CEU Weekly Issue 81

An independent newspaper by CEU students and alumni

March 29, 2017

Camilo Montoya-Guevara

Harrison Leone

WE’VE PUT OURSELVES ON THE COVER...

We’re on the cover to commend and thank the members of our Editorial Board (not all pictured) who have acted as our dedicated proofreading, and quality-monitoring force.Their efforts would of course be fruitless if not for the writers, students, alumni, and from the larger CEU community who have enticed us with their ideas.

Petr Knor

This year saw a politically active body of writers, writers who contributed creative and thought-provoking pieces about environmental issues, writers who provided critical reflections on our own CEU, and writers who expanded our knowledge about the gems of Hungary and the region by writing city guides and exploring Hungarian culture. These are just a few from a Camilo Montoya-Guevara Editor in Chief

long list of highlights which we restrain ourselves from naming one by one.

Behind the scenes, the cooperation of the Student Life Office has been essential to us.

We at the Weekly are enthused to continue engaging with your ideas, as well as engaging you through our issues. Aiming to inspire you to reflect on our articles. Overall, making sure you enjoy the content we curate for our growing CEU Weekly community.

Iris Belensky

Thank you readers, for accepting our now ironic name (if you have not noticed, we publish every two weeks despite our “weekly” tagline) and for your ongoing support!

Harrison Leone Managing Editor Darunee Sukanan

Tara Riggs

Kevin Valsan Hymavathy

Luisa von Richthofen

Marius Ghincea

Rituparna Majumdar

Benjamin Hayward

The Bekescaba Hunger Strike

#EU60

Creative Writing: Story and Poem

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“The strike was brief, lasting a mere two days, yet nevertheless called attention to the living conditions of migrants...”

“On March 25, the European Union celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. It was one of the EU’s founding moments...”

The two best creative writing peices from the course on the techniques and strategies of Creative Writing, as selected by the class.

THE CEU WEEKLY

Hungarian Affairs

THE BEKESCSABA HUNGER STRIKE

By Iris Belensky and Harrison Leone; Bulgaria and USA, International Relations

The refugee center; Image courtesy of Iris Belensky

The Békéscsaba refugee detention center sits on a grim commercial access road outside the small city center, across from a dusty vacant lot and adjacent a decrepit structure of underdetermined purpose. From the outside, the center is, in fact, a pleasant enough structure: modern, freshly renovated, with every window intact-barred, but undamaged. Walking through Békéscsaba, a quiet town nestled in the southeastern corner of Hungary a short distance from the Romanian border, there is hardly a sense that such a center even exists. There is even less of a sense that the center recently played host to an event that made international news: a hunger strike, which involved nearly every one of the 102 migrants who currently call the center home.

The strike was brief, lasting a mere two days, yet nevertheless called attention to the living conditions of migrants who are stuck in legal and physical limbo. The strike began on 13 March, and initially involved eighty two migrants, with twelve more joining in before the end of the strike on 15 March. Most the migrants in Békéscsaba come from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria, according to an article published in the New York Times. In the intervening time, The Daily News, and Reuters, in addition to the New York times, picked up on the story and for a passing moment, the European migrant crisis, and how Hungarian authorities have dealt with it.

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On 13 March, a statement was sent from the camp to the associated press by a Mr. Zanyar Faraj, who designated himself as “the delegate for all refugees”. The statement outlines seven points of grievance the refugees have with the camp. Chief among these concerns were inadequate medical care, a lack of attention from camp doctors and guards, and the possibility of psychological distress emerging among the population of the camp. Additionally, the statement repeatedly stressed that the denizens of the camp were fleeing war and violence and, despite their treatment and the apparent assumption, they were not criminals. The refugees, according to the statement, had been in the camp for six months, and were distressed by the inhumanity of their conditions and the perpetual uncertainty of their futures.

In response, the Hungarian Office of Immigration and Asylum expanded medical care at the camp, and instructed camp personnel to look for signs of medical inadequacies in the camp and illness among the prisoners, according to the New York Times. The strike is the latest episode in the controversial and politically explosive relationship Hungary has had in dealing with an influx of migrants from conflict zones in the Middle East and Central Asia. The issue has been a point of contention between not only the refugees and the Hungarian government, but between Budapest and the European Union as well. The dispute has affected Hungarian domestic politics as well, evidenced by last October’s referendum regarding the acceptance of the European Union’s migrant quotas.

