Motley - Volume XV - Issue V - Youth

THE HARDSHIPS OF TODAYS YOUNG PEOPLE DISCUSSING AGEISM WITHIN THE MEDIA

HOW GENERATION Z IS CHANGING THE FASHION INDUSTRY

VOLUME 15, ISSUE 5

VOLUME FEBRUARY 15, ISSUE 5 2022 FEBRUARY 2022

Editorial Staff Stephen Moynihan

Hannah Emerson

Stephen is an award-winning journalist with a keen interest in current affairs. He is currently in his nal year of a BA in philosophy and politics.

Hannah is a third year medical and health science student who feels that this section of motley is tting for her due to an over abundance of opinions she feels af icted with since birth.

Maxwell Callanan

James Kemmy

Max is a second year digital humanities student.

He spends most of his spare time writing, drawing and making funky little board games.

James is in his third year student of government and political science in UCC. He is interested in a wide variety of musical genres and the power of contemporary lm and ction to highlight pressing social issues

Conor Daly

Sarah Collins

Conor is nal year Arts student and was a member of the current affairs team last year as a staff writer. He is an almost award winning poet and journalist with hopes of removing the almost in the near future.

Sarah is a third year Government and Political Science student. Along with having her own graphic design business, Sarah also runs a fashion, beauty and lifestyle blog and she is a huge lover of all things fashion related.

Deputy Editor-in-Chief

Features & Opinion Editor

Graphic Designer

Entertainment Editor

Fashion & Beauty Editor

Current Affairs Editor

Online Team Online Editor Social Media

Kevin Quane Erica Shelly

Deputy Editors Current Affairs Features & Opinions Entertainment

Natalia Gawlas John Hunter Shruti Rajagopal

Photographers

Sponsors

Max Bell

Primetime

Contributors

Staff Writers Jessica O’Brien Alana Daly Mulligan

Models James Kemmy Susan Roche Cian Pierce Aisling O’Brien

Alana Daly Mulligan, Roisin Dunlea, Kieran Fitzgerald, Sam Golden, Lizzie Kelly, Ronan Keohane, Emily Linehan, Cormac McCarthy, Cian McDonnell, Reuban Murray, Conor O’Callaghan, Kate O’Riordan

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This publication is made from 100% recycled paper. Motley welcomes letters from from readers, emailed to editor@motley.ie.

Motley is published by Motley magazine, The Hub UCC, Western Road, Cork. Printed by City Print Limited, Victoria Cross, Cork. Copyright 2021 Motley Magazine. All rights reserved.

Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited.

All efforts have been made to ensure that details and pricing are correct at time of print. Motley magazine does not take responsibility for any errors incurred.

This magazine can be recycled either in your green bin kerbside collection or at a local recycling point.

Images provided by Unsplash.com, Pexels.com, Pixabay.com. Vectors provided by Vecteezy.com and Freepic.com.

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Meet the Motley

From the Editor Emer Walsh Editor-in-Chief

Brought to you by an ever-worsening housing crisis, an inadequate mental health service and a standard of living of cially worse than our parent’s generation, what awaits us is a future that has already left us behind. Welcome to Issue #5 of Motley Magazine!

This issue, released in tandem with the revival of College Balls and respectable bar and club opening hours, is dedicated to the theme of ‘Youth.’ The coming months present us young ones with much to look forward to, including both the aforementioned as well as the upcoming return of RAG week, greeting UCC once again from the 28th of February to the 3rd of March.

editor@motley.ie

While university life continues to improve, there is little to look forward to on the other side. Resulting from both rapid technological advancements and ever-changing circumstances controlled by a pandemic, issues concerning society’s youth have evolved immensely within such a short period.

House prices have been on the rise since 2013, however, eight years of unsustainable in ation later and we’re still relying on the market to x itself. Growing mental health issues among young people have been brought to the forefront of public conversation since 2020, yet adequate funding for these problems remains to be seen.

As we try to come to terms with these changes, we face dismissal and neglect. Even the World Health Organisation reduces these troubles down to mere monetary values, claiming that $387bn worth of human potential that could go towards national economies is lost through a lack of mental health investment.

In the words of the IMF, we are migrating into a jobs market that plans to pay us less while expecting more.

Treated as mere economic agents, issues of youth mental health and falling standards of living are viewed solely through the lens of pro t-making potential while the wider ethical or societal effects remain largely ignored.

With these dire circumstances awaiting us, increasing youth migration should come as no surprise to any observer.

This country experienced the harsh effects of emigration during the nancial crisis, yet, almost a decade later, we are faced with the same life-changing decisions graduates ten years ago were challenged with.

Do we move abroad in search of enhanced living standards, or do we stay in a country that cares little about enhancing our lives?

Within this issue, you will nd a hard-hitting account of the trials faced by Ireland’s youth coming out of the pandemic by Current Affairs Editor Conor Daly, a thoughtprovoking piece on ageism and its impact on Western Media by Contributor Kate O’Riordan, an exceptionally written re ection of Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom” ten years since it’s release by Entertainment Editor James Kemmy, and a stunning photoshoot capturing youth through fashion, curated by Fashion Editor Sarah Collins and Contributor Conor O’Callaghan, kindly sponsored by the wonderful PrimeTime.

As always, the pages of Motley are lled by students, for students. Inboxes remain open and submissions are welcome from all students of UCC, so don’t be afraid to have your voice heard.

With that said, I hope you enjoy the college festivities that await us and the lack of leg space on your Ryanair journey to a new beginning upon graduation.

Have fun, stay safe, and see you next month x

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Siri, play “The Passenger” by Iggy Pop.

Inside Motley February 2022

Current Affairs

Features

Entertainment

Fashion & Beauty

Current Affairs Editor Conor Daly looks at the long-term effects of declining physical activity as a result of Covid-19 restrictions.

Motley Staff writer Jessica O’Brien re ects on her experiences growing up in a pandemic.

Motley Contributor Ronan Keohane looks at growing ideological divisions and their satirisation across popular US televisions series.

Fashion Editor Sarah Collins delves into the role of fashion and the important role it plays in the lives of young people today.

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Motley.ie

Teenagers Are Leaving Sport Why Aren’t We Talking About It? Lockdowns as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic have put a huge spotlight on physical activity. Current Affairs Editor Conor Daly looks at the potential long-term effects of this.

With restrictions relating to the covid-19 pandemic being lifted both here in Ireland and further a eld, people are starting to go back to how they lived their lives pre-pandemic; namely, socialising, rejoining sports clubs and returning to hobbies. Our return to what we enjoy doing is key not only for people’s mental wellbeing but also to release some of the frustration people have held onto over the last two years. However, one wonders if participation rates in sport will face a decline as we emerge on the other side of Covid.

In professional spheres,

The increase in interest on the topic was brought into the public sphere with the recent RTE TV series hosted by former Cork camogie All-Ireland winner Anna Geary entitled “Why Girls Quit Sport?”. In an interview discussing the show, Geary highlights the importance of treating young female athletes the same way as their male counterparts and that we need to address the expectation that is almost placed on girls to “drop out”.

A 2020 WHO report into physical activity around the world showed that women are lagging behind men, with 1 in 3 women not getting the required physical activity to stay healthy compared with 1 in 4 for men. The same report provided many startling statistics, perhaps most of all that “More than 80% of the world's adolescent population is insuf ciently physically active.”

An increasingly sedentary lifestyle as a result of the pandemic has likely increased this further.

Irish female athletes performed exceptionally well, and one would hope that such exploits on the world stage can inspire next generations and at the very least, keep kids participating in sport.

Irish golfer Leona Maguire hit headlines everywhere in September of 2021 as she played a key role in Team Europe’s retention of the Solheim Cup and again in February of this year when she became the rst Irish golfer to win on the LPGA tour. Meanwhile, boxer Katie Taylor continues to defy expectations and shatter glass ceilings as she keeps having unprecedented success as a professional ghter.

Thankfully, there are now so many examples of Irish athletes like this, and even more are needed.

Sport is such a huge part of Irish culture, and by extension youth culture in this country. It is for this reason that the spotlight is being shone on this issue of participation in sport, particularly among young women. The psychological, physical and social bene ts of regular exercise are unequivocal, with that being one of the key driving forces behind this effort to address the issue of young people leaving sport.

A recent report by RTE provided an in depth analysis into the reasons why young girls in particular stop playing sport. Reference is made to a report covered by RTE Drivetime which indicated, quite worryingly, that only 1% of girls in sixth year of secondary school get the required amount of physical activity on a daily basis.

A report by Sport Ireland in January of 2021 looked at ways to increase physical activity among young girls. There was an emphasis placed on what these young people view as the barriers for them to participate in physical activity or sport. The most powerful of these was said to be “Capability” with many fearing that they will be judged for a lack of sporting ability or that they feel the need to be at a certain standard in order to participate.

This relates to the importance of image among peers for younger generations with the prominence of social media. But perhaps it is also an indicator that youth sport has become too “professional” or elite, and that participation needs to become a priority for the bene t of our young people in order to enhance their relationship with physical activity as they move into adulthood.

The report also cited what young girls said were factors that would give them more motivation to participate in sport and the visibility of role models was one of these. Going back to the aforementioned Leona Maguire and Katie Taylor among many others, there is a duty to

show young women what they can aspire to be.

Not every single one of them will have a career in professional sport, that much is obvious. But if the visibility of prominent female athletes encourages young people to stay in sport and enjoy keeping physically t, that has to be something to work towards.

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The past two years have been a really hard time to be a young person, both in Ireland and worldwide. Current Affairs Editor, Conor Daly looks at the lasting effects of this and the nancial challenges facing current generations.

From attending college and school from the “comfort” of your own home to being criticised in national media based on the actions of a small minority, being a student during the pandemic was not easy.

Now that we are supposedly coming out the other side of the pandemic, there are new challenges, ones that have the potential to impact students and new graduates more than any other demographic. In ationary pressures make it harder for students, who are generally minimum wage earners, to keep up with the rising cost of living.

Irish citizens are still leaving in their droves, a trend that was seen as a direct result of the recession of 2008.

Granted, there are considerably fewer people leaving now than in the aftermath of the market crash, but why are our graduates still choosing to bring their quali cations to other countries, especially when there are shortages of teachers, counsellors, doctors, nurses in this country?

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THIS IS OUR YOUTH Net migration has started to fall in recent years, meaning the emigration of Irish citizens abroad could be exacerbated. 56,500 people emigrated in 2020, the highest gure since 2017. There was a slightly lower gure of 54,000 in 2021, however, a sharp decrease in immigration by over 20,000 people saw net migration fall to the lowest level since 2016 (11,200).

As well as this, dif culties nding staff is proving to be one of the biggest economic side effects of the pandemic, with many businesses unable to ful l opening houses due to staff shortages. The impetus for mass emigration during the recession was simply a lack of jobs. Now, we have businesses literally crying out for staff, so why are other countries still being viewed as more attractive places to live and work?

Rental pressures are one easy answer to this. Dublin has the most opportunities for employment in Ireland, but also has one of the most exorbitant rental markets in the world. Prices in the capital have contributed to Ireland currently sitting at the 11th spot in the list of most expensive countries to rent in (when rent is analysed in isolation). Additionally, rental prices in Dublin increased by 4.1% just between the months of September and December last year.

Employment opportunities are of course welcome and foreign direct investment has made Ireland a hub of tech rms in particular. But are these opportunities really worth it if you can’t enjoy your money on account of the burden that rent has become in this country?

Recent reports suggest that prices within the housing market are set to surpass Celtic Tiger peak prices this year. The current group of young people trying to clamber onto the property ladder have been given the dubious nickname of “generation rent”, with this group being predicted to struggle to own their own properties in their lifetimes.

The Telegraph recently published an article that outlines that it is, in fact, more dif cult to be a young person today than it was in the generation of their parents. Financially speaking, as is the primary focus of this report, it is more expensive to be a student and to afford housing in 2021, even with all price uctuations and market conditions taken into account.

As well as this, the overall nancial crisis could be yet to take place, with the Irish Times reporting on the potential for “long nancial Covid”, giving people a sense of the ominous reality of post-pandemic economics.

