EDITORIAL indigo@palatinate.org.uk
New Year, old news Indigo Editor Honor Douglas questions the need for New Year’s resolutions
T
o kick off 2022, Twitter has found a new victim: former Love Island star Molly Mae Hague. On a podcast, the influencer explained her ‘theory’ that everyone has the same 24 hours as Beyoncé, and regardless of circumstance – or, in her words, ‘poverty’ – it is up to the individual how successful they want to be. Not only is this a disgustingly out of touch statement to make, but it is also deeply ironic considering her position as Creative Director of the company Pretty Little Thing, which has been accused of paying their garment workers £3.50 an hour. This, supposedly, ‘motivational’ comment arrives alongside all of the generic ‘new year, new me’ quotes. Yet, this time of year consistently encourages change – changing body shapes, diets, changing fashion, and changing one’s lifestyle more generally. These resolutions aim to ‘motivate’. But much like how Hague’s supposed intentions to motivate caused a frenzy, New Year’s resolutions tend to follow the same path. Put simply, New Year’s resolutions are glorified and often end in disappointment. Additionally, New Year comes hand in hand with the start of our Epiphany Term which is always a busy and hectic time – dissertations galore, summative season, and graduation job hunting. The addition of arbitrary, repetitive goals unnecessarily adds to this ever-present stress. This fortnight’s edition of Indigo follows this theme of New Year and New Year’s resolutions, offering some of the clichéd ideas of the ‘need’ for change as we enter the New Year. Books tell us what we should be reading, Style shows us what we should be wearing, and Stage explains what we should be watching. However, after such an unexpected and challenging couple of years, everyone should just focus on getting through 2022. So, I advise you to take our sections’ advice light-heartedly, thoughtfully looking at what is to come in 2022 without the focus of creating a ‘new you’ just because a mixture of a consumerism and a calendar tells you to. These articles should be taken as suggestions, rather than instructions. Poignantly, Food and Drink expose on the im-
pact of the diet industry during the New Year. The section offers valuable insight into how the diet industry profits off of creating mundane ‘healthy’ ideas to adopt in your New Year’s resolutions. This debate, alongside the selection of prose and poetry from Creative Writing reflecting on the New Year, offer readers the opportunity to reflect on the year that has passed rather than immediately plan for the year as New Year’s resolutions encourage us to. We hope that you enjoy reading this edition and that it provides a helpful outlook of what to look forward to in the New Year. Taking a contemplative approach as you read the articles should decrease the overwhelming feeling that often arises as we enter a New Year, and when creating New Year’s resolutions.
Artwork of the week by Adeline Zhao
CONTENT
TEAM
CONTACT
Interview (page 3),Creative Writing (pages 4 and 5), Visual Arts (page 6), Music (page 7), Listings (pages 8 and 9), Film and TV (page 10), Stage (page 11), Features (page 12), Food and Drink (page 13), Books (pages 14), Style (page 15), Travel (page 16).
Cerys Edwards, Honor Douglas, Adeline Zhao, Stephanie Ormond, Lara Moamar, Josie Lockwood Millie Stott, Ella Al-Khalil Coyle, Nicole Wu, Christian Bland, Katya Davisson, Annabelle Bulag, Charlotte Grimwade, Grace Marshall, Ben Smart, Saniya Saraf, Molly Knox, Isobel Tighe, Miriam Mitchell, Nia Kile, Emerson Shams, Imi Marchant, Samuel Lopes, Grace Jessop, Anna Johns, Gracie Linthwaite, Holly Downes
www.palatinate.org.uk
Indigo logo: Adeline Zhao Cover image: Anna Kuptsova
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Follow our socials Facebook: www.facebook.com/palindigo Twitter and Instagram: @indigodurham Have a question, comment or an article idea? Email us at indigo@palatinate.org.uk or any Indigo section email address
Image credits: Adeline Zhao
INTERVIEW indigo.interview@palatinate.org.uk
Capturing Durham on camera
Interview Editor Steph Ormond speaks to student TikTok and YouTube stars
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s Epiphany term returns to the Durham circle of life and online lectures, over the holidays, Indigo caught up with some of the student body’s vloggers and internet personalities to discuss how they depict uni life in their videos and whether content creation for them is second nature. Tom Daniel, 1st Year (@t0mdaniel - TikTok): "At first, I thought like a lot of people that TikTok was cringy, but when lockdown set in and all my mates were uploading videos I thought that I had nothing better to do with myself so I'll give it a try and made a couple of videos. Now, it's turned into what it is today. In general, I've tried to highlight some of the daily stuff in uni life that people could relate to like the drinking culture and showcasing some of the Durham specific stereotypes in a funny way. "Since my videos are quite short, people often comment under them with questions about Durham University especially about college life. To be honest, I don't have an upload schedule so it's not that difficult to manage creating videos. They're really spur of the moment ideas." Megan Jones, 4th Year (Megan J - YouTube): "I started making videos at the start of 2017 and have been posting at least one video most weeks ever since. Before coming to university, I saw lots of studytubers having amazing times at university and everyone tells you it’s the time of your life. I didn’t feel like that when I came to university. Instead, I felt isolated and was completely overwhelmed with the situation. So, I share this side of university life too because I know that it is a common experience. "I think the main part of my YouTube is showing a more realistic side of uni life - both the highs and the lows. I believe it is helpful, both for prospective students, so they’re not setting themselves unrealistic expectations and end up overwhelmed,
but also for current students who may already be struggling and can see they’re not alone. Also, I share some helpful tips, coming from a working-class area and state school, about what to wear for formals or the difference between a ball or a bop since these were not common knowledge to me. Any kind of practical advice I can think of, I always try to make a video on. My main thinking when it comes to Durham videos is 'what would have helped past me?' "I was already doing weekly videos during Sixth Form, so I felt like I was prepared to juggle the two when I started at uni. Though I'll admit I have struggled since Covid with all the uncertainties and lockdowns - this past year has been the only time since 2017 where I’ve had to take a few weeks off YouTube now and again
Whilst you work hard, you can also have the time of your life Hollie Rose, 1st Year (Hollie Rose - YouTube) : "I started off posting some poetry and book-related videos in late 2020 but evolved to making the content I post now more consistently since June 2021 during my gap year. As I prepared for university, I made a video about getting ready to leave for Durham so, the focus grew from there. In my videos, I attempt to display the daily aspects of Durham University life as I experience them - from Freshers Week and socials to the stress of deadline season and the struggles of writing academic essays. "My main focus has been on showcasing the experiences that I'm living, like participating in cheerleading and attending college events at Hatfield. I don’t go out of my way to orchestrate situations for my vlogs. Instead, I hope that viewers can watch my content and know that there are so many different things to do at uni, especially at a place like Durham. I want to show that whilst you have to work hard, you can also have the time of your life. "I find it easy balancing the filming aspects of content creation. However, the editing and posting process is more time-consuming
Image credits (from left): Tom Daniel, Hollie Rose, Megan Jones & Tristan Stocker via Instagram
which can become difficult during busy times at university. After all, I’m at Durham to get my degree, so that must come first. Still, I try my hardest to produce content and integrate the process into my life since it is something I love and a way to keep myself engaged in a creativity." Tristan Stocker, 2nd Year (Tristan Stocker - YouTube): "I have always been interested in video editing and creating content. I first started making videos whenever I went on holiday - I would film the whole trip and put together little montages with music and effects. Initially, I was nervous about being in front of a camera but, with A-Levels being cancelled, I had loads of time and decided to start making content about preparing to study law. "When I was beginning to look for videos about Durham University, especially for Hatfield, they were often quite old and few in numbers so I figured things must have changed since then. I think my videos have helped in answering some of those questions students have about the wider experience of Durham. For people who live abroad, trying to find this stuff out is even harder. At the Hatfield Michaelmas Ball, someone recognised me from YouTube and told me they had watched my videos in Japan! So online videos about uni life are hugely valuable since not everyone has the chance to see Durham in person before they go. "For me, content creating is not a huge burden on my life. I organise video ideas on a list then prioritise and date them. So, I have a sort of vague chart of when videos should be coming out. 'Day in the life' videos are the easiest for me since you only need to film a couple of minutes every hour. As long as I have something to record, then it's no problem. The hardest part is the editing, the whole process beyond the filming, beyond what people see in the video. Still, it is always satisfying to see a finished video."