On 7 March, the Hungarian Parliament passed legislation that permitted Hungarian authorities to detain asylumseekers while their applications were being processed.

Additionally, the legislation allowed for refugees to be summarily and forcibly removed to Serbia. The legislation, which was sponsored by the ruling conservative Fidesz party, was praised by Prime Minister Orban, who said Hungary is “under siege” by asylum-seekers, according to an article from The Independent. The same article quotes The United Nations High Commissioner for as saying that the new legislation violates “Hungary’s obligations under international and European Law”.

The Hungarian government’s record when dealing with refugees, migrants, asylum-seekers, or whichever other politically charged nomenclature is the word de jure, has been spotty, to say the least. Hungary is quickly approaching pariah status within the European Union, thanks in no small part to the ways in which it has mishandled the migrant crisis. Since the crisis began, Hungarian authorities have proven to be obstinate, recalcitrant and, at times, carelessly cruel. The Békéscsaba hunger strike, brief though it was, is merely the latest incarnation of a muti-tiered dispute, one that begins in Aleppo or Kabul, meanders its way across the Balkan route, and into the European Union by way of one of its most disagreeable member states.

Trapped in the middle of this dispute, of course, are the men, women and children who left their homes, families and lives behind in search of safety and peace, only to be met, if their claims are to be believed, with a reception befitting a criminal. Békéscsaba will not be the last flare-up of the refugee crisis in Hungary, and the Hungarian government has thus far shown no inclination towards compromise or mitigation. The reckless abandon with which Hungary has treated the asylum-seekers who approach its southern border is disquieting at the least, and has the potential to be a lasting stain on the country’s history.

ISSUE THE CEU 61 WEEKLY

European Affairs

#EU60: SIXTY YEARS AFTER THE TREATY OF ROME

By Marius Ghincea; Romania; International Relations On March 25, the European Union celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. It was one of the EU’s founding moments, when Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands established the basis ‘Common Market’. This happened just 7 years after the historical ‘Schuman Declaration’ from May 9, 1950, when Robert Schuman, the foreign minister of France, proposed pulling together the Franco-German coal and steel production under a supranational authority (ECSC). The declaration was the political act of France that initiated the entire European project, proposing an innovative way of economic cooperation in Europe. The treaty and the declarations were based on a commitment to make war “not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible” by constructing more united Europe that assures security, prosperity, and democracy. This celebration is more than an opportunity to celebrate past achievements, it is also a time to reflect on the status quo and the future of the European project.

Today, achieving and maintaining common security, prosperity and democracy seems harder than in the past. The Great Recession has shown the cracks in the European economic and monetary project and the lack of cohesiveness between its members. The continent is afflicted with a sense of unease caused by multiple security threats, from the recurrent terrorist attacks on major western European cities, to the unstable Southern coast of the Mediterranean that causes large fluxes of helpless refugees, the continuous existence of Daesh and its threat to the EU members security, and finally the hybrid and secessionist Russian-supported conflict in Ukraine.

Moreover, the European societies are seeing the emergence of powerful cleavages and movements that promote extremist and populist ideas about how the European societies should look, not too different from the ones that appeared during the interwar period. And another significant challenge to the European project is yet to fully emerge: the negotiations and subsequent withdrawal from the EU of the United Kingdom, which will require significant resources from both parts. The British prime minister is expected to activate Article 50 of the EU Treaty on March 29, 2017 and the official negotiations that will begin are expected to take at least two years.

can be contained and their access to political power limited, at least in the large European countries. Last week, the Dutch rejected the populist and xenophobic Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom Party. In France, the independent and centrist Emmanuel Macron is expected to defeat the populist Marine Le Pen in the second round of the presidential elections. In Germany, the centrist parties will most probably assure that the populist parties remain outside the executive, under the chancellorship of Angela Merkel or of the Social-Democrat Martin Schulz.

Barring for the populist resurgence, security issues remain paramount to the European states. The recent London attacks, and the continuous conflicts in Syria, Libya, and Ukraine at Europe’s doorsteps. EU faces the need to address these significant threats collectively, while protecting the human rights of all. This might not only be crisis, but an occasion for consolidating the European project. Security cooperation between the member states has become a fashionable topic of debate in the press as well as in the conference halls of the European Union and national governments. It may prove to the best opportunity for creating a more united Union.

