Mosaic Spring Issue 2021

MOSAIC

FEATURING: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DREAMS

ISSUE 01 | SPRING 2021

KANYE WEST’S HISTORIC 2018: PRODUCTION CAMPAIGN

WARNER BROS/ HBO MAX DEAL: THE FUTURE OF MOVIE THEATRES PUT INTO QUESTION

MARGINALIZATION IN SPORTS : HOW YOUR BACKGROUND EFFECTS YOUR PARTICIPATION IN SPORTS

Designed by Alysha Aminuddin Illustrations by Julia Verestoy

CONTENTS 5

FEATURED: Psychology of Dreams

Psychology

6

6

The Cult Experience

8

Deceiving Your Mind

10

Music And The Brain

Music 14

Kanye West's Historic 2018: Production Campaign

16

Kid Cudi's Man on the Moon Trilogy

19

Should people still buy CDs and vinyl instead of digital music

Film

14 20

20

Warner Bros/ HBO Max Deal: The Future of Movie Theatres Put Into Question

24

Evolution of Technology in Film

27

Masterful Writing in Contemporary Film

poems 12

I don't believe you're happy

40

The Halls of Valhalla

51

My 2020

Fashion & design A Peek in Romanian Design Week

30

An Interview With An Amateur Artist: Arina Costache

32

The 2020 Fashion Shows

34

The Matriarchs of Fashion: Coco Chanel

36

30

culture November Sales Drove Me Crazy

42

How do celebrities influence us?

44

Does Social Media Have A Negative Influence On Today's Youth?

46

Journaling: A habit everyone should take up

48

42

covid corner Scarce with resources, high on population. How did India respond to COVID-19

53

A Thorough Look Over The New mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines: Should You Get Vaccinated?

56

sports Marginalization in Sports

59

Kabaddi: A Hidden Sport

62

Meet The Team

53

64

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Bonny Tar Editor-in-chief

Dear Reader, Welcome to the first issue of Mosaic. Thank you for picking up a copy or browsing through the digital version. It means a lot to us.

For a year, Laura, Emilia, and I have been writing for the “BSB reporters” column of the school’s official magazine, with the help of our sole editor at the time, Daniel. It has been a rewarding experience that not only gave me, personally, the opportunity to continue to write even after choosing STEM subjects, but also brought the three of us closer.

However, we soon found that the demographic was too wide for us to see a sustainable future if the team expanded and we were unsure how many more school-based articles we could churn out. To be fair, we were extremely new to this, so our inexperience had a large role to play in this.

Then came Briony and Ilinca, who wrote their first article “Racism has no place in our future. What about yours?” after joining us in May. When they pitched their article idea, Emilia and I were shocked. After solely writing about our Sixth Form experiences, study tips, and initiatives in the school, an externality to the bubble we’d been accustomed to seemed daunting and possibly unwanted. I clearly remember Ilinca telling me “I want to write something people would want to read about.” The two of them inspired us, and in the process, we began to see the restrictions of the school magazine.

As our team expanded, we realised we needed to do something different. After several discussions between Emilia and myself, the team, and the school staff, we received a ‘go’ to publish our own magazine. I did warn the team that we would need to put in a lot more work, but the prospect seemed to be exciting, more than it felt discouraging.

We wanted to create a space for students interested in writing, editing or illustrating to hone their skills and explore topics they're passionate about may it be fashion, sports or medicine.

The name was probably one of the toughest decisions we’d have to make, especially when Emilia’s criteria was “elegant but simple” while mine was “dynamic and fun” -- not to mention the rest of the groups’ vision. Whilst looking through my extended project, I was inspired by the word “mosaicism” which describes two or more types of cell populations with different genotypes within one person.

Just like how glass shards of various sizes and colours combine to produce a beautiful mosaic, the stories and perspectives of our writers come together to form our magazine, Mosaic, brought to life by our amazing illustrators Julia and Alysha.

I hope you enjoy it.

EDITORS NOTE

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FEATURED

The Psychology Of Dreams ALYSHA AMINUDDIN - WRITER EMILIA BARBU - EDITOR

O

pening your eyes, you look down into the void. Curious, you take a step forward. At once the feeling of air rushing overcomes, your body stabs through the sky, piercing any sense of life. Screaming, you cry out for help but the falling never ends. A sudden intervening voice jerks you awake in your bedroom.

Does this dream sound familiar? Falling is one of the most common themes that appear in peoples' dreams. Falling and being overcome with fear signifies insecurity and anxiety about a situation. You may have fallen short in doing something in your waking life, so dreams release the reactions of not doing as well as you’d hoped. On the other hand, if you are happily free-falling it suggests you are not afraid of change and you are ready to embrace the beauty of it. If the dream takes place in water, it is suggested that you may have very strong feelings for someone.

Dreams mainly occur during the REM (rapid eye movement) stage of sleep because this is when brain activity is high and most resembles that of being awake. It’s the continuous movements of the eyes during sleep that identifies REM sleep; however, dreams can occur during other sleep stages, but those tend to be less memorable and much less vivid. Every night while we sleep, each of us creates at least five dream episodes. These can last between 15 to 40 minutes so we all spend around two hours wanderlessly dreaming every night. All these visions we experience mirror fundamental patterns of human behaviour. Some believe these dream patterns reflect who we actually are, what we really need and what we believe.

Today, many people view these wandering illusions as being a connection to the unconscious mind.

Dreams exists in varying natures such as exciting, frightening, melancholic, magical, adventurous, and even sexual; they seem to range from normal and ordinary right through to bizarre and completely surreal. With the exception of lucid dreaming, the events that occur are normally outside the control of the individual. Sometimes, dreams can implant a creative thought, thus giving the dreamer a sense of inspiration.

Throughout time, opinions have varied and shifted about the meaning behind these visions that we create as we sleep. It seems that people generally endorse the Freudian theory of dreams; that dreams reveal hidden emotions and desires. Other theories are that dreams help us in problem-solving, in memory formation, or that they occur simply due to random brain activation.

Although dreaming is the most extensively studied cognitive state, the bottom line is that experts still don’t have concrete answers as to why we dream and what function they serve. What we do know is that everyone dreams and even the strangest ones are completely normal.

FEATURED

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PSYCHOLOGY

The Cult Experience ALYSHA AMINUDDIN WRITER

DANIEL PAPP EDITOR

B

y nature, we feel a need to belong. To someone, something, somewhere, attaching ourselves to some sort of meaning. Cults will feed off of this. We often wonder, who in the world would fall for that? Well under the right conditions, human beings are extremely gullible. They target people’s state of vulnerability, offering them a sense of comfort to belong. Cults provide a community that is attractive for those who feel they have been shunned by their friends and family, failed by the system. The community then fulfils these voids, some are also attracted to seek solace and the sacred worship of a person or item.

The human craving for complete answers can also be satisfied by cults. Throughout the evolution of the world, more abstract issues become prevalently accompanied by unanswered questions. We want clarity, craving answers and searching order. The ideologies that cults preach are often simple and approached in such a way that perfectionism is achievable. People who are more susceptible have this desire. They are able to reach a level where they could never before and for once they start to feel a sense of fulfilment. When a shortcut to this “higher state” lands right in the palm of their hand with other benefits - a community, a family, a purpose - what reasons would they have to reject the opportunity? A study investigating the factors that contribute to joining a cult reported it was mainly due to spirituality, personal development and life dissatisfaction. The participants presented social and affective vulnerability which was a motivation for joining.

Once recruited, the person will be “love bombed”. Since the target already has low self-esteem, cults will drown them with validation, flattery and affection. Their brain then associates love and warmth with the cultic group, therefore tricking themselves to stay in order to consistently receive this affection.

After building this positive association, cultists will want the person to be isolated from their current everyday life.

Often they will bring recruits on a weekend retreat where they will flood their ideologies onto them. In this short period of time, cultists utilize the physical separation that the person is experiencing from their normal life.

Immersing them with information that they have created, forming a “us vs. them” mentality. From then on, the hole is dug deeper and you find yourself indoctrinated, unable to accept what was once a reality.

A significant factor to why infamous cults, like the Peoples Temple, were able to last for so long is due to the power of the cult leader. Jim Jones, the leader of the Peoples Temple, convinced more than 900 people to abandon their normal, daily life. Moving to a secluded area in the jungles of Guyana, creating “Jonestown” which eventually led to one of the worst mass killings in American history. Upon arriving at Jonestown, followers of Jones quickly realised that the paradise they were promised was long gone.

Doing hard labour for hours each day under the blazing weather of Guyana, any objections would lead to severe punishments. They had nowhere else to go.

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In order to maintain power, Jim Jones would conduct public humiliations where members were shamed for their failures, fears and mistakes. There would be “white nights”, in which the whole population were forced to listen to Jones rage against conspirators in the outside world who wanted to destroy their community. On November 17 1978, with cyanide-laced fruit punch, 918 people were killed - a third of them being children.

Undoubtedly victims who have managed to escape the cult life were left with extreme emotional damage.

Cult members usually don’t realise they are involved in a cult. A therapist, Rosanne Henry who specialises in cult recovery said “People don’t join cults. They get involved in groups they are led to believe represent these high ideals.” Being able to escape the cult life is a huge change that can leave long term effects on the human body. Withdrawal involves a person feeling extreme guilt, anxiety, even depression. Integrating back to society is difficult and the person could develop a fear of large groups, which can take years to reestablish.

Although they have left, the process of learning to unlearn takes a lifetime.

Jim Jones, Leader of 'People's Temple' Photography By Nancy Wong - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73505185

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PSYCHOLOGY

Deceiving Your Mind ALYSHA AMINUDDIN - WRITER DANIEL PAPP & EMILIA BARBU - EDITORS

We make judgments about others every day, both consciously and subconsciously. Yet, how do our minds and bodies make these decisions?

In essence, each one of us has a distinct way of understanding people and our surroundings intelligently. Perception refers to how sensory information is processed, organized and interpreted. Only we understand the way the information has been distorted by our perceptions. Although it happens effortlessly, we tend to overlook the complexity behind the design of these cognitions.

We piece together the information stored, retrieving what we actually remember and what seems most likely given our current understanding and perspective of the world. However, there will always be gaps, and as such we are forced to make educated guesses and reconstruct the most conceivable picture of what happened. With gaps to fill, the guessing game isn’t always reliable. Our brains could interpret the sensory information incorrectly with the wrongfully composed memory in mind, thus forming a false memory based perception.

Optical illusions are clear demonstrations that our brains aren’t reliable when it comes to interpretation. Here, it is fooled into thinking that the image is moving when it is in fact static.

What do you see? The clay columns or the people facing each other? Which do you see first? Some may take ages to form the latter. The key here is that we can all see the same thing yet have vastly different interpretations.

Visual perception can be significantly influenced by memories. Obviously, memory is not a simple subject to tackle. Despite the fact that we like to believe that we can trust our minds to remember and recall, it has shown us to frequently let us down. This is because memory isn’t like a video recording, it acts more like a puzzle.

(PHOTO)

Photo by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

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8

Gregory’s Visual Assumption Theory created by psychologist Richard Gregory believed that visual perception relies on top-down processing. Top-down processing, also known as conceptually-driven processing, happens when we form our perceptions starting with the big picture. We make our best guess of what we see based on expectations, beliefs, prior knowledge, and past experiences.21 He conducted a famous experiment that led to the hollow mask effect. He used a Charlie Chaplin mask and rotated it to show how we perceive the hollow surface as protruding based on our knowledge of the world. A normal face with a protruding nose is what we would expect so subconsciously our minds reconstruct the hollow face into a normal one. Although a lot of information reaches the eye, he concluded that almost 90% is lost by the time it reaches the brain. Therefore, the brain has to guess what a person sees based on past experiences. We actively construct our perception of reality.21

So can we really trust what we see? Perhaps it is best we don’t. Fundamentally we must continue to explore why our minds can be distracted and deceived so easily and why certain things appear different from others. It may be cliche, but it is often true - what you see isn’t always what you get.

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PSYCHOLOGY

Music And The Brain ALEXIA SCINTEE - WRITER RAFAEL DUQUE- EDITOR

Music plays a significant role in our lives. Everywhere we go, music can be heard. Be it in our headphones, in a shopping centre blasting through the speakers, at a party, or playing from the instrument of a street musician, we will always come across many different types and styles of music. All societies and cultures, past and present, had a form of music; even the most isolated tribes have a rich history in music and song. It is believed that the first musical instrument, made of bird bone, dates back to 60,000 years ago.

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S

tudies have shown that music can reduce stress, pain and symptoms of depression and it also helps improve cognitive and motor skills.

Neuroscientist Kiminobu Sugaya and world-renowned violinist Ayako Yonetani at The Burnett Honours College in Florida teach "Music and the Brain" course, instructing their students on how music impacts human behaviour and brain function. They talk about the big effects of music even on patients with Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer, and how music creates emotional memories, which can never be forgotten. 22 For a long time, scientists believed that listening to classical music while studying or doing a task that required focus increased brain activity and made us smarter. This phenomenon was called “The Mozart effect”. However, this was proved to not be entirely true, as some people respond better to music that they are more accustomed to. For example, brain scans from dementia patients showed that different parts of their brain “light up” more when music that they grew up with was played for them. It was proved that our grey matter prefers the same music as we do, be it hip hop, classical, jazz or another genre.

Parents tend to push their children towards learning to play an instrument when they are young because we are born with more neurons than we actually need, and by the age of eight, the brain gets rid of all the extra cells. If a

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person learns not only music but other things by that age, those additional neurons would be used, and the benefits of this are monumental.

From faster learning and facilitated skill development, it’s clear why piano lessons are such a massive industry.

A study was done in New York regarding the use of music in surgeries. The 40 patients had an average age of 74, and half of them received normal care, while the other half listened to their preferred choice of music before, during and immediately after the surgery. The only difference is that the patients who got operated on in silence, remained hypertensive during the surgery, while the blood pressures others came down rapidly.