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Creative Writing creative.writing@palatinate.org.uk
As the year changes, how do we? Leo Li, Freya Barker and Molly Knox share narratives that transport us through the eve and into the New Year; exploring the stories, fear and light they find along the way Eve
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velyn could still smell the medicinal stench stuck in her late father’s ward. Barely recovered from the passing of her mother, Evelyn was now left alone. Scurrying down Nathan Road – the avenue narrowing into a mere hospital aisle – she was alarmed by something petrifying, almost paralysing, lingering in the air. It was all her imagination, she thought, or a remnant of a nightmarish memory. Traffic lights blinked in place of bemisted star lights – red, green, red, green. Ecstatic neon lights and metallic streetlamps exacerbated the night winds’ coldness. Nathan Road extrapolated indefinitely forward. It disoriented and perplexed Evelyn. She never seemed to be moving onwards…despite both physical and mental effort. Evelyn was sent interminably backward into a dark alleyway between Humphreys Avenue and Carnarvon Road, which doesn’t exist on map. Evelyn was born and raised here, she knew every road and junction and street and corner by heart. This time, however, she had totally lost her way, disoriented by her father’s death. She looked to the entrance of the alleyway – it vanished into a dead end; behind her a risky road extended into a boundless darkness. Father’s death leaves me no exit. She could hear, faraway beyond the ever-heightening whitewashed walls closing in on her, clamours of the excitable crowd. They were new-year raptures tinged with an ancient and inextricable wistfulness – lamentations for the dead, the bygone and the to-be-forgotten. These vivacious voices of the living diminished as the darkness of the alleyway deepened and densified. The fireworks are sure to come soon, she thought, I have to get out of this cruel cul-de-sac. She turned and plunged herself into the darkness ahead. Livid, irresistible currents of night gales bore her irrevocably into oblivion. ‘Eve.’ Evelyn heard a mellow calling emitted from beneath the cold earth. The notes of the mysterious voice enveloped her like thousands of snowflakes – everblooming petals of winter flowers. ‘Eve.’ Mum…! She knew, by a daughter’s instinct, that the voice was her mother’s – and no one 4
Thursday 13 January 2022
else but her mother called her Eve. Evelyn tried to reciprocate, but she was muted by something fiercer than fear.
The notes of the mysterious voice enveloped her like thousands of snowflakes – everblooming petals of winter flowers.
Unnerved, she began frantically dashing forward, further and further into the enigmatic endlessness. She panted for breath, straying further and further away from sanity. Till a nexus of anxious breakdown, she crouched on the tear-soaked ground and shouted at the void: ‘can you not hear me, mum? It’s me, Evelyn…!’ But only silence prevailed. And the darkness, both within and without, waxed ferociously. After all, you’re just my imagination, she thought, you’re long dead. So is dad now, dead like a doorknob. And only I remain. But will I remain? Or not? Tomorrow is another new day – a new year, even – for everyone but me. Because your deaths detain me in your past. And I can’t move on, alone, I’m tired. I want to sleep, alongside you, like a child guided by lullabies to a long slumber. I don’t want new year or new anything, but only for what belonged to me to reappear and stay by me forever. Am I asking too much? She closed her eyes, intuitively, and immersed herself in an internal darkness. Through this she commingled with the alleyway’s darkness, becoming one. It was something her mother taught her: ‘whenever the weight of the unknown exercises itself onto you, close your eyes and face it like you face me, with an open heart of grace and acceptance.’ Evelyn let darkness seep in; she also let herself seep in the darkness. Then she chanted her prayers in forgiveness: mother, guide your daughter from the pitch-black unknown, bring me to a new precipice and let me witness the light beam of a new beginning.
‘whenever the weight of the unknown exercises itself onto you, close your eyes and face it like you face me, with an open heart of grace and acceptance.’
Suddenly a long gone and concealed memory struck her – her mother was lying dyi Suddenly, a long gone and concealed memory struck her – her mother was lying dying beneath an angelic white blanket. It was a winter evening, when the world was still reminiscent of Christmas. Evelyn, feebly weeping, asked the only question left to ask: ‘mum, why do you always call me Eve? It’s Evelyn…isn’t it, my name?’ With gentle authority she explained to Evelyn: ‘Eve is our common mother. She is, like Janus, a symbol for both history and future. She ingests both virtues and vices, and bears both risks and possibilities. And that’s what I want you to be.’ ‘A Christian? Or a mother? A rebel? A fool?’ young Evelyn retorted rebelliously, a sign of morose grief. ‘None of those and all of those. I want you to be your own hope, through finding a strength that throbs within you with which you strive against all of life’s stringencies. Even when I’m no longer with you… You shall be the Eve to the breaking of a new day…’ Another facet of memory, pertaining to her father: ‘I named you Evelyn, much against your mother’s will, back during my frenzied devotion to Evelyn Waugh… “…the past and the future pressing so hard on either side that there’s no room for the present at all…” he once wrote. That’s a common lesson for all of us little people struggling to find the cause of living. And I think I have a solution. Not the solution, but should be ample for the time being. My girl, remember: always learn from history and forgive Image credit: Verity Laycock
Creative Writing creative.writing@palatinate.org.uk
its cruel imperfections. Then you’ll learn to live with the past which has shaped you and will continue doing so, so that the future forgives your crude imperfections.’ Because I am both the past and the future, she thought, while standing up to the faint ray of light blended in the shapeless darkness ahead. Because I have both the darkness to forget and destroy and the light to remember and create. I am Eve, a twilight of possibilities… The fireworks sounded at the end of the alleyway – a long tunnel which existed purely for Eve to temporarily return to her Earthly Garden of Past Delights. Exiting the alley, she saw the sundry patterns of probabilities blossoming on the nightly canvas, skyful of ashes and smokes obscuring fleeted mischances. The crowd cheered on the Harbour-side in celebration of the advent of a new year. She too, clasping her hands, joined in the ecstasy, celebrating the rebirth of a new Eve.
By Leo Li
Regneration
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t’s funny – We don’t see ourselves grow. The mirror tells no change In the cursory glances of the every-
day. But relatives not seen for a year observe: “Look how much taller you are!” Really? I hadn’t noticed.