Even if the European still shows signs of illness, Europeans should remember the original purpose of the European Union and its history. It is useful to remember that the European integration always moves forward through crises, they represent its catalyst for integration. The current crisis is a historic opportunity to strengthen the process of integration, while carefully avoiding the pitfalls of nationalism and nationalism.

As Jean Monnet, one of the founding fathers of the EU, once said, “Europe will be forged in crises, and will be the sum of the solutions adopted in those crises.”

Yes, the European Union has some significant challenges and lots of issues that must tackle, but there is also a brighter part of the story. The European economy seems to have recovered, with strong growth in almost all of Europe. The labor markets, inflation, and economic confidence in the most affected states of the EU are getting better, even in Greece. In the Southern Neighborhood, the expansion of Daesh has been stopped and the moderate forces in Syria are regaining ground. This will not stop the humanitarian crisis in the region and the large flux of refugee, but at least will not become worse. Domestically, there are signs that the emergence of populist movements

Image Courtesy of Wikipedia

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World and Society

THE CEU WEEKLY

"OPEN SOCIETY": ONE ON ONE WITH IGNATIEFF

By; Frederik Forrai Ørskov; Denmark; History

The President’s Seminar on Rethinking Open Society is ongoing and still holds thought provoking lectures in store for CEU students and alumni. I sat down with CEU President and Rector Michael Ignatieff to discuss lessons learned from the lecture series so far.

When asked about the common themes he himself had found particularly insightful, Ignatieff outlined an internalexternal dichotomy in the revelations of the lecture series: “First, how do we understand a changed world in which there is unprecedented pressure on liberal democracy?

How do we rebuild faith in democracy among our students? But the thing I am most interested in is how we interpret our mission internally. When I was inaugurated as rector, I said that—to me—Open Society means willingness to question yourself on the one hand but understanding what knowledge is on the other.”

“So this is not a relativist place. This is a place that is open but believes that there is such a thing as truth, that there is such a thing as knowledge. It believes that it is hard to get to truth and it is hard to get to knowledge. But this is what we are trying to do in the classroom.”

Important at CEU, however, is the acknowledgement that truth takes on a different appearance when viewed through the diversity of lenses represented within our university: “It is a thing that is particular to CEU more than to any other institution in this area, and possibly in Europe, that if you have students from 117 countries you learn the importance of seeing what truth looks like through someone else’s eyes and that is hugely important.”

I asked the Rector whether the lecture series, whose lecturers for a large part have been white male professors from prestigious Western universities, has lived up to the ideal of diversity. He said the point was well taken and that he hopes the fall lectures will be more diverse.

Asked whether the fact that the series has only given voice to proponents of what it seeks to rethink reveals a limit in the extent to which an institution can challenge a fundamental part of its own mission, the President answered in the negative: “I think there should not be limits. As we are putting together a list for the fall it should absolutely include direct critics of Open Society, who not only think we have some explaining to do but reject the whole premise. My issue is not if we can have someone who does not agree with Open Society but that we need to get the right ones: someone who gives us something to think about.”

As the interview neared its end, I recounted to the President a Truman Capote quote that more tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones, which has reverberated in my mind on more than one occasion, as I left auditoriums feeling morose rather than optimistic on behalf of liberal democracy’s prospects. Ignatieff, however, found grounds for optimism in the lecture series: “I get a lot of optimism from the series, from the exchanges, from the debate, from the fact that we are doing this, from the fact that it seems we have struck a chord, that we are thinking together. I don’t know where it will go but this is what universities are for, this is what we do! And we need to do it as well as we can and as open as we can!”

CONFRONTING MENSTRUAL SHAMING IN NEPAL

By Diksha Mahara; Nepal; Economic Policy in Global Markets It was April 2016 when I travelled to Achham district in Western Nepal to conduct a field study for work. There, for the first time, I experienced women being banished to the shed outside the house during their monthly period, where they were bound to sleep in the most unhygienic conditions imaginable. There were some who were “lucky” and who had the shed all to themselves while others had to share it with the cattle. It was a heart-breaking experience to see this situation

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Courtesy of Adventure Mission Nepal Treks and Expedition

many women had to live with-- in the name of culture and age-old traditions!

