ireland’s Annual Arts Anthology, Winter Papers 6 offers a snapshot into the minds of artists across Ireland and the work that they carry out. Many authors in today’s sphere of literature found their genesis in Winter Papers; Sally Rooney, author of Normal People and Conversations with Friends began her career in the first volume of Winter Papers back in 2015. Published, edited, and designed in Ireland along with being supported by the Arts Council, Winter Papers 6 can be found in all good bookshops across Ireland. The entire collection of Winter Papers can be purchased at winterpapers.com. Winter Papers 6 was edited by authors Kevin Barry and Olivia Smith.
Burning Copper By Imasha Costa, Arts & Literature Editor
this copper that lingers in my blood rules me, turning me into the person that i am. i learned how to embrace the copper within me, allowing the sunlight to escape and flourish within every cell inside of me; igniting the fire that had been asked to simmer down and not cause damage. i learned to embrace the colour - the copper that runs through my veins. i learned to become someone that was hiding underneath all the raw flesh that broke me apart; my skin is my country, is my legacy, is my fealty. this copper that i have moulded has become a part of me and is me. (i am sinhalese, i am bangladeshi). my culture is who i am, and who i evolve from. my story is yet to be told but the copper will keep on burning and burning until she is ready to fight for her humanity. this copper is in me, i am me. no one can take that from me. i. am. me. i am the beauty you see in the flames of the burning copper.
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Sports
Issue 5 | Tuesday 24th November 2020 | University Express
Climbing Hiatus grants Mountains Period of Overdue Respite Writes Liam Grainger, Sports Editor
May 13th 2019 - Nirmal Pirja is 800 feet from the south summit of Mount Everest. Born in the Myagdi district of Nepal, Pirja is no stranger to high-altitude. Moreover, his 15 years of service in the elite forces of the Royal Navy as a Lance Corporal have embedded within him a resilience and grit that are prerequisites for survival in the brutal conditions of the Himalayas. This is Pirja’s second Everest expedition, his first came in 2016 when he was only 33 years old, but this trip to the top of the world would prove quite a different experience. As he traverses the knife-edge ridge of the south summit, Pirja steps past the very spot of the last documented sighting of George Mallory who vanished on the mountain in 1924, in what would have been the first expedition to reach the summit; a feat eventually achieved in 1953 by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary. Expecting to see an unobscured view of the infamous Hillary
Step and the prayer flags blowing on the summit, Pirja is instead greeted by a line of over 96 climbers, all vowing to reach the summit. It’s a queue you’d expect to see outside a busy nightclub on the weekend, but at the cruising altitude of a Boeing 747 aircraft, and with oxygen levels that are 66% less than at sea-level. This is the death-zone on Everest, where the altitude is greater than 8,000 metres and the temperature drops to as low as -34 degree celsius. It’s the same route that Norgay and Hillary took in 1954 when they first reached the summit, but things were a lot quieter back then. After realising how futile it’d be to join the queue, Pirja takes a picture of the scene ahead of him and retreats to Camp 3. The tragedy however, is that the sight of over 100 climbers queuing at over 29,000 feet is somewhat expected for an experienced climber like Pirja. What experienced climbers and traditional alpinists have witnessed since the turn of the millennium has been the hy-
per-commercialisation of mountain ranges across the world, specifically the Himalayas. Since 2000, Everest has seen nearly a ten-fold increase in traffic with more than half of all of the mountain’s 10,055 successful summits coming in the last decade. In the early ‘90s, famed climbers like Scott Fischer and Rob Hall saw a business opportunity in offering private tours to the top of Everest, and what followed was the mountain’s slow descent into the world of commerce and consumerism. As of last year, sixteen companies will bring you to the roof of the world, but at a substantial cost. Packages vary from between $40,000 to $200,000, the price-point dictating the quality of service and guide experience, the higher price-bracket reserved for the many climbers who avail of private guides who will provide a 1:1 service. If you can afford the price, you can climb the mountain; this unwritten rule of modern mountaineering has attracted hordes of inexperienced climbers to the Himalayas and other ranges each year,
bringing with them new problems and igniting existing ones. Once a niche pastime, mountaineering is now a multimillion-dollar industry, fuelled by wealthy Westerners with little climbing experience and money to burn. Thirteen climbers (two Irish) died on Everest last year, with at least three casualties attributed to the extreme overcrowding on the mountain, one woman died in the queue. Oddly, these tragedies do little to curb the high-demand for a spot in an Everest expedition group, and even after the 1996 Everest disaster in which eight climbers died in a single night, demand nearly doubled for the following year. This is the modern industry of ascent, driven by lucrative brand deals and online views. It isn’t climbing anymore, it’s queuing. It isn’t exploration, it’s crowd control. Everest Base-Camp has become a mini-city in recent years, with