Therefore, not only music has the ability to change lives, it is also an irreplaceable aspect of culture.

I Don’t Believe You’re Happy

BY ILINCA NUTA

I don’t believe you when you say you are happy cause I know you have a bright mind.

I know you can think deeply And one who can will always overthink.

I know you also understand the terrors of the world And recognize the darkness in everyone around you, coz it’s there and you are not blind enough to unsee it.

I notice how sometimes you look at people with eyes deciphering their soul, Observing things you can’t ignore.

Do you see how shallow and simple-minded they can be?

Or how morally flawed some are Harming everyone while holding onto the justifications they give themselves For ending up like this.

You see their icy eyes under the masks they wear And know that what’s within them is merely An excuse of a heart.

You see these people ending up in power and leading our world to destruction, Yet you still find a way To truly say that you are happy?

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What if...

Maybe you are smart enough to trick yourself Into burying the dark emotions, Into looking away when there’s nothing you can do about the evil in our world, Coz you understand there’s no purpose to it, No purpose to being generally sad That benefits your life in any way.

No matter how well things are going, We can’t help but hang onto this feeling, A shadow who’ll always find something to creep onto, Begging to be noticed and waiting to devour.

So maybe you are smart enough To block the thoughts that come The thoughts you know would bring you sleepless nights To hover over truths and lies.

I understand we are capable of analyzing The pieces of our scattered reality.

So when will I give up on wanting to understand it, When will I see that the answer’s not worth looking for?

I think, the smartest thing that someone smart can do Is allow themselves to be dumb.

(PHOTO) To not go further than the surface, Coz there’s no happiness in the depths that we’re looking for.

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MUSIC OPINION PIECE

Kanye West’s Historic 2018: Production Campaign RAFAEL DUQUE - WRITER BONNY TAR - EDITOR

2018

saw some of music’s best releases of the century so far. Records from that year such as 'ASTROWORLD'

by Travis Scott and 'Sweetener' by Ariana Grande defined pop culture for years to come. All while artists, such as Earl Sweatshirt, Denzel Curry and jpegmafia pushed the envelope for alternate hip hop, alongside Judas Priest, Parquet Courts and Mitski who all quietly experimented in the Rock category even more.

Even throughout all of this artistic eruption, one artist still managed to explode in creativity and acclaim. After 68 Grammy nominations and 20 wins, 118 platinum singles and 28 platinum album awards, Kanye West continued to thrive coming into 2018. A year which saw his family and him move out to the bare and serene landscape of Wyoming to focus on his craft.

2018 saw Kanye executive produce three exceptional albums, release his beautiful self-titled 'Ye', and create a genre-defining and critically acclaimed rap/rock album 'Kids See Ghosts' alongside Kid Cudi. Firstly, I will attempt to highlight his work on the 3 albums he produced in his historic year.

His first release of the year was the Grammy-nominated 'Daytona', rapper Pusha T’s 3rd studio album. The grungy yet lively rap album is rich with samples and excitement in every beat and note of music. Kanye produced each and every one of the songs, leading to his expertise bringing each track to life with his genius sampling techniques.

The opening track, titled 'If You Know You Know' , features Pusha T’s forceful flow laid out on top of simple drums, with the trademark Kanye-distorted-vocals to add excitement.

These vocals are not comprehensible, instead, they are pitched up into a siren-like echo-y cry that lets out every now and then on the track. The third track, aptly called 'Hard Piano' , features simple piano this time with some grandiose singing on the bridge around a minute into the track. Here is the first example of Kanye’s flexibility and talent as a producer, a skill he has been known for since 1996. For Pusha T he creates more simple and punchy beats to suit his rapping style.

The next rapper he worked with was none other than Notorious Nas himself, straight out of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Nas cemented himself as a rap legend back in

MUSIC

1994 with the release of 'Illmatic'. It is widely recognised as one of the best rap albums to ever be made, and its intricacies and wordplay are still celebrated today. In 2018 he decided to return to rap after a few underwhelming records with Nasir. This is a heavy rap album that comments on police brutality, civil rights and the death and terror he experienced as a young black man. The cover is a black and white picture of five black kids, not even ten-years-old. One is holding a toy and two others hold firearms. Admittedly, the album overall was not met with too much love but a massive highlight was the second track 'Cops Shot the Kid' . This song opens with a man talking about the violence in the nights of New York City and confrontations with the police. The tiny anecdote ends with a drastic scream that flows seamlessly into the song. Through the entire run time, this song has the phrase “the Cops Shot the Kid” booming in the listener’s ear, with the scream returning and fading out slowly a few times over the track. "The Cops" coincide with the kickdrums and strong baseline every time, and a hollow snare is heard right after "the Kid" . These resonant drums are paired with lyrics such as: “Cop cars on the creep Doin’ they round-ups, we just watch for the sweep Yeah, it’s hotter than July It’s the summer when n***** die” This powerful production with both Nas’ and Kanye’s powerful rapping and lyricism leads to an experience that is hard to forget.

The third and final album Kanye produced for another artist is Teyana Taylor on her neo-soul and RnB performance: 'K.T.S.E.' Here is once again where Kanye got a chance to show his dexterity and adaptability in his production. The short opening track 'No Manners' is a sweet lullaby of love, self-reflection and shame. The backdrop to Taylor’s singing is a soothing violin backedup by a piano playing simple chords, alongside a quiet choir’s humming. Also, in the middle of the song, there is a short bridge, where Kanye manages to squeeze in a short sample of an RnB song from the 60s. It features the distorted singing of a man with woodwinds behind him, providing an intriguing and contrasting interlude to the song whilst still fitting in seamlessly.

14

The next song, 'Gonna Love Me' , opens with a classic sample of a song by The Delfonics, an early 70s RnB group. The alluring line “Oh, you’re gonna love me/You’re gonna wanna hurt me/And scream” leads into a smooth Jazzy baseline and drums sampled from an old Jackson 5 song. These elements paired with a warm guitar and Taylors vocals complete the love song in a satisfying fashion.

However, my favourite song on the record has to be 'Rose Harlem' . This song has my favourite feature yet, a funky, soul/disco song from 1976. Both the beat and the vocals lean more into the hip hop style due to the consistent repeating hi-hats, long notes on an organ or trumpet alongside punchy baselines. Taylor gives her best performance on the album with a dynamic range of singing and melody. The sample shakes up and down on the melody every other bar as Taylor engages with the line “a rose in Harlem” like a duet. Eventually, with one minute left on the track, a string section comes into play as Taylor elevates her vocals and emotions to a crescendo. Then the singing and strings cut out for the outro, only the beat and sample remain. Eventually, everything goes silent as the strings return but in a much more dramatic fashion, with vibrato carrying the music as the track ends.

These three albums were not released by Kanye himself but were fueled by his creativity, elevated to new heights thanks to his features and production. However, Kanye West did not slack for the remainder of 2018. Instead, he casually went on to release two of his best projects to date, one of which was a highly anticipated collaborative effort with Kid Cudi that was a contender for album of the year...

Illustration by Robert Ball - flickr.com/robertball

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MUSIC OPINION PIECE

Kid Cudi’s Man On The Moon Trilogy RAFAEL DUQUE - WRITER DANIEL PAPP - EDITOR

Timothee Chalemet Pete Davidson Jaden Smith Travis Scott Juice Wrld

T

hese are the names of incredibly successful young artists in different fields and the one thing they have in common is adoration and respect for Kid Cudi. They, alongside millions more, grew up alongside Cudi’s first two studio albums, 'Man on the Moon: To the End of the Day' and 'Man on the Moon II: the Legend of Mr. Ranger'.

These two releases were a never-seen-before blend of hip hop and pop; deep introspective and emotional lyrics paired with genius songwriting and hooks.

Kid Cudi is one of the most influential hip hop artists of the last decade. The effect he has had upon the youth in these past few years is impossible to overstate.

On these records Cudi opens up about depression, addiction and his mental health. It was this very bold move that led to a revolution in the sonic landscape of Hip-Hop alongside Kanye West’s similar project '808s' and 'Heartbreak' (which Cudi also happened to work on).

On 'Man on the Moon: To the End of the Day', Cudi’s debut album, he shows an astonishing talent for songwriting and vocal performance, securing a 2x platinum label on the entire release. The hooks of the tracks throughout the album’s hour-long run time are catchy, powerful and fun.

Later albums achieved even more, such as 'Day n Nights' and 'Pursuit of Happiness' -- both iconic, decade-defining hits that are still relevant today, clocking in 4 and 5 platinum awards respectively. Each and every song is unique and special, but they still come together to tell the overarching story behind the album and fit in perfectly on every level.

The follow-up album, 'Man on the Moon II: the Legend of Mr. Ranger' is my personal favourite and went platinum once.

It has a more solemn tone throughout the album and has even more introspective and emotional lyrics and storyline than its predecessor. Songs like 'Mr. Rarger' and 'Marijuana' really see Cudi open up about the darkest parts of his psyche.

Listening to these songs can quite literally make you levitate as Cudi’s signature hums pierce your soul. Now, all we had to do was wait for the third installation in the trilogy…

In the modern music industry, there is usually a two-year window for an artist’s album to drop before fans become restless. More mainstream artists drop multiple rushed albums a year, cranking out potential hits in the hopes of maybe snagging a number ten spot on a chart somewhere.

For the fans of Kid Cudi, they have been waiting more than ten years for the highly anticipated release of a third man on the Moon album since the originals’ release in 2009 and 2010.

Hope seemed to have been lost in 2015 when Cudi tweeted “News Flash: motm3 doesn’t exist”, following the release of 'Satellite Flight' in 2014 -- an album that was received as the potential ‘prelude’ for Man On The Moon 3 (MOTM 3). Then again, in 2016, he commented in an interview about the potential creation: “Guys, you have to realize: I came up with Man on the Moon when I was a young man,” he explained.

“People change their vibe!”

In between the decade, Cudi would continue to channel his talent and passion towards 4, admittedly underwhelming, albums, along with the self-produced (and underrated) 'Indicud' and the rock-inspired 'WZRD' and 'Speeding Bullet 3 Heaven'. 'WZRD' and 'Speeding Bullet 2 Heaven' really displayed Cudi’s diversity and bravery to attempt to continue transforming the sound of hip hop. Unfortunately, the latter just happened to turn out to be one of the worst records released in recent memory...

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These releases definitely didn’t sit well with critics and fans alike. Coming off the toe of two of the most influential, boundary-breaking, introspective and memorable albums of the century was not an easy task. Despite this, Cudi has amassed a cultlike following that has recognised, appreciated and supported his artistic growth displayed over the eleven years following his debut album. Despite all hope dead and gone, MOTM 3 was critically hinted at in the summer of 2020, before finally confirming its arrival in October. In an incredibly turbulent year, it was a moment to rejoice and see what ten years in the making brought to fruition.

(PHOTO)

Photo by Anton Mack - flickr.com/thecomeupshow

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“Digital music boils down the actual musical experience”

NEWS MAGAZINE

18

MUSIC

Should people still buy CDs and vinyl instead of digital music?

ALEXIA SCINTEE WRITER EMILIA BARBU EDITOR

I

n today’s day and age, there are plenty of music streaming apps and websites to listen to an artist’s full discography, find their future concerts, and of course, add your favourite songs to your favourite playlists. But the question is, “Why would anyone buy a physical copy anymore?”. It’s becoming more apparent that people will listen to music as ambient background noise while they perform another activity, such as schoolwork or exercising because focusing on the lyrics no longer seem a necessity. If one cannot dedicate the energy to properly listen to music readily available on their subscriptions, how can they be expected to channel their money into a CD or, better yet, vinyl - whose player is an additional cost?

I’ll be arguing for the case that there are more pros than cons to buying the physical copy of an album. Firstly, the artist gets a larger payout from album sales than from streaming. Naturally, this doesn’t impact mainstream artists nearly as much as niche bands and artists, but buying a small group’s album will be a great financial reward for them. A lot of work goes into creating an album. Many people are involved in this process, including the artist themselves, producers, songwriters and art directors.

All their contributions cannot possibly be seen on the little square of our phone screen. When you buy an album, one can get a much better look at the art, effort and attention to detail put into it. This can be complemented with merchandise, be it a picture or a little lyric booklet that one is less likely to buy online from an ad on Spotify.

Record stores, wherever they may still be, are wonderful places to meet new people who might enjoy the same music as you do.

Sometimes finding a community is a lot better in person than on a Reddit group. A lot of people also don’t consider that they truly “own” their music unless they have a tangible copy of it. Another bonus is that the album covers usually make a nice decoration in any room, whether it is on a shelf or hung on the wall. They also serve as collectible items, gaining worth over time, while a collection of music on a computer or phone appears fleeting.

Nobody can negate the practicality and importance of digital music in a fast-paced world, revolutionising the way we travel, work, and sleep. Yet, the final touch of realism, the anchor that holds us tied to it truly enhaces the music experience.

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FILM

WARNER BROS/HBO MAX DEAL:

The future of movie theatres put into question

MATEI POPESCU - WRITER

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate responsible for some of the most beloved film properties in the industry; they stand behind the Harry Potter series, the Conjuring universe and the DC comic book films of the recent years - some of the highest-grossing franchises in Hollywood. Shockwaves were sent down the industry’s spine when news broke early December of Warner Brothers new deal with the newly launched HBO Max streaming platform: their slate of 2021 movies is to be launched in theatres and on HBO Max simultaneously. This hybrid model was created as a strategic response to the impact of the ongoing global pandemic.