While women in other parts advocate slogans of freedom and independence, many women in rural Nepal still find their fundamental freedoms curtailed.

Among many challenges they face in their daily lives, there is menstrual shaming. Owing to the patriarchal society of Nepal marked aberrant faith in superstitions, women are deemed untouchables when they bleed and thus forced to stay away from their households during that time. This pervasive practice is known as chhaupadi system, describes a woman as being impure when she bleeds during her monthly cycle. She is not allowed to touch the crops or enter kitchen or touch male members of the family.

When I asked Jaya from the host family I stayed with in the village about her

opinion and experiences, she simply told that it wasn’t anything that bothered them because for many women it was the time to relax from the tiring daily chores. She even added that sometimes women around the neighborhood would happily share the cottage and engage in singing and chatting all day long.

The story of this monthly exile doesn’t end there. While some consider it an interesting and a relaxing period, there are innumerable issues associated with the practice. It does not only segregate women but it also exposes them to unhygienic living conditions, poor mental health, rapes and attacks from wild animals. In December 2016, a 15-year-old from Achham district died of suffocation when she was made to sleep in the shed outside the house. This is but one of the plenty of such incidents over the years. ...

Performance Reviews

ISSUE 61 WEEKLY THE CEU ..."Confronting Menstrual Shaming" continued There have been various intervention programs directly and indirectly working on eliminating this system from rural communities, but changes are slow due to various structural barriers. High

women illiteracy, economic challenges and dysfunctional social systems have all contributed to prevalence of this system, adding to misconceptions amongst the women and their family. Lately there have been progress in the performance of women participation through the educational and health programs.

Such a tradition as chhaupadi, however, is deeply ingrained to the lifestyle of the people. It will take a long time for real change to be achieved. It is crucial for women to be the facilitators of the change. As long as they remain indifferent to such practices, no other agency can overcome the deleterious tradition.

THE HATE SPEECH MONOLOGUES: REVIEW

By Camilo Montoya Guevara; Colombia and Canada; Cultural Heritage Studies A total of fourteen performers shared honest reflections and personal stories at the Hate Speech Monologues on March 13. Their monologues invited the audience on a two-hour long performance that critically addressed issues of prejudice and hate speech.

beliefs.

Others like Zhuldyz Zhunusova recited her poetry, telling her experience as a Muslim Khazak woman whose physical appearance is the subject of unwarranted scrutiny by uniformed individuals.

While others, like Kiel Ramos Suarez, sang about the retrieval of the past. Danish Latif took the audience through fast-paced stories in his multi-part monologue, pausing to ask the question “whose stories are these?” addressing the issues of Islamophobia, challenging the

Each monologue had its own format, here are some representative ones of the genres seen at the performance. Some presented their own stories in a straight-forward and non-apologetic manner, such as Züheyla Izin, who spoke of her experience of persecution as a woman student who wore a hijab in Turkey during the years of the hijab-ban, or Nawaf Mohammed, whose impromptu monologue took the audience through his simultaneous experience of opening worlds and crumbling Performers; Image Courtesy of Benjamin Hayward

rising stigma and discrimination aimed at Muslims. These were just a few of the many stories that dealt with gendered discrimination, homophobia, family conflicts, islamophobia, and xenophobia. The full performance will be published via CEU media.

After the event, Peter Molnar, the director and a performer in the event, reflected on how the monologues directly engage with concurrent issues by allowing students to feature their experience in their own voice and in their own format.

They reflect the Hate Speech that we are concerned about and they add personal stories to a stage of discussions that an academic setting too often transforms into a sterile and removed subjects of “objective” academic dialogues.

“THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES”: REVIEW

By Rituparna Majumdar; India; MESPOM On February 24 of this year, the CEU’s Human Rights Initiative (HRSI) organized a performance of Eve Ensler’s, ‘Vagina Monologues’.

This was the ninth-year that the performance was held at CEU. Throughout the past nine years HRSI has organized the “Vagina Monologues” at CEU. With its accompanying V-Day campaigns it has held fundraising for local organizations; this year it collected 345,000 HUF and donated it to “NANE” which works on women’s rights and gender based violence.