Issue | Tuesday 24th November 2020 | University Express high-volumes of climbers venturing to Nepal each May. With the variety of tour operators, mountaineering has never been more accessible, and the amount of inexperienced climbers that tackle the mountain year are putting both their own and their Sherpa’s lives at risk. After the level of traffic and high-number of casualties in 2019, the Nepalese government introduced a fresh wave of restrictions on the number of climbing permits distributed for Everest. As of this year, climbers must undergo basic high altitude climbing training, as well as having successfully summited a peak of at least 6,500 metres prior to an Everest attempt. However, these latest regulations are only a token gesture at best and any well-versed climber will acknowledge that these stipulations are easily achieved. Nepal’s reluctance to crackdown on mountain overcrowding is somewhat expected from a country whose economy is heavily-reliant on the Himilaya climbing season; the Nepal Mountaineering Association attributes 80% of Nepalese employment to mountain tourism. Blighted by Government corruption and forgeign influences, the money generated from the climbing season rarely trickles back to those who ac-
tually work on the mountains, and has cemented Nepal’s position as one of the poorest countries in South-East Asia; approximately 25% of Nepal’s population live below the poverty line with many getting by on less than a dollar a day. Sherpas and porters, who all but carry climbers up the mountain, are seen as having an elite position of employment, but their sacrifices are frequently fatal. When Covid-19 hit in early March, and planned expeditions to Nepal were cancelled, the country was decimated by a missed climbing season with potential losses estimated at $700 million. The economic fallout has been seismic, but the pandemic has provided a much-needed break for mountain ranges across the world that have come under increasing pressure from large climber volumes. The reduction of smog in Kathmandu means that for the first time in decades, the peak of Everest is visible from the capital city. Not only are the cities healing, but so too are the mountains. In the six decades since it was first submitted, an estimated 50 tons of rubbish have been left on the slopes of Everest, everything from empty oxygen canisters to abandoned tents. Adding to the refuse levels on the world’s highest rubbish dump are approximately 200 corpses of mountaineers, who heard the
Sports siren song of the summit and fell short; their bodies are left on the mountain to freeze, too dangerous to repatriate. Last year over a six-week period, 10 tonnes of rubbish was removed from the peak in one of the first clean-up operations in years, but much of this work was done at lower-altitudes. In 2014, a deposit refund scheme was introduced for climbers who removed 18 pounds of refuse from the mountain, and to some extent the initiative has seen results. The Nepalese government had intended to capitalise on the quieter Summer months this year and replicate last year’s clean-up operation at a higher-level, enlisting the army and pledging $7.5 million to the cause. But the motion was shot down by the Sherpa community who contested that inexperienced army members would not be able for the high-altitude clean-up, and instead proposed the Sherpas themselves should complete the task. No agreement was reached, and a golden opportunity was missed. Nepal remains in denial that overcrowding is leading to problems on their mountains, and it’s a view that’s unlikely to change in the coming years. The need for stricter regulations in the Himalayas will thus fall on deaf ears for another climbing season, at a time
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when change is needed more than ever. As hordes travel to Kathmandu each year, the magic and allure of the mountain is depleted by privileged amateurs looking for their shot at glory. The Himalayas are expected to lose more than a third of their glaciers before the end of the century due to climate change, which will be detrimental to the farming lands of the millions of natives who live in the shadow of the mountain range. In Tanzania - Kilimanjaro, for its part, is expected to lose its iconic snow-capped peak by 2022. The mountains are vulnerable and we’re not helping. One of the only few expeditions this year to Everest was made by China Mobile and Huawei, who sent a team to install a 5G mast at 6,000 metres on the north face of the mountain. It comes a year after the Tanzanian government proposed plans to install a cable car system on the side of Kilimanjaro. These latest modernisation attempts coupled with a year-on-year increase in unregulated and unethical expeditions, are an insult to what attracted people to mountains in the first place. Without proper governance, we may lose one of the world’s few remaining escapes. A tragedy, because more than ever, we need their wildness.