The threat to movie theatres is blatantly visible: why should people go out to the theatre when they can enjoy the film from the comfort of their homes? Will this new business model completely eradicate the need for film theatres in a post-COVID landscape? With movie studios amassing a bigger profit from streaming on-demand compared to cinema tickets (as a bigger percentage of the money goes directly to them), will they simply carry on with this model even after theatres begin to reopen? Some of the most admirable creative figures in the film industry took time to comment on this new deal, and the probable future repercussions it has:

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Christopher Nolan (Director: The Dark Knight, Inception): “It’s very,

very, very, very messy. A real bait and switch. It’s not how you treat filmmakers and stars. These guys have given a lot for these projects. They deserved to be consulted and spoken to about what was going to happen to their work.”

Judd Apatow (Producer: Pineapple Express, Step Brothers): “It’s

somewhat shocking that a studio for their entire slate could call what appears to be nobody. It’s the type of disrespect that you hear about in the history of show business. But to do that to just every single person that you work with is really somewhat stunning.”

Denis Villeneuve (Director: Sicario, Blade Runner 2049): “With this

decision, AT&T [Warner Bros.’ parent] has hijacked one of the most respectable and important studios in film history. There is absolutely no love for cinema, nor for the audience here. With HBO Max’s launch a failure thus far, AT&T decided to sacrifice Warner Bros.’ entire 2021 slate in a desperate attempt to grab the audience’s attention.”

It is important to consider, on the flip side, that Nolan and Villeneuve have a close working relationship with the studios, inevitably opening up the interpretation that they are looking out for their own selves in making these comments, and their reduced financial returns as a result of this deal. Warner Brothers issued a statement following the criticism of their decision: “No one wants films back on the big screen more than we do,” said Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff. “We know new content is the lifeblood of theatrical exhibition, but we have to balance this with the reality that most theatres in the U.S. will likely operate at reduced capacity throughout 2021.”

This may have unprecedented effects on the already weakened film theatre chains. In September, Cineworld Group, which owns 778 sites in 10 countries, reported a pre-tax loss of $1.6 billion, saying: “There can be no certainty as to the future impact of COVID-19 on the Group.”

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In my personal opinion, I agree with Nolan and Villeneuve’s anger with Warner Brothers - many filmmakers put in years of work into their projects in order for them to be seen on the big screen, only to have those hopes squandered

by AT&T’s overarching shareholder interest, behind their backs. But Warner Brothers is not to blame for this reaction; the global pandemic and its poor handling is. Whilst Warner Brothers’s decision will undoubtedly boost HBO Max subscriber numbers and increase the overall popular leniency to streaming, it is simply accelerating a process that began before the pandemic. The danger of closing movie theatres has been apparent for a while now, and streaming services are to blame. The pandemic did not help, and Warner Brother’s decision was another kick in the gut for the future of film theatres.

I am a firm believer in the fact that while filmmaking is one of the biggest industries in modern society, money should not affect the artist’s work and intention. Since the dawn of its creation, viewing films has been a collective experience for audiences - a form of entertainment, escapism and immersion into another’s art, on the big screen as it was intended to be seen by the artist. Thus, I believe that despite the looming streaming service threat, film theatres will not cease to disappear. They are central to the identity of cinema, and as Denis Villeneuve puts it:

“The moviegoing experience is like no other.

In those darkened theatres films capture our history, educate us, fuel our imagination and lift and inspire our collective spirit. It is our legacy.”

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EVOLUTION OF TECHNOLOGY IN FILM

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RAFAEL DUQUE - WRITER EMILIA BARBU - EDITOR

hroughout the history of cinema every few decades there is a technological revolution that changes the culture of films permanently for better or for worse. A film comes out with a new technique, style or mechanisms that profoundly alters the filmmaking itself permanently. In this article, I will briefly talk about three of my favourite films that really push the envelope for the culture today.

To begin understanding the significance of these films we must first understand what a cinema camera really is. A camera at its core is a sensor (digital or film) that captures and records light. In front of this sensor is a shutter which remains closed for most of the camera’s lifespan, shutting out any and all light. Once you press the shutter button in order to take a picture, a slither of time encapsulated in one still frame, the shutter exposes the sensor to the outside world for just around 1/50th of a second. And if you stream these snapshots together, 1440 a minute or 24 a second, you get a moving picture that runs pictures at your eyes so fast your brain can’t keep up and the illusion of motion is created.

Back then, the sensor of a film camera was a long, spinning length of film strip covered in dark silver bromide or any other photosensitive material, that when exposed to the sun becomes clear. Then when you shine light through these stripes you have your movie or photograph. With film, each shot gets the character. Imperfections in the form of grain, scratches and blots bring life and intricacy to the final project. In digital, the sensor digital and stationary, it records and sends each frame to storage seamlessly, and arguably soullessly. That’s why a few filmmakers today still use classic 35mm film stock.

The first influential film I will talk about is the 1930s 'The Wizard of Oz'. This movie was the largest and grandest of its time, and its beautiful centrepiece was its boundarybreaking use of Technicolor film.

Now how did colour come into play? The Wizard of Oz’s technology came out of MIT and was the best-realized form of colour film out there. To accomplish this is, it brought light on a different journey. Once it passed the shutter, it

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was split by a prism into three different beams: red, blue and green. These each formed their own negative on different strips. Then they were made into positives and dyed in cyan, yellow and magenta (complementary colours respectively). Finally, these dyed positives were brought together into one final release print. This final release print showed a massive range of realistic colours unknown to audiences in the late 30s. This innovation, alongside the film’s grandiose sets and wide cast, set in motion the dramatic rise of the Hollywood industry that still stands and thrives to this day.

The next film is one already mentioned in an @BSBMagazine article, 12 Angry Men. This is a stark counterpart to the Wizard of Oz. It has dark themes, is small scale and black and white. This film relies on something else to entertain and influence. One of the most groundbreaking things in this film was the use of different lenses. A lens is placed in front of the shutter and warps light and perspective with different focal points and apertures to show more or less of the environment. A side effect of this manipulation is background blur and the compression of faces. Sidney Lumet and his cinematographer Boris Kaufman used this to their advantage. Using blur and compression to create moods, tension, respect, power, innocence and so much more whilst superimposing these feelings onto the characters the film featured. Used long lenses to zoom into faces and capture the emotion of the characters with a blurry background and wide-angle shots to shrink the room and bring the characters closer together. All of this experimentation in the film led to staples in filmmaking and portrait photography today.

Almost every blockbuster film will use the same focal lengths and lens to shoot similar senses and closeups, all thanks to 12 Angry Men: each emotion and style is now synonymous with a certain lens thanks to this film.

However, something 12 Angry Men didn’t master was camera movement. The way the camera moves relative to the characters and objects on screen is important.

In 12 Angry Men, the camera pans and follows the men across the screen but it itself stays motionless on a tripod.

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Nowadays dollys and rails are used to move the camera around a set used frequently by directors such as David Fincher. Fincher’s camera mimics the movements of each character, bringing the audience closer to them.

However, the first director to successfully carry this out was Stanley Kubrick in his 1980s horror film The Shining. The film opens with an aerial shot of the main family’s car driving through a mountain landscape.

The camera swoops and dives through the air trailing the car menacingly with the use of a helicopter.

Other iconic scenes from the film include the shot of Danny, the little boy, pedalling through the halls of the great Overlook Hotel or at the end when he is running through the maze. Kubrick archives these terrifying shots with a Steadicam, a frame that suspends a camera and isolates it from any sway from the operator, allowing the camera to move in a stable through an environment The way Kubrick’s camera moves here is claustrophobic and deeply off-putting; the halls close in around the innocent boy and move away on the edge of the frame.

This is how filmmakers excel, making the audience feel things without using words, action or crazy CGI to force feelings or emotion. Kubrick made his film terrifying with the use of camerawork and revolutionary technology in the Steadicam even more.

If you want to really experience all these techniques and more brought together into a gripping and powerful viewing experience, look no further than the films directed by the Safdie Brothers. Good Time and Uncut Gems (both available on Netflix) are some of my favourite films of the past decade and are beautiful showcases of the power of the movie medium. The way Benny and Josh Safdie combine extreme camera motion, lens work and stunning visuals across both films is jarring but also impressive. Uncut Gems, an incredible polarising film due to these techniques, received complaints and bad critique due to the level of stress and chaos that the Safdies managed to convey and express.

Nowadays, many directors turn to the use of absurd computer-generated visuals or sensationalized pop culture icons to bring life and emotion to film, however, there are still much more thoughtful and invigorated filmmakers that bring the past and future together. It is important to remember and appreciate the other ways directors developed techniques that led to the evolution of film into what it is today as it continues to evolve.

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Masterful Writing In Contemporary FilmThe Social Network MATEI POPESCU - WRITER EMILIA BARBU - EDITOR

2020. Social media runs rampant and shows no sign of stopping, having been part of our lives for as long as we can remember. Even though Facebook has fallen from the ranks of popularity amongst teenagers and young adults, there is no denying that it marked a revolution that led to the Digital Era of today.

Esteemed and celebrated film director Quentin Tarantino - a master of nonlinear storylines and extended scenes of dialogue, a household name for cinephiles and mass audiences alike - made a hefty statement in an interview circa May of this year: “It’s ‘The Social Network,’ hands down. It is number one because it’s the best, that’s all! It crushes all the competition.”

The question was: What is the best film of this last decade? Instead of picking one of his own movies, and he wouldn’t be wrong in doing so, he cites that “there are timely films, and then there’s ‘The Social Network,’ which was good enough back in 2010 to notch eight Oscar nominations and somehow seems as fierce and prescient and essential now, nearly a decade later.” If Tarantino’s own claim isn’t enough to convince audiences, then nothing is.

Mark Zuckerberg’s tumultuous programming and legal process of shaping Facebook into its present form are closely chronicled (in nonchronological order) by the 2010 film, now almost forgotten in the piles of discs at the bottom of the $5 DVD bin at Walmart.

Through a thin balance of David Fincher’s acute, precise direction and Aaron Sorkin’s witty, unflinching writing, ‘The Social Network’ marks the cinematic effort of two greats, succeeding with almost every regard to pacing, tension, character and spectacle. Already, an admiration factor of the film is its non-chronological structure. The film presents two separate interwoven points in Mark’s timeline, from his time at Harvard University until his legal debacle with fellow co-founder and friend Eduardo Saverin. These transitions from past to present to later in the past create a smooth-flowing narrative that ensures there’s never a deficit in pace. As the characters are introduced mid deposition process, a lot of information is withheld from the audience - some questions (notice not all) are answered by these jumps back in time and some are left unanswered until the end of the movie. One sure thing, the film keeps you well engaged throughout its whole duration, but not only because of its clever structure...

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Jesse Eisenberg, playing Zuckerberg himself, masterfully inhabits the quirky, witty, social outsider - there is great subtlety within the portrayal of the narcissistically confident yet emotionally repressed introvert. A change of emotion with the character is not marked by an obvious smile or a tear, but rather a change of pacing in dialogue, a downward gaze or even the slightest twitch of the bottom lip. This realistic feel, for which Fincher’s direction is responsible, accentuates character and grounds them in believability. In order to stray away from the dramatic aspects, the film finds humour with Zuckerberg’s witty responses and awkwardness; with razor-sharp montages and the caricatural portrayal of the antagonists.

Whilst Fincher capitalizes and envisions the lines to the best of quality, it is Sorkin’s literary genius as screenwriter which gives the movie an undeniable memorability and rewatchability.

Photo: MERRICK MORTON/COLUMBIA PICTURES

Aaron Sorkin adapts a rhythmical scheme within his dialogue that remains unparalleled in Hollywood and displayed full-force with his 2010 effort. The high speed of speech flows seamlessly as a result of Sorkin’s rhythm; something he achieves through the repetition of words spread through a small portion of consecutive, back and forth lines. The extract below is a perfect example of this:

The first scene of the movie - a duologue between a collegeaged Zuckerberg and his dissatisfied girlfriend - is delivered with such incredible speed and pace, the viewing requires subtitles for an audience member to fully grasp.

The three consecutive lines starting with ‘Or you’ and the multiple mentions of ‘row crew’ give the back-and-forth exchange a musical quality when spoken in rapid succession.

Try it yourself.

Apart from the harmonious quality of the interchange, Sorkin’s first scene beautifully establishes Mark’s character with no need for expository dialogue. From this personal talk, we understand that Mark is: quick-witted, intelligent, apathetic, insecure and driven. No character in the film blatantly tells us these attributes. We understand Mark’s character simply from the contents of his conversation with someone else. This is where lies, in conjunction with the rhythmic quality, Sorkin’s genius; his avoidance for the cheap way out not only treats the spectator intelligence with respect but also makes for a more satisfying viewing experience.

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Following the events of the movie, Facebook has grown to 2.7 billion users. With today’s conflict surrounding the social media app - mainly, their involvement in the Cambridge Analytica data scandal - to see its worldwide popularity and dependency is staggering, especially knowing of Zuckerberg’s original intended aim in creating a solely College-based interaction platform with ‘The Facebook’. Debates continue to rage on about the coming destruction of democracy - all a result of social media, and its role in the polarization of universal truth: fake news, targeted content and a platform that pits two communities against one another.

The 2020 Presidential Elections have shown the world just how politically divisive a democratic state can be, with programmers and owners of such social media companies putting America’s status as ‘on the verge of a civil war.’ Conversely, with Facebook presently owning Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger - the four most downloaded apps of the decade - our data and information is at the hands of one corporation: how do you feel about that?

Sorkin has voiced his contemplation for writing a sequel only if Fincher is on board to direct. 2010’s “The Social Network” is a poignant, prescient picture depicting the power of genius and the foreboding emotional involvement this power may give a platform to. The sequel will most probably entail Zuckerberg’s worrisome evolution, as the number of Facebook users and revenue grows simultaneously with his inevitable link to crisis and scandal.