We don’t see the earth grow either. Only when the grass needs cutting In the summer, Or the daffodils poke their yellow heads through the dirt In spring. Blankets of fresh white snow line the skinny branches Of winter trees, Stripped bare of their golden coats when The autumn leaves Float to the ground. A never-ending cycle, Without a break in the loop. Time is not linear, It’s cyclical, Round and round and round, Pushed onwards by the flip of a calendar page
Every four weeks. We’re a little bit older, A little bit wearier. It’s harder to get out of bed in the mornings, And every day, the eye circles seem to darken. Another year, another number. “This’ll be my year.” Is what we said last time. Trends and diets and social media crazes, Encouraged and eager to complete For a few weeks. But then the dampness of January settles in, And the resolutions are forgotten, Shut in a drawer, waiting to be Dusted off for next year. One thing never changes though. Through tectonic shifts, natural disasters, Corrupt political decisions, The subtle shedding of the seasons, Marked by a gentle June breeze, Or the footprints of a red-breasted robin – We never give up our search for purpose. Our present days are filled with events Designed to shape our future. Studying for a degree, Graduating for a job, Saving for a house. Have we become so focused on The unknown, We’re forgetting the moments that we looked forward to In the past? We search for a way through the woods, But all we need to see Is our next step. Regeneration spurs us on, Propels us to the end of the year, But what comes after? The same stories and affirmations We tell ourselves. This year, I’ll be focusing on me. Health, happiness, and love. Late-night chats with best friends, Bottling bubbly laughter, the kind that makes you drunk. Wintry walks swaddled in a cashmere scarf, Days in the sun, strawberries and pink fizz. Caramel lattes, cartwheels on the grass, The smell of cinnamon and cranberries, Deep breaths and smiles,
Image credits (from top to bottom): Rosie Bromiley, Veriry Laycock
Flowers, houseplants, Warm afternoon sun through the blinds. The right now. In 2022, I am reborn. I have shed the worries and troubles Of the year before. Bid farewell to the darkness That clung to me like a shadow. Everything is new and fresh, And it’s happening Now.
By Freya Barker Woman of hunger (féar gortach)
h
ave you heard the hungry grass? forever foraging this fussy forest. I mean. I didn’t mean, to intrude your phantom famine
to love breath on my skin, take a comb to my tugs in the shallows, as willows brush my arms. I wish for its cold – perhaps I wouldn’t ask for silver. grabbing empty handfuls of pennies in my well. a look, the shine of the full; never to fill again. are you leaving soon? scared of my face? my questions and your answer? tender field of remnants of where I tread in life burrowed into the appetite of the olive tufts. glowing as I reachfinding scraps deep within the trees, tied like oaths to ululating golden trinkets, swimming like goldfish with pointy teeth I hide from nattering undergrowth berries, pull thorns from my ribcage, rip frosty conkers from my eyes dripping, trembling, bursting, bramble gut, grown from my greening veins. they watch / they scratch / they yawn hang a lantern on these cursed branches as cages of fireflies radiate where I couldn’t I couldn’t agree to lie forever.
By Molly Knox Thursday 13 January 2022
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VISUAL ARTS visual.arts@palatinate.org.uk
Pandemic culture: adapting the art world Visual Arts Editor Christian Bland argues considers the issue of vaccine passports
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gainst the backdrop of the ensuing culture war over whether vaccination passes are necessary to protect public health, or the illiberal actions of a despotic state, a niche but important argument has been made in favour of allowing the public to visit museums, irrespective of their vaccination status. These ideas have influenced plenty of powerful figures from across the globe, like the former director of the Sansevero Chapel Museum, Fabrizio Masucci, who resigned his position last year, on the basis that “equal access to art and culture (is) a right of all”. Yet, however unjust such restrictions can seem, I would argue to avoid further restrictions in the future, they are unfortunately, essential.
To avoid further restrictions ... they (vaccine passports) are unfortunately, essential. Undeniably, the sorts of objects held in museums are far less
readily accessible than the likes of film or literature – you have to experience them by visiting collections and exhibitions in-person. Restricting access to these venues, then, will have ramifications for the accessibility of art and artefacts. Yet it is important to remember that, while it is regrettable people will be exiled from this world of culture, in nearly every case, their loss is self-imposed. In recent weeks, it has been more abundantly clear than ever before that vaccination offers effective protection against coronavirus in all its various forms – for instance, it can reduce the risk of hospitalisation from the Omicron variant by more than 90%. Meanwhile, if the National Health Service is ever to treat the six million people backlogged on its waiting list, these hospitalisations will need to be kept to an absolute minimum. If different variants of coronavirus in the future are inevitable, it is surely a basic social responsibility to get vaccinated, or accept curbed freedoms, so that hospitals can
start treating patients suffering from other life-threatening diseases without forcing the rest of the country into lockdown again. Nevertheless, others have made a different point – questioning how high the risk of transmission at museums actually is. A headline-making study conducted last year by the Berlin Institute of Technology, for example, claimed museums were safer than the likes of supermarkets and offices, which have largely remained open for all.
It is surely a basic social responsibility to get vaccinated Naturally, it is unlikely unvaccinated people will not be allowed to continue to use supermarkets, given they are considered essential retail stores, so arguably, by deduction, they should be allowed to visit museums as well. Yet even with mask-wearing enforced, the rate of infection remains steady at 0.5, even in this relatively optimistic forecast – opening up yet another chan-
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nel through which unvaccinated individuals could be hospitalised by the Omicron variant. Therefore, while the threat of infection remains fairly low, keeping museums open for the unvaccinated would ultimately only disincentivise sceptics to get a jab that can essentially take this activity from low risk to risk-free. If the British public is to learn to live with coronavirus without regular lockdowns, vaccine uptake, especially of booster jabs will be essential. Neglecting other public duties – by not paying tax or exhibiting anti-social behaviour – has always had ramifications, so it would be entirely wrong for members of the public to not expect similar penalties in this instance. The concerns over penalising people for not getting a vaccine that is the key to avoiding backlogging the NHS even further, or locking down society again, would seem overblown and even semantic. Therefore, though such measures may seem an infringement on public liberties, if they offer the nation a route out of lockdown for good, they will be worth the political unease which will naturally lie beneath these critically important decisions.
Illustration: Victoria Cheng, Image credit: Psyxjaw via Flickr
MUSIC music@palatinate.org.uk
The soundtrack to your life: remembering Music Editor Annabelle Bulag explores how music can be a time capsule to your past
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reath bated, it’s always an adrenaline rush when the Spotify Wrapped for the year drops. Well, maybe it’s not quite that dramatic but there is always something satisfying about tapping through those brightly coloured swirls and bops outlining those 3 am cravings for Taylor Swift. My favourite part of this annual tradition would undoubtedly be the playlist you are presented with at the end - a participation prize if you will. The cloche lifted, scrolling through elicits echoes of retina-burning lunches and confiding late-night conversations in which they were the aural wallpaper. Walking down that lane can be one of poignant and immediate emotions, allowing you to re-experience a time past. This can be owed to the intense relationship between music and memory; research done within this field has already manifested in helping hands offered to those with dementia, the elderly and others in need.
Music is the perfect catalyst for bringing those memories to the forefront
Contributor’s choices
And as to why this is possible would be due to the fact that the region in the brain in which past memories are stored happens to be the very same region in which familiar tunes lie alongside memory and emotion. Discovered through studies carried out by Petr Janata of UC Davis’ Centre for Mind and Brain (2009), this hub of information is located behind the forehead in the frontal cortex. Since this is such a large area of the brain, a large volume of information is taken in every minute. Music, through its interwoven
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‘Its Permanent’ by Ultra Q Picked by Ed Osborne The best post-punk song I’ve heard in years. The abstract lyrical content paints the picture of a figure “walking through the neon light” of a dark, hazy nightclub seen under the influence.