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Sports
Issue 5 | Tuesday 24th November 2020 | University Express
UCC Sport Catch-Up Writes Liam Grainger, Sports Editor
UCC Sport has remained relatively quiet since the beginning of the 2020/2021 academic year, with few clubs returning to competitive action. It is expected that with a loosening of public health restrictions in December that clubs will be able to increase their operating capacity towards the end of the year; the reopening of the Mardyke Arena will also be critical for the training schedule of many clubs. There are however a few notable events that our University teams have been organising to keep students engaged remotely. UCC Sport Podcast: ‘Spark to Sport’ – a UCC Sport Podcast series by Jeff Gomez (UCC Sport High-Performance Manager) which started at the beginning of the Summer is continuing to produce weekly episodes, and is available to listen to from the UCC Sport website. Now in its ninth week of airing, the podcast features conversations with those overseeing sport in the college as well as students who are participating in the Quercus Sport’s Scholarship programme. Great discussions are to be heard with students such as Johnny Durcan on his hopes of qualifying for
the 2024 Olympics in sailing, as well as a chat with Colm Doyle on the rise of surfing at UCC and the difficulties of being a student in a pandemic. With thirty minutes of talk, it’s a great chance for students to remain connected to sport in the college while play is temporarily halted. UCC Clubs take on Movember: A number of UCC Sports Clubs have been participating in this year’s UCC Movember campaign, which at the time of writing has raised €26,000. The UCC Aussie Rules Club have been the trailblazers in this year’s campaign, contributing close to €7,000 of the total tally. Through bingo nights, virtual poker, and some questionable moustache attempts, the club has brought much attention to the Movember cause. UCC Rugby has also been heavily involved in this year’s MoCampaign. They too have run a successful Movember campaign, raising close to €4,000 for the cause. The Rugby Club also began their “Call A Mate” campaign in recent weeks, in which the club is encouraging its members to use rugby as a reason for people to stay connected during the current lockdown. The club used the half-time break of Ireland’s opening game against Wales in the Autumn Nations Cup as
the first run-out of their campaign, with members of the club calling someone they knew and checking up on them. The campaign has been picked up by a number of UCC’s competitors in the Energia All-Ireland League, who are also getting involved by sharing the campaign through social media. Mardyke Arena UCC - Cork Sports Partnership: The facilities at the Mardyke Arena have been missed by many UCC Students over the current Level 5 restrictions, and to keep members engaged, the Arena staff have partnered with Cork Sports Partnership to keep members active during the most recent Lockdown. In its weekly “Keeping Cork Healthy” column in the Evening Echo, the Arena provides advice on how to maintain fitness levels at home, with tips on respiratory health, mental health, along with more niche information for different sportspeople, such as flexibility exercises for golfers. The column offers different insights from Arena experts each week and can be complemented by the daily workout videos that the Arena posts to its Youtube channel. The channel features workouts for all fitness levels, featuring everything from Yoga to HIIT classes,
with no equipment needed. The Arena hopes to reopen on December 1st, but their online activity will keep students engaged in the meantime. UCC Hockey: At the end of last month, UCC Ladies Hockey Club joined the 20x20 campaign. The 20x20 campaign aims to address the lack of visibility and cultural perception of women in sport, and UCC Ladies Hockey Club will join over 300 clubs already participating in the movement from 23 different disciplines. The club’s members also remained connected during the lockdown through their participation in the ‘Turn UCC Pink’ event, which saw members of the club run 200km to raise money and awareness for Breast Cancer research. A number of UCC Clubs are expected to hold their delayed trials for Fresher Teams in mid-December, and students are encouraged to follow the social media channels of their clubs to stay updated on dates. Hopefully, we’ll see our many clubs back in full-flow towards the end of this year.
Sports
Issue | Tuesday 24th November 2020 | University Express
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20X20: Are We On The Right Track? Writes Sam Curtin, Deputy Sports Editor
The last eighteen months have seen significant change in how we view women’s sport, be it at an elite or participatory level; and this includes its coverage in the media. As with any initiative, there must be a spark or an idea to kick things off the ground. With the 20x20 project, it has been much more than that. The campaign was set up in 2018 by creative agency Along Came A Spider with three specific aims to be reached by the end of 2020. Namely, to see a 20% increase in media coverage of women in sport; more female participation at all levels; and an increased attendance at women’s games and events. It’s an initiative that has been long overdue but has the campaign actually worked and is it going in the right direction? Our current times with the coronavirus pandemic have certainly not helped the project and so it is only fair that the goals may take time to be achieved especially with no
fans being allowed to attend matches for public health reasons. Attendances were on the rise before the pandemic however with record attendances at the 2019 All-Ireland ladies football final which was played in front of 56,114 fans and over 250,000 watching on television. The Ireland-Canada hockey Olympic qualifiers were held in Donnybrook, both legs in front of 7,000 fans. The project also carried out a survey in the last month and yielded some interesting results. 80% of those surveyed said that they were more aware of women’s sport and 61% were supportive of the project. 75% of men also said that they supported the project, so it is certainly an initiative which has universal appeal, a crucial aspect for any project to be successful. There were also successful results in relation to female participation in sport. 42% of women surveyed said that they have participated in more physical activity be it in team sports or individual fitness. One area which appears to have fallen short is the media coverage. Although