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FASHION & DESIGN

A Peek Into Romanian Design Week BONNY TAR - WRITER RAFAEL DUQUE - EDITOR

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omanian Design Week (RDW) takes place every May to celebrate and showcase the works Romanian designers, be it product design, interior design, fashion, graphic design and more. My visit to the exhibition back in 2019 was unarguably one of my favourite memories of the year personally and certainly one of the most fascinating.

As my friends and I approached the RDW we were greeted by the Băncii Comerciale Române. It was a quaint European building that on that day, was draped with colourful banners announcing our highly anticipated event.

We followed the signs up a spiral staircase and that’s where the magic began -room after room filled to the brim were fascinating pieces of artworks spread over three floors. The aesthetics were enough to give me a glimpse into the Romanian culture of re-inventing objects from time to time, especially as the theme for the year was Recycling. Broken teacups repurposed into a 3D piece and fabrics made from recycled materials. Someone who really exudes this is Romania fashion designer Alexandra Șipa1 who weaves discarded electrical wires into bold avantgarde clothing. In her hometown Bacau,

The exhibition was well organised -- each room had a cohesive mood and curated artworks of the same branch: paintings and prints, fashion, mirrors and so on. One of my favourite rooms was a part of Ikea’s good night sleep campaign.

It was not visually striking but created a very inviting atmosphere because of the blankets spread over the floor and soft lighting. To be fair, every Ikea store is kind of like that.

I never understood the intent or meaning behind the art pieces, but at the end of the day, I had a lot of fun and so desperately wanted to return in 2020. When it didn’t take place this May due to the pandemic, I thought the event was cancelled. I later found out through Calin Husar’s very fashionable face mask, which had the RDW logo, that it was postponed to September this year. I reached out to him to find out about his experience this year and to give a Romanian perspective on RDW, which he kindly agreed to.

For him, the real experience began outside the building. While he was getting his ticket scanned, he was drawn towards the colourful masks the staff were wearing. When he complimented them, he was given a mask for free. From seven-foot mannequins to a row of sculptures showcasing interesting architectural builds across different Romanian cities, he was very much wowed by each and every design. voluptae voluptatibus aut aut qui doluptiur, ea consequ idunto cum eum essimi, nit que.

“The most mundane objects are treated like treasures. No matter their values, they are kept to last a lifetime.”

1 Her work was not featured in RDW, she illustrates the mentioned point.

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His favourite room was a gallery full of COVID-related artworks. He felt that they made light in such a dull situation through satirical humour, which he thought was nice and necessary. He showed me pictures from his visit and I was intrigued by the image on the bottom left so he told me the story behind it. The word “LIBERTATE” means liberty in Romanian. During the Communist era, the Romanian flag had a communist emblem in the middle. In the 1989 Revolution, AntiCeausescu revolutionaries would cut a hole in the middle of the flag to remove the emblem, a sign of the liberty they were yearning for. Despite the severe climate of the COVID pandemic, people across the world who tend to have little trust in science and the state identify with a group called “anti-maskers”. They take it to the streets to protest in large gatherings against lockdowns or the mandatory rules of mask-wearing outside one’s home. They often claim that governments are taking away their freedom. The displayed mask mocks anti-maskers by comparing their cause to the Revolution of 1989. A hole in a mask also renders the mask useless. This really showed me how every piece of art, no matter how small, can have a massive story just behind the canvas, fabric or screen.

There were also informative bits of pieces of Romanian culture throughout the exhibition, including a book on the history of LGBTQ+ rights in Romania. To sum it up, despite being held amid a pandemic, RDW 2020 was equally immersive but just a tad less interactive for safety reasons.

Anyone who enjoys the dynamic nature of modern art or just wants a fun day out with friends, should definitely visit RDW next year given that the pandemic doesn’t worsen. Calin also recommends taking a trip to the National Museum of Contemporary Art which he describes as RDW on five towering floors.

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An Interview with an Amateur Artist: Arina Costache (Y11) BRIONY TYLER - WRITER DANIEL PAPP - EDITOR

When did you start painting?

I started painting in the spring of 2019, taking classes from my neighbour who had just moved in. At the time I was still learning the basics: coloured gradients, complementary colours and art history.

One of my earliest paintings was done only in primary colours and the next was inspired by André Derain. By attempting the styles of great artists such as Cezanne, Matisse, and Rembrandt, I’ve learned techniques and gained abilities I wouldn’t have had otherwise. At first, I didn’t know what to paint, or had any style of my own at all, but with the help of my teacher, Viorica Romascu, I learned the intent and meaning behind the colours and brush strokes of paintings. I’ve painted in many different styles, ranging from non-colours to reaslim to pop art.

What has your painting taught you?

As I kept painting I’ve overcome several challenges. When I would paint in non-colour, my teacher would have to wash my paper in the sink because I had layered the paint on too thick. Only a couple weeks ago did I find myself doing the same thing to my own canvas. Art not only taught me patience and control over the strokes on the paper, but also made me stop to realize my mistakes. As I keep materializing the paintings I have in mind, I’m learning to stop and weigh the significance of every colour I use and every element that I paint.

Where do you find most of your inspiration?

Most of my work is inspired by the pop art style. When I first tried it, I fell completely in love with it. To be honest, I’ve incorporated it into most of my works, the explosive colours particularly pulling me in. I love working with bold colours because not only are they incredibly eye-catching, they are also a challenge to combine and lay out in a visually pleasing way.

What are the differences between what you paint in your own time versus at school?

In my personal time I tend to paint subjects of a broader spectrum; dancers, portraits or even occasional sceneries, while in school my vision is more focused on what part of the piece links to what other part, and how every creation is going to help me create my final piece. I work in graphite and tempera, sometimes acrylic. Recently, in my free-time, I’ve painted for my family; recreating an old picture of my great-greatgrandmother for my grandfather in oil paints, which took me about 2025 hours in total because it was on a 70x80cm canvas. These are usually some of the biggest pieces I create.

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What styles and mediums have you experimented in?

I’ve tried a multitude of artistic styles, from photography to textiles, from sculpting to print making. But the skill I’m currently developing is painting. I love the way in which a painting can express so much emotion through its colours and shadows. It is a dream of mine to be able to express emotions through the features of a portrait [...] to have the eyes I paint being able to convey true emotion - happiness, sadness or confusion. I wish for the mouth to convey anger, distress or excitement, simply from the fine lines and prints.

What advice would you give to other amateur artists, or aspiring ones?

I would seriously recommend that everyone should try painting something at least once in their lives as not only is the result rewarding, but the activity itself is psychologically calming. To all aspiring artists, enjoy what you’re doing and try all the mediums you can get your hands on. Art to someone else might be a disaster to you, but our work is meant to be appreciated by a multitude of people, not just ourselves. I feel the importance in allowing paintings and sculptures to be as bizarre or as realistic as you wish for it to be.

What are your plans for your art in the future?

I plan to explore more renowned artists and their different styles. By recreating some of their paintings, I hope to be able to broaden my abilities painting on different surfaces, my abilities to paint murals, stain glass, and creating more of my own pieces. Most of all, though, I want to improve my sculpture skills. As of right now I know how to paint on ceramics, fabrics, and on canvases, but I plan to learn more techniques and more mediums.

Who supports you when making art?

My art teacher and my parents are some of my biggest supporters, as well as a family friend, who keeps bringing me art history reading material. He’s one of my biggest supporters and without him I wouldn’t have had the motivation to grow and improve at such a fast rate. My art teacher is someone I can lean on when I need support; I come to her when I need advice on my paintings, what I should improve on and on how to achieve certain colours.

She is the one who introduced me to painting and for that I’m incredibly thankful. My dad, whose office is filled to the brim with my paintings, has a saying that I love: “I’m not taking them, I’m just keeping them safe in my office where I can keep an eye on them.”

Check out more amazing artwork at Arina Costache’s Instagram: @arinaaa_c

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The 2020 Fashion Shows ADA TOMESCU - WRITER BONNY TAR - EDITOR

I believe that fashion is one of the most critical industries in our world today. People express themselves and showcase their personalities through their style. What they choose to put on their body says a lot about whether they intend to conform to societal norms or stand out from the crowd. Fashion allows for experimentation, trying out different brands and trends to ultimately discover more about oneself and one’s preferences.

While fashion and COVID-19 are not synonymous, the industry has had to adapt to certain impacts of the pandemic. The 2020 fashion shows were able to take place owing to online platforms, hard-working models, stylists, designers and many other artists that have fought to bring beautiful pieces to the public eye even over the past year.

Fashion week is usually a highly exclusive event -- a series of invite-only shows featuring works by prestigious designers for A-list celebrities and tycoons who fly to the fashion capitals from everywhere around the world. This was not the case this year due to the global travel restrictions.

Hence, several brands chose to relocate their presence online.

Brands such as Burberry and Louis Vuitton have already held virtual showrooms to present their new collections to their thrilled audience.

On 17th September, Burberry introduced their Spring/Summer collection through a traditional runway show in London. As the location was large and in open-air, those who attended were able to enjoy the show while being socially-distanced. People who were unable to join didn’t have to miss out either since they could watch the live-streaming. Milan Fashion Week, starring brands like Prada and Bottega Veneta, and Couture Fashion Week in Paris also took place in a similar fashion. Chanel, Dior and Balmain have presented collections in new and innovative ways through film, lookbooks and socially-distanced presentations.

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However, not all brands decided to follow in their footsteps. A significant number chose to postpone their shows or forfeit fashion week altogether for the season as many suffered from profit losses. Couture Fashion Week in Paris was originally intended to take place on June 23rd-28th, but was later cancelled by La Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (FHCM) and had to transition to digital forms. Meanwhile, the fashion houses Armani Privé and Jean Paul Gaultier decided to keep their collections on hold until next January, taking this time to present something even better under hopefully more normal circumstances.

The Louis Vuitton show was one of my favourites from this year. The event was well organised and the clothes were stunning. Tripods live-streaming the event were placed around the room on seats saved for people who couldn’t attend in person, which certainly made viewers feel special. The event was held in a building where the walls were adapted into green screens so that the models could be accompanied by a lively video. Each look was nicely put together, from the shoes to the sunglasses. The main item focus was oversized toursers with thick belts. Big coats also made an appearance along with colourful bags, which popped against the black and white video projected onto the walls. The unique clothes, beautiful models and incredible organisation made this truly a work of art. The pictures you see are some of my favourite looks from the show.

The pandemic as a whole brought a lot of inconvenience for brands as they had to undergo several changes to adjust to the new guidelines whilst grasping onto their audience’s attention. However, it was in many ways beneficial for the audience. The majority of the viewers coming from different countries did not have to fly out exclusively for Fashion Week, hence saving their time whilst ensuring lowering their risks of infection.

I really appreciate all the people who tried their hardest to bring the best possible experience to the audience. It is them who made Fashion Week magical even during times like these. To me, a fashion show is much more than a presentation. It is a performance that inspires and entertains by showcasing what fashion and clothes actually are -- wearable art.

Photos: Giovanni Giannoni/WWD

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The Matriarchs of Fashion: Coco Chanel ADA TOMESCU - WRITER BONNY TAR & RAFAEL DUQUE - EDITORS

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hroughout time, many fashion designers with unique visions have introduced new trends that have permanently changed the landscape of style and fashion. A handful of their names are now so well known that almost anyone would recognise them. Coco Chanel is not only one of those names, but arguably the most pivotal fashion inspirations of all time.

So how did Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel reach such a high status in the history of the fashion industry? She began as a French fashion designer and businesswoman, and despite the empire she ended up building, she was not born into wealth or an influential family. On the contrary, Chanel was born in 1883 on the 19th of august in a little french village named Saumur.

Her parents were unmarried and her father was a market trader, they both had nothing to do with the fashion industry/world. She had one older sister, Julia Berthe, and four younger siblings, Alphonse, Antoinette, Lucien and Augustin, who unfortunately died soon after birth. Her mother died of bronchitis when she was 11 years old, prompting her father to place the children for adoption. Coco and her sisters were placed in the ‘Orphanage of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Mary,' while her brothers were placed with farm laborers.

The family she still kept in contact with were her aunts, Adrienne and Louise. At the orphanage, Coco Chanel learned how to sew and embroider, but it was her aunt Louise who taught her how to change clothing items, like bonnets, and make them unique.

The two would spend entire days making clothes.

When she turned 18 she was sent to the Notre-Dame finishing school for young ladies in the town of Moulins. In 1903 she got a job assisting a local dressmaker and in her free time, she would participate in small musicals. Her act only consisted of two songs which both had the name “Coco” in them so that became her nickname. Soon the idea of becoming a singer sparked up and she moved to the town of Vichy to pursue that dream. However, after discovering that her voice was not as good as she hoped it would be, Chanel returned to her previous job.

Later on, she started making hats for fun which she would present as social shows such as horse races which she could attend thanks to her influential lovers.

Creator: The Granger Collection | Credit: The Granger Collection Copyright: Copyright © The Granger Collection, New York / The Granger Collection

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After receiving overwhelmingly good feedback, she decided to open her first store in 1909. The second store was opened in 1913 in a town called Deauville where she also sold casual luxury clothes. Her designs stood out since they were different from any other brand at the time. At the time when women were trapped in corsets, Chanel realized that that isn’t the way a modern woman should dress -- they shouldn’t have to be uncomfortable to look graceful. Her designs showed that luxury, elegance, and comfort can all go together, which sounded unbelievable back in 1913.

In 1916, she presented her first collection which was published in Vogue magazine, and soon after, she established her fashion house, Chanel. In 1921, Chanel created her first perfume, the famous Chanel N°5. The number was chosen because when the time came, 10 fragrances were presented to her, numbered from 1 to five and from 20 to 24. She chose number five. Coco Chanel was the first designer to lend her name to a fragrance and the bottle was even designed by Chanel herself, her inspiration being old dresser bottles that her lover Arthur Cape used, one of her previous suitors who died in a tragic car accident a couple of years before. After the perfume was ready she invited her friends to a popular upmarket restaurant where she sprayed it around the table. Later, women kept stopping by and asking about it. That’s when she knew it was going to be “a revolutionary perfume”. She was proud that she had achieved her goal, making a feminine perfume\ she had achieved her goal of making a feminine perfume.