Having a chance to talk to some performers gave us a closer look at their experience. One of the performers Santwana Dwivedy, said, “usually when we talk about sexual desires, we talk about men’s. [The] vagina

is [always] closely guarded, no-one talks about it … I spoke out ‘vagina’ a thousand times through this play and I felt good.” The liberation of the word ‘vagina’ is an observation shared by the performer Rafatu Ohiare, “Before the play if you asked me, I would never say the word ‘vagina’ … but now I find this is more about women’s empowerment.”

Zsofia Suba, the director of the play shared her thoughts about experiencing the performance ‘on-stage’ and ‘back-stage’ as well, as she was a performer herself last year: “When you are performing, you are anxious about your own monologue(s), and you are kind of focused on that, but when you are the director you are anxious about every single line until

the very end. As a director, you get to see the performing students go through a journey of personal growth, while being honest to each other and to themselves about difficult or intimate issues. You realize how some performers have an easier time doing that than others, which also gives way to a lot of self-reflection.”

The Vagina Monologues puts women’s issues on stage. It provides a platform of freedom, from shame, fear, anxiety, anger, and constraints.

The play makes a social impact through the partnered HRSI fundraising campaign and it spreads a powerful message of self-love for women, encouraging sexuality and strength, inspiring liberation, and ending violence.

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Budapest and Hungary

THE CEU WEEKLY

NEED A STUDY BREAK? VISIT EGER!

By Tara Riggs; United States; Political Science About 2 hours from Budapest lays the town of Eger. Best known for wine, Eger is close enough for a day trip but you miss out a lot if you do not spend a night.

Staying over in Eger allows you to experience the night at the wine caves. Eger is both easy to get to and easy to navigate. There is a direct train from Keleti that costs approximately 3000 HUF return with the student card. The walk from the train station to downtown is quite easy.

a larger meal. A But do make a reservation, we went on Saturday afternoon and had to wait for a table. The staff is knowledgeable about wine and they can recommend a perfect wine for your meal while giving you information about the winery where it comes from. If you are in the mood for something less expensive, try the restaurants outside of the main tourist zone.

Eger castle is a must. You can explore the old structure, use a viewfinder to see what the castle looked like long ago. The view from the top of the hill was breathe taking, as were the photographs we managed to take when the wind was calm. In 1552 its small garrison of 2200 defended it against 35000 Ottoman soldiers and contemporarily stopped Ottoman expansion northwards. The Siege of Eger then became one of the major symbols of Hungarian nationalism.

The downtown of Eger is small, especially compared to Budapest, but contains a plethora of restaurants and cafes.

My recommendations? Take a coffee or cake at Café Dobos or head towards the Castle and Yet, no trip to Eger would be complete check out Ma- without a visit to the wine caves. We took Macok Bistro; cok Bistro for a 30 minute walk from the city center to courtesy of author

the wine caves. Be prepared for google to take you some odd routes-including through an unlit dirt road. Caves are usually family run business that offer wide variety of house red and white wines. You can thus buy locally and cheaply. The caves stretch quite deep into the hills and you can go on a short walk while enjoying a glass of wine. One advice: do not limit yourself to one cave, and visit more of them!

Between the downtown restaurants, the castle, and the copious amounts of wine, a trip to Eger may be the needed relaxing trip before jumping into thesis writing and the spring term. You are not too far from Budapest, but far enough to turn off and forget all your View from the Castle; stress.

AN ODE TO TERV

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By Iris Belensky; Bulgaria and USA, International Relations After any derailed presentation, any flunked exam, any day that started at 9 am, ended at 8pm without respite, there is still light shining at the end of the block on the street of CEU. At the corner, lit in cursive, is the welcome sign to a comforting daily sanctuary: the bar and restaurant known as Terv. With its hearty food and snacks, potentially topped off with a beer (if that is a form of meditation Image Courtesy of Iris Belensky that you subscribe to), Terv has become, be savored by our friends in the history for many CEU students, a home away department, surely, is reaffirmed by the from home. For a few students (without interior of the bar which is cluttered with mentioning names), Terv has become a memorabilia from the last century. The Hotel California, impossible to leave or walls are decked with old beer ads, comstay away from for long. munist posters, black and white pictures of past cult icons (James Dean, Marilyn But the fault is not that of the students: Monroe) and anonymous ; the edges the word ‘terv’ means ‘plan’ in Hungarof the bar are decorated with antique ian. The name was chosen, with sweet typewriters, phones, trinkets, and that irony, as a play on the impotence of the one glass someone broke last Friday ‘five year’ and ‘ten year’ plans that were but sits completely camouflaged amidst supposed to start up the decrepit econthe rest of the junk. An anatopistic splice omy of the Soviet Bloc. In other words, between an American sports bar and an plan on being in the same seat at Terv in elderly Hungarian’s storage shed, the five years. The historical reference, to

courtesy of author

bar is inviting and engulfing to the point where the staff have learned our orders and who gets the bill by heart.