there has been an increase, it still falls short of the 20% target. Online coverage has increased by 50% but television coverage on female events fell by 40% in 2019. This is despite an increase from 7% to 18% in Irish TV audience figures for the same year. This could be down to lack of live coverage on TV with many games being streamed online on the TG4 website or RTÉ player and may not be as accessible for some people. As a result, one could argue that accessibility and viewership are the main areas where work needs to be done, something which could be complicated for media organisations who could argue that there is no point showing games if the ratings or audience viewership isn’t high enough to warrant coverage. In this instance, perhaps putting more money into making various women’s sports competitions a more engaging brand - be it through extensive marketing or media promotion on social media and traditional platforms - could be a solution to this fix. What is encouraging to see is the talent of the current generation of female athletes emerging from Ireland. Katie
Taylor who once again proved herself to be an icon of Irish sport last Saturday week has long been a pioneer of women’s boxing and is reaping the rewards that she deserves. Over 2 million people tuned in to watch the fight across Britain and Ireland; Katie Taylor, arguably one of the biggest names in boxing. The Irish women’s hockey were World Cup finalists in 2018 and are preparing for the Olympics in Tokyo next year where a medal could be on the cards. There is promising Irish female talent on the water too as Annalise Murphy won silver in the sailing at the last games in Rio and is consistently in the mix at World Cup events. Overall, the project has been successful in raising awareness of female participation which in turn has had a positive effect on the level of quality at the elite level which naturally leads to an increased audience. The overall project is not completed yet but it is going in the right direction and with any revolution, it does not happen overnight.
University
Volume 24 | Issue 5 | Tuesday 24th November 2020
Sports
UCCExpress.ie
FUTURE BRIGHT FOR TAYLOR AFTER DISMISSAL OF GUTIERREZ
Writes Sam Curtin, Deputy Sports Editor Katie Taylor cemented her place at the top of the pound for pound female rankings after a dominant performance over previously undefeated Spaniard Miriam Gutierrez at Wembley Arena. The unanimous decision victory for the Bray superstar ensured that she retained her status as undisputed lightweight champion and enhanced her status as one of the greatest boxers of all time. Taylor, who is 17 times undefeated in her professional career, has been the trailblazer and the face of women’s boxing since her amateur days; she is in the rare position of being able to pick and choose the fights which will cement her legacy in the sport. The question is, what next for the 34-year-old? In her post-fight interview Taylor said “There is no shortage of big
fights out there. It is all about the legacy and making history in this sport and inspiring the next generation but yeah, people still haven’t seen the best of me yet.” A scary thought for anyone out there that was hoping Taylor would begin to slow down. It’s a thought echoed by her promoter Eddie Hearn, head of Matchroom Boxing who said “I believe she’s got four, five, six years left. I don’t want to put a number on it because she’ll have a go at me, but so many years to come.” Taylor was due to face Amanda Serrano, who is a seven-weight world champion, earlier this year but Serrano pulled out after failing to agree terms to the fight. Other names such as Natasha Jonas whom Taylor beat at London 2012 on route to gold or Terri Harper are among the favourites to be next. Former UFC Featherweight champion Cris Cyborg is also in contention in what would be a huge crossover fight between the boxing and MMA stars. Perhaps the highest profile fight out
there for Katie however is the winner between American Jessica McCaskill and Norwegian Cecilia Braekhus for the undisputed World Welterweight Championship. Taylor has already beaten McCaskill in 2017 on points but has improved significantly since then defeating Braekhus last August to claim the undisputed welterweight crown. The rematch is set for early next year and this could be seen as the No.1 contenders match of sorts to face Taylor in what would be one of the biggest fights in the sport in 2021. Could 2021 see Katie Taylor fight on home turf? That is the million dollar question but one that appears unlikely until crowds are allowed to return. Even at that it would seem that Taylor’s shortterm future appears to be in America where she is already a big name and with a prime time American audience, potentially ready to tap in for another undisputed title bout; it makes sense both money and legacy wise. Hearn has said that Taylor hopes to fight at
home at some stage adding that “She does have aspirations to fight in Ireland for sure. It is something that we would love to do and something we should do. We shouldn’t close the door to that.” There’s no doubt that it would be a special occasion in Dublin or Belfast but hosting big boxing shows in Ireland particularly in the Republic has had its complications. This is mainly due to the need for extra security resources needed to hold a boxing event in the republic with gangland incidents marring the events in the past. The Regency Hotel incident in 2016 at a boxing weigh-in comes to mind but that is a discussion for another day. Ultimately if anyone can reunite the country’s love of boxing it’s Taylor and as she has already shown on numerous occasions, nothing is impossible. With Katie Taylor as a role model, Irish boxing has a bright future and with Taylor’s legacy already secured long ago, the best may be yet to come.