Third-level students have also been nancially affected by the pandemic. The continued existence of a food bank on UCC’s campus makes this abundantly clear. The challenge of keeping up with rent increases leaves some students with little to no money left for groceries.

The cynical response to this is that students are likely spending all their money on nights out and that’s why they are struggling to afford food. Regardless of whether there is any truth to this, it would seem that this view is too simplistic and that the blame is being pointed in the wrong direction.

The return to campus following such a long period of being stuck at home has been welcomed, but it has also been overwhelming for many as people struggle to reconnect with friends while also keeping themselves and their families safe from covid.

The often negative portrayal of college students in national media did not help either. Some viewed this as students being used as a scapegoat whenever cases were on the rise. A small minority of students were creating a bad name for the entire group of third-level attendees in this country while the vast majority were stuck at home, struggling to maintain academic performance with online college and nding it hard to stay in contact with friends and family.

Third-level students felt at times that the impact on their lives was perhaps larger than other groups within society.

Third level students that started a three-year degree in 2019 will have spent close to half of their time as a university student on their laptop at home by the time they graduate.

Similarly, many nal year students left college campuses in March of 2020 not realising that they and their classmates had attended the last in-person lecture of their university careers.

The negative media coverage and poor treatment of student nurses is perhaps why many students wish to emigrate, at least temporarily, when they graduate from college. The problem with emigrating in this political climate, however, is that each country seems more unstable than the next.

Without even taking into account issues of food shortages, fuel shortages and in ation to name but a few, the post-covid world seems inherently more divided. America, a place that has a huge Irish diaspora, is perhaps less attractive now due to political instability and the potential of being at the centre of a global con ict with Russia, and by extension, China.

But nancial dif culties are not the only problems facing students and young people either. Reports since the onset of the pandemic have repeatedly shown how lockdowns and periods of social isolation have had negative effects on the mental health of people and increased the incidence of mental illness.

One psychologist has gone as far to say that, following the pandemic, we are now recovering from a “mass trauma event”. If this is the case, now is really not a time to point ngers in any direction, rather a period where we need to be understanding of one another, recognising that we all faced challenges over the course of the pandemic and are lucky enough to be emerging on the other side, even if we are still recovering mentally and physically from its side effects.

It’s a strange time both to be a student or a new graduate, with more opportunities than ever before yet also seeing the world in ever-evolving states of disruption. While students may often appear as though they are detached from reality and living in a totally different world, when it comes to the most challenging issues in the world right now such as in ation and rental crises, they are impacted as much as any other group.

Just like any other demographic, young people simply want government policies to re ect current dif culties and for other generations to recognise that being a young person, in the current state of the world, is challenging. Exciting, certainly. But challenging nonetheless.

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If you were a recent graduate of an Irish university and are comparing the prices of accommodation, living in continental Europe may appear slightly more attractive than relocating to an exorbitantly priced bedsit in Dublin. Rents are reported as being up 10% and more than that, they are also described as being totally “out of control”.

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THE SHONA PROJECT

Deputy Current Affairs Editor Natalia Karolina Gawlas in conversation with the Founder and CEO of the Shona Project, Tammy Darcy.

‘Young People’s Voices Deserve to be Heard’ Deputy Current Affairs Editor Natalia Karolina Gawlas in conversation with the Founder and CEO of the Shona Project, Tammy Darcy.

The youth of today are faced with problems they are simply not prepared to deal with. Over a two year pandemic in which everything from economic instability to sitting critical exams online, to predicted grades, to a cyber reality was unstable and uncertain, our youth struggled to adapt. The struggle continues as the country slowly recovers, and our return to reality adds extra anxiety to the everyday life of a young person. Although, despite these challenging times, there are some supports in place aiming to hold up youth con dence and ensure they succeed. The Shona Project presents itself as one of these supports, and one of vital importance.

The Shona Project was established with “the intention to empower, educate, and inspire,” according to Tammy Darcy, the Founder and CEO of the project that dedicates its resources to aid the process of growing up for Irish girls. There is a simple reasoning behind their dedication to the female focus, as Tammy clearly states: “I have experience from being this teenager that thought she would achieve everything, to suddenly becoming a young woman with very little con dence”.

The ability to help from the ground up only comes when you’ve started on the ground yourself. This has largely changed for Tammy, as she has been awarded various awards and recognitions for her work, with her most recent accolade being the ‘Humanitarian of the Year Award 2021’ by the Irish Red Cross.

An achievement not only of personal value for Tammy as it also shines a light on the organisation and the effort put into its establishment and running.

“It’s nice to be recognised for the work, but it also kind of means people see the value of what we do, and that’s great for my con dence and our con dence as an organisation,” said Tammy.

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One of the biggest achievements Tammy has attained which was inspired by the Shona Project is writing a book entitled You’ve Got This! She notes the importance of this as a personal accolade, saying, “The one I’m the most proud of is that last year I wrote a book which was the sixth best selling kids book during lockdown, and that’s something I’ve always wanted to do, I always wanted to be a writer. It’s something I’m personally really proud of.”

She always loved books as a young girl, growing up on the Malory Towers series. When Tammy was approached by the publishing company Gillto to address the lack of material available for 14-year-old girls in Ireland, she took the opportunity.

“I signed the contract on the day of the very rst lockdown and thought, oh this is great, we’re in lockdown, I’ve loads of time to do it over the next few months”.

Although the book was a personal achievement, the community was at the centre of it as well, exempli ed by how Tammy“got contributions from members of the community, we thought their stories needed to be shared as well”.

The motive behind the book is a hugely positive one, with the author remarking that she “really wanted to write a book for every girl, that every girl can see herself represented in - divided into four sections which were your heart, your head, your body, and your world”.

While delving into the overall topic of Ireland’s youth, concerns have been expressed concerning the world that has been and is being created for the youth to grow up and establish a life in.

There is a huge lack of support in place for not only younger people in schools, but also for those ending third-level education and beginning their life in the working world. As a mother of three children and person working in the youth division, Tammy can distinctly see the struggles of our youth,,

“The problem is so big at the moment. As we’re coming out of Covid, the cracks are really starting to appear. Meeting kids every day and hearing from parents that want to do a good job and support their kids, but we just don’t have the answers. There is a huge gap there.”

And Tammy recognises that this gap is, of course, not just for young women, but young men too; “There is a huge gap there for boys, I have been calling out for years for somebody to come and join us as the male arm” There is a need for somebody to challenge the de nition of what it means to be a man, not only the challenges that are present as a woman, and the one-sided female support that can currently be provided. The desire to help young men is there, but while the knowledge of a female perspective is present, that of the male perspective remains absent.

Dif culties would arise through attempts to provide support that the organisation does not have rst-hand knowledge of.

“I think that we run an organisation that tries to create positive outcomes for females, but females cannot do that by themselves. It is no longer an ‘us’ [females] conversation, it needs to be a ‘we’ conversation.”

By travelling throughout Ireland and providing workshops in schools, Tammy has rst-hand experience in recognising the hardships of our young people.

“It is overwhelming when you see the challenges that are there. What we need to do is this early intervention, so that we’re not trying to talk kids down from ledges or trying to drag kids back from a dark place, but that we try to prevent them going there in the rst place.”

Thankfully, The Shona Project is present to provide help to young girls in need of guidance, utilising resources to allow equal opportunity, no matter what background they come from. The discussion is summed up with a powerful parting statement, reiterating once again the importance of Tammy’s activism and the vision of the organisation as a whole.

“Young people's voices deserve to be heard. Keep using your voices and speaking. Demand to be listened to. Don’t feel the need to be educated, just authentic.”

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“My Room is my Safety, and I Had to Leave that Safety Net” Fighting for Security in the Places Women Call Their Own. Following the recent incident in which a woman woke up to nd an unknown man standing at the end of her bed, Motley’s Emer Walsh talks to UCC students Imasha Costa and Jess Dalton about the disturbing invasion of their own safe spaces.

In the early hours of Friday, the 11th of February, 21-year old student Keyara Connolly woke up in her Shandon area home to an unknown man watching her from the end of her bed. It is understood that the man entered the home through the front door, which Ms Connolly said she left “accidentally unlocked.”

Initially, Ms Connolly believed that her housemates had arrived home late, resulting in a member of the group accidentally entering her room in search of a bathroom. Upon realising that this was not the case, Ms Connolly started screaming, to which the man replied in a “high-pitched and foreign accent” trying to calm her, reportedly repeating “let me help you,” to Ms Connolly.

Eventually, her continued screams led to the man eeing by foot from the scene. Once Ms Connolly felt the house was safe, she went downstairs to lock the front door and alert the Gardaí.

Nothing was taken from the house, however, lights were on and the doors were left open in various bedrooms, with Ms Connolly believing the man had searched other rooms in the house before entering her bedroom.

Following the incident, Ms Connolly returned to her family home in South Tipperary and intends on moving out of the Shandon area house when she returns to Cork. A statement from the Gardaí con rmed that they responded to the incident at approximately 4.30 am on Friday, the 11th of February,

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however, no arrests were made amid their ongoing investigations.

Last Sunday, Ms Connolly tweeted her experience, warning women especially in the Cork City area to lock their doors and windows. The tweet quickly went viral, resulting in Ms Connolly receiving backlash from multiple Twitter users, ranging from disbelief in her claims to blame being directed at Ms Connolly herself for leaving the front door unlocked on the night of the incident.

“It is not her that should be blamed. It’s the person who came into her room… She was all alone and that is scary. I don’t know how people could blame her for this happening,” said nal-year UCC student, Imasha Costa. Ms Costa, who shares a similar story to Ms Connolly, recalls the night in which she also woke up to nd a stranger in her bedroom.

Ms Costa was living in a house on College Road during the summer of 2020 when one morning, she was awoken at approximately 6 am by a man laying in her bed next to her with his arm placed on her thigh.

“I was terri ed… I had to yell at him to get him out of the house, my other housemates had to as well,” Ms Costa recalls.

Reluctant to leave, Ms Costa and her housemates were nally able to remove the man from the house. Following the incident, Ms Costa did not feel comfortable going back to sleep in her downstairs bedroom and instead, made breakfast and sat outside the back of her house.

Upon returning to her room, Ms Costa was shocked to nd the same man in her bedroom again, laying down on her bed.

Ms Costa immediately ran upstairs to some male friends, who helped her remove the man from the room a second time.

“He was trying to lift himself through my window and I started screaming at him,” Ms Dalton recalls.

“I lost the plot… I stayed upstairs until he was kicked out,” said Ms Costa before continuing, “The front door was locked, he came in through a window in the living room.”

After running upstairs, Ms Dalton looked out the window to see what looked like the man trying to open the back door of the house. Following this, the man took a chair from the garden and climbed back over the wall, leaving the property the same way from which he entered.

Re ecting on her experiences a year and a half later, Ms Costa remarks, “It was so terrifying, I was quite scarred… I had to leave my safety net to get someone out of my room, that is what terri ed me the most.”

Final-year UCC student Jess Dalton also recalls a similar incident that took place in her College Road house in the summer of 2021. Upon returning home from her job in a bar, Ms Dalton was in her room listening to music when she heard voices outside.

“I always hear people walking by my house, but I thought, ‘these voices are really, really loud tonight.’ It sounded like they were in my garden,” Ms Dalton recalls.

Ms Dalton proceeded to the window and quickly pulled back her curtain to nd a man with a ashlight and his hand in the w i n d o w, t r y i n g t o c l i m b i n t o h e r downstairs bedroom.

Following the incident, Ms Dalton rang the Gardaí and returned to her family home in Dungarvan for a week as she did not feel comfortable in the house.

“I was terri ed. I didn’t know who it was, I felt it also could have been personal. I thought, ‘Is someone after me?”

In an effort to feel safer, Ms Dalton’s landlord agreed to place a barrier over her window to prevent this incident from happening again.

“A lot of people think that there is more crime currently happening against women, but I think it's just being more publicised and recognised nowadays,” said Ms Dalton, who has called for harsher legislation for offenders of gender-based violence.

Ms Dalton continued, “I don’t think this is taken seriously in Ireland at all. I don’t think the Guards take it seriously, the government doesn’t take it seriously. After Ashling Murphy’s death, the government promised to push legislation, but I‘ve heard nothing about it.”