Thursday, 13 January 2022
network of rhythms and melody, can therefore act as a cue that holds the key to unlocking the information which is carefully stored there. In a pioneering study by Baird and Samson (2013), music has been found to be more effective in evoking autobiographical memories than mere verbal prompts in patients with acquired brain injuries. This suggests that those songs we love so much, put on repeat through some of life’s smallest and biggest events, are effective stimuli in eliciting just those memories - little souvenirs for future consumption. Realising this can lead us to understand how music can serve as that powerful trigger in memory retrieval. For example, the song Really Really by WINNER, to me, screams a balmy summer’s day. The vibrant tropical beat and the fresh vocals let my brain revisit my first visit to South Korea - the thrill I had in navigating in a country I had admired from afar for so long still gives me butterflies... And any time I wish to ‘go back’, I can just search for that song and am whisked away. But how does that happen? There are myriad kinds of memory and it is especially the implicit memory systems that take it in as a more unconscious form of memory - its opposite, explicit memory, implies a deliberate recreation of the past. It is how you know how to ride a bike, brush your teeth and hug a friend without thinking about it - it’s just there. It’s been found to be particularly
robust, still on-tap for those suffering from amnesia or other diseases/injuries affecting the same area of the body. The implicit system can be stimulated most easily through emotion; music is the perfect catalyst for bringing those memories to the forefront. Vivid memories in those aforementioned can therefore be elicited through such stimulation. For example in the extreme case of Clive Wearing, former pro-musician suffering from one of history’s worst cases of amnesia, he was able to still conduct his erstwhile choir, taking them smoothly from each section of the music and feeling the phrases and melodies flow as he had once before. It is a miraculous thing that music can bring back moments of lives that have otherwise been lost. It is in this sense that music is so powerful - it has the ability to heal. For that reason, whenever you should want to revisit the fascinatingly hectic chapter of 2021, to relieve each contour of a life-changing year - you will always be able to simply relax into the c o m f o rting arms of songs well-loved and past. Like an old friend, the sweet memories affixed to each one will never leave. Indeed, music will never leave you.
‘Twist and Shout’ by The Beatles Picked by Chris Bright An upbeat and energetic that never fails to perk up my mood. Toe-tapping and head-bopping is bound to follow this classic sixties hit. I’ll be sure to be listening to it for years from now.
Illustrations: Anna Kuptsova
LISTINGS indigo@palatinate.org.uk
Purple diary: the best events on this term Indigo presents a definitive guide to Durham’s cultural calendar HIGHLIGHTS
FILM
FOOD
ART
Sat. 12 February Nish Kumar at the Gala Theatre Grey College alumni Nish Kumar returns to his old university town for a night of exuberant comedy. Gala Theatre, Durham. 7:30PM. £20pp. 18+. Tickets: https:// galadurham.co.uk/galapost/nish-kumar/
Sun. 23 January Eighth Grade As part of their ‘Film for Equinox’ series, Newcastle’s Star and Shadow Cinema are showing Bo Burnham’s directorial debut, Eighth Grade. Tickets cost between £5 and £7
Sun. 23 January Wine Tasting A tasting of five Italian wines from independent producers promises to lift a dreary winter’s afternoon. Artisan cheeses and charcuterie will also be on offer to make the perfect pairing! Durham Town Hall, 5pm Tickets: £20
“Remaking Beamish” Beamish, the Living Museum of the North As the biggest development in Beamish’s history, this exciting new project includes over 25 new exhibits. Visitors will be able to visit the Front Street terrace in the 1950s Town and explore the trolleybus transport system. Due to open February 2022
Fri. 18 and 25 February Ed Gamble at the Gala Theatre Featured on Live At the Apollo, The Russell Howard Show and many more, Ed Gamble takes on Durham for a couple nights of hilarity. Gala Theatre, Durham. 7:30PM. £20pp. Tickets: https://galadurham.co.uk/galapost/ed-gamble/ Mon. 28 February An Audience with Mark ‘Billy’ Billingham Interviewer Mark Llewhellin hosts an evening with the SAS soldier and ex-bodyguard to talk about his adventures, from navigating hostage situations to protecting famous clients. Tyne Theatre & Opera House, Newcastle. 7PM. £25.64pp. Tickets: https://www.list.co.uk/event/1032497-an-audiencewith-mark-billy-billingham/ Thurs. 10 March Magnificent Women and Their Revolutionary Machines with Henrietta Heald Join author Henrietta Heald for an investigation into her latest book, Magnificent Women and Their Marvellous Machines, which celebrates the largely unknown history of female engineers as part of women’s history month. Gateshead Central Library, 1830. Tickets starting at £3.
Mon. 24 – Sat. 29 January Fatal Attraction Based on the classic 1987 psychological thriller, Newcastle’s Theatre Royal is bringing the film to the stage in James Dearden’s new adaptation. Tickets cost at least £15, with performances being run at both 2:30pm and 7:30pm Thurs. 27 January Leopoldstat Screening Patrick Marber’s National Theatre adaptation of Tom Stoppard’s Olivier Award-winning play Leopoldstadt is being shown at the Gala Cinema. The play follows generations of Hermann Merz’s family live in Leopoldstadt, Vienna’s Jewish quarter, over the first half of the twentieth century. Tickets for this one-off screening cost £10 for Gala members Fri. 4 February New Enterprise Studios Film Night, Sunderland A chance to support local film makers, this event offers the opportunity to view amateur films from the region. Tickets are free on Eventbrite with networking opportunities after the showings! The event lasts from 6pm to 11pm
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Sat. 5 February Lunar New Year Celebrations Celebrate the Lunar New Year with Eastern dishes, tea tasting and Chinese tea art! Durham Town Hall, from 11am Sat. 19 February Sausage and Cider Festival Take your pick from fourteen different sausages and ciders from all over the UK. With live music and ‘cheese-infused sausage’, this promises to be a unique and memorable event. Newcastle Civic Centre, 125pm and 6-11pm Tickets: £10 El Pincho Tapas Offer Take a lunchtime trip to the Mediterranean with El Pincho’s offer of four tapas dishes and two large glasses of sangria for £25. Tues – Fri, 12 – 5pm Turtle Bay Still haven’t tried Durham’s newest (and fantastic!) restaurant? A £10 joining gift when you download their app will surely incentivise you! Offer valid until the end of January
Ad Minoliti - Biosfera Peluche/Biosphere Plush exhibition at BALTIC, Newcastle This is Minoliti’s first solo show in the UK - their work takes on feminist and queer theory to create boldly colourful, abstract artworks. This exhibition takes on the role of a community centre, the art is not just for viewing but an active classroom in which workshops will take place to reinvent historic, traditional concepts of artwork. Until 8 May 2022 Student Art Prize The theme of this year’s Student Art Prize is ‘Hidden’ - the competition provides students the opportunity to showcase their creative talent in spite of Durham University’s lack of a formal Fine Arts degree. Currently in its third year of running, the Art Prize has become a staple in the Durham arts calendar. Excitingly, this year has seen the introduction of a photography specific category that also offers a £1500 prize for first place. Deadline for entries: 5pm on 14th February 2022
Image credit (from left): Jennifer Leigh
LISTINGS indigo@palatinate.org.uk
BOOKS
STAGE
NIGHTLIFE
MUSIC
TALKS
Mon. 17 January Writing TV Series: Feature Film Workshop, Scene and Character Development with Northeast Films Beginning of monthly ‘Writers Workshop’ series in Newcastle, aimed at developing writing for TV and Film. Different focus each month, with no mandatory regular attendance. 8K Studios Newcastle, 19002030. £5.50 for non-members
Tues. 18 – Sat. 22 January DULOG presents: Guys and Dolls DULOG presents its annual Gala show. Featuring hit classics including ‘Luck be a Lady’, this production is one of the highlights of the Durham Student Theatre calendar. The Gala Theatre, Tickets £8.50 – £.14.50