Coco Chanel, later on, said: “It was what I was waiting for. A perfume like nothing else.

A woman's perfume, with the scent of a woman."

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She introduced many somewhat controversial items such as collared shirts with ties for women and boater hats, something frowned upon at that time.

She also introduced the renowned little black dress in 1926 -- a simple yet elegant look that can be styled in numerous ways. This became one of the most revolutionary designs that is still worn to this day.

Other Chanel trademark designs include the striped sailor shirt, the quilted Chanel purse, the two-tone Chanel pump, and the Chanel suit.

“In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.”

- Coco Chanel

In 1939, when the second World War started, she closed all her stores except for the main boutique because, in her own words, “this wasn’t the time for fashion”. During the Nazi occupation in Paris, she lived in the Ritz hotel with her lover Baron Hans Günther von Dincklagea -- a member of Abwehr the German Military Intelligence. In 1941, her antiSemitic beliefs propelled her to join the Abwehr under the code name Agent F-7124. However, both Chanel and the Chanel House always denied her collaboration with the Nazis. In 1954, she returned to the fashion industry and reopened her high fashion house. During her last years, Coco was ‘a lonely figure’. She mentioned retirement, but never actually went through with it, however, in her 80s work became harder due to her condition of arthritis. She died later on in 1971 of a heart attack that occurred while she was working on her spring collection.

Chanel’s fresh perspective and never-seen-before approach towards fashion make her stand out amongst the other twentieth-century designers. I admire her defiance in following trends set by men by producing a line that enabled women to feel comfortable and elegant for the first time in fashion history. Whilst she held some extremely problematic beliefs, we should be aware that this is the case with most of the “greatest people in history”, from Hugo Boss designing the Nazi uniforms to Albert Einstein’s blatantly racist travel diaries.

Chanel Suit with the Chanel quilted purse

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Chanel two-tone pumps

Photo: Najla Cam on Unsplash

The Famous 1926 Little Black Dress

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The Halls of Valhalla

BY ILINCA NUTA & VEDANGINI BAHL

The doors of Valhalla welcome The beautiful soul of a fighter, High above the darkening world, These hallowed halls shine brighter.

Odin sits at his throne, Awaiting death with open arms.

Celebrating every arrival with booming voices, Until the empty souls come around.

Stories so dark, and voices so feeble, Odin realises, Every fight is very different, And every fighter is a hero in their own right.

She was clinging on the back, Of the boy she loved.

Unconditionally, no matter the empty bottles.

Or the undeserved acts of aggression.

Cause she managed to stand through it all, With a heart full of love.

Love for the boy who made her feel small.

For the boy that took her on his bike, The one who wore the only helmet.

And sped up as they turned right.

It was then she knew she’d had enough.

It was her turn to scream for him to stop.

To climb off his speeding motorbike.

And leave him once and for all.

So stop he did, when taken by surprise, For this girl had never raised her voice before.

They crashed into a wall.

She rose above her lying body, Above the dazzled boy who held her With his bloody hands.

The girl now roams freely in Valhalla, With no bruises or chain around her neck.

In these halls she feels safe and sound, Where heroes who go down fighting are found.

There once was a little boy, Who played with tiny cars and baby dolls.

The restrictions of society far behind him, He never understood the concept of masculine or feminine.

In the darkness of the night, He would steal from his mother, Her pretty red lipsticks and beautiful shadow palettes.

Completely in love with the way colours blended on his face, And the way the eyeliner moved across his eyes.

He never thought expressing himself was wrong.

When school-mates laughed and teased him, So mercilessly, He tried to stand tall.

He thought he was a piece of art, Was that really so wrong?

“You’re disgusting” and “You’re a disgrace to society” Were words he’d heard so often, But the constant remarks still took a toll.

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Until one day they took his baby doll.

Stolen from his backpack, After he was ruthlessly shoved aside.

The friends who took it, Made comments so snide.

“Did you forget you were a boy?”

They scoffed, “Let’s fix you” they said, And threw his doll far away.

Deeper and deeper it fell into the lake, Screaming, he jumped in without a thought, As the boys laughed loudly from behind.

The cold water engulfed him and he struggled to breathe, Until finally he was once again awake.

Holding the doll in his feeble hands, He looked around and realised, He was in the sacred halls of Valhalla, Where heroes who go down fighting were found.

A half-eaten sandwich, Is suddenly his most prized possession.

His stomach grumbling, Yet he does not dare to eat it.

For there are many mouths to feed at home.

His hunger ravenous, He stumbles through the dark, Until he hears the joyful but tired voices, Of his dimly lit family home.

“Oh brother, what do you have for us today?”

A familiar voice chirps.

Tiny, hungry faces, gather at his feet.

His mother sees the unveiling scene, With a smile that hides years of agony.

All the littles take their share, Until just half a slice of bread remains.

He stomach lurches with the thought of food, But his eyes turn towards his mother.

He finds his hands extend towards her, “Take it mum, I know you’re hungry.”

And she gratefully does.

He closes his eyes, His stomach growling but his heart happy.

He fed his loved ones once again, And would do so, as long as it’s needed.

“Three more days until I get paid.”

He thinks triumphantly.

The chance to get a proper meal, Instead of food from the dumpster, Fills his heart with glee.

His eyes flutter open the next morning, But the usual noise he would hear is gone.

Coming to his senses, he looks around.

Not in his house no more, He’s standing in on the hallowed halls of Valhalla, Where heroes that go down fighting are found.

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C U LT U R E

BONNY TAR - WRITER DANIEL PAPP - EDITOR

NOVEMBER Sales Drove Me Crazy Whenever the “new mail sound” flashes, I check my laptop frantically, foolishly hoping for a university interview selection email. Sadly, it’s always another sales announcement email from a brand.

As someone who began online shopping this summer, this was my first time feeling the full, albeit online, presence of the November sales. Taking a quick look at my inbox, I realised that I received 45 emails from a makeup brand named Morphe in November alone. Although I recall one or two notifications popping in every day, my mind didn’t put together the sheer number of emails received as reading them just became habitual activity. Each notification meant a few minutes of my time spent checking out the Morphe website, analysing the colour scheme of eyeshadow palettes, and maybe even watching YouTube reviews. Every. Single. Time.

Morphe’s marketing scheme completely transformed from a frugal shopper into a brainless sales freak who wanted to check the website “just one more time” in case there was another deal I’d be foolish to ignore. Morphe wasn’t the only brand playing this game though, they were the ones who pushed it the most.

For a little bit of context, November is home to three of the biggest online sales: Singles’ Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. Black Friday and Cyber Monday originate from Thanksgiving, an American holiday celebrating gratitude and harvest on the fourth Thursday of November. The day after Thanksgiving is the most well-known sale across the world Black Friday. Dating back to the mid-twentieth century, malls would usually be packed with shoppers scurrying around in a state of frenzy, chasing the best discounts. The following Monday marks Cyber Monday, which was launched in 2005 to encourage online shopping.

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Meanwhile, back on 11 November 1993, Chinese students at 南 京大学 (Nanjing University) started 双十一 (pinyin: shuāng shí yī) -- a holiday celebrating being single by buying themselves lots of presents. 双 means double whilst 十一 means eleven since the event takes place on 11/11. I’m guessing that they deliberately picked that date as 1 could represent being single.

The giant e-commerce company Alibaba embraced the holiday in 2009 and marketed it as the biggest sale in China, which is now known as 11/11 or Singles’ Day internationally.

So, did I end up buying anything? Absolutely not. Turns out Morphe is a shady brand who has been in several controversies for private labelling issues and working with problematic influencers. I tried to remove my email from their mailing list several times but it would always direct me to Error 404. A Reddit thread revealed that this has been an issue back in 2019 too, so I suspected that it could be another tactic by Morphe to keep you in their bubble. Eventually, I blocked them and so all their messages went straight to junk mail. At last, peace was restored.

worth of clothes every year, of which 85% are dumped into landfills or burned. All this has put me off from buying new clothes just because I like how they look. Instead, I would like to try thrifting once the pandemic is over.

If I’d be given the opportunity to reexperience this rollercoaster of a month, these points are a few things I would keep in mind: 1. Only sign up for promotional materials from brands that you already have experience with to avoid getting lured in by more malicious brands.

2. Consumerism is on an all-time high, with people buying things “just for fun”. Don’t be tempted to shop just because there are sales. Try to only buy items that you are positive that you want and need.

3. Be a more conscious consumer: do a quick Google search on your favourite brands to see whether they are ethical, problematic etc. Since so many of our day-to-day brands have ethical issues, such as the famous Nike sweatshops, it is hard to avoid situations like this.

As for the fashion department, I have been extremely tempted to revamp my wardrobe as it still contains pieces from when I was 13. Hint: I haven’t grown since I was 12. However, the enormous environmental impacts of fast fashion have been highlighted to me in the past few months by a few sustainable fashion Instagram accounts I’ve followed. The fashion industry contributes to 10% of global emissions and 20% of wastewater. Not to mention the amount of textile waste that is being produced. The average European throws away €700 MOSAIC

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C U LT U R E

How do celebrities influence us?

ALEXIA SCINTEE - WRITER ILINCA NUTA - EDITOR

We all have that one celebrity or public figure we look up to. Be it a singer, actor, political figure or anyone else, they affect us and shape our character, whether we know it or not.

Dating back to our childhoods when we watched cartoons, we’ve always had that one character that we felt most drawn to. Our actions might be derived from something they did, our speech from the way they spoke. All these fine details can actually define who we grow up to be. The only problem is that imitation has downturns as well. Children are very easily influenced; the slightest exposure to bad behaviour can make them replicate it, thinking that it is the right thing to do and the right way to act.

Research has shown that 45% of teenagers agree with the statement, “The music that I listen to makes marijuana seem cool”.

We all know or have heard songs which indirectly promote the consumption of drugs and alcohol as a way to have fun.

While we might not notice it at first, as we continuously hear something, our brain continues to process it in our subconscious.

With time, all these thoughts will lead us to wonder if they really are that bad if so many people talk about them, and that’s how many teenagers end up trying them for the first time.

In recent years, social media has really climbed up the ladder of influence on teens’ lives, as they are always up to date with the newest trends and things happening. Seeing celebrities often post pictures of them smoking or drinking on those platforms makes them normalize the use of substances and unpurposefully tricks teens into thinking that by doing the same they will look attractive or cool.

Celebrities sometimes promote, sing or discuss things that might not have a special meaning to them, but greatly affect teenagers. For example, 80% of teenage girls have said that they compare themselves to images they see of celebrities. While the star itself might talk about having no problems in achieving a so-called “perfect body”, young girls all over the world go to extremes to match that old fashioned “beauty concept”, and find themselves suffering from physical and psychological issues. Many female celebrity figures have spoken up about the use of photoshop to enhance their features and wipe away all imperfections, like Jennifer Lawrence and Melissa McCarthy.

Singer and designer Rihanna shocked the modeling industry by hiring models of all shapes, sizes and ethnicities. When questioned about the ideals of beauty presented by the entertainment and fashion industry, she replied by saying

“You have to remember that it’s not practical or possible for an everyday woman to look like that.

It’s not realistic and it’s not healthy” She allowed many women to get into the modeling business, even after they were made to believe they’d never meet the standards our society imposes.

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One example of good celebrity influence is what the fans of the South Korean band BTS did. The band donated $1 million for the Black Lives Matter campaign, and when their fans, also known as ARMY, found out, they matched the sum in only 24 hours.

What is pleasantly surprising is that it wasn’t the only time their fans have shown their devotion by contributing to good causes in the name of the band. Due to this year’s restrictions imposed due to COVID-19, their world tour was cancelled, and when the fans got the money from their tickets back, they showed compassion yet again by donating it to COVID-19 relief campaigns.

The band also started a campaign called “Love Myself” in November 2017 in honour of their album with the same title. The campaign was a two year anti-violence campaign in partnership with UNICEF, and 100% of the income from the sale of the campaign merchandise was donated to the cause. Their fans, as always, wanted to help, and so they sold out within the week.

K-pop Boy Group BTS at the launch of their ‘LOVE MYSELF’ campaign in 2017 Photo: BigHIt Entertainment

I think that it is always good to have a role model, be it a celebrity or not. We should look at their good qualities and deeds, but also remember that nobody is perfect. At the same time, I think that teenagers especially should be warry of how much they take from their idol’s words or actions and impliment into their own lives.

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C U LT U R E

Does Social Media Have A Negative Influence On Today’s Youth?

ADA TOMESCU - WRITER DANIEL PAPP, BONNY TAR, ILINCA NUTA - EDITOR

S

ocial media has become an important part of our tech-savvy society today. It helps people communicate, share information and bring awareness about various topics. However, it can also affect us in negative ways, including damaging our mental health or even causing us to lose the ability to form our own ideas.

Firstly, a big aspect of social media is communication. It allows us to socialise and meet other people, something which we couldn’t always do for different reasons such as geographical separation or social distance requirements.

With today’s apps, like Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and others, anyone can interact with individuals from all around the world. They provide us with opportunities. COVID-19 is a major issue at the moment and it has affected us all greatly. One of the consequences is that we can’t see each other face to face due to safety reasons. Here social media comes in handy since we can simply facetime our loved ones or text them anytime without putting our lives at risk.

This not only helps us keep in touch with people during these challenging times, but we can also make new friends.

On a smaller scale, with access to social media we can now talk to almost anyone. This not only helps us socialise more, but social media also teaches us different things about other cultures or countries which we can learn by talking to the people who live there. Meanwhile, through these apps, small businesses can gain a following or companies in general can engage more with their customers and receive feedback on their products and services.