Speaking in the Dáil in late January, Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee spoke about the department’s effort to address violence against women, to which she promised new legislation “to strengthen the law.”

As of yet, the release of this legislation along with the Garda Powers Bill and Digital Recordings Bill remains to be seen.

Following widespread attacks on women being reported in recent weeks, Ms Costa touches on these incidents and the wider issues faced by women, saying in a statement, “Women are getting attacked left, right and centre. This is just another form of it with men trying to assert their power over women.”

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UCC GOES GREEN Interview with UCCSU President Asha Woodhouse & Environmental Of cer Alicia O’Sullivan Alana Daly Mulligan talks with the Current UCCSU President & Environmental Of cer about their passion for the environment, working together & UCC’s upcoming Green Week.

On the surface, Asha Woodhouse and Alicia O’Sullivan are very different student leaders, often expressing different approaches, communication styles and priorities with regards to social activism and politics.

Differences aside, the two have established themselves as crucial assets to environmental activism in Cork and further a eld, united by a shared belief in prioritising our planet, being stewards of nature and keeping our world alive, perhaps best demonstrated by UCC’s upcoming Green Week running from the 7th-10th March 2022.

To brie y paint a picture of these two individuals is challenging. They are multi-faceted and passionate, which deserves longer exploration.

Caring about social issues is somewhat hereditary to Woodhouse as she is part of what she describes as an “activist family”: her grandparents were active protesters in London during the 1970s, she had an early introduction to climate strikes and grew up in an alternative living household. It is, therefore, no surprise that the UCCSU President took early action to raise awareness around the environment in secondary school.

What followed was the pursuit of an undergraduate degree in Environmental Science, followed by a Masters in Environmental and Natural Resources Law. Her college experience boasts being chair of UCC Environmental Society, working with Green Campus, organising around Repeal the 8th amongst other activities. Indeed, Woodhouse has not only watched the campus cultural shift in the past halfdecade but has actively been part of it.

Alicia’s experience starts in a similar vein. Growing up in Skibbereen gave her an appreciation for where she lived and found herself shocked to learn about climate atrocities as a child.

She is uniquely positioned as UCC’s sophomore environmental of cer to curate a range of events for UCC’s Green Week. For O’Sullivan, Green Week isn’t just awareness lip-service, it’s a tangible move towards actively engaging the campus in the environmental issues befalling our communities: “It’s about changing the culture for students and asking how do we make this a priority when students already have so many things going on. It’s about climate justice and letting people know that environmentalism isn’t just about saving the turtles or plastic straws, those things are important, but talking about the likes of food security, the homelessness crisis, all issues that are intrinsically linked, and if we start to understand that, we’ll start to ght this crisis a lot better.”

UCC Green Week is billed to be a celebration of environmental activism, a cry for improved ecoconsciousness and inclusive dialogue around saving our planet.

“The people who want to be heard will be heard before other people open their mouths,” O’Sullivan jests, “we want to give a space to other people's voices too”.

With events that include a picnic in the President’s garden, a panel discussion on energy consciousness, a live art exhibition that challenges UCC community members to think about their role in impacting climate change and a walking workshop on art and nature, the schedule is about engaging the rst-time environmentalist as much as it is about creating a space for those with prior knowledge.

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The globally-renowned youth activist had early involvement in the Fridays for Future movement, the Comhairle na nÓg National Executive, was Ireland’s rst youth delegate to the UN Climate Summit, worked with US Climate Envoy John Kerry and has since most recently gone on to represent Ireland at COP26.

For many, it can appear that the climate justice movement is fragmented by differing opinions and perspectives, something Green Week looks to confront by bringing people together through the shared ambition to save our planet. Speaking to both student leaders, they discuss the complexities of negotiating these relationships.

“It can be a tricky one to navigate because there can be quite fundamental disagreements,” says Woodhouse, “but we all started somewhere once. To an extent, you have to believe that the way you're doing things is the right way while being open to the fact that you can be wrong about things. I'll engage with people because I want them to see where I'm coming from…no one's born with the political ideology, we're all learning along the way.”

O’Sullivan’s take is one that embraces the diversity of opinion and thought:

While the UCCSU President admits that “playing nice has to be done sometimes” it would appear her sterner approach towards climate justice activism comes from a place of genuine transparency and concern to be able to stand by one’s opinion and a distaste for playing up to a system: “I think you always have to be able to own what you’ve said and what you’ve done with your chest.”

The UCCSU Environmental Of cer maintains the importance of all the cogs working in tandem to bring people together around the issue: “at the end of the day, we’re all ghting the same machine, the same problem, and that’s what will always bring us back together. Once you’re out there doing something using your asset, that’s what’s important.”

O’Sullivan continues;

“there will always be people ghting a battle differently and I think it’s crucial that people take it from different angles. Whether you stand up on stage, strike, participate in science and research or approach it from an arts and learning standpoint, all of these ways are super important…you always need people with different assets and different minds to bring to the table.”

Woodhouse emphatically stresses that while her mandate to represent the wants of the UCC student body takes precedent in her current role, she can feel frustrated with the bureaucracy of various institutions: “Audrey Lorde said ‘the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house’, that’s always resonated with me. We can get small wins along the way within the system…but I don't think it's going to bring about the transformational change long term that is needed to achieve what needs to be achieved to save the planet. That's where I won't compromise…

“don’t be scared [to get involved in climate justice activism], don’t be worried about what other people are going to think, you don’t have to be Greta Thunberg to care about the planet! You can join EnviroSoc or go to Green Campus meetings, you can start learning about recycling or waste, or even just pick up one good habit for 2022.”

Green Week runs in University College Cork from the 7th–10th March 2022 featuring a wide range of events and activities open to all members of the UCC community and the Cork community more widely. For more information, keep up to date with the UCC Students’ Union social media channels on @UCCSU on Instagram, Twitter & Facebook.

For further press contact or information on how to get involved, reach out to Alicia O’Sullivan environmental@ucc.ie or Alana Daly Mulligan, adalymulligan@ucc.ie.

You can have these conversations in a way that is respectful and measured but when you're pulled into these rooms with people who have a lot of power, you very easily fall victim to pandering to things that they want and saying what they want.”

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Turning Eighteen During a Pandemic

I never thought I would make it to eighteen.

Not necessarily in a depressing way, but eighteen always seemed like some far off age I would never reach. It feels like most birthdays do, like the day is utterly surreal and you can’t quite believe you get a birthday like everyone else.

I always wondered what I would do for my eighteenth. Would I wake up in a coming of age lm and nd a Range Rover in the driveway? (No, my theory test had been pushed back a year because of Covid.) Would I drink champagne for breakfast? (No, alcohol interferes with my medication.) Would I have a wild party somewhere and wear heels? (No, we are in a pandemic, the news tells me, inde nitely. I am lucky to see my neighbours wave from across the street.)

It was my neighbour’s eighteenth last week. She had lived directly across the street from me since we’d been babies. I wrote ‘Happy Birthday’ in huge childish letters on two pieces of paper sellotaped together and stuck it to the front window. We’d never been friendly before, but we both needed it somehow.

By Jessica O’Brien

Could I have known what was coming? How much I would miss? My debs, my graduation. Thanking my teachers for what they gave me despite what they’d gone through. Results day. That one day all Leaving Certs got where they’d send us to the beach and our teachers would sign our yearbooks.

Our nal Activ8, where the school all walked eight kilometres together and the sixth years would be kings of the bouncy castle and sing songs from the TY musical. Our closure was the last thing on many people’s minds. People were dying. I felt bad that I could even think of myself when such horrors existed.

But I did care. I really cared.

That day we were sent home from school and our history teacher told us not to bother bringing our books home as we’d be back in two weeks. I had a practice Irish oral that day and my nose bled because I was so stressed about it.

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The re alarm had gone off while we were rehearsing for our music practical and we’d all stood outside the church for twenty blissful freezing moments, because the moment we were allowed back inside and someone turned on a phone, our lives would be altered forever. We would never see each other like this again.

I had always been studious. I had always had a fear of failure, and the two things kind of keep each other a oat. I had never been in a pub before. I’d drank once, after asking my mother for permission and then gingerly sipped an Aldi ‘mimosa’ in someone’s garden until I got too cold and went inside to make myself a Ribena instead.

I’d never been kissed. I had never got to see anything outside of my heteronormative convent school halls.

Apparently people like me were cool in college. Would I even be able to go to college?

On the day I turned eighteen I was astonished to nd presents waiting for me. I hadn’t asked for anything because where was anybody going to buy something?

There were Gardai every ve kilometres ensuring that yes, I was indeed just walking my dog. I opened them and then started my Leaving Certi cate home school grind that generally sucked the life out of you and could last from 8am to 9pm because teachers emailed on their own schedules.

Somehow, a few relatives had evaded the Gardai and came to stand at my garden gate and wave at me. That was all I wanted. To see their faces. I thought about how I would deal with not seeing those faces for months when I left for college in London.

I blew out my candles and my little cousins watched over Zoom.

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They all sang at different times because of the connection so it sounded like garbled Simlish, but it was one of the most beautiful songs of love I’d ever heard.

I drank blue wicked in a santa glass at 9pm on the couch. This was adulthood. I turned nineteen in lockdown as well the next year.

My very rst time clubbing was in Chambers, the only gay bar I knew of, in February two years later, after all restrictions lifted. By now I was used to the patronising tone of voice and incredulous looks that I was so naive and inexperienced. I didn’t know what people missed so much about bar culture because I’d never been a part of it.

But here I was, one of them at last. Here’s my verdict. It’s overpriced but the water is free. I wish my dress had pockets. The music is an endless loop of hit after hit and my friends are scattered everywhere. I am lucky to call them my friends.

They are the one good thing this pandemic gave me.

Seeing other people’s faces up close is strange. It’s like a mirror, because I can see the hesitation that’s been built into us in their eyes, but their hands jut forward almost as if they are pleading with me to hold them.

So we hold hands, we breathe sighs of relief and apprehension, and later on I nally kiss someone and it feels like scooping my fourteen year old self up into my arms and letting her know it's time to go. I have reached what she fought endlessly for.

The next day I tested positive for Covid.

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WHAT WILL WE INHERIT

Contributor Sam Golden looks at the country we plan to inherit and what needs to change as this invaluable asset comes into our possession.

When thinking of inheritance,

We need to accept that

we automatically associate the word with the idea of an individual acquiring possession, passed down through generations. In the bigger picture of Ireland and the world, however, it stretches to a capacity greater than the individual and even applies to the very survival of the Irish nation.

The current government cannot totally solve ongoing issues.

As a young person in Ireland, I am part of the demographic with the smallest input into how the country is run. Yet, we remain the group most affected by poor decision making by the government. This leaves us wedged in between a rock and a hard place with lots of questions, an important one of which is, “What will we inherit?”

This idea of generational inheritance concerns a range of socio-economic elements, with some that are de nitely problematic and some that could pave the path forward to a better Ireland.

It is extremely easy for the youth to point the nger at political gures and state authorities, but as Albert Einstein said, “We can’t solve our problems with the same thinking used to create them”.

It is only logical that young people are concerned about Ireland's problems in healthcare, housing, homelessness, national debt, political scandals, drugs policy, in ation, unemployment, climate change and loss of language and culture to name a few. In my opinion, it’s time to stop complaining about these issues and start thinking about how to solve them.

The mindset of “these problems are not my responsibility” or “what can I do to solve them?” needs to be eradicated from young people's line of thinking.

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This is due to a mixture of conditions from cross-party politics to the inherited political culture that the government bene ts from and enforces. So what will na daoine óga inherit when the current government decides to spend their state-funded pensions?

The present situation sees us acquire a broken health and housing system, areas that are the most critical to x in order to ensure the basic standard of living that Ireland so oftenly claims to have. Our slowly improving educational system still needs reform in examination, subject choices, differentiation into trade pathways and reduction of third-level fees. Economic problems such as increasing national debt (now estimated at $304 billion) and increases in the cost of living and in ation are also signi cant.

Despite all of these obvious impending issues, there are various things young people will gain from the current political climate. Ireland has increased its global commerce and trade in uence in the last number of years and this growth does not look to slow down anytime soon.