It’s in this nod of unspoken recognition and familiarity implied when a waitress knows the specifics of your order, when you have a table that you always occupy, when you always know you’ll find soand-so having their ‘usual’ at whatever time, that the romance takes in effect.

In this way the cinematic touches the routines within which our stories take place and from which the aesthetic of our lives emerges. Setting makes a difference: think Monk’s Café in Seinfeld, the Central Perk in Friends, or the Foreman’s basement from That 70’s show.

Terv is the setting for our post-exam euphoria, our pre-presentation nerves, and the simple daily grind. This is the space whose lights, sounds, and smells will color the memories of our year in Budapest. So cheers, to the craftsmanship of a good atmosphere, let it live for a thousand years!

ISSUE 61 WEEKLY THE CEU

Creativing Writing ‘17

DO NOT TELL! SHOW IT! CREATIVE WRITING AT CEU

By Natalia Nyikes; Hungary; Instructor

The introductory course on the techniques and strategies of Creative Writing during the Winter Term focused on two genres, mainly on fiction and poetry. The aim of the course was two-fold: on the one hand, to familiarize students with creative writing techniques and strategies; on the other hand, to further enhance students` critical thinking.

Understanding Poetry and Fiction is one thing, but writing is a different adventure. Creating vivid images of scenes by specific, concrete vocabulary and active verbs help the writer to show rather than describe. Students were constantly

challenged to play, experiment, and present their ideas with imagery evoking the five senses, so that they would be able to show their story. Students workshopped together, regardless whether they were inexperienced or expert writers; they learned from each other. My job was to create an environment in which the members of the group could write about topics that were of major interest to them. Our group of 14 have managed to create several masterpieces, which contribute to the diversity of expression in the CEU community.

As voted by the participants of the course, the two best pieces are published here.

IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER (A.K.A. CLOVIS COTTA GOES ROGUE)

By Viktoriia Krivoshchekova; Russia; Medieval Studies Those who met Clovis Cotta for the first time thought he was a space pirate. But mainly because of the sinister eyepatch that he wore where you would normally expect to see a person’s left eye. Despite this threatening detail of his wardrobe, Clovis could not have been a more non-threatening man—he was a humble priest of the intergalactic cult of Meordeh the Prophet.

Or maybe he was a bit of a rebel and an outlaw—somewhere so deep inside that no one could spot it. Did he not, after all, throw a timidly vexed “sod off!” in the faces of the entire Xoran branch of the Galactic Authority for Wholesome Devotion, when he was demanded to remove his ungodly headgear. After that Clovis’ relationship with the GAWD deteriorated quickly – over the course of that same day. But at least the eyepatch stayed where it was, covering what soon no cover would conceal. For in Clovis’ left eye a living and breathing galaxy was approaching a certain doom.

“I’m telling you, it’s collapsing!” – Clovis’ right eye fixed desperately on Dr. Mierath’s thin disproportioned face.

“With due respect, master Cotta, you do understand the seriousness of your statement, do you? A dying galaxy inside your eye is bad enough, but it’s our own galaxy that you are talking about. Are you absolutely certain that it is our Emeriss?”

“It’s been there since as long as I can remember, so I had plenty of time to make sure of that! Look, you have to do something about it... I’ve been told that you’re the best in the field of transmaterial duality projection. You’ve got to help me—and everyone in this galaxy, for that matter.”

“Right, let’s suppose you are not pulling the most insane joke on me—you are a priest after all—why didn’t you seek help before? Or have you been relying on your petty deity to deliver you from your... khm... condition? Didn’t the Great Prophet help you?

“He didn’t even see it...” – was Clovis’ bewildered response.

“Seems like the old All-Seer is getting short-sighted.” – The doctor sneered discreetly. – “Now, let’s take a look at that marvellous eye of yours, shall we?”