Fri. 14 January Pangea: Disruption After a successful run last term, PangeaDnB is back combining Garagem Kiquid DnB and Techno to their usual Jungle and DnB. Loft, Durham, 10:00 PM02:00 AM. Tickets £5 available on FIXR
Fri. 21 January John Law’s Renaissance Join “one of Europe’s most adventurous pianists” for a night of music and stunning visuals. He mixes samples of renaissance vocal music with elements of jazz, accompanied by visuals from Patrick Dunn of Tangerine Dream. Durham Cathedral, 7:30 PM. Tickets £20
Tues. 18 January Modernist Fragments at the British Museum: Making, Consuming, and Curating Classical Greek Sculpture Prof. Nora Goldschmidt of the Classics Department showcases the link between classical Greek sculptures and their influence over modernist fragment making. Location TBC. 4PM. Free. Email: cvac@durham.ac.uk
Fri. 21 January Dead End Street by Trevor Wood An interview with awardwinning author Trevor Wood about his new book, Dead End Street. He’s formerly a playwright, journalist and Royal Navy veteran, having formerly won an award for his debut novel, The Man on The Street. The Lit & Phil, Newcastle, 1900. Free January – May 2022 Monogatari: The art of storytelling in Japanese woodblock prints With the support of the Japanese Embassy and in partnership with the National Museum of Japanese History, this exhibition offers the first opportunity to view the J P Scott Colledction of Japanese woodblock prints. This exhibition explores the use of the prints to illustrate tales of samurai, travellers and heroes in the 18th and 19th centuries, and how it was then used to tell real-life news stories during the SinoJapanese and Russo-Japanese wars. Oriental Museum, Durham
Tues. 18 – Sat. 22 January Pitch Productions presents: Julius Caesar The all-female cast offers a unique production of Shakespeare’s classic. Assembly Rooms Tickets £TBD Sun. 20 February The Durham Revue’s Annual Gala Show Durham University’s premier sketch comedy troupe perform their show with a new troupe after sell-out shows last term and over the summer in London. The Gala Theatre, Tickets £8 Mon. 14 – Wed. 16 March Sufrragette Theatre Company presents: TOUCH From the creators of Fleabag, TOUCH is an honest and hilarious exploration of a young woman navigating London and a world of sex, loneliness and dating. Assembly Rooms, Tickets £TBD
Sat. 15 January OPAQUE presents FOLAMOUR The French heavyweight returns to Durham after a sellout event in 2019 to headline, bringing a new and unique sound to the club. Babylon Bar & Kitchen, Durham, 08:00 PM-02:00 AM. Tickets available on FIXR Thurs. 27 January Damp Squib – Live RnB vs Hip Hop With sets from ABINYXX, PSYMITAR and BADMIND, some of the best live RnB and Hip Hop artists in the North East. Fabio’s Bar, Durham, 08:00 PM-2:30 AM. Tickets £3 Fri. 4 February Feral Fridays at Players “Highest in the Room”. Trap, RAP, 90s RnB and Floorfillers The weekly fixture of ‘undomesticated social behaviour’ FERAL is back. Players Bar, Durham, 10:30
Mon. 31 January The Kooks Supported by The Snuts, The Kooks celebrate 15 years of Inside In / Inside Out. They’ll be performing their iconic debut album in its entirety featuring favourites such as “She Moves in Her Own Way” and “Naïve”. O2 City Hall Newcastle, 6:30 PM. Tickets £67-£169 Fri. 18 February Batsashvili Plays Chopin Piano-music fans, this is the concert for you. The soloist is the young Georgian pianist, Mariam Batsashvili. Alongside Chopin’s First Piano Concerto, RNS will treat you to Bacewicz’s Concerto for String Orchestra and Schubert’s Third Symphony. The Sage Gateshead, 7:30 PM. Tickets £16-£39.50 Sat. 12 March DUCS Sings Mozart’s Requiem Durham University Choral Society, supported by DUOS Chamber and the top vocal soloists in the University, will be performing an unmissable concert. Also on the programme are Leonard Bernstein’s breath-taking Chichester Psalms. Durham Cathedral, 7:30 PM. Tickets £TBD
Fri. 28 January Jewish life on Tyneside and the Second World War With reference to Holocaust Memorial Day (27th January), this event showcases the stories of Jewish life on Tyneside from the 18th century to today. Discovery Museum, Newcastle. 10:30AM & 1:30PM. Free, donations welcome Sat. 5 February So Fetch - 2000s Party (Newcastle) Riverside play all your favourite hits from the 00s. Think Britney Spears to Avril Lavigne. Mean girls inspired fancy dress is highly encouraged! Gala Theatre, 7:30 PM. Riverside, Close, Newcastle upon Tyne, 11pm-3am, tickets available on FIXR. January – December 2022 Lindisfarne Gospels 2022 The beginning of a yearlong programme of events centring around the Lindisfarne Gospels, back in their place of origin for the first time since 2013. The Gospels are the most spectacular manuscript to survive from Anglo-Saxon England and events will culminate in an exhibition Gospels exhibited at Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, and Durham Palace Green Library Easter 2022
Image credit: Thomas Tomlinson Thursday, 13 January 2022
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FILM & TV film@palatinate.org.uk
Is the Academy relevant in 2022? Freya Williams assesses the role and relevance of the Academy going into 2022
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ew Years’ resolutions are great in concept: note a systemic problem in your behaviour, create a plan to resolve said problem, implement said plan, and then bam! New year, new, improved you. In practise, though, you know that this isn’t the reality. Will you ever replace your nightly TikTok binge with a healthy chapter or two of Sartre? Not a chance, and Tanya Burr slander is equally intellectually stimulating anyway. Most of the time, failing to meet these trivial promises is no big deal, but if you’re the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and your resolutions are not trivial (to readdress the lack of racial diversity in your judging body and you still haven’t achieved that), then you better get a wiggle on. Even in 2022, out of 87 members not a single one is Black.
Reflects a wider shift of power in the industry Despite the spotlighting of representational issues in the film industry by campaigns such as #OscarsSoWhite in 2015, the HFPA has failed to commit to any tangible change to their practises. As a result of their inaction, NBC has refused to broadcast the Golden Globes, marking a significant breakdown of their longstanding, $60 million-a-year relationship. It’s a catastrophic loss of both financing and status for the HFPA and reflects a wider shift of power in the industry: the promotion of the consumer as the enforcers of change, and the demotion of awards ceremonies as an indicator of a film’s success. In the last decade or so, the function and authority of awards ceremonies has come into particular question. Accusations of ‘Oscarbaiting’ (whereby films are released and marketed specifically to boost their chances of being awarded) has muddied critical opinion of anything released between September and the new year, whilst the emergence of streaming services into the production market has prompted audible backlash. In short, awards ceremonies’ interaction with the commercial interests of the production firms is slowly but surely catalysing their demise. Stephen Spielberg himself lobbied the Academy to block films by streaming services from consideration, arguing that as they had guaranteed audiences, and committed only to exceptionally limited theatrical runs, they were automatically skewing their perceived artistic merit. Although his objections were not acted 10
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upon, thankfully, the influence of commercial factors has not totally overpowered film awards ceremonies’ judging criteria. Though the Addison Rae-fronted He’s All That is disturbingly watchable (as viewing figures of 55 million households would attest) it is no Citizen Kane, nor Paddington 2. One of the most important and irreplaceable merits of the awards ceremonies is not the recognition of the commercial achievement of the production companies, but the acknowledgement of the mammoth artistic efforts made by the behind-the-scenes crew. Whilst with a cinema screening the only way to persuade the audience not to scatter at the sight of the credits is to insert a bonus scene after they end, awards ceremonies offer a protected space that cannot and should not be removed.