However, there is a downside to how easy it is to communicate via social media. First of all, now-a-days there are a lot of people online that steal identities and pretend to be someone else. Currently, catfishing is a major issue that befalls most communities, where individuals take on alternative identities with malicious intent, such as theft or grooming. This can be dangerous as one can never be sure whether someone you’re communicating with is telling the truth. But, with proper precautions, this can be avoided.

Another serious problem is that teenagers now-a-days struggle to communicate face-to-face since they are so used to being behind a screen. After always talking to people on apps and getting used to them not seeing our reactions or being able to easily text someone rather than having to go up to them in person, it can become challenging to socialise well in our day-to-day life. This could cause social anxiety which is a major issue that is hard to deal with and instead of making more friends thanks to social media, you could end up losing some.

Another important aspect of social media is the ability to share information and raise awareness. This can also be both beneficial and harmful. It can be great, anyone can share photos or different things that bring them joy, this way helping others by trying to share their happiness or just posting certain events that occur in their life so they can later on take a look back at them. A person can post anything from pictures taken during their last vacation to information about the latest events going around the world as a way of teaching others. In 2020 social media has become a major source of information for today’s youth. It’s helpful because teenagers can now be more informed about important issues and can participate in things that affect our planet and our everyday lives. This can help us mature and start learning about how to deal with significant problems.

However, it can also be disadvantageous because there is a lot of misleading information online so we have to learn how to filter it and who to trust. After being used to listening to someone else’s ideas, at one point some teenagers might be unable to form their own.

Ultimately, in some scenarios, this can rob them of their own opinion. Not only that, but the fact that anyone can share anything is quite worrisome. Strangers can post inappropriate information or pictures unsuitable for children which can scar those who see them. Or even if the content shared doesn’t seem negative, it can still lead to significant problems such as developing insecurities.

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FOMO, also known as ‘fear of missing out’, is another strong argument against social media. As people tend to only show the good side of things when posting on social media about their life, the teenagers behind a screen can start comparing themselves to that perfect version of someone else. This can be extremely harmful to their mental health and can lead to insecurities about body image and several other complications. After seeing that others are having fun, a person not included can start feeling anxious and question their friendships, which can be immensely damaging for teenagers.

In conclusion, after looking at the key aspects of social media and analysing the good and bad of both, I personally believe that social media is both a positive and negative influence on today’s youth. Therefore, we should focus on the possibilities it brings, but try to limit the time spent on such platforms since it can damage our mental health or go as far as putting us in physical and psychological danger.

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C U LT U R E

Journaling: A Habit Everyone Should Take Up ILINCA NUTA - WRITER BONNY TAR - EDITOR

I sometimes find myself looking at kids a few years younger than me, thinking: ”Was I like this when I was their age?” Well, I don’t know, was I? I cannot even remember how it was inside my head a month ago, due to the way my mindset constantly changes. I have recently started to grasp the understanding of how important it is for myself to recognize if this change is for the better or for the worse, but it’s quite difficult to make this judgement all by myself.

I once stumbled across some pages I wrote when I was in middle school and to say I was embarrassed would be an understatement.

Twelve-year-old me was rambling on about how much I fell in love with this boy that I had barely even talked to before, writing love poems and declarations and feeling misunderstood by my friends. It was something that had slipped my mind entirely, but left me smiling with a hint of tears at the memories it brought up, at the realization that all I was a few years ago might have just been lost in time, remembered by no one, myself included.

The only thing that helped me in defeating this passing nature of time was journaling. Still, I’ve had a very hard time doing it consistently. There are a few diaries from when I was 8, then 10 and 11. There are countless documents on my drive with the emotional burden I was carrying typed out on the screen. Then some hour-long recordings on my phone of me just ranting on about my life, and the notes in my phone from the times I was in long car-rides with just my thoughts to keep me company.

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My journaling style is very chaotic, which is not something I specifically recommend, but it still helped me so very much over the course of my life. It seems like such an advantageous concept to me, which is why I find it quite surprising that so very few people actually do it. Sure, so many of us have received a little book from our parents called “My Secret Diary” on our eighth birthday. It got us so excited about writing in it every single day and starting each entry with “Dear Diary,”. However, most didn’t make it past a few days of writing in it, as it’s hard to expect a kid to keep up a healthy habit by their own will.

The popularity of these diaries must have been partially caused by the very well known series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, with which so many kids, including myself, commenced their reading career. It was easy-going, fun, but most importantly relatable and personal. Those are traits that persist in all kinds of journals, including more serious ones like Anne Frank’s diary or Leonardo DaVinci’s. Real diaries that end up being published have a sort of intimate feeling to them -- like you are really watching someone’s mind unfold right in front of your eyes. There’s something about the way a journal is written, with no intention to present someone’s life to others in a particular manner, but merely for the writer to themselves.

Keep in mind that journaling is not that much about listing activities or achievements but about documenting your feelings at an exact moment in time, for I have found that feelings are easy to forget when you do not put them into words. Minds are messy places, they swirl with thoughts and memories that simply refuse to come in order when most needed.

Writing especially comes in handy in the context of an argument. I am a quite forgiving person, and it has proved to be a disadvantage when faced with toxic behaviour of others.

Taking into example a former friend of mine: we argued a lot, she treated me badly, but I moved on after every fight forgetting what it was I’d even been mad about. So then the cycle continued, my friend kept the same harmful behaviour over and over until I decided to write about what exactly she did, how it made me feel and then how she still managed to make me feel like I was overreacting. It seemed that my mind was too weak in front of her manipulation to realize it on its own, but by writing it down, I was able to clearly recognize the red flags and back away from the friendship with good reason.

If you have not yet been persuaded to start journaling, think again. I believe you might be familiar with the fever of the main character, which increased in popularity due to those “Put a finger down” Tik Toks or the specific playlists of music on youtube intended to “make you feel like the main character”.

There’s an interesting psychology behind it: we all dread the possibility of being a side character yet still love to hate on the main one. While it may seem like a simple trend or saying, it is actually deeply connected to the fear of not being enough, of being insignificant in the whole scheme of life and counting as just another number. So I have found that keeping a diary is such an easy way to feel like you can be the main character, cause you are not obligated to take anyone else’s perspective into account, nor view things objectively.

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Journaling makes you feel like you are entitled to acknowledge every single aspect of your life to be revolving around you, and there is absolutely no one to call you selfish because of it. This is a mindset which shouldn’t be applied in day to day interactions and thoughts, but very useful when you start feeling small and unimportant, when you have lost the understanding of yourself as a person.

We all deserve to be the main characters in at least one story: our own.

Most importantly, journaling is a very helpful way of overcoming a general state of sadness. When going through a sort of slump, there’s a common blockage in people’s minds that make them not want to think about really anything: there’s this feeling of a void, like existing is merely an action far away from truly living, If the gloom comes because of no particular reason, it must overcome by finding many reasons to be happy or grateful. Start a list and really think about it, about every aspect of your life and the people in it, because reasons for joy are so easily found when you decide to search for them, and it’s not so easy to ignore them when they’re beautifully written down in front of you.

To fuel up your creativity, you can even decide to do little doodles, drawings, write in different colours with various fonts or use decorations. And despite popular belief, journaling is something perfectly appropriate for both girls and boys to do: there is nothing wrong with being in touch with your feelings and exploring your creative side, it does not make you any less of a strong, individual person, but it rather helps with developing into something much more.

What you decide to write in your journal is something you do not owe to anyone but yourself. So take that time at the end of the day, instead of scrolling through meaningless Instagram stories, to write about how you feel, what thoughts swirl in your head, just leave something to remember that day by and get rid of any idea that the moments you spend could be insignificant.

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My 2020

BY BONNY TAR

… Down the hole of twenty-twenty It’s getting harder just to breathe.

Trapped in small spaces with several screens, Graced with the same company for what seems Like an endless dream.

January marked a hopeful start Until my new perfume glass broke into shards.

My parents were furious while I was curious:

How long would my bathroom smell like green tea?

A few days later, on my way to school, I was caught in a gaze and gently grazed by a car.

My bike was in critical condition but I was left unfazed, Determined to ace my Biology test that day.

In February I was dragged to ski on Black By friends who probably desired to break my back.

Yet, the real injury occurred in the comforts of home Where I hit my head hard on the cabinet door.

Lockdown began in the midsts of March, Right after school closed “For just a week” When people turned into panic-buying freaks.

The rest of the school year was just a blur.

All I recall are the annoying soundtracks of Hooper’s Half Hour Along with his horror story of a blade stuck in his finger.

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Exams didn’t happen back in June, Which some understood as impending doom.

Meanwhile, others were over the moon.

One thing for sure, no one had a clue.

July granted me the opportunity To look like a cafeteria lady, dressed in full PPE. Observing hysteroscopies and laparoscopies, Egg collections and embryo implantations, My delightful week of work experience soon came to an end.

At the end of August, in the Aegean Sea On an island with no cases, I should’ve felt free.

But when I saw unmasked people, I wanted to flee.

I let myself tan for the very first time, Rebelling against colourism in my mind.

I dreaded returning to school in September, Scared of infection and social interaction.

The thought of sitting beside those I’d confided in before, No longer provided comfort at all.

October was an absolute mess, Up in wee hours rewriting to impress Universities in time for the UCAS deadline.

Buried in past papers worth eleven years, Met an old enemy Physics in tears.

Section one, two, three went by in a breeze As I sat my BMAT in early November.

Three weeks straight, I had to painfully wait For my results, knowing fate cannot change.

All three weeks, I was burned out I could neither work nor chill around.

December drained both my pocket and I Thanks to Christmas and early mock exams. … Down the hole of twenty-twenty I’m glad it’s over, I’m ready to leave.

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COVID CORNER

Scarce with resources, high on population.

How did India respond to COVID-19?

VEDANGINI BAHL - WRITER RAFAEL DUQUE & EMILIA BARBU - EDITORS

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OVID-19 was declared a public health emergency of international concern by WHO (World Health Organisation) on the 30th of January 2020 as it took the world by storm. No country, no matter their status quo in the world, was ready to cope with the strenuous pressure of the novel virus. Although the economic and finance sector of every country were heavily impacted, understandably, the medical provinces were beyond manageable pressure. With every new positive case, ventilators and hospital beds grew scarce. As developed countries such as the United States and France scrambled to put their accumulated finances into the medical domain for testing, hygiene and care for patients, developing countries and those indebted were left to fend for themselves.

With this in mind, one of the fastest growing economies, and the world’s biggest democratic nation; India, was forced to curb the spread of the virus. Afterall, taking control of the imminent threat the virus posed is not an easy endeavour, especially in a country of a population of nearly 1.38 billion. Therefore the real question is; as a developing country, how did India tackle the virus?

Surveillance was first implemented in India on the 17th of January 2020, much before the first positive case was reported on 30th January. Followed closely by strict regulations on travelling and imposing efforts to repatriate and quarantine Indian nationals arriving from abroad, India showed promising early control of the virus. However, nothing is as rosy as it first seems, and the flaws in control soon started showing.

Not only was the medical district unable to cope up with the growth rate and spread of the virus, they soon started running out of space to treat the positive patients. Rural inhabitants, residing deep in the trenches of India had an abundance of problems: access to ventilators and medical help for positives was negligent, extreme sanitary conditions meant hygiene levels were derogatory and high levels of illiteracy meant people did not realise the true extent of COVID-19. In urban cities, problems were different. People soon realised that the medical sector was drowning under the sea of positive cases. The daily testing capacity was just 4,100 tests nationwide in early March, and for a country home to 1.38 billion people, this number was nothing. The Indian Government soon realised that to protect the country they had to take control of the situation and step up their efforts by leaps.

And so, they did.

While developed countries such as France and Spain used high-speed trains to transport patients in and out of cities, India’s brain was ticking. On March 28th, the idea to use railway coaches to treat COVID-19 patients was drafted by India’s Prime Minister; Narendra Modi. After the conception, the next step was execution. Approximately 5,320 sleeper class coaches were converted to Care Level 1 centres, to either isolate or treat suspected or milder cases. Naturally, the transformation of railway coaches into care centres was an arduous task. The glaringly obvious problem was the structural aspect of the coaches, so that social distancing was maintained. The middle berth in each cabin (bay) was eliminated, allowing two patients to be treated on either side of the lower berth. This meant that seating capacity for each coach that could hold 75 people was reduced to a mere 16 patients. Although 16 patients is not many, multiply it by the 5,320 coaches that were transformed and you end up with accommodation for a whopping 80,000 patients.

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The Indian government stated that more coaches could be transformed at a week’s notice to create more capacity when needed. The transformation of the railway coaches marked the initiation of the “hospital-on-wheels”. What followed on the list were daily amenities and requirements: - Toilets were converted to well-equipped bathrooms with hand showers, bath gels with towels and sanitisers.

- Windows were fitted with mosquito nets to allow for easy ventilation.

- Power plugs and sockets were installed for various different medical equipment.

- Plastic curtains were installed for privacy - Each coach was equipped with oxygen cylinders for critical patients.

(PHOTO)

Doctors perform surgery inside the "Hospital-on-Wheels" Photo: REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

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Maintenance of the coaches remained in the hands of the Railway sector, while food and linens were provided by the government. Each train was tied to the nearest hospital which ensured a steady flow of medical staff and equipment.

The “Hospital-on-Wheels” initiative was made operational on the 27th of May, exactly 60 days after the conception. Since then, access to medical care in rural areas notably increased because railway services are the most widely spread and preferred mode of transportation throughout India, with stations in places no car or aeroplane could reach.

Seeing the success of the makeshift initiative in India, the Italian government has now begun working on converting trains to hospitals to ensure that they have better control on the second wave of the Sanitary Crisis..