This is reinforced by a growth in national GDP and a new wave of innovation and entrepreneurship. An active and varied lifestyle in the general population means it isn't all work and no play. A renaissance in art and culture seems to be emerging post-pandemic and we are continually seeing a plethora of artists emerging from musicians to urban muralists. All in all, it's not the worst metaphorical piece of land to inherit, but it does need work.

While the past is important, the young people of Ireland need to look to the future in anticipation of what is yet to come. At the end of the day it is us, the 20-somethingyear-olds, that will inherit the keys to this country and we must play the necessary role to ensure that this house isn't burnt down.

HOROSCOPES February 2022

By Cian McDonnell

Aries

Libra

Rams tend to lock horns with other rams. You might nd yourself picking ghts with random strangers – your fellow Aries – for no reason at all. In any case, we can add you to the list of people who use astrology as an excuse to be an asshole.

A sense of fairness and justice will wash over you this month, inspiring you to right the wrongs of this world. This might lead to some awkward situations. Like nally confronting that one girl who quietly kissed your boyfriend at your birthday party. Is justice really worth it?

Taurus Being an Earth sign, something will really keep you “grounded” this month. You will be less eager to take risks and will think deeply about the consequences of possible actions. Of course, you’ll die horribly someday anyway, so don’t wrap yourself in too much cotton wool.

Scorpio Given your birth under a Water sign, a heavy rain cloud will follow you overhead this month. You will be unable to enjoy a sunny day, or the general feeling of “being dry”. Still, it’s hard for life to get more depressing than it already is, so who cares?

Gemini

Sagittarius

With the return to in-person activity, gone are the days of watching lectures from bed with your camera turned off. This month will see you struggling to walk 5 minutes to Boole basement for a 9 am lecture. It’s written in the stars – and in your past work ethic.

A passing asteroid in the middle of the month will turn your good mood to a state of utter confusion. How this cosmic event affects your mental state is unclear, as with all good horoscopes. But it’s de nitely happening. I swear. Confused yet?

Cancer

Capricorn

Your test will come back after your drunken condomless hookup, and it’s clear – you do indeed have crabs. But look on the bright side!

You’ll never be alone again. No matter where you go or what you do, your new friends will always be with you. Always. One of the many bene ts of the crab sign.

The Sun, still weak from its winter hibernation, will make you feel sluggish as it leaves your constellation. You’ll need to make an effort to be active. Of course, all your recent drinking may be a factor too.

But now you can blame the Sun.

Aquarius

Leo It’s 2022. The bars are open, and you are free to roam the nighttime streets of Cork once again. But you won’t, because after the pandemic you have no friends left, and nothing whatsoever to look forward to.

Maybe it’s time for you to campaign for a return to lockdowns.

Icy Neptune appears dim in your constellation this month, giving you a “blue” feeling. Or maybe it’s just Irish weather. Don’t feel bad.

At least now, you know it’s not your usual depressed self making you feel down.

Pisces

Virgo Your partner will be annoyed with you about something. Don’t ask them what it is! They’ll deny ever having a problem with you, until the resentment builds and builds. Best to just leave it sit. Remember – a good relationship is always built on lies. Like astrology is.

A terrible breakup will leave you broken and helpless, requiring friends to do everything for you for a while. They did do everything for you before as well. But the breakup makes a convenient excuse.

Milk it while you can. Everyone will push you away eventually, after all.

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YOUTH A Poem By Conor Daly

Youth only gains importance with time, With age it loses subtlety, irreverently gains modesty.

Abstract maths, they say numbers have a prime, If not temporally than perhaps just temporarily.

Youth shapes you, chases you and nds it hard to evade you, Crystallising and mystifying, searching for new points of view.

Pressure transcends, diamonds from coal, Psychological reformation, a oating soul.

Long days and longer nights, A summer haze and dazzling city lights.

Not realising or caring about staying exactly where you are, That only happens later, an ever deepening scar.

YOUTH Youth is not abandoned or disgraced, toothless or reckless, It’s a journey you can’t retrace, no map or atlas.

It’s a story once illegible, written in the stars out the window of borrowed cars, It’s making the most of the time, which like our cars, is never really ours, It’s creating beautiful scars that we’ll recount later, middle aged, in the same bustling bars.

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WILL GENERATION Z SAVE OUR WORKERS? By Emily Linehan

The Great Resignation: an economic trend where employees en masse resigned from their jobs voluntarily.

Is this simply one of the many phenomena occurring in our “new normal” that will disappear as soon as it appeared, or is this the beginning of a worker revolt?

As a new

Generation Z workforce comes into place, we ask ourselves what our new values as employees will be in an age of information and technology. Our generation, more than anyone in history, is more educated, socially informed, and rebellious towards government than ever.

With widespread internet access and the ability to work from the comfort of our own home, why would we young people put up with the grumpy bosses, haughty co-workers, underpaid overworked bullshit our parents had to put up with? Let’s discuss contemporary workers’ grievances, and what these tell us about the principles of our future workforce.

This trend, predicted and coined by Anthony Klotz, began in America and reached its peak in April 2021. Some of the reasons cited by these defected employees included job dissatisfaction, wage stagnation, and safety concerns over the virus. With the introduction of the Covid-19 stimulus payment, many found their work unworthy of attending anymore.

Yet, this is not just an American fad. In a survey of 6,000 UK workers, 69 per cent were said to be planning to move from their current job in the next few months.

In a survey of one thousand Irish workers, 41 per cent stated that they did not see their future career in their current position.

On a global scale, a Microsoft survey of over 30,000 showed that 41 per cent of workers were considering leaving or switching careers. It seems that the statistics re ect our own culture’s perspective, one that has shifted in the pandemic: we want to work less and live more, we want exibility in our hours, and fair pay for our hard work.

Most students will have already had a taste for working life through part-time jobs, predominantly in the food industry, retail, and various other custodian services.

These industries invariably come with

long hours, little holidays, low pay, and expected overtime. These st u de n t s, con si st i n g mo st l y o f Generation Z, are all at least vaguely familiar with the arguments against capitalism and the inequalities that occur in the workplace.

This alone is enough to disincentivize future workers from dedicating the majority of their lives to pro t-generating companies, who will exploit their employee’s time and wages to the furthest extent just to widen pro t margins.

Due to an accumulating increase in third-level educated workers and almost mandatory internet usage among young people, it is impossible to escape the cultural anti-capitalist wave that will surely de ne our generation. As we inch

towards becoming taxpayers and ‘proper grown-ups’ (i.e., we enter that prime middle part of the population pyramid), we think back on our own parents’ working lives, what they sacri ced in their personal lives and whether their income covered that dear expense.

Through this pandemic,

we have all reconsidered our priorities.

Some who have asked and been denied working from home were later granted that right, and over-worked employees were nally permitted their much-needed rest. Now that workers have had this taste of worklife balance, they rightfully don’t want to let go of that, and therefore culture has started to accept some of the ideas of socialism.

Though a revolt on par with the French Revolution is unlikely in the near future, I believe this is the beginning of the end of unfair working conditions in the West. We already see changes on a political scale, with a code of practice developed by the Workplace Relations Commission, following a request by Leo Varadkar, stating that the employee has a right to disconnect from emails and phone calls after work hours.

Through online communities and social media movements, we young people have already made signi cant differences in the world around us. Now we can continue powering change as we enter our most in uential years.

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THE GREAT RESIGNATION

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As we move through this ‘decade of centenaries’, what has become of the socialist republic?

By Kieran FitzGerald This line from a poem penned by Luke Kelly, lead singer of the Dubliners, still strikes a chord 42 years after it was written. In fact it could apply to almost every crisis that this country has experienced since its independence. As the poem continues, “Was it greed that drove Wolfe Tone to a pauper's death in a cell of cold wet stone?”

Even the placement of Luke Kelly’s wiry haired likeness in the heart of Irish greed, the IFSC, seems to say something about how disconnected we have become from the idealism of the revolution and wars of independence.

Students are just one subsection of society feeling the brunt of this disconnect. ‘Tis the season for unregistered landlords to discuss raising rents further, or make their monthly visit to pick up their rent cash in hand. All the while Ireland continues to have the highest university tuition fees in the EU despite the ongoing F*ck the Fees campaign.

Is it any wonder that people remain a key export of this state? What is the country providing for students who line the pockets of landlords and fork out for education before entering a housing market so reliant on long-term renting that the average age of rst-time buyers now sits at 35, 10 years older than it was in the 90s?

This is having a measurable impact not only on the nation's economic health, but it’s mental health too.

Nevermind the knock-on effect on the arts, still struggling post-pandemic, with many venues yet to return.

While instead the ‘Greyhound guarantee’ was seen as a reasonable use of public funds by the government. We still have a way to go before the ‘‘roaring 20s” are realized.

There, however, seems to be an international element to this struggle. In decades past, the UK was a magnet for Irish emigrés, including my own parents.

However, now these two nations, previously so opposed on political grounds, both share a cost of living crisis, seemingly endemic in the 21st century. When young people emigrate, seeking a better life for lower rent, it seems to solidify the grip these interests hold on national economic policy.

Yet, in the most recent election there was possibly an indication of the turning of the tide. The FF-FG-Green coalition has neatly packaged the opponents of Ireland’s disillusioned youth, while Sinn Fein and the remaining ‘Left Alliance’ have given an option to those from whom housing is the key issue.

I write in no way as an advocate of Sinn Fein, but it will be intriguing to see how they hold up in the next election, particularly with the ongoing smear campaign from the powers that be in their mission to change Ireland both economically and geographically.

These powers that be, perhaps soon to be relics of a by-gone era of Irish greed, needn’t look too far into the annals of Irish history to see how the political impact of absentee landlordism, now ominously being repeated, post-crash, with the purchase of swathes of Irish property by foreign capital interests.

Let the words of Charles Stweart Parnell, founder of the Land League, echo through time; “You must show the landlord that you intend to keep a rm grip on your homesteads and lands. You must not allow yourselves to be dispossessed as you were dispossessed in 1847."

So, y ng pe le of Ireland, h much m e e y willing to accept? on

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‘F What Died the S s of R sín?’

KILKENNY A Poem By Lizzie Kelly

We were let loose there first.

An hour to go around Market Cross.

It seemed like years and it was years ago.

Less like memories, more like a trip.

Over my laces, they were poorly tied.

Or shoved down the sides where space was at a premium.

That and the time we eventually had, to curl up in quilts wearing sanitary pads, on a trustworthy chest.

On your would-be breasts, my head laid.

And the price we paid for that time spent, was more expensive than Penney’s.

I’ve been thinking about Kilkenny.

Meeting you outside the cinema.

Gaol Road is not the centre of anywhere except our misadventures.

And walking down the wrong slip I knew we were, but I never felt lost.

We had left a trail, and the ghost of our past selves cannot forget.

It is our sweat stains all the landmarks, our tears the Castle Park.

And our vomit, it stains Supermacs.

Can’t you smell it?

I can smell us all over this city.

We were so terrified of being small fry, but not anymore.

There must be something to be said for leaving too early and coming back too soon.

Small fish. Smaller ponds.

Look around.

This town is our bedroom.

And there must be something to be said for moving on.

A Bandon Road washing load, to try and get the scent gone.

Drinking with strangers who wouldn’t stay strangers for long.

People you had to meet end up the eyes you avoid in the street.

At least, the alcohol made it tolerable.

Growing up and this is how.

I see The empty Lough now, feel the lonely hangover daze, when I touch the crust, hear the mutter, smell the sweat, when I stand still, here, for too long, I see your face.

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By Jessica O’ Brien I look around at my fellow peers today and am presented with a sea of diversity and bravery, lled to the brim with this indiscernible urge to shout at what they see as an injustice. The generation that saw the 2015 Marriage Referendum passed while some were only in secondary school.

Now, she’s up to play Snow White in Disney’s upcoming remake. Musicals like ‘Hamilton’, written by soon to be EGOT Lin Manuel Miranda takes this argument and refutes it by casting Thomas Jefferson and George Washington as black men.

Like Lin said, ‘Immigrants. We get the job done.’