Clovis removed his eyepatch. Dr. Mierath was manifestly fascinated by the sight. It was unbelievable yet clear as day. It was no larger than a normal-sized human eye yet it was as immense as a galaxy. Every single star and star system was on display, and Dr. Mierath could easily locate the Star Sprawl, a bright system conglomeration conveniently positioned at some distance from the galaxy’s core. At its very heart lay a familiar supermassive black hole – but now it looked very different from all depictions on the maps and models and from the neat little bluish accretion disk usually visible in the night Xoran sky. In Clovis’ left eye’s Emeriss, the once peaceful black hole turned into a burning red quasar expanding at a frightening velocity and devouring every star in its way like they were mere candle lights. It was only a matter of time until this brooding bubble of destructive energy got to the Star Sprawl.

“This is quite remarkable what you have here” – the words Dr. Mierath finally uttered did not match his startled look. He took trouble to stick his head out of the window to make sure that the sky above the city of Suffarc looked as calm as ever. “A classic case of dual transmatter projection. The forward temporal deviation from the prototype isn’t out of ordinary, but I’ve never seen anything larger than a barrel of condensed milk projected in this way. And the consequences will be disastrous—just wait for reality to catch up with the projection, and we’ll bear witness of the world’s end, this time outside of your eye.” ...

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THE CEU WEEKLY

CREATIVE WRITING AT CEU

STORY CONTINUED:

POETRY

SALT IN THE BRAIN

IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

BY KAILEY MCDONALD; USA; GENDER STUDIES

BY VIKTORIIA KRIVOCHEKOVA

...

“Oh, Meordeh Almighty...” – this was the most heartfelt that Clovis ever pronounced the name of the Exalted One over the course of his long clerical career which ironically was now over – “How can you be so calm saying this? Can you suggest anything other than just staying here witnessing the end of the world?”

“Patience, my friend. You just showed me the most extraordinary problem ever encountered by modern science—please have some decency and don’t ask me to solve it in a blink of an eye.

Let me see... Usually the time lag between the continuity of the projection and of the prototype is no more than an hour, but since we are dealing with astronomical objects here, nothing is certain. We could be looking at mere minutes or millions of years. Obviously, we can’t take the risk, so in this situation, I have only one measure to propose. Tell me, master Cotta, are you prepared to say goodbye to your left eye?

I see that you already have a hip eyepatch.”

My edges are endless breathless — my breath gets sewn between the seams the edges of the rest and me My body, it breathes sin, breathes in all the smoke, the poison simmers in the pools my pores have become.

The gaps in me stretch to rivers, oceans.

With every inhale my skin cells break down; just another piece of past for the tide to wash out.

The current’s in my head; my head’s in the waves.

I can’t think a single thought through all the salt in my brain It beats against my bones like waves on the sand, hurricane-force winds when the storm strikes land My seams seems frayed and my edges feel sharp honed with brine water veins by my rib-caged heart It’s a special kind of pain when you’re living like this, trapped by chain-and-anchor wrists in your jail-cell-skin.

I stand in the same place long enough, I can’t tell anymore what’s salt, what’s me, what’s the ocean floor.

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Write us at: ceuWeekly@ceu.edu The CEU Weekly is a student-alumni initiative that seeks to provide CEU with a regularly issued newspaper.

The CEU Weekly is a vehicle of expression for the diversity of the perspectives and viewpoints that integrate CEU’s open society: free and respectful public debate is our aim. We offer a place in which current events and student reflections can be voiced. Plurality, respect, and freedom of speech are our guiding principles.

Editor in Chief: Camilo Montoya-Guevara Managing Editor: Harrison Leone Contributors: Iris Belensky, Edward Cindric, Marius Ghincea, Benjamin Hayward, Kevin Valsan Hymavathy, Rituparna Majumdar, Petr Knor, Luisa von Richthofen, Darunee Sukanan, Tara Riggs, Diksha Mahara, Frederik Forrai Ørskov, Creative Writing Course’s Natalia Nyikes, Viktoriia Krivochekova, Kailey McDonald.

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Distribution Points: Reception Nádor 11, Octagon, Nádor 15 Estratto and Marsbeli, Library, Cloakroom & CEU Dorm

(We)ekly Cares Printed on Recycled paper

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