While the government made provisions to take care of the country, Indian entrepreneurs were inclined to do the same.

In early April, an app called ‘Aarogya Setu’ was launched by the Indian government that used GPS and bluetooth to inform users when they were at the risk of exposure to COVID-19. The app was developed before tech giants like Apple and Google engaged in similar initiatives. A startup; Asimov Robotics, deployed robots in hospital isolation wards to carry food and medicine to patients, thus taking pressure off the medical staff, while another startup; Marut Dronetech, used drones to deliver medical supplies and detect body temperatures using thermal images.

The company also supplied drones that were used by the government to monitor adherence to rules pertaining to social distancing. Apart from this, companies like ‘Nocca Biotechs’ and ‘Aerobiosys Innovations’ incubated at various Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) centres that have been working on developing low-cost, easy-to-use, portable ventilators that can be used to treat rural patients.

As Indian citizens felt safe and welltaken care of, the Indian government worked towards the safety and welfare of expats in the country. WhatsApp support groups were launched in all major cities in India. The requests and queries on groups pertained to amenities that were open including: - Pet care facilities - Housekeeping - Grocery stores and restaurants that offered home deliveries, etc.

“Another incident is of a French CxO in the city [that] had similar trouble of not having anyone to drive him around for essentials, so we had to find a neighbor to introduce to his family, so that daily food supply was not an issue, earlier on while online services were all blocked,” quoted the CEO of Global Adjustments, Rohini Manian, who conceptualised the

Photo: REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

idea of connecting expats across the country through What’s app groups.

“Through WhatsApp groups we found others from our own country. We talk a lot of time about going back home, but right now we feel safer here in India than we could be in Italy,” said an Italian expat in a web interview.

However, that is not the last of things that the Indian government has done. In a recent press conference, the government projected CoWin-20 as the go-to app for COVID-19 vaccine distribution. But, what is CoWin? It is the world’s first, digital vaccine distribution and management system. Once the vaccine will be available on a global scale, it will generate a message informing the beneficiary. The government said that the primary objective of the app is to keep a track of COVID-19 vaccination programmes and allow Indian citizens to apply for the shots.

Innovation. Agility. Alertness. These are the factors that play a huge part in handling the unprecedented crisis in not only developed countries but developing ones as well. India embraced its status as a developing country in the world, and put forward their very best foot and their innovative mindsets to quickly digress the spread of the virus. Just as developed countries followed India’s lead in various initiatives, India too was guided by other countries at various points proving that in times of crisis, the only way to move forward was together.

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COVID CORNER

A Thorough Look Over The New mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines: Should You Get Vaccinated?

LUCA DOLTU (ALUMNI) & BONNY TAR - WRITER BONNY TAR - EDITOR

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ver the past few years I have come to take for granted the shifting direction of modern medicine, especially in developed countries.

Life expectancies have risen remarkably over the past century. Since the dawn of vaccinations and antibiotic treatments, we have been able to eliminate or control many of the diseases which have contributed so much to mortality and morbidity over most of human history.

The focus of medicine, I had come to conclude, is shifting more towards the prevention and treatment of chronic illnesses, genetic illnesses, and diseases which are due more to lifestyle factors rather than pathogens.

Illnesses the likes of cancer and CVD have dominated headlines in the news, and pathogen-borne illnesses have sort of faded from the public eye… until now.

The speed with which SARS-Cov-2 (widely known as COVID-19) has spread across the world has taken even the most developed countries by surprise. The disruption caused

by COVID-19 around the world is clear, and I need not mention the clear effect the pandemic has had on our social lives, as well as our learning this year. However, I am not writing this article to reiterate all of the changes we have experienced.

What is in the vaccine?

There are different methods through which vaccines work. Traditionally, well-known vaccines like the MMR vaccine4, or the Polio vaccine contain a live-attenuated version of the virus. Other vaccines could also take the form of inactivated toxins, such as the tetanus vaccine. Moderna’s and Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccines however, use a new technology, which promises to revolutionize medicine yet again: mRNA vaccines.

Messenger RNA (mRNA) normally plays a vital role in function of our cells. This single-stranded molecule usually transports genetic information from the nucleus of our cells, where DNA is stored, to ribosomes, where translation occurs and a protein is made from amino acids before any further post-translational modifications take place elsewhere in the cell – but I’m getting ahead of myself. So, what has this got to do with immunity? Due to the universal nature of DNA and RNA, all living organisms use the same methods to code for and create proteins, which allows our cells to create the viral proteins, called antigens, which stimulate an immune response.

COVID-19 is an extraordinary challenge. But it is one which the medical community around the world has reacted to impressively even in the face of some clear shortcomings in managing the spread of the pathogen. Just last Wednesday, I have been overjoyed at the news that the UK government has approved the use of Pfizer/BioNTech’s new COVID-19 vaccine.

After completing rigorous trials, the vaccine developers have announced that the vaccine displays a 95% effectiveness against preventing infection2. This comes on the heels of Moderna’s own COVID-19 vaccine showing similarly impressive results of up to 95% protection against COVID-193.

Both of these vaccines are impressive not only because of the speed at which they have been developed, but also when you look at how they work. The role of any vaccine is to stimulate the immune system and to provoke immunological memory which will later protect the person vaccinated should they come in contact with the pathogen – and all this, without causing any serious harm or side effects.

2 Roberts M. COVID-19: Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine judged safe for use in UK. Available from: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55145696 [Accessed 5 January 2021] 3 Gallagher J. Moderna: COVID vaccine shows nearly 95% protection. Available from: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-54902908 [Accessed 5 January 2021] 4 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) Vaccination: What Everyone Should Know. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/mmr/public/index. html#:~:text=MMR%20is%20an%20attenuated%20(weakened,are%20eliminated%20from%20the%20body [Accessed 5 January 2021]

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How does the vaccine work in a nutshell?

Upon vaccination, some of the mRNA from the vaccine will cause some cells to translate the mRNA and display these antigens on their cell surface membranes. These antigens will be detected by lymphocytes (notably T helper cells) which will bind their T Cell Receptor to the antigen, should it match the shape of the receptor, similar to a lock and key. This is completely random, as there are millions of naïve T cells (T cells that have not yet been exposed to a foreign antigen) circulating, and only a very small handful of these will have a matching receptor.

Once this happens however, the appropriate T helper cells replicate very rapidly, creating a large number of T helper cells with identical antigen receptors. This process is known as clonal selection, and plays a vital role in our adaptive immune response. In the same time, B cells (another type of lymphocyte) will also become activated and display the Sars-Cov-2 spike protein (the antigen) on their surface membrane. They will bind to the T helper cell clones.

Following the release of proteins called cytokines, B cells become activated and differentiate into B memory cells and plasma cells, which will ultimately go on to produce antibodies. It is these memory cells which remain in the body even after existing antibodies have been turned over. If you are ever unlucky to come in contact with the real virus, the antigens on the virus’ protein coat (called a capsid) will be recognized by memory cells, which will rapidly become activated to produce antibodies. This is called a secondary immune response, which leads to a much faster and effective immune response to the virus. This so-called secondary immune response occurs regardless whether immunity is artificial (caused by vaccination) or natural (caused by infection with COVID-19).

What are the benefits of mRNA vaccines over other, more “classic” vaccines? mRNA vaccines may be new in practice, but scientists have been considering their use for decades. These vaccines can very easily be made in laboratories with readily available materials. According to the CDC, the process of manufacturing the vaccine “can be standardized and scaled up, making vaccine development faster than traditional methods of making vaccines”5. Indeed, this has helped speed up development of the vaccine. After the sars-cov-2 genome was sequenced and published early in 2020, scientists were quick to design the mRNA instructions which code for the viral antigens and train the immune system to identify them. mRNA vaccines also have the potential to be cheaper and more effective than other types of vaccines.

The COVID-19 vaccines were developed within a very short time. How do we know if they are safe?

First of all, it is important to emphasise that the COVID vaccines underwent all stages of a typical vaccine development, including pre-clinical trials, all three phases of clinical trial, and regulatory review.

to be 95%. However, the trials count any case of COVID as a failure, even when most of the cases contracted are mild.

Essentially, the vaccines can turn COVID into a typical flu, which is still a huge success.7

A whooping 43,548 people 16-years-old and above participated in the Phase 3 clinical trial of the Pfizer/ BioNTech’s BNT162b2 vaccine. The trial was randomised, double-blind, and used a placebo. These standards mean that the results generated were as valid as they can get. Out of the 21,728 participants in the placebo group, there were 162 cases of COVID. Meanwhile, out of 21,720 participants administered with BNT162b2, there were only 8 cases of COVID with an onset of at least 7 days after the second dose was given6. This just goes to show the efficacy of the vaccine.

The suggested reasons for the speedy development time are: 1. Years of previous research had been conducted on related coronaviruses causing SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome), along with faster ways to manufacture vaccines.

2. Enormous funding by public funders and philanthropists allowed multiple trials to run at the same times.

3. Regulators worked more quickly than normal.

4. COVID-19 was everywhere so it’s easier to show the vaccines work, since the infection rates between the placebo group and the vaccine group were vastly different.8

In an article published by The New York Times, Dr. Aaron Richterman, an infectious-disease specialist at the University of Pennsylvania even believes that “We’re underselling the vaccine.” The same sentiment is shared across other doctors and epidemiologists. As mentioned earlier, the effectiveness of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are estimated

5 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Understanding mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines/mrna.html [Accessed 5 January 2021] 6 Polack F et al. Safety and Efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine. The NEW ENGlAND JOURNAL of MEDICINE. [In press: online] 2020. Available from: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/ NEJMoa2034577 [Accessed: 31 January 2021] 7 Leonhardt D. Underselling the Vaccine. The New York Times. [In press: online] 2021. Available from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/18/briefing/donald-trump-pardon-phil-spector-coronavirus-deaths. html?auth=login-google [Accessed: 31 January 2021] ⁸ Ball P. The lightning-fast quest for COVID vaccines - and what it means for other diseases. Nature. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-03626-1 [Accessed: 31 January 2021]

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The long-term effects of the virus have not yet been studied. How can I know if it’s safe long-term?

These are not the first mRNA vaccines to be produced. This technology has also been explored in development of potential vaccines against other viruses like Zika and Rabies, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Moreover, BioNTech has been experimenting with the use of mRNA vaccines against cancers such as Melanoma, a type of skin cancer. Early trials have shown an increased immunity against the tumours in all advanced-stage melanoma patients taking part in the trial.

Paul Offit, MD, a member of the FDA advisory panel commented

“I can’t name you a long-term side effect. Vaccines can cause rare side effects… that’s true. But that all occurs within 6 weeks of a dose.”

Matloff (2020) also believes that short-term data on the COVID mRNA vaccines and long-term data on other mRNA vaccines gave regulators enough confidence to authorise the vaccines, and hence should not be a huge concern for us.

Herd Immunity Herd immunity is the protection from an infectious disease that is achieved when enough people in a population are immune to the pathogen, which is achieved through vaccination. If most people are vaccinated, there are less hosts available for the virus. As viruses cannot survive outside a host for long periods of time, they eventually die out, protecting even those who are not vaccinated.

Herd Immunity Threshold formula 1 - 1R0 R0 (basic reproduction number) refers to the number of average cases caused by an infected individual in a fully-susceptible, well-mixed population.

This means the more infectious a virus is, the lower the R value, hence the threshold is lower.

A herd immunity threshold refers to the proportion of a population that must be immune in order for herd immunity to work. In June 2020, epidemiologist and mathematical modeller Kin On Kwok calculated the threshold for herd immunity in 30 countries. The numbers ranged from 85% in Bahrain to 5.66% in Kuwait. As the value of R is constantly changing, so is the threshold.

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⁹ Dolgin E. Unlocking the potential of vaccines built on messenger RNA. Nature. [In press: online] 2019. Available from: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03072-8 [Accessed: 5 January 2021] 10 Tate N. COVID-19 Vaccine FAQ: Safety, Side Effects, Efficacy. WebMD. [In press: online] 2021. Available from: https://www.webmd.com/vaccines/covid-19-vaccine/news/20201217/covid-19-vaccine-faq-safety-side-effects-efficacy [Accessed: 31 January 2021] 11 Matloff E. What Are The Long-Term Safety Risks Oft The Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 Vaccines? Forbes. [In press: online] 2020. Available from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ellenmatloff/2020/12/18/what-are-the-long-term-safetyrisks-of-the-pfizer-and-moderna-covid-19-vaccines/?sh=5ad77b4c68f3 [Accessed: 31 January 2021]

What’s most important is that as many people get vaccinated as possible.

I started this article by giving a very brief overview into how artificial immunity works, and the benefits of mRNA vaccines in preventing the spread of COVID. However, I hope that I have also highlighted some other areas of medicine in which this new technology promises significant advancements.

COVID-19 will not last forever, and in the long term, diseases like cancer will continue to be one of the largest and most common causes of death – the second most common cause of death globally, in fact, according to the World Health Organization. mRNA vaccines are a promising advance in medicine, potentially allowing us a wider range of treatments which are more effective, affordable and rapid to implement.

While this technology is still in its infancy, large scale clinical trials last year have proved the effectiveness and safety of the new vaccines. I am optimistic to see the improvements this technology is bound to bring about in the not-so-distant future.

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Aschwanden C. The false promise of herd immunity for COVID-19. Nature. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02948-4 [Accessed: 31 January 2021] World Health Organisation. Cancer. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cancer [Accessed 5 January 2021]

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SPORTS

Marginalization in Sports: How Your Background Effects Your Participation In Sports YASEMIN GUNGOR - WRITER BONNY TAR - EDITOR

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istorically, there has been a lowered level of participation in sports for minority groups.