The generation that wore ‘Repeal the Eighth’ badges on their bags in the city. The generation that left school to march and hold signs outside the city hall in protest against climate change. This is the generation that is unapologetic for its honesty and determined to create a world that is safer to live in for themselves, for others and their children.

You’re not alone if you think you’ve seen multiple remakes released in the last decade - it is our generation taking spectacular art and stories and retelling them in the way they should have initially been told.

When I graduated secondary school in 2020, my yearbook quote was taken from an Elton John interview.

‘If you don’t keep up with the young, you’re dead.’

I have kept a journal since I was twelve, and within every page, you can feel my yearning to have the power to say what needed to be said. If I was twelve today, what would be different?

I wouldn’t have to debate whether or not girls like me should be allowed to marry each other in English class. I would have had more music made by other young people like Grammy winner Billie Eilish (20) and Grammy nominee Olivia Rodrigo (18) to remind myself I wasn’t alone in how I felt.

My non-binary friends would see themselves outside of a private Instagram page and realize how normal their experiences actually were.

Young people of colour would have been able to nd stories that related to them on daytime television and in lm. Period drama ‘Bridgerton’ became almost a jolt for directors and casting agents to wake up and realize their erasure of the black community was far more important to correct rather than being perfectly historically accurate.

Acting ingenue Rachel Zegler (20), portrayed the character of Maria in Spielberg’s remake of ‘West Side Story’, using experiences and her own Columbian heritage to bring authenticity to the previously whitewashed character.

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WHY YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO YOUNG PEOPLE

There was never a shortage of black/Hispanic/LGBT actors, but rather, a lack of urgency and care to tell minorities’ stories from their own point of view. That is where the indignance of our young people comes in. Like our annoying toddler selves, we continue to ask, ‘why, why why?’ and we don’t stop until our questions are answered.

We are an imperfect generation, just like the last and the generation to come. I value the opinion of my parents, my lecturers, my grandparents and my six-year-old cousin. The world seems to change at such an alarming rate, but every generation goes through some form of massive social change.

We may seem like a generation of cancel culture preying, Tiktok obsessed, androgynous ‘confused’ kids, but honestly, we are just

Growing and Going Through the Phases of life except in an incredibly technology-powered world.

Simultaneously, we are trying to advocate for a burning planet, ght against sexism instilled in us from birth and learn to live in a world where pandemics and attacks against women are viewed as normality.

By using empathy, the knowledge of past generations and the fervour to be free, our chapter in the history books will be looked upon with pride.

Change cannot be prevented. It is how you choose to view it and grow with it that matters and transforms a generation.

MOTLEY BOOK CLUB THIS MONTH, the Motley Book Club delved into the uncomfortable underbelly of the “Manosphere '' through Laura Bates’ book ‘Men Who Hate Women’. Bates explores the ideologies and corrupted school of thought behind men’s groups such as Incels (involuntary celibates),

MEN’S RIGHT’S ACTIVISTS, Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW) and Pick-up Artists. In equal parts thorough and shocking, Bates refuses to shy away from the extreme misogyny that metastasises through these online communities and confronts the twisted rationale proposed by the propagators of this madness.

Laura Bates likens the manosphere to a guinea worm, a parasite that infects a person by entering the body via other hosts, planting it’s larvae to consequently cause much bodily harm.

She explains “the only way to extract the worm is to wrap it around a small stick and slowly turn the stick a little each day, pulling the worm out gradually over a period of weeks”. Bates says that it is this same principle we must adopt if we wish to effectively dismantle the harmful ideologies of the Manosphere.

“The only method that will work must be slow and sustained, patient and thorough. We have to get the whole worm.” This book is a necessary read for all. Living in this technologically saturated age, it will no longer suf ce to bury our heads in the sand in the hope that online extremism is a problem of little importance, one restricted to the corners of merely the online world.

When in reality, while perhaps being born online, these ideologies nd ways of manifesting into the physical world, posing a real and tangible threat to women across the globe and to society in general.

Member’s Thoughts Laura Bates expertly illustrates that extreme online communities of incels, PUAs, MRAs, and their adjacent groups in white supremacist circles, have festered in online communities for decades, bringing to light the abhorrent message boards and forums and their content that she encountered under her pseudonym "Alex". They have groomed, even by conservative estimates, tens of thousands of men, into believing that their problems lay solely with women and their autonomy, and that men should seek to deny their autonomy through committing GBV (gendered-based violence) and carrying out terrorism; as many as 70% of men are knowingly or unknowingly exposed to this material and ideology (collectively de ned as the manosphere) at some stage in their lives. This has resulted in very real acts of GBV, and mass murder, and Laura shows that these are not just fringe communities, but that their in uence extends well into mainstream culture (e.g.

Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson). She also explores the role of history and tradition, and the attempts made by the manosphere to co-opt and distort the historical record (similarly to alt-right movements) to justify their behaviour. It is horrifying how the perceived historicity of behaviours alone can be enough for some to justify them in the present day, as opposed to the evaluation of the moral nature of these behaviours in and of themselves, and what they mean for own present society; the sancti cation of tradition is extremely dangerous, and metamorphoses harmful behaviours in a shroud of perceived temporal legitimacy. – Richard Keyes McDonnell

Men Who Hate Women is something of an encyclopaedia of modern misogyny. Bates comes armed with anecdotes, statistics and metaphors, producing a wellrounded analysis of the “manosphere” and the threat its ideologies pose to women and to society as a whole. Equal parts shocking and informative, its content is heavy and uncomfortable at times, but nonetheless necessary to confront. The topics which the book tackles were probably too wide-ranging to allow Bates to propose any sort of one-size- ts all solution, but her arguments in favour of changing the way the media reports on the attitudes and acts of manosphere denizens are convincing, reasonable, and certainly a good place to start. Overall, the book is brilliantly written and educational without being preachy, and de nitely quali es as mandatory reading in this age of the internet as the way we view hate speech and violence evolves with the times. – Róisín Dunlea While there may be more of an overlap across the distinct "manosphere" groups than Bates gives credit for, the point remains that the hatred of women manifests in more ways than I initially assumed. As much as this book is a conversation about misogyny, Bates also refuses to shy away from discussing the pressing issues faced by men, which is a crucial element in ending the hatred of women. Overall, as disturbing as some of the subject matter is, it is a must-read for all those interested in understanding the cruel depths of misogyny and those who propagate it. – Emer Walsh Despite feeling intimidated by the book at rst, the breath of Bate's knowledge made me listen. A particularly unnerving part for me was not only the extreme acts of violence referenced and the vitriol quoted, but the groups described who position themselves as mainstream. - Sarah O’Mahony 'The discussion of, and exploration into, the online incel community and beyond by feminist writer Laura Bates reveals the shocking and murky depths of modernday misogyny. From highlighting the spiral of radicalisation to the twisted justi cations of gender-based violence, this book starkly portrays one of the most pressing social prejudices of our time and equips the reader with the knowledge to respond.' – James Kemmy

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FEATURES & OPINIONS

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POP CULTURE REPRESENTATIONS

OF AN

IDEOLOGICALLY DIVIDED YOUTH

Motley Contributor Ronan Keohane looks at growing ideological divisions and their satirisation across popular US televisions series.

With the expansion and increasing usership of the internet, vast swathes of misinformation and warped reporting have a huge reach, and fallacious rhetoric has proven itself to be very in uential within online communities.

We live in the age of misinformation where narratives are constantly being constructed to align with certain ideologies; where the internet acts as a major force that divides people even further.

In modern times, the most dominant ideological grouping in the West is the “left-right political spectrum”, an analogy that historically originated during the French Revolution.

Generally, the dominant political philosophy of the left is liberalism while on the right it is conservatism.

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However, these terms have varying connotations with liberalism generally being associated with progressivism, social democracy and egalitarianism, while conservatism is associated with tradition, nationalism, authority, and order.

There has been a growing divide on both sides of this political spectrum in recent years with many examples of irrationality on either end being used opportunistically to manipulate their audience’s perspective of ‘the other’.

Furthermore, both sides of the spectrum demonise each other to the extent where any reasonable exchange of perspectives is undermined.

White supremacists in Orange is the New Black:

PC Principal from South Park:

‘Orange is the New Black’ is one of the most acclaimed television series in recent history, winning 46 awards and being nominated for 165. Many have cited how it appears to exist as a patriarchal microcosm of the USA, highlighting the diversity and intersectionality of American identities by exploring socio-economic, racial, LGBTQ, neurodivergent and gender struggles.

Similar to the way that ‘Orange is the New Black’ pokes fun at an ascendant alt-right culture, the animated American sitcom series ‘South Park’ darkly satirises political correctness. An issue that has become very topical in recent years, political correctness is largely attributed to the rise of identity politics. The character of ‘PC principal’ in ‘South Park’ is seen to personally embody more negative aspects of this through the parodying of online-outrage culture.

It portrays a prison that is highly racially divided from the outset, with different cell blocks designed for the different racial categories of the inmates- black inmates are later depicted facing the worst prison conditions of all of the cell blocks as well as the brunt of the prison guards’ sadistic cruelty.

There is also a socio economic divide in which Pennsatucky, a workingclass white woman, is dismissed by the other white women who are wealthier and more educated. Similarly, there is a divide along the lines of sexuality since there is prejudice and contempt towards LGBTQ characters shown by Healy, notably one of the prison of cers that all of the inmates are reliant upon, and Pennsatucky who is constrained by religious convictions. This paints the picture of a highly divided and diverse prison environment that re ects on the highly divided and diverse patriarchal society of America generally.

Characters who stand out due to their physical presentation depict the growing alt-right movement within the US such as ‘skinhead Helen’, Kasey Sankey and Brandy Epps who eventually form something of a trio of white supremacist prisoners. They rst appear in Season 4, where Kasey Sankey is a blonde woman while Brandy and Helen both sport typical Neonazi skinhead haircuts.

Whenever accused of being a Nazi, Kasey Sankey usually responds with “I’m not a Nazi, I’m a white nationalist, she’s a Nazi” despite frequently associating with the other women and seeing eye to eye with them about several issues, suggesting that there is a lot of alignment and overlap between their ideologies. This parodies how many white nationalists and individuals of the alt-right will strongly deny any correlation with Nazism despite the frequent overlap, especially regarding the societal treatment towards ethnic minorities.

One of the most commonly seen behaviours of these women include the frequent use of racial slurs and defamatory language against the women of colour in the prison and then characterising them as “uncivilised animals” if the women exhibit any negative reaction to the verbal harassment. This is resemblant to the behaviour of far-right internet trolls who typically try to provoke reactions on the internet by saying hurtful and shocking things to trigger a response and then characterising their victims as being irrational and crazy when there’s any retaliation.

On the whole, this show has been able to cleverly parody the types of people who subscribe to far-right ideology and poke fun at this growing wave of white nationalism, alt-right fascism and racism which have become increasingly concerning social issues in Europe and North America.

What is notable about PC principal is that he is a blonde, white, athletic, heterosexual man with a muscular build. He embodies all of the masculine and Eurocentric beauty standards and lives up to all of the gender roles that have been prominent within American society for decades.

In addition to this, throughout the 19th season he lives in a frat house with other ‘PC bros,’ with frat houses being long associated with wealthy white privilege - essentially embodying the typical US ‘top dog’ since WASP (white Anglo-Saxon protestants) have dominated society for most of the country’s modern existence. This very clearly represents how PC culture is incorporated into what is popular nowadays.

PC principal cleverly personi es other characteristics of PC culture, in particular, cancel culture, a topic of growing interest in recent years. A mass online phenomenon including public exposure and online ostracism, PC Culture entails the cancellation of people for a wide variety of reasons including making offensive, derogatory jokes.

This cultural trend, while perhaps heightening public accountability and ensuring greater inclusivity, also has concerning implications for public discourse, seeing the unleashing of public aggression through instances of doxing (releasing of private personal information), death threats, and home invasions.

In short, cancel culture can carry a notable tendency towards excessively harsh punishment for arguably trivial mistakes. PC principal is often depicted as being a highly aggressive man. He regularly shouts at young children, usually one child who is selected out of a very crowded assembly hall, for very minor offences such as whispering to another student. In this sense, PC principal characterises the online outrage culture that has formed as a result of PC culture and, as such, embodies a parody of the sheer irrationality of it.