Awards ceremonies will never completely disappear Realistically, awards ceremonies will never completely disappear. They are irreplicable in their placement as events which shape and are shaped by history. As ‘first x to be awarded’ continue to occur, the topography of the filmmaking landscape develops and serves to con-
stantly redefine the purpose of film as a social art form. Best Picture wins for Moonlight and Parasite have, in recent years, set the tone and expectation that the film world is on the horizon of the most diverse and rich artistic phase of its existence. Which is why it’s so disappointing that progression in improving representation, such as in the HFPA’s case, remains so stagnant.
The Golden Globes and Oscars will only preserve their status through targeted and conscious effort: they must grow and develop Awards ceremonies such as the Golden Globes and Oscars will only preserve their status through targeted and conscious effort: they must grow and develop, and reflect the influences and demands of social, artistic, and commercial factors with awareness as to the message they communicate. If they find that resolution too complicated, might we suggest ‘do better’? Image credit: Verity Laycock
STAGE stage@palatinate.org.uk
A new sense of direction The best of DST’s directors for Epiphany term tell us all about their upcoming shows
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collection of directors notes from some of the great shows going on in the Assembly Rooms and Gala Theatre this term...
esty. There are moments that are graphic, conversations that are taboo, and it will often feel as if we shouldn’t be watching, which of course will make it exhilarating to watch.
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare Millie Stott
Little Shop of Horrors by Alan Menken - Megan Cooper
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar has nevefelt more apt – living through a time when we have all become sick of hearing the phrase ‘unprecedented event’, I wanted to play upon a classic tragedy and see where its themes of corruption and chaos fit into 2022. Having an all-female cast gives the script a unique edge – our amazing cast and prod team have all collaborated to explore what it means to be a woman in power in the era of mass media, navigating romance, friendships, and the workplace. It’s been so much fun to work together to make our characters complex and individually powerful in their femininity. The concept of heroes and villains is blurred, personalities clash, and backstabbing is rife. If you love Lizzo, fake blood and strong female leads, you can come and see us on the 20th, 21st and 22nd January in the AR!
Little Shop of Horrors is a much-loved and much-performed show now approaching cult status for its campness, its kitschness, quotability and no-skip score by Alan Menken. Our production will lean into these themes, embracing the irreverence with which it treats its central musing on greed and the cycle of poverty. Where the latter idea often materializes in morose and serious forms in theatre, the beauty of musical theatre is that every type of emotion and type of character is made grandiose and given time in the spotlight; the form can be fantastically at odds with the content. Audrey can find her ‘Somewhere that’s green’ in the four minutes it takes to sing the song. This combination of complex, flawed characters, the pop culture and B-movie tinted world they find themselves in, and the fun and frivolity of the music, is what I believe gives the show its enduring appeal.
Guys and Dolls - Miriam Templeman After a bit of a hiatus from musical theatre in Durham, DULOG are THRILLED to be staging ‘Guys and Dolls’ at the Gala Theatre! It’s going to be a fantastic night of grooving, high Cs and New York accents - we would love to see you there! The story follows smooth and suave Sky Masterson as he accepts a bet to take a girl to Havana on a date. The girl of choice is Sarah Brown, a missionary with no intention whatsoever of letting her hair down. In addition to this, we meet wimpy Nathan Detroit and his fiancée, the fierce and sickly Miss Adelaide. She has been engaged for fourteen years, and has reached the end of her tether. The prod team, tech team and cast have worked tirelessly to put this production together, and with a five week rehearsal period (with Christmas inbetween), it’s been a speedy turnaround! It has been really exciting to get to work with such a large ensemble and band, and has pushed the prod team and challenged them to create a show that is creative and dynamic. We would love to see you in the audience as we celebrate musical theatre’s return in a night of humour and heart-warming escapism. Curtain - up!
When the Bees Come by Magali O’Brien - Olga Kwan When the Bees Come is an own-voices student-written play that explores and celebrate the defining of one’s identity from a trans and queer perspective. It’s not only about Hestia, a nonbinary person who suffers from surreal episodes, but also the ways in which their friends and family navigate life as people who love and support those struggling to understand who they are. While the difficult and sometimes painful aspects of developing your identity are explored, the potential for love, acceptance, and community are also important factors within the story.
Touch by Vicky Jones - Eliana Franks Touch is a searingly honest and outrageously funny play about the life and sexual encounters of Dee, a thirty-three-year-old mess living in an even messier apartment. Raw, graphic, tender and human, Touch puts on stage all the aspects of dating that feel as though they should have been edited out. Through conversations about politics, feminism, drugs, Chilean wine, pleasure, bisexuality and blocked toilets, watch as Dee attempts to define herself amidst the confusing metropolitan sexual realities of the 21st century. Touch epitomises the modern women’s struggle to balance independence and avoid loneliness, and depicts this with searing hon-
Image credit: The Assembly Rooms Theatre, Durham
Blood Wedding by Lorca - Nancy Meakin From Spanish writer Lorca’s famous rural tragedies trilogy, Wrong Tree Theatre presents Blood Wedding. A tale of lust, loss, repression and rebellion, this contemporary production explores the attitudes of an insular community set alight by family blood feuds. Set in a surreal desert, inspired by Salvador Dalí’s landscapes, the inner worlds of these characters are woven together through energetic, dreamlike physical sequences, driven by live Spanish music. The mix of poetry and powerful realism in this story brings something new and experimental to the Durham stage. Vibrant symbolism takes over, expressing parts of the story through song and striking visuals alongside emotional acting. This play explores gender and restriction, unpacking how narrow binaries are drawn and perpetuated and dramatizing the desire to escape from them. This exciting, diverse ensemble cast will showcase a tragedy with as many poignantly funny, passionate, and life-affirming moments as dark, violent, and painful ones.
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FEATURES features@palatinate.org.uk
A letter to my future self Reflecting upon the past year, Michelle Leung anticipates what 2022 has to offer
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i, it’s me. It’s you from the past – though not so far back in time to when you were a constantly irritated teenager, just far enough to be writing to you as a somewhat (self-proclaimed) wiser, 21-year-old. We both know you never took it seriously at school when teachers told you to write a letter to your future self. You thought it was stupid. Why should a younger version of you give advice to a future you who will know so much more? But we do know that you love looking back, so here are a few things I gathered from 2021 that I thought you might be interested in reliving and reflecting upon. I know you’re trying really hard to control your emotions, and it’s difficult – I’ve been there. There were moments last year that got out of hand, and in some cases, people got hurt. You regret them, especially since you never meant to cause any harm, but you’re too stubborn to admit it. Thank you, though, for apologising to them afterwards. But maybe, just maybe, it’s time to apologise to yourself? I’ll help you out a little – I’ve stored away some warn-
side of your window, it makes your day a little bit brighter. Some people might see them as bizarre tactics to cope with your crippling mental health issues, but it makes you happy, and that’s what matters. Look to your front, don’t be swayed by other people’s opinions. Though here’s a new goal for 2022: when you’re having a rare good day, try to spread the joy. I reckon it’ll make you, and others, feel even better.