To clarify, a minority group does not mean a low percentage of the population belongs to it. It’s a group that is “subordinate to a more dominant group”14. Approximately half of the world’s population is made up of women, yet they are considered a minority by sociologists because they do not enjoy the same power, privileges, rights, and opportunities as men.15 There are four possible reasons ”justifying” this minoritymajority gap in sports, namely culture, religion, racism and social class. Studies aim to see if the commitment to religion, background and class contribute to the gap and to then determine whether gender has an impact on these differences. In this article, I aim to explore the ways religion, race, and income determine one’s level of involvement in sports.

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Religion Dagkas, Benn and Jawad (2011) found that religious and cultural requirements imposed on Muslim women are major reasons for their lack of participation in sports.16 For example, they are discouraged from wearing clothes that could be considered revealing, which may act as a limiting factor in water sports. The “Muslim ideal of gender segregation” could also be seen as a restricting factor that’s, in my opinion, unfair and outdated.17 Due to this, most Muslim women are only willing to practice sport in women-only facilities, which are not common in the Western world.18 The hadiths/sayings of the prophet are open to interpretation so the accountability of these “rules” should be questioned before being implemented. The covering of the body, even during sport, is attributed to the idea that women create temptation for men by engaging in sport. This seems to be a one-sided problem of men and the current implementation of it is extreme.

Furthermore, even if a woman wishes to take part in water sports modestly by wearing a “burkini” -- a type

of swimwear that covers most of her body, she may not be able to do so depending on where she lives. In 2016, a number of French municipalities, including Nice, banned donning burkinis under claims that this would maintain public order, hygiene, and good morals. The then Prime Minister Manuel Valls even commented that the garment was based on “the enslavement of women”.

Of course, it’s important to not look at religion as the only cultural determinant, as women who do not relate to religion can still be restricted by other factors. It should also be taken into account that individuals engage in different levels of religious activity and religion occupies differing levels of centrality in their lives.

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14 Britannica. “Minority.” Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/minority. [Accessed 21 February 2021.]

15 Lumen Learning. “Women as a Minority.” Lumen, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-sociology-os/chapter/women-as-a-minority/ Women as a Minority | Introduction to Sociology. [Accessed 21 February 2021.]

16 Dagkas, Symeon, et al. “Multiple voices: improving participation of Muslim girls in physical education and school sport.” Sport Education and Society, vol. 16, no. 2, 2011, pp. 223-239, https://www. researchgate.net/publication/239937344_Multiple_voices_improving_participation_of_Muslim_girls_in_physical_education_and_school_sport. [Accessed 21 February 2021.]

17 Strandbu, Åse, et al. “Exploring the minority–majority gap in sport participation: different patterns for boys and girls?” Sport in Society, vol. 22, no. 4, 2017, pp. 606-624. Taylor and Francis Online, https:// www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17430437.2017.1389056. [Accessed 21 February 2021.]

18 Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation, and Sporting Equals. “Muslim Women in Sport.” Sporting Equals, January 2010, https://www.womeninsport.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Muslim-Women-inSport.pdf?x99836#:~:text=In%20general%2C%20Islam%20promotes%20good,activity%20to%20maintain%20healthy%20lifestyles.&text=Due%20to%20religious%20misinterpretations%20or,able%20to%20 part. [Accessed 21 February 2021.]

Race The marginalization of ethnic minorities has serious impacts on sport. Stereotypes are partly to blame for this discrimination. For example, it was found that Asian women tend to be seen as passive and therefore get discouraged from participating in sports.

Masso and Fasting (2010) studied race through a series of interviews with black-Norwegian athletes and mentioned that

“race is becoming a problematic concept, due to its continuing significance and changing meaning.”

For an idea that to be identified as a racist, there needs to be intention. They highlight the approach to racism as a moral dilemma question where people can be racist without meaning to be, and therefore, that racism could be a matter of intention and context.

In sport, going from this perspective of intention focus, they mention that only direct abusive and violent acts such as slurs from players and supporters could be regarded as racism. This would be a problematic way of looking at racism in sport as it approaches settled prejudice and discrimination as normal and permanent.

This settled prejudice against black minorities affects the youth to an extent where they become significantly less involved in the sports community.

The interviews with the athletes and coaches in Norway found that direct exposures to racism were mainly directed towards men, whereas women were treated as

secondary athletes, and the subtlety of discrimination towards women made it difficult to classify the comments and actions as direct discrimination. These findings make it clear that racism topped off with an intersection of gender discrimination keeps minority youth out of sport, perhaps even permanently.

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1⁹ Rubin, Alissa. “Fighting for the ‘Soul of France,’ More Towns Ban a Bathing Suit: The Burkini.” The New York Times, 17 August 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/18/world/europe/fighting-for-the-soul-offrance-more-towns-ban-a-bathing-suit-the-burkini.html. [Accessed 21 February 2021.]

2⁰ Masso, Prisca, and Kari Fasting. “Race and Racism: Experiences of Black Norwegian Athletes.” International Review for the Sociology of Sport, vol. 45, no. 2, 2010, pp. 147-162. ResearchGate, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258142830_Race_and_Racism_Experiences_of_Black_Norwegian_Athletes. [Accessed 21 February 2021.]

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Socioeconomic Status Lastly, there’s the impact of socio-economic resources on minorities and their likeliness to engage in sport. Participation is seen to be more prevalent in upper and middle classes, as well as young people with educated parents.

There are several reasons for this: 1. The costs of participating in sport would be more easily paid for and therefore conveniently available for middle and upper-class youth. Money opens doors, and unfortunately, this is the case for sport as well.

2. In higher classes, participation in sport might be more encouraged and valued instead of being viewed as a waste of time in which young people could work to support their families.

Therefore, in lower classes, youth could find it more difficult to participate in sports as it’s harder to afford and perhaps less supported among their community.

All these reasons that help to understand the issue of marginalization in sport can be related back to the critical race theory, which suggests that the government and economy are inherently racist, and that the concept of “race” is a social construct created to maintain elite white interest. Its effects cause a big gap to form between neutral participants, even in an environment of sport, which is supposed to be fair and equal. The consequences of these issues lead to a lack of diversity in sport, and takes away young people’s rights and opportunities to get involved, sometimes in the long-term.

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SPORTS

Kabaddi: A Hidden Sport YASEMIN GRUGOR WRITER EMILIA BARBU EDITOR

Kabaddi is an exhilarating and mind-opening combat/team/dance sport that originates and is watched almost entirely within the Indian subcontinent. Played with two teams of seven across a court that is parted with a line down the middle, it promises to grant crowds with performance and competition never seen before.

Each play is called a “raid”. One person from a group, called the “raider”, passes the line into the opponents’ side and tries tagging as many of the seven defenders of the other team as possible. Then, the raider must pass back to his own team’s side without being tackled by the defenders. Each tagged defender means a point scored and if the raider is tackled by the defenders, that’s a point for the opposite team. The raider must chant kabaddi throughout the raid to prove that he’s done it in a single breath. Each raid has a 30-second time limit and the game is played in 20-minute halves with a 5-minute break in between. Its popularity has been on an uptrend for decades, fuelled by its unique high octane playstyle and rich history.

It is said that kabaddi originated from Tamil Nadu, one of the 28 states in India, 4,000 years ago. Princes would play and display their strength to win their brides. The sport was popularised by India with the first organized competitions being held in the 1920s and the kabaddi getting introduced to the Indian Olympic Games in 1938.

Indians born before the 1980s would have all played kabaddi in their youth as they saw that it was about strategy, stamina, fitness and thrill. However, the next generation had little to no interest and dismissed the sport as rural entertainment and nothing more.

In order to change this and freshen up the misconceptions about kabaddi, the League had to modernize and change things. The village fields turned into indoor stadiums, muddy pitches into mat surfaces with lively colours, bare-bodied players got designed sports kits and the almost-forgotten sport got resurrected and was broadcasted for millions.

Now kabaddi is being recognized internationally and slowly capturing the attention of millions. The League is promoting the sport as they hope for kabaddi to be recognized as an Olympic sport.

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Meet The Team Bonny Tar Editor-in-Chief I’m applying to study medicine but I have always enjoyed writing and editing.

In Primary 6 (Singapore’s equivalent of Year 7), I scored 97% for an English exam. My subsequent achievements include my Year 11 English Award and my 30-minute entrance exam essay, which definitely makes me qualified to do this.

I think I’m perfect for this role because I am determined to send enough texts to annoy the entire team at the most inconvenient times.

Emilia Barbu Assistant Editor This is exactly the sort of post-F1 rebound I needed. From being a team manager back then to now sending emails from time to time and acting as Bonny’s (‘very important’) second opinion, I could say I live the life and get a very decent title.

Please read past the first 2 pages. It’s good, I promise. Some of it might be too difficult for some of y’all schmucks, as they are for me too. For an easier read, please refer to any of Bonny’s articles as her vocabulary hasn’t evolved since Primary 6 despite her “subsequent achievements''.

Alysha Aminuddin Writer & Designer I'm an aspiring mind reader with a part time job in the arts. Joined because I always wondered what it would be like to involve myself in something like this (also my attempt in being more productive). Somehow I became a writer and in charge of making the magazine look somewhat pleasant. Aesthetics are kind of my thing.

Julia Verestoy Illustrator I can’t write articles so I illustrate them instead. I love being part of this wonderful team, working with all the amazing writers. Perhaps you might even like the illustrations, who knows?

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Ada Tomescu Writer I moved to BSB this year and decided to join the Reporters. Everyone on the team is extremely nice and ambitious. Also, writing for the magazine is really fun since you get to explore different topics. To be honest, I do send almost all of my articles at the last second because I tend to procrastinate, but who doesn’t?

Ilinca Nuta Writer I joined the magazine as soon as I heard about it and being part of the team has so far been a wonderful experience. I have been composing stories and speeches since before I even learned how to write and I always knew that it is what makes me the happiest I could possibly be while doing something productive.

If you pay attention to my pieces, you can observe the way my mood randomly changes from depressing poems to motivational articles, since I usually write according to what I’m feeling at a certain moment in time.

It also seems that I inspired this entire thing with my BLM article along with Briony.

Briony Tyler Writer I’m grounded half the time so I don’t know what’s going on.

Alexia Scintee Writer I joined the Reporters because I wanted to be more involved in school life and do something that I like. I’m a part nocturnal creature that could listen to music all the time, so all my articles focus on that subject and are mostly written at 3 am.

Matei Popescu Writer I like film.

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Vedangini Bahl Writer I joined the magazine to have something pretentious on my applications, and to have something productive to do than watch ‘Supernatural’ at 2 am. Now I write my pieces at 2 am while listening to Bowie, so that’s a win...

Yasemin Gungor Writer I joined the magazine during quarantine because I felt like I should be doing something, so here I am...doing something. Thankfully I enjoy what I do as the magazine lets me combine writing and sports. You know they almost forgot to put in a sports column?

Disappointing. Good thing I’m here.

Daniel Papp Editor Aspiring astrophysicist and can be a bit critical of management on more than one occasion. Sun Tzu once said that, “...in the midst of chaos, there is opportunity,” and when it comes to the team, I couldn’t agree more.

Rafael Duque Writer & Editor I went and got my picture taken and got a pin for this as a joke before joining the team, and now I'm an editor and writer. I was honestly never really interested in English or writing at all; I was just bored. But editing is interesting, to say the least, and writing is fun.

I find that if you just guess which words sound the nicest and most importantly sprinkle in random semicolons that hopefully actually work, people will think you're talented.

(It also helps if you have years of pent up information about Kanye West to regurgitate a last-minute article at will).

Laura Ionescu Recruitment & Editor As I've been prepping for my future law career by completing 200 tasks a day, I've barely been here even though I got a quarter of the team together. I might not have written anything for 'Mosaic' but I'm the only editor taking A-level English Literature. I'd like to think my edits made your reading experience even a tiny bit better.

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DISCLAIMER This student magazine is a School project developed within the British School of Bucharest and contains copyrighted material, the use of which has not been expressly authorised by the copyright owner/s and for which no remuneration has been paid. In accordance with non-commercial and educational interests, we, the students, understand to make available such material to increase the scholarly knowledge and/or share an opinion to the community, facilitated using visual information. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided in Article 35 of the Romanian Law No. 8/1996 on copyright and related rights. Complying with Articles 35-39 from the aforementioned law, the material in this student magazine is distributed free of charge to the public on the official website of the School (www.britishschool.ro) in an electronic format and on paper to the team and BSB Secondary form groups. The hardcover student magazine may be printed for the archive of the School.

The student magazine does not seek to obtain any commercial or economic advantage, directly or indirectly from fair use.

All rights and credit belong to its rightful owners. No copyright infringement is intended by the fair use allowed by art. 35 of the Romanian Law no. 8/1996..

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7 - Photo: By Nancy Wong - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73505185 8 - Photo by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay 15 - Illustration by Robert Ball - flickr.com/robertball 17 - Photo by Anton Mack - flickr.com/thecomeupshow 18 - Photo: Kobu Agency on Unsplash 23 - Photo: Mrdongok on Unsplash 25 - Photo: Denise Jans on Unsplash 26 - Photo: Columbia Pictures 28 - Photo: MERRICK MORTON/COLUMBIA PICTURES 29 - Photo: Neonbrand on Unsplash 34,35 - Photos: Giovanni Giannoni/WWD 36 - Creator: The Granger Collection | Credit: The Granger Collection Copyright: Copyright © The Granger Collection, New York / The Granger Collection 37 - Photo: Laura Chouette on Unsplash 39 - Photo: Najla Cam on Unsplash 45 - Photo: BigHit Entertainment 50 - Photo: Prophsee Journals on Unsplash 54 - Photo: REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui 55 - Photo: REUTERS/Adnan Abidi 60 - Designed by pch.vector / Freepik

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MOSAIC

STUDENT MAGAZINE | ISSUE 01 | SPRING 2021

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