His aggression over arguably minor mishaps is also shown after he brutally beats up Eric Cartman in the school bathrooms for saying “spokesman” instead of “spokesperson”.

Overall, the creation of such characters within these two popular US series is to parody aspects of extremist ideologies and how positions too far on either side of the political spectrum can create irrationalities of thought.

This political divide is seen in many online spheres and these representations accurately re ect on how fractious the modern world and particularly the modern youth cohort has become. With the increasing prevalence of online radicalization and hefty misinformation being spread throughout the virtual sphere, political division, something only strengthened by online echo chambers, is increasing.

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“Everything you never knew you were looking for:”

A Conversation with the Forever Reverent

Happyalone Motley’s Emer Walsh talks with Cork’s newage music-making trio Happyalone about the release of their new single “Gut,” life after lockdown, and the power of wine when speedwriting songs.

“It’s a clusterf**ck of juicy vibrations,” - This is how 24-year-old lead vocalist and guitar player Baxter describes the sound of Happyalone.

Formed in early 2017, Happyalone was born from the reuni cation of Baxter with the band’s other remaining founding member, the 25-year-old bass player and synth master, Slee.

First meeting as teenagers on a summer trip to the Gaeltacht, the two were reconnected in UCC years later, with their mutual love for music leading to them both studying it at third-level – for a year at least.

Now, proud UCC dropouts Baxter and Slee are joined by 23year-old guitar/piano player and fellow graduate of the School of Life, J, who joined the band just over two years ago.

Taking inspiration from beloved acts such as Radiohead, Kanye West, the Smashing Pumpkins, and The Police, the band also acknowledges the less conventional in uences that have shaped their discography, with J jokingly remarking, “We are all into everything. I mean, the shit we would be listening to half the time is very suspect.”

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With a diverse range of in uences, the powerful trio is credited with birthing what can only be described as a new, boundless genre of music, consisting of celestial synths and smooth vocals backed by unique electronica.

Since their rst single release in 2017 with “Colours”, which has since racked up an impressive 1.79 million streams on the band’s Spotify, the trio has gone one to release eleven more singles, with their newest song “Gut” scheduled for release on Friday, the 25th February. Re ecting on their upcoming release, Baxter recalls, “It’s a lot more stripped back. It still has a lot of textures and ambiences and heavy drums, but it’s a lot more re ned; a little bit more mature maybe.”

Speaking on the track and the band’s broader motivations, Baxter explains, “I want people to be able to feel all the emotions one would generally feel in life, and feel them through the songs without being ashamed of it… Just to help people understand that having feelings is okay.”

With uplifting lyrics fronting Arabian-inspired tones, the band’s new track encourages listeners to explore various emotions and offers something different from their existing discography, while still falling comfortably within Happyalone’s comprehensive trademark.

Before COVID-19 forced musical acts worldwide into an involuntary hiatus, things were on an impressive upward trajectory for Happyalone, with collaborations with bands like the Grammy-nominated Bring Me The Horizon carrying the once-underground Cork band further into the mainstream.

Looking back on the fateful day that the band received word from the Bring Me The Horizon frontman Oli Sykes, Baxter recalls “May 2019, we were practising and we got a message from someone asking us to do some festival… and we saw the name, it had the blue checkmark, then we realised that it was Oli Sykes and we just thought, ‘Jesus, F**k’.”

Following the initial shock, the band travelled to the UK to perform at the festival, and kept in contact throughout the following months before being asked to collaborate with Bring Me The Horizon on their upcoming album, Music to Listen To… As Baxter Recalls, “We got a message from Oli asking us if we wanted to be part of this project that also had people like Halsey and Bexey on it. We said yes and they said,

‘well you have two days to make the song.”

Baxter jokes, “On the rst day, we got so excited, we got a load of drink, got so pissed and didn’t write the song at all.

The next day, we woke up and were like, ‘okay, we now have one day to write a song.’ So we put ourselves together, had a bottle of wine to take the edge off and just started writing,” - the result of which was a massive success.

Racking up over 2 million streams on Spotify alone, the band’s collaborative song “Like Seeing Spiders Running Riot on Your Lover's Grave" with Bring Me The Horizon was the catalyst that pushed Happyalone on a sharp upward trajectory.

“We had record labels coming here to see us, we had record labels ying us over to America, everything was on the rise before it all got taken away.

It was a massive blow, and quite disheartening,” Baxter explains.

Now, as the band works towards releasing an eventual album, the trials faced as a result of continued lockdowns will nally be worth it for the enthusiastic trio. As Baxter recalls, “At the start it was ne, but everyone then got depressed as f**k and anxious about the world and what's actually gonna happen, so that part was fairly shit.”

However, J insists that Baxter, “wrote some of the best songs [he’s] ever written over the course of the lockdown,” leaving much for devout listeners to look forward to over the coming months.

As life continues on the other side of the pandemic, the band assures that they are ready to continue on their already-paved path to success. “We’re over it. It happened once and it will happen again, we know our worth and we have a positive outlook now compared to the doom and gloom of the last two years,” says Baxter.

Carrying this optimism with them into the new year, the trio laugh when asked about their dream venue. “Glastonbury..

Glasto all the way. And the Graham Norton Show,” they joke. In the meantime, an upcoming Irish tour spanning across Cork, Dublin and Galway in addition to a scheduled single release for every month of 2022 means that Happyalone is prepared to make up for what the last two years took from them.

Re ecting on life in lockdown, the band explains, “We’ve had a lot of time to think about where we want to go and focus on the craft - we’re a lot more con dent in our music now.”

Let’s just hope Graham Norton is too.

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Wes Anderson’s ‘Moonrise Kingdom’- 10 years on Style meets substance in the distinctive lmmaker’s 2012 youth-adventure drama, as discussed by Entertainment Editor, James Kemmy.

Now twenty-six years and ten feature lms into his acclaimed career, the American director/producer Wes Anderson needs very little introduction.

Globally renowned and either loved or hated for his artistic idiosyncrasieswhich include immaculate set design, pastel colour schemes, and a compulsive obsession with framed symmetry, Anderson has undoubtedly carved out a wholly unique space in contemporary cinema.

From his breakthrough Rushmore (1998) to the unorthodox re-invention of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) to fan-favourite The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), the fty-two-year-old seems to unapologetically home in on his stylistic eccentricities with each new release.

Perhaps an overlooked mid-point in Anderson’s lmography however is 2012’s whimsical yet impassioned Moonrise Kingdom, co-written by Anderson and Roman Coppola. Set in 1960s New England against a backdrop of familial dysfunctionality and small-town cynicism, the story follows the charming runaway tryst of two twelve-year-old mis ts. Sam, an orphan and bullied boy’s scout member, and Suzy, an emotionally detached and precocious bookworm, the two subsequently come together through their societal alienation, loneliness, and initially juvenile-seeming escape plan. Yet what follows is a charming and refreshing exploration of youth, intimacy, loyalty, and the inevitable transience of life.

With an utterly stellar cast including Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Bruce Willis, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, and Jason Schwartzman (!!)alongside teenage protagonists Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward, Anderson’s characterisation is both quirky and complex, with side angles and layered backstories subtly implied for almost every on-screen gure.

The youthful chemistry between the lm’s central characters however is arguably its unique selling point.

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Moreover, the key to Moonrise’s success is its delicate tonal balance of both the real and the fantastical, style and substance, light and dark. Deadpan humour and colourful theatricality provide nuance to the weighty atmosphere of anxiety and parental guilt which follows the teenagers’ runaway.

Similarly, Anderson’s intensely whimsical cinematic approach does not undermine or patronise the young character’s narratives, rather he takes seriously their disaffection, their grievances, and their anxieties as they navigate the natural world alone, together. The ultimate emotional structure of the screenplay rests on the erce devotion exempli ed by Gilman and Hayward to each other, dispelling the assumption that youth is inherently linked to immaturity and sel shness.

The organised chaos and meticulously constructed arti ce of Anderson’s directorial vein- something he has come to be revered or loathed for- is complemented here by the awkward and freewheeling dynamic presented by the child-fronted roles. Likewise, the sepia-toned frame and natureoriented colour palette drench the story with an endearing sense of youthful nostalgia but simultaneously refrain from glossing over the troubling aspects and legitimate dif culties of childhood. Despite these prominent stylistic choices, there is a profound emotional depth and genuineness underlying the narratives of these young outcasts.

A highly unconventional coming of age story, Anderson’s seventh project is masterful in its ability to cultivate universal appeal. Despite the playful, even ridiculous sense of whimsy seen here at times, there are serious explorations of sexuality, danger, violence, and self-identity. Consequently, this lm stands up where more bizarre, and self-indulgent Anderson pictures such as Darjeeling Limited (2007) or his most recent The French Dispatch (2021) might fall down.

Overall, the thrill and beauty of juvenile escapism is documented brilliantly in Moonrise Kingdom. Yet, Anderson possesses the nuance and emotive sensibility to portray this journey in an ultimately eeting light whereby we see the protagonists’ woodland rendezvous dampened by hostile external forces. Here the viewer comes away with a tender view of wild, young love but also the sense that nobody, no matter how adventurous, emotionally pure, or free-spirited, is immune from the fated passage of time.

Romance at the A Poem By Cormac McCarthy

Mark was tired from his shift at the pool Bags under his eyes, on his mouth flecks of drool But his spirits did lift before he’d got very far; He would have to stop to get fuel for his car You see Mark had a crush on the girl at the garage At nights he would dream of their possible marriage He was a nervous chap apart from when swimming He’d always been anxious when talking to women He wasn’t much of a catch; bald at aged twenty three, He had a wart on his nose and sat down to pee At the till, Sharon, munching on custard creams Was waiting in hope for the man of her dreams He always came along at just round this time She knew the car; fairly crappy and coloured dark lime.

It was as she chomping on a delicious Rolo That she heard the wheeze of his Volkswagen Polo She stood to attention and watched him pull in And tried to wipe all the crumbs off her chin He was older than her, she guessed thirty three, “Lifeguard” she noticed. “Oh you could guard me” Mark saw her as he pulled into pump number two This was his moment, he knew just what to do She watched get him get out, the tired old lump, She gazed at him lovingly, caressing that pump.

This was his moment, his time to be brave He filled up his tank, and gave her a wave.

He crept up to the till, with the air of a weasel She whispered in his ear, “Will that be petrol or diesel?”

It felt like a day, but only seconds had passed.

“Petrol, “he replied, cock at half mast.

What happened next? That’s for another day.

For now, tis’ the romance at the Circle K. ENTERTAINMENT

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By Shruti Rajgopal

Youth - the role of a young one has been pertinent in every walk of life, however, some topics gain more attention than the rest.

If we speak about the Roman times, a youth’s participation in war was essential, especially a young man waging for the protection of their empire was signi cant. When it came to a lady, being chaste and virtuous outlined her character and thus her role in society.

Something more relatable and most commonly used as an opposite for war-like action is ‘love’; a topic that incorporates part and parcel of every youth. Videos of school-time crushes and dates have been trending for more than ve years now.

However, what made this age group so susceptible to the idea of romance? I guess, the answer lies in the stories and plays written in the early modern period.

Shakespeare immortalised love stories, especially with Romeo and Juliet. Although there is an element of love that whirls around all his plays, it was Romeo and Juliet that continued to juxtapose every story that was marginalised in some way or the other.

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Immortalising Youth in Mortal Love Stories

Feuding families, barring relations, and love at rst sight. This has been the silver lining for various books and movies. It has also taken the name of honour killing in various regional versions of this story.

Truth be told, they are inspired and in uenced by the concept of undying love, which ultimately turns out to be one that is unrequited. As much as Shakespeare created these characters, the storyline is a much older one, imitated and transcribed since classical times.

It was rst recorded in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Pyramus and Thisbe), where he discusses a similar story, which was then narrated by Boccaccio in his Decameron where Ghismonda kills herself when she believed that her lover was slain. Boccaccio, an early humanist, was de nitely inspired by documents written in Latin and hence, the story of dying in the name of love developed through the years.