When you’re having a rare good day, try to spread the joy What we know you don’t enjoy, however, is looking to the future. As we finally figured out last year, we’re not scared of change, we’re just terrified of the unknown. Heck, we can’t even read a book without flipping to the final chapter first. Not knowing what the future holds, stepping into anything with a certain level of uncertainty, is probably our worst nightmare. So, just to soften the blow, I’ll write the following section – what I hope for you in 2022 – in the
Don’t constantly doubt yourself, it’ll only hold you back ing signs for these outbreaks and meltdowns in that brain of yours, for when similar situations arise again. That’s all I can offer. You’ll have to work out the rest. I must say, I applaud how you kept on finding delights in the smallest of things. I mean, you literally bought a bird feeder because when you see garden birds enjoying this little addition out-
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sarcastic, snarky tone that we use when we’re scared. You’re going to graduate. Yes, you. It might be virtual if coronavirus decides that it hasn’t taken enough from you yet – but either way, it’s going to happen. Actually, I’m telling you now that you’re going to make sure that you’re definitely graduating because, otherwise, your parents (or more
accurately, your parents’ ashes) will be rolling in their graves. Make them proud, please. Graduating also means leaving behind this newfound home in Durham. You’ve got plenty of experience dealing with change, but that doesn’t mean you’re not mortified by things such as not being able to see your beloved housemates daily again. Unfortunately, that’s how life goes. Promise me that you’ll keep in touch with those you’ve had the pleasure of befriending. They’ve shaped your experience here and will always be the best group of people you know. Oh boy, then here comes the good bit – you’re going to be a postgrad. Your plan is to stay in education for as long as possible, right? So, you’ll be researching and learning more about immuno-oncology because that’s your passion. You’ll finally not need to study plants (on that note – maybe try to remember to water your
houseplants). Yet, in order to excel, you’ll have to work on your confidence. As Clare, your research project mentor, said, “you know what you’re talking about and it’s correct, so just sell it.” Don’t constantly doubt yourself, it’ll only hold you back. I know what you’re thinking – nothing is finalised and you don’t know if you’ll get that master’s or PhD position, nor do you know what else 2022 has in store for you. But hey, you made it through your toughest year in 2020, and you powered through 2021 (somewhat like a lunatic towards the end, but we can ignore that). You have loads of loving people around you who will be with you every step of the way, too. Don’t worry, no matter what happens, you – we – will figure it out together. Here’s to an adventurous and brilliant new year, Michelle, January 2022
Image credit: Adeline Zhao
FOOD & DRINK food@palatinate.org.uk
New Year’s resolutions: a help or a hindrance? Josie Lockwood and Holly Downes debate whether food-related resolutions help promote healthy eating or amplify toxic diet culture FOR: Resolutions encourage a healthy lifestyle By Josie Lockwood
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y the time December comes around, it can often feel like you’re wading through wet cement. The year tends to be draining, and it’s easy to let yourself get weighed down by the lows you’ve experienced along the way. As soon as January 1st makes its long-anticipated appearance, it feels like a burden has been lifted. You can throw out the old calendar and banish your bad habits. The new year is perpetually perceived as a period in which to reinvent yourself, and I believe that this is a good thing. Although I guess you could technically transform your life on any day of the year, National Nutrition Month March and Vegetarian October don’t have quite the same ring to them. The start of the year is a time where a large portion of the population sets themselves goals and aspirations for the months to come. This feeling of camaraderie and shared motivation can be empowering, make you feel less alone, and encourage you to keep on track. If you decide to start eating clean, it’s much more fun to do this in solidarity with a friend or family member. When setting these intentions, make sure that they’re not too rigid or restrictive. If you’re realistic about the goals you’re giving yourself, you’re more likely to pursue them. Make resolutions that will keep you healthy on an emotional level. These should be choices that you want to make rather than feel that you have to. Just because a girl you saw on TikTok seems to be surviving exclusively off of smoothie bowls and baked oats, doesn’t mean you should. That said, it’s good to set yourself an aim of some description. It doesn’t even have to be particularly ambitious. Your resolution could be as basic as introducing a glass of lemon water to your morning routine, or hitting your five a day. Regardless of whether you’re having a pint of Ben & Jerry’s as a chaser, the simple pleasure of having achieved something you didn’t use to is immensely rewarding and will make you feel good. We should therefore try to set ourselves sustainable goals here and there, to boost our inner happiness and foster a sense of fulfilment. Image credit: Verity Laycock
AGAINST: Resolutions are a self-destructive habit By Holly Downes
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eganuary. Dry Jan. 31 days clean eating. These new year food resolution ‘challenges’ have bombarded the front pages of our 2022 diaries, where we force ourselves to confront the reality that the Christmas festivities cannot prolong into the new year. No longer can we have our Advent calendar chocolate washed down by some champagne for breakfast, consume enough cheese to feed a whole village and indulge in endless mince pies. Our bodies are yearning for a physical cleanse, and with January being a time for change, it seems rather practical to start the new year off with a new diet. From reducing our alcohol consumption to choosing to add tofu in your stir fry rather than chicken, these small choices allow our livers to recover from one too many cocktails and protect our furry friends - they urge us to become the best version of ourselves. With countless alcohol-free beverages and vegan options being available on the market, the modern world has made these resolutions rather easy to keep. Whilst this raises our hopes in sticking to our diet resolutions, it creates a toxic pressure where inevitable slip ups plunge us into episodes of guilt. When taking a small sip of your friend’s passionfruit martini feels like stealing candy from a child and eating your grandma’s homemade (very non-vegan) roast dinner is no longer pleasurable but sinful is when these resolutions should be rethought. New year’s resolutions should make us feel motivated, not force us into cycles of guilt when they are broken. This can only be prevented when we stop taking them so seriously. In the end, they are just sentences written on pieces of paper to be forgotten about in a month’s time. We should ease ourselves into diet-related resolutions - slowly integrate vegan options into your diet or allow yourself one night to enjoy a glass of wine rather than instantly cutting off activities you take pleasure in. The unattainability of new year’s resolutions simply dissolves when you find this balance. Thursday, 13 January 2022 13
BOOKS books@palatinate.org.uk
Where carthasis and expression collide Interview Editor Josie Lockwood discusses the cathartic power of the diary
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Editor’s Picks
hen I was little, I was a serial journal keeper. I would obsessively jot down each detail of my life: what the weather was like, who I’d played with at break time, which flavour of yoghurt had been in my packed lunch. I had one of those Girl Tech password journals, the garish pink and purple ones that you unlock with your voice. I wrote in it religiously, using an invisible ink marker pen. Looking back on it now, I understand why I was so insistent on writing in invisible ink. It promised an extra degree of privacy. I’m not sure what deep, dark secrets my seven-year-old self thought she was hiding, but being able to keep them concealed felt comforting. Indeed, this is the beauty of keeping a diary. It’s the only truly private form of literary expression. It’s an intimate process of writing to yourself, for yourself. A way of documenting your innermost thoughts, feelings and experiences, without having to share them with anyone else. I still keep countless little journals hidden around my bedroom. I have one where I keep all the cards and letters people have ever written me. In another, I store mementos that I can’t bring myself to part with: ticket stubs, receipts, photographs, newspaper clippings. My favourite Moleskine notebook is filled with things people have said to me in passing that I don’t want to forget; a collection of miniscule moments that I crave
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Unsettled Ground - Claire Fuller Winner of the 2021 Costa Novel Award, Fuller weaves a gripping tale of social isolation, betrayal and resilience.
Thursday, 13 January 2022
to capture in time. Even the notes app on my phone is clustered with song lyrics, compliments from strangers, and dream anecdotes. By writing down and pasting in pieces of my past that are packed with sentiment, I feel like I’m able to preserve them forever.