What is fascinating is how these stories have continued to inspire and in uence modern ones that are beloved and fantasised by youth, also based on youth.

of such stories. Various locations have now gained attention as tourist attractions because of memories associated with incidents of immortal love.

Juliet’s balcony in Verona, which was also the backbone of the story in ‘Letters to Juliet’, is one such example. The movie pleasantly enveloped the idea of unrequited love, in the form of letters written to Juliet who would offer advice or suggestions to those desirous of uniting with their lover and not going through a similar fate as hers.

A similar concept is also found in Florence, where people wrote letters addressed to Beatrice, Dante’s love interest. There is a church dedicated for this purpose in which women drop letters with questions, longing for hopeful unions.

These intangible moments encompass a moment’s pleasure, but in the past, most likely ended in immortalising their romance due to the loss of mortal lives. These stories both represent unrequited and immortal love, one which was ctional while the other may have been based on true events. Beatrice inspired Dante, Laura in uenced Petrarch and Boccaccio was held on by Fiammetta.

The trecento men all wrote poetry and sonnets in memory of their loved ones, something that Shakespeare certainly practised in later years.

Following this period of humanism, imperial rule in various regions of the world gave rise to further examples of love stories that only pushed the pair involved to forcefully commit suicide.

Donna Paula, today a popular beach in Goa (India), represents yet another story.

Here, Donna Paula, a young woman of Portuguese origin fell in love with a native sherman. Society only marginalised their story thus resulting in the couple encountering a fateful end. Even today, people visit the beach with memories associated with the young couple who are immortalised along the coastline of Goa. Such fateful endings continue to inspire romance among this age group.

These stories are often more painful than one imagines. In this context, most stories written by John Green oat on the idea of unrequited love,

and not all end in the consequential death as is observed in the early modern period.

Indeed, it is the end in Fault in our Stars and Looking for Alaska, but in both the stories, Green proves that the emotion that brought the characters together nurtured on the brink of such events, despite the grim ending for one of them.

Gus’s untimely death is the oblivion that he encountered, ironically his go-to word in the book, whereas Alaska’s end was as unexpected as Miles’s love for her.

Certainly, the gut-wrenching pain that one of them goes through is extremely hard to read, yet the stories exhibit a modern-day interpretation where the character continues to keep the persona of the lost one alive.

Moreover, stories like Paper Towns and Turtles all the way down further add another layer to these complex stories that encompass youth and the intricate and sometimes problematic lives that they lead. Although Green has tried to change the perspective and present a more optimistic view of romance, this has not truly been the only one accepted in the recent past.

Even though he offers a view that may not always please the reader, as it’s not the fetishized happy ending that we all expect, but at least he has renewed and reviewed the consequential death involved. However, even after all these attempts, we are still pining over the inconsequential lives that Sabrina (the teenage witch) and Nick Scratch met.

The framework of this modern retelling of the teenage witch was interesting and magical right from the beginning. The fallacies of their love story were as captivating as Sabrina’s spells against Father Blackwood and Lucifer.

However, in the end, their mortal love (/witchy love) continued in what looked like the void, as Hell and Heaven were not realms that they chose to feature themselves into.

More than Sabrina’s end, it was Nick’s pining love that immortalised their story. Years later, Romeo and Juliet continue to dominate over marginalised love stories.

The context may not involve feuding families or the wrath of the society, but in some way or the other, the youth still encounter the plight of the complexities involved in ‘love’.

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Gendered Ageism on Screen & Beyond Ageing is no longer an inevitable biological process that comes with the human condition, it is now a cultural one.

Various cultures have different attitudes and practices around ageing and death, and these cultural perspectives can have a huge effect on our ageing experience. Western cultures are youth-obsessed for the most part, while Eastern perspectives imply that ageing brings wisdom and societal value.

This invites deeper, more existential questions about our mortality and the fears associated with it. There are many general negative connotations with ageing in Western societies, however, it is predominantly women that bear the brunt of such prejudice.

Looking at lm, television, media, and music, it is apparent that many sectors of the entertainment industry glorify youth, thereby negatively impacting the representation of older women on screen.

Yo u t h i s c e n t r a l t o b e a u t y s t a n d a r d s i n t h e entertainment industry, stipulated almost like a currency. Often, older women are cast in supporting roles rather than leading ones, with the xation on female youth and lack of age-appropriate casted roles in the entertainment industry. Frequently resigned to roles of nagging wives, looking frumpy, and senile.

Meanwhile, men are celebrated as ‘silver foxes’ as they age and have signi cantly younger female romantic interests, thereby maintaining the male illusion of greater sexual magnetism than women of the same age.

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Contributor Kate O’Riordan delves into the world of ageing in media and how this manifests across different cultures.

On average, many male actors experience career peaks after they reach the age of forty-six while women reach this same peak at the age of thirty, according to data collected from over 6,000 actors.

There is a further disparity in the average length of careers, with evidence that women tend to have much shorter careers than men in the entertainment industry generally.

There is another common practise of casting women much younger than the age of the scripted role. This is evident in Net ix’s biopic called The Dig (2021) in which actress Carey Mulligan (aged thirty-six) depicted Edith Pretty who was fty-six throughout the period that the movie was based on.

Meryl Streep and Frances McDormand are the dominant names of actresses with active careers over the age of sixty, which begs one to question why there aren’t more.

This is generally due to a lacking availability of roles from within the industry.

This comes back to the chronic issue of inadequate representation in lm and television for many minorities for decades and is not just an issue for older women.

Racial bias in casting has been a deep-rooted obstacle for ages, underpinned by systemic racism.

However, it is somewhat of a new problem for older women, as in the 80s there was considerably a larger amount of lm and TV roles.

which is problematic in not addressing the more systemic issue of societal views of what is it to be an older woman.

An intersectional and more critical approach to understanding the spectrum of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, and sexuality is necessary to not leave minorities out of important conversations.

One lm that subverts this narrative of deterioration is Howl's Moving Castle (2004) directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Although it is an animated fantasy lm, the themes of ageing are very well explored in a refreshing light. The central protagonist, Sophie, is a young, timid girl from the start of the movie that gets cursed by a witch and is transformed into an old woman.

This phenomenon extends beyond the con nes of our TV and cinema screens, as gendered ageism is a very real and tangible problem affecting many older women.

An OECD Report published in 2021, titled ‘Towards Improved Retirement Savings Outcomes for Women’, revealed that globally, women aged sixty- ve and above receive 26% less income than men from the pension system.

Somewhat of a reverse coming of age story, she seeks to restore her youth, while undergoing signi cant character development. Her personal growth is derived from being trapped in the elderly body as she struggles, yet, Sophie was able to ourish with wisdom, patience, and compassion that only come with age, after a lifetime of experience.

Whilst Sophie does regain her youth by the end of the lm, the message remains clear that the vessel of the older body allowed her to develop the wisdom and personal growth that comes with age. This movie is instructive and enjoyable for both adults and children, being important to teach children that ageing is not a gloomy and boring phenomenon but one that can be exciting and adventurous.

Societal pressures on women to sti e the ageing process have given rise to the anti-ageing cosmetics industry, one worth approximately $58 billion globally and one which has been consistently growing and diversifying with advancements in technology.

R e c e n t l y, p r e v e n t a t i v e a g e i n g procedures such as Botox have become increasingly popular amongst the twenty to thirty year old demographic.

It is being marketed towards this age group in a way that frames ageing as something someone has agency over (but only if they can afford to do so).

The report further highlights disparities in the workplace and barriers that sti e career progression and lack of support for women in caregiving roles. Gendered ageism threatens the job security of women in many ways through entrenched workplace biases. Maternity leave is a mechanism of support to women in caregiving roles that is mainly applicable to younger women.

It is a complex problem and older women have been deemed the invisible majority in many senses.

Addressing such disparities and becoming such left behind female cohorts is the rst step.

The entertainment industry has problematic practices in many regards, but more speci cally in the category of gendered ageism. The cultural in uence of American media spreads i d e a s o f a g e i n g g l o b a l l y, penetrating cultures that have preexisting rituals and ideas of ageing and death, circulating the culture of youth obsession.

Unfortunately, this phenomenon impacts women everywhere, contributing to the invisible women effect. Being conscious of this pernicious phenomenon is the rst step in the attempt to remedy its harmful effects.

Liberal choice feminism endorses the idea that women are empowered to have freedom of choice when it comes to cosmetic surgery and how individuals view ageing,

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Is it solely American lm, television, and media that perpetuates the narrative that individuals’ value deteriorates as they age? Yes and no, however, it is important to consider the cultural power US and Western-centric media has globally and what the indirect effects of this demeaning framework on societies truly are.

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How Reading Plato’s ‘Republic’ Changed My Life Ronan Keohane addresses Gen Z’s declining interest in philosophy and makes the urgent case for its revival.

Philosophy is being studied less and less in academia, a trend seen through dwindling graduate statistics among bachelor, master and doctorate students.

I read that ignited my broader interest in Ancient Greek philosophy. It alone encouraged signi cant amounts of analysis, critical thinking, as well as introspection on my part, all of which has changed me as a person.

The main motivational focus amongst the contemporary student body has greatly shifted and now gears predominantly toward university majors which grant the student immediate and lucrative job prospects upon graduation. Similar trends are being seen across the humanities eld including history, English, and ne arts.

In addition to this, from Plato’s ‘Republic’, my interest signi cantly expanded as I became more acquainted with other Ancient Greek writers including Homer, Thucydides, and Herodotus, which then further expanded my interest into amazing playwrights and tragedians of Ancient Greek literature like Aristophanes, Euripides, Sophocles, and Menander.

As a result of reading just one book, I now regularly read Greek classics in my spare time and as part of my everyday routine.

Despite this phenomenon, the importance of philosophy cannot be understated as it has in uenced countless civilizations throughout the course of human history. Philosophy radically nourishes critical thinking which is particularly important considering we currently live in an era of pernicious disinformation.

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From a more personal standpoint, I can attest to many ways in which philosophy has changed my life. Plato’s ‘Republic’ was one of the rst pieces

Initially, I chose to read ‘Republic’ because I was told by my favourite YouTuber book reviewer that it was written in a largely accessible style (unlike other masterpieces of Ancient Greek literature) and that it was widely read and regularly used in rst-year undergraduate philosophical studies. Before I read it in its entirety, my knowledge was considerably limited.

After having read the novel fully and after thinking about the questions brought forward, both my understanding and my perceptions of fundamental concepts such as morality, utopia, justice (particularly the ‘just person’) and authority, to name just a few, had drastically changed. I felt as though I had unlocked an entire new part of my brain and had torn through my old pattern of thinking which was riddled with ignorance, bias and misconception, nding a new way to think and examine the realities that I am surrounded by.

In short, it made me learn what it means to think and the importance of thinking.

These vitally important skills that I developed as a result of reading ‘Republic’ and internally debating the ideas brought forward for long periods of time afterwards eventually allowed me to think critically about and question the entire book itself. I discovered that there are a myriad of things I would consider quite problematic which felt also like another enlightenment and developmental experience in and of itself. One of the biggest things I took issue with was the suggested necessity of a ‘philosopher king’ which gave me eerie aide-memoirs of centuries of hagiographical propaganda of fundamentally corrupt and cruel dictators that I’ve seen in old history books and even still in the present day.

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This was one of the rst times I saw myself beginning to question the realities presented to me in this text, leading me to ask questions such as:

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My understanding was restricted to basic historical background knowledge of Plato and a vague understanding of the sun, divided line and cave analogies.

Admittedly, when reading through it for the rst time, I was very stunned by the series of wild, ridiculous ideas and assertions put forward and immediately questioned how this was such a renowned masterpiece. At the time, I wasn’t aware of the logic behind the Socratic method and didn’t understand why it mostly seemed to resemble a series of different ideas and perceptions of abstract concepts that were later contested and replaced by other ideas.

Why is the promotion of a utopian society so necessary? Can we not settle with the world being fundamentally imperfect and nuanced?

Why is the idea of the famed ‘philosopher king’ so necessary in a so-called ‘civil society’? Based on what criteria would a philosopher king be appointed such a grandiose title?

I also found the suggestion of granting a select few people such a deal of omnipotence generally quite unsettling given humanity’s long history of international authoritarian regimes. This led to more thinking and even more questions; if Western civilization is so in uenced by Ancient Greece and this is one of its staple works, is it possible to hold Plato responsible for centuries of tyrannical and authoritarian governments? After further research I came to realise that studying ancient Greek classics showed me that so many of the regimes that people live under are rooted in the teachings of Plato, speci cally book VIII where he lists aristocracy, timocracy, oligarchy, democracy and tyranny as the 5 types of regimes. While aristocracy was the most advised societal framework throughout the book, modern society has come to recognise the adverse effects of such a system whereby there is fundamental inequality, leading to an unequal distribution of resources amongst the populace which ultimately gives rise to violent revolution.

In conclusion, I believe the study of philosophy is critical in encouraging the youth of our society to interrogate fundamental concepts and universal realities in a more meaningful manner. The study of philosophy and contributions to intellectual thought brought forward by brilliant philosophical thinkers have proven themself to be pivotal in aiding humanity’s advance. My experience of reading Plato’s ‘Republic’ helped me to open up my mind to various alternative viewpoints and eventually helped me in formulating my own views which occasionally contest those brought forward in the world-famous classic.

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Nostalgia, Ultra

By Conor O’Callaghan Nostalgia, “a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations”, for many of us, I hope, this brings us back to our youth, a period of naivety and exploration free of judgement. A time you remember, albeit with a rose tint where you could be content just existing.

We search for this feeling through a variety of media, such as the songs that shaped us, the TV shows we consumed, the books we read, but also the clothes of our generation and the pop culture that existed around us as we matured into eventual adult consumers.

Corporations have tapped into this nostalgia for our youth, particularly in the past two years, taking advantage of their customers trapped at home, longing for times past. It’s no secret that Y2K is back, even before the pandemic, with an oversaturation of baby tees, baguette bags, bootcut jeans and baf ing colours reaching an all-time high, illustrating how much we are yearning back to our youth and taking it forward into the 2020s.

Although, this whole trend-based cycle is abhorrently unsustainable, with its ever- uctuating nature meaning what’s hot this week is not the next and your croc jibbitz are no longer “fetch” so you should stop trying to make them happen.

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In contrast, Miu Miu’s Spring 2022 ready-to-wear collection was the perfect amalgamation of taking inspiration from the noughties and reinterpreting it in a modern and future-proof manner, shielding it from the trend cycle to extend the life cycle of the object, hopefully for more than a couple of weeks!

The enigmatic ensembles consisted of cropped jumpers and shirts underneath, with divisive micro skirts as the main event. The ts screams slashed school uniform, but in the best way possible, with clear nostalgic notes playing homage to the divas of our childhood. This youthful take on the uniform is quite on brand for Miu Miu, the creative child of Miuccia Prada, who was quoted as saying: “Miu Miu is much more naïve. The solution, when I am working on Miu Miu, has to come immediately, instinctively, spontaneously”.

The impulsive and bold nature of the show echoes the attitude of the youth, as they do not care for others’ opinions and go for what feels right at that moment, and while this collection may be an “immediate” one, it feels it’s impact will last.

These are more than simple skirts as the canvas material of formal trousers, the leather belt and boxer short waistband gives a masculine edge to a typically feminine item. This gender-play helps build a degree of androgyny into the DNA of the fashion giant, which is quite on brand as Emma Corrin, nonbinary royalty is the current face of Miu Miu.

Another designer tapping into our fond memories of the past is Marc Jacobs, who launched his nostalgic brand “Heaven” an ode to the psychedelic FRUiTS style from the renowned Japanese street magazine. Recent collections consisted of a plethora of pop culture references, from Gar eld mesh long sleeves, E.T sweater vests and viral prints from the Virgin Suicides, a lm synonymous with adolescence.

Heaven’s logo is even a teddy bear, to give a comforting, juvenile feel to the brand, although with the bear being two-headed, it gives the brand the novelty and edge to sustain relevancy and buzz to Marc’s most recent venture in this vicious trend cycle.

Even within the last few weeks, there’s been a huge emphasis on youth culture and school with the release of season 2 of Euphoria. Creators on Tiktok are exing their “Euphoria High” uniforms, more suitable for a club than a classroom, inspiring us as we now venture back into the realm of nightlife.

From the makeup to the clothes, accessories and even demeanour of some of the characters, the Y2K references are rife, with the trends now gone fully mainstream. Once a trend becomes this universal in the cultural landscape, it’s an indicator that the crest of the wave has been reached, which I feel reigns true for our noughti ed version of “youth”.

Euphoria is essentially a “yassi ed” version of Skins, the gritty British teen drama released in 2007, a year of cultural reset in which Britney broke down, Paris and Lindsay got arrested, bringing Y2K to an end, with the launch of the iPhone on top of a global recession. Regarding fashion, there’s a shift on the horizon towards minimalism, with diversion away from the obnoxiousness and logo-mania that was experienced in the 00s and now.

I can see our fashion and culture edging towards our more recent youth with the simple, angsty and often dark nature of the “Tumblr” years, championed by artists emerging at the time such as the 1975 and Lorde. They helped lay down the culture in a period of austerity and uncertainty, which eerily echoes the times we currently live in,

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I just hope the handlebar hipsters stay at bay….

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Although don’t be fooled, even as these youthful skirts pander to both our feminine and masculine sides, the low-rise trend they are pushing can be dangerous. If we are to take inspiration from our youth, we must protect the youth of today and make fashion accessible to all body types.

Jacquemus is one such brand mastering slashed scholar look while including a diversity of models in their campaigns. After all, we want the adults of tomorrow to be able to look back on the culture of their childhood with a weaker rose tint in their glasses.

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How Is Gen Z Changing Beauty?

Let’s be real for a second, beauty is in ux. The industry is being completely transformed by Gen Z’s passion for skincare products and knowledgeable appreciation of ingredients — and their desire for brands that connect with them like friends.

Gen Z is a digitally wise generation with total access to social media so that they can express their demands, disagreements and in some circumstances, doubts. This is actively putting pressure on brands to respond ever-faster and more proactively.

Gen Z can make their opinions heard so much more loudly than previous generations, being listened to and understood is an automatic expectation. They not only appreciate brands paying attention to their feedback but there is also an expectation that brands will change and adapt accordingly.

VP of brand at e.l.f. Beauty stated that “Part of our mentality is to listen, really hear what they are asking for and jump on those trends,”.

All across the world, Gen Z is without a doubt the most ethnically and racially diverse generation to date, so inclusion and diversity are essential to their everyday lives.

Brands that create products for skin have a responsibility to represent all different colours and tones.

De nitions of inclusivity have also broadened, spanning race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, body size and disability. Gen Z shoppers expect brands and products to align with them by addressing these.

In the last few years alone, consumer spending has shifted from colour cosmetics towards skincare, driving business for huge market leaders like L’Oréal and Estée Lauder.

Palmer of Forma Brands, parent company of Morphe, said that this evolution, while cross-generational, is strongly linked to Gen Z’s higher level of self-acceptance. “People want to show their skin, freckles and textures and are ok with not airbrushing over,” she says.

The growth in popularity of skincare has not hindered reengagement with bold and colourful makeup, which are staples for brands such as Morphe and Tarte. I believe this has a lot to do with this generation’s uid approach to identity and its changing attitudes towards the idea of beauty. The way we use makeup is all about expressing how we feel in one moment. Beauty is not at the heart of it all the time; sometimes it's simply just an expression.

Using social media for research, Gen Zs are savvy and knowledgeable shoppers who value product ef cacy above all but they do also keep an eye on the price. Any product that delivers any visible results quite quickly is normally well covered and shared on TikTok. Deciem’s The Ordinary, a skincare favourite for young people has thrived as a results-driven, functional brand at an accessible price point.

Gen Zs have emerged as researchers, almost to the point of interrogation. Our generation is wholeheartedly taking back know-how into its own hands. The way we look at beauty today is all about you as a person becoming the expert of your own beauty.

A lot of consumers these days research between ve to 10 ingredients before purchasing a product, exploring all the ingredients used in a formulation and how they will bene t their skin. Brands are responding by trying to make that process easier, providing extra information and playing the role of educators across Instagram and TikTok. Social media is more often than not a rst touchpoint for customers. The provision of engaging, informative content can be a strategic move to shorten the consumer journey. I believe if a brand can do that effectively, the performance on-site and in-store is going to be much higher.

The beauty industry is going to continue to grow and change over the coming years and I look forward to seeing how young people in uence and in many ways hold a lot of power within the industry.

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If we look at this from a product point of view, this trend has led to the hybridisation of products. Skincare ingredients are now being included in makeup products, like the famous IT Cosmetics CC Cream or the new Charlotte Tilbury Beautiful Skin Foundation. Gen Zs also like hybrid products because they imply value for money and a shift to reduced consumption which is highly important in the world we live in today.

Fashion Editor Sarah Collins delves into the role of fashion and the important role it plays in the lives of young people today.

The contribution of the fashion industry to the world we live in today is undebatable. Many would say it helps us to express ourselves, our beliefs and our creativity to the world.

I have always metabolised fashion as my own form of escapism — almost like a temporary tattoo that lets me speak with wild conviction, but then I take it back whenever I choose to do so. For many young people, fashion can be a drug-free boost that makes a down day seem slightly better, a reminder for us that through the depths of desperation, we are armed.

It’s about storytelling through clothing; the stories behind them and the ones you create around them. It’s a cultural in uence, backstory or intellectual touchpoint that you can trace back to what you’re wearing. We also may use it to embrace and celebrate tradition. It’s about a sense of history and pride and it embodies a greater sense of purpose than just a garment tossed on to cover our bodies.

If we look at youth and fashion, the industry as we know it today, it almost fully depends on the youth. Every day on TikTok and Instagram we see young up-and-coming in uencers promoting the latest and greatest collections from our favourite brands. It is fair to say the younger generation give’s more attention and time to the fashion industry and the latest new trends. Back in 2020m, TikTok star Addison Rae was made the face of American Eagle's #AExME Back to School '20 ads which featured the brand's rst-ever virtually-produced shoot.

The TikTok mogul wanted to encourage her 51 million TikTok followers to embrace their "most authentic selves" and her campaign with American Eagle helped her do just that. After going through her fair share of trolls and bodyshamers on her road to global popularity, Rae wanted to use her platform to help instil con dence in others — something American Eagle is all about.

Fashion has also played a huge role in political issues, with iconic images of past protest movements enforcing the same idea: that dress is as much a political statement as a fashion one. Young activists, celebrities, and others have long used beauty and fashion to make a statement and increase visibility on particular issues, and if the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that with great political pressure, comes even greater social pushback.

Clothing provides a compelling canvas for registering rebellion: a super visual, universal, portable cue that can be photographed, distributed, copied, and built on by future protesters across all languages and cultures. When the Trump administration came to power in the United States, protests reverberated worldwide. When Donald Trump held of ce, it seemed that each day brought a new image gone viral, ranging from the Women’s Marches to the Black Lives Matter demonstrations to the #MeToo movement, with further viral images including the Gilets Jaunes demonstrations in France, Kamala Harris and her all-white out t for her vicepresidential acceptance speech, anti-Brexit protesters holding satirical puppets of politicians, citizens in Hong Kong marching under a sea of yellow umbrellas, and Nigerian activists rallying against police violence. Protest has once again entered the zeitgeist. As long as there have been protest movements, citizens, young activists, and freedom ghters have used art and design to amplify, elevate, articulate, and de ne their causes.

Fashion will always play a huge part in the lives of young people and the wider society we live in today. It’s there for us to express ourselves, our culture, our beliefs. It is the armour many of us use to survive the realities of everyday life. We all dress in different ways, we express ourselves in different ways, and that is the best part of fashion and style.

It is exactly what I wanted to convey in this month's shoot.

I would like to give a big thank you to Max Bell, our wonderful photographer, along with Primetime Cork for supplying us with clothes, the gorgeous models and also Conor O’Callaghan for helping me bring this idea to life.

The brand had huge success from the campaign, gaining thousands of new young customers whilst also allowing younger generations to embrace themselves and wear what they felt good and con dent in.

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The Importance Of Fashion For The Youth Of Today

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