The beauty of keeping a diary is that it’s the only truly private form of literary expression. At the start of a new year, I always start a new diary of some description. For 2022, I’m compiling a scrapbook. University passes by in a frenzied blur of summative essays and drunken nights out, and I want to make something that can help me slow time and remember all the good things that have happened. I’m never the same person at the end of the year as I was at the beginning. Each experience that unfolds along the way, whether it be good or bad, shapes and moulds me into an entirely different person. Keeping a journal is immensely cathartic to me, as it helps me
The Every - Dave Eggers Fresh from the success of The Circle, Eggers continues to warn of the dangers of advancing tech monolopies.
trace my steps and watch the ways in which I’ve evolved. Writing a diary is an innately cathartic process. It offers the opportunity to slow down, to suspend precious moments in time, to reflect. It helps us cling onto the moments we feel nostalgic for before they’ve even finished flickering by. It allows us to look back at who we have been, and project forwards to who we wish to become. In a world that moves so quickly, a diary is the perfect way to distil yourself in each page that you write. Each line melts into the next, like a dot-to-dot drawing of the memories that have comprised your journey.
It helps us cling onto the moments we feel nostalgic for before they’ve even finished flickering by. By the time you’ve filled the last page of your notebook, you have crafted an item that is intrinsically you. It is your own unique experience; you are and will always be the only person to have lived it and felt it in precisely the way that you have. And that’s a beautiful thing to preserve. A diary is an outlet. A place where you can be entirely honest, offload any anxieties or bitterness, and air the feelings that you don’t wish to articulate aloud. There is no fear of judgment or prying eyes. It is a platform that allows you to find permanence in the transient. And at the end of the year, it’s deeply rewarding to relive your highs, your lows, your mistakes, and your crescendos.
The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion The late JoanDidion recounts her experiences of grief in her classic trademark style of writing.
Image credit (from top): Jojo Yeun via Unsplash, Susan Weber via Unsplash, Penguin, William Collins
STYLE style@palatinate.org.uk
Indigo’s guide to 2022 style Style Editors Anna Johns and Grace Jessop tell us what we’ll be wearing this year...
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e’ve scoured columns, Twitter, news and TikTok to find our favourite trends for 2022. We’ve tried our best to steer clear of microtrends, to bring you the pieces from Spring/Summer collections that we think will remain in our closets and part of our favourite looks in 2022 and beyond...
Naked Fashion We’re all just clearly excited to be going out again and want to flaunt what we’ve got. Barely-there fashion has been dominating the runways, from mesh sleeves to low-slung jeans. Cut-out tops are perfect for the famous ‘jeans and a nice top’ combination for your next night out, whilst mini skirts are becoming shorter and shorter. A skirt should be the size of a belt, as Paris Hilton once said. Though, maybe wait for the worst of the Durham winter to pass!
Oversized Sunglasses Mini sunglasses have had their moment, but this year it’s time to bring your oversized sunglasses back out of the drawer. Supermodel-style frames elevate an otherwise simple outfit and make you seem instantly put together. Also useful if you had one too many at Jimmy’s the night before...
Big Slouchy Bags Don’t get us wrong, we love the Jacquemus mini - sometimes all you really want or even need to bring with you is a lipstick and a couple of coins. Teeny tiny handbags definitely have there place, but this year we’re thinking practically. Not only does an oversized handbag add an eye-catching, statement piece to your look, it also means your uni bag can be useful and stylish. This year is all about maximalisim - the bolder the better.
90s Blowouts It seems like everyone and their mother got the Dyson AirWrap for Christmas, and we’re positive we’re going to see the consequences of this in an influx of fun, bouncy, 90s-style hair. However, if you don’t want to break the bank to be the next Alica Silverstone, there’s plenty of dupes available. Or, with a little practise and patience, the same effect can be created with rollers or straighteners.
Catsuits and Jumpsuits The Peachy Den jumpsuit with its iconic white piping made waves last year, sported by many an influencer and all over Pinterest boards. We’re certain its popularity will lead to a renewed interest in jumpsuits and catsuits. A simple jumpsuit is timeless, requires no outift co-ordination and can be dressed up or down with heels or trainers. What’s not to love?
Shoes, Shoes, Shoes This year’s all about school-shoe chic. Chunky clogs and loafers are a fun way to bring an outfit together, adding a statement piece to minimalist looks whilst still remaining elegant and not bringing to much attention away from the rest of the pieces. Plus, they look smart without needing to be pointed or high heeled, meaning you can give your feet a much-needed break!
Image credit (from top): kendalljenner.my.id, Bansi | Avelle, David Hopkins, Fab Fashions, all via Flickr
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TRAVEL travel@palatinate.org.uk
New Year, new travel plans Living the French way: Duru Akin takes a trip to Nice
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oing into 2022, I hav decided to liven and add colour to my New Year’s resolutions and thought to myself, ‘What is better than traveling?’. See, I have been spending my days in the Bill Bryson Library and although I am enjoying my slight obsession with it, I am starting to realise that it is getting a bit out of hand – walking past drunk people travelling back to the hill colleges at 1 a.m. in my ‘comfybut-not-the-Pinterest-type’ fit needs to stop. Another completely different motive for my travels is enjoying every single bit of luxury with my friends back from Istanbul. It has been so long since we last went on a girls trip, plus I do not think my dorm room will provide me with any luxury with the occasional ‘suspicious noises’ I hear during the night. We discussed where would be best – for a good ten minutes – and came up with Nice. My journey starts the day Epiphany Term ends; I am booking a direct LNER train to London regardless of the severity of money-stripping – it is a luxury trip, remember? I will meet up with my friends and we will get
tops and get away with it. Takes off in the early morning of 8 a.m. from Stansted and arrives in Nice within two hours. A dream! We will be staying for 4 nights at this very pretty and central Airbnb apartment. Other than visiting famous places like Promenade des Anglais, Cours Saleya, and Place Massena, we do not have anything planned at the moment, which is probably for the best as I am sure our nights are going to be unimaginably wild anyway.
Our nights are going to be unimaginably wild We realised it would be foolish to stay in Nice and not explore at least some locations in the French Riviera. Immediately looking up tickets to Cannes and St. Tropez, I felt stupid for spending so much money on trains here in the UK. For example, a train ride from Nice to St. Tropez is approximately an hour long and is around ten euros - nothing like the millions of pounds spent on the tube journeys during rush hour! This is one thing I love about Europe –
My journey starts the day Epiphany term ends Five Guys – it is tradition. Later on we will probably get drunk on red wine and talk about all of the hypothetical situations we will find ourselves in. Our British Airways flight – yes, RyanAir was dangerously tempting but there was no way we were going to wear ten crop16
Thursday, 13 January 2022
transportation is easy, accessible, and developed. A day trip that is on our top priority list is a visit to Vence to see The Rosary Chapel which was designed and constructed by Henri Matisse himself. With both my friends going to UAL and studying English Literature and Hitory,
it was kind of anticipated.Vence seems like a small yet entertaining area: the streets, boutiques, and restaurants make it an appealing place to roam around. Being a car enthusiast, I had to bring up the issue of having to ride a supercar when in the French Riviera. Although my friends were sceptical about the expenses, my budgeting-skills came in handy, and I successfully proved them wrong. Although I would prefer renting a Ferrari because it is more suitable for Nice, as anyone would, one of us would have to sell a kidney to make that dream come true - and I do not think anyone would enjoy that. So, I decided to go with the classic – and one of my personal favourites - a black
Porsche Carrera 4S (and obviously it must be cabriolet). If anything, we should spoil ourselves from time to time. I am most definitely going to enjoy Nice’s warm Mediterranean weather after rough winter days in Durham. Sometimes we forget that our time is precious – we are too hard on ourselves when we should be living our lives to the fullest and pursuing every opportunity.
We should be living our lives to the fullest
Image credit (from top to bottom): Rosie Bromiley, Isobel Warwick