GUM 002//Distractions

issue #2 // DISTRACTION

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Gabriela Saldanha Blackwood DEPUTY EDITOR Katy Scott FEATURES EDITOR Kaisa Saarinen CULTURE EDITORS Manon Klatt Anna Rieser STYLE EDITORS Lynsay Holmes Nina Mdwaba POLITICAL EDITOR Rafe Uddin CREATIVE WRITING EDITOR Alice Hill-Woods SCIENCE EDITOR Ethan Kelly COPY EDITOR Isabel Lwin May Khine EVENTS MANAGERS Ellen Grant Maisie Wilson SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATORS Annegret Maja Fiedler Erifili Gounari ONLINE EDITOR Perry Stewart ONLINE PHOTO EDITOR Aike Jansen PRINT PHOTO EDITOR Alina Derjabina FUNDRAISING COORDINATOR Sanah Khan GRAPHIC DESIGNER Julia Rosner

THE ART OF SKATEBOARDING //

DISTRACT, CONNIVE, MAYBE RU

DELIRIUM // 17

HOW TO BE A MINIMALIST // 18

FORM DISTRACTING FROM CON

FANNING THE FLAMES OF POPU

DISTRACTING FASHION // 24

A DISTRACTION FROM YOUR DIS

DISTRACTION // 30

WHAT AM I DISTRACTING MYSELF FROM? // 06

Sanah Khan / Culture

LIBRARY—LEVEL 9—2100 HRS //

POST DEATH, POST TRUTH // 32

PEER ROPE // 08

FORM DISTRACTING FROM CONTENT IN ART // 20

Joyce Choong / Culture

HOW TO BE A MINIMALIST // 18

Vaiva Gikaitė / Culture

DELIRIUM // 17

Georgia Watson / Creative Writing

DISTRACT, CONNIVE, MAYBE RULE // 14

Rafe Uddin / Politics

THE ART OF SKATEBOARDING // 10

Julitta Triantafyllou / Features

PEER ROPE // 08

Kaisa Saarinen / Features

WHAT AM I DISTRACTING MYSE

// 31

2

NTENT IN ART // 20

ULISM // 22

STRACTIONS // 28

ULE // 14

POST DEATH, POST TRUTH // 32

Betty Henderson / Politics

LIBRARY—LEVEL 9—2100 HRS // 31

/ 10

Scott Norval / Creative Writing

DISTRACTION // 30

Eden Dodd / Creative Writing

A DISTRACTION FROM YOUR DISTRACTIONS // 28

Ethan Kelly / Science

DISTRACTING FASHION // 24

Nina Mdwaba / Style

FANNING THE FLAMES OF POPULISM // 22

Anna Rieser / Politics

ELF FROM ? // 06

WRITERS

©Annegret Maja Fiedler

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Joyce Choong Eden Dodd Vaiva Gikaitė Betty Henderson Ethan Kelly Sanah Khan Nina Mdwaba Scott Norval Anna Rieser Kaisa Saarinen Julitta Triantafyllou Rafe Uddin Georgia Watson

VISUALS

Gabriela Saldanha Blackwood Annegret Maja Fiedler Julia Rosner James Turton Katka Zaprazna

Editor’s Note Dear reader, A lot has changed from the last issue. I am now Editor-in-Chief (previously culture editor) and Katy Scott (previously copy editor) is deputy. Like the Dardanus calidus (hermit crabs), we now occupy new shells: ones with a lot more creative responsibility and admin work. While we bid fond farewells to Arianne and Morgan, we welcome Isabel (new copy editor) and Anna (new culture editor) to the GUM family.

The word DISTRACTION to me, implies non-conformity. As young people- navigating a time in which we are still constantly being pushed to achieve tangible “success” and atomic family ideals- distraction is portrayed as something obstructive and negative. There is therefore opportunity, by engaging in behaviours deemed as destructively distracting, to execute acts of resistance and self-care.

Reading through the magazine’s articles we see how distractions have been re-appropriated into something restorative and constructive.

Jullita’s feature piece on skating demonstrates the art of reclaiming “distracting” activities and giving them space and time in our lives. -It is sometimes necessary to get distracted because the world is overwhelming and draining. World news is a lot to process and for the first time we have access to all of it 24/7.

Reprieve is essential and instinctual.

But, who has the privilege to be distracted? While some have the chance to unplug and disconnect from social and political issues, many people’s identities and bodies are inherently politicised therefore switching off is near impossible.

Additionally, simply not having the time, resources and support, influences who’s able to escape from the “productive” dogma-- many cannot easily, financially or emotionally afford to.

Clearly the term distraction is not binary and somewhat ambiguous (there’s a lot to say) but what I hope the selected works, images and essays demonstrate is that, as with everything, it is personal.

Take care,

Gabriela Saldanha Blackwood

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WHAT AM I DISTRACTING MYSELF FROM?

BY Sanah Khan Right now, I am on a plane back home. A sixteen hour flight with no Wi-Fi. That pretty much forces me to focus; focus on the downloaded series of an obscure anime my friend told me I would hate.

A Microsoft word tab is glaring at me; white, blank and pleading.

I’ve wasted 2.5 hours giggling at cringey dance scenes and skipping boring dialogue, and pressing play again the second the dialogue ends with terrifying accuracy—a useless, but well-honed talent. I scroll through the movies and Vine compilations I’ve downloaded and close the window. Enough distractions. I decide to open the word document and write this article.

Then I hesitate.

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This article forces me to confront the issue head-on; what am I distracting myself from? Is it a fear of imperfection? The inevitable march towards death? My flaws?

The Vine compilation that butters my eggroll?

I digress. I like to think of myself as a social magpie. If you read my texts and hear me on the phone, you will probably end up incredibly confused by my thought process. I see something small and insignificant, but shiny enough to distract me. I begin hopping around, following one small, shiny thing after another like they’re a trail of breadcrumbs until my endless conversations, articles, and essays are reminiscent of a bird hopping in and out of an ink pot onto a blank canvas. Distracting myself from the singular task at hand, I dance and flit from one thing to another; I’m scared of the immobility of focus. I just can’t commit to one thing.

? keep me distracted for longer— than a hopeful stranger looking for a genuine connection.

I read books, while streaming TV, while asking friends for obscure recommendations; French literature, Czech film, and even the odd Aramaic poem. Even then, I still get bored of new TV shows and watch old ones that I’ve got memorised; cue endless marathons of ‘Friends’ and ‘The Office’.

Getting back on topic; I distract myself from school work. I throw myself into societies and extracurricular activities, and spend my time trying out all of the new “self-care” face masks on offer in Superdrug. I have even coined an annoying term: “procrastabake” (trademark pending). I go to friends’ houses with ingredients and an army of baking tools. I take up the role of mother hen; feeding and cooing, telling people to wrap up warm, and call me when they get home. I can’t control my own life, but I can improve the lives of others. People think I have my life together—especially at dinner parties. Often, I have to laugh and inform them that I actually have a presentation to do, or an assignment that’s due in two days that I should definitely be in the library for right now.

“I can do it later!”; it often works on everyone—unless you know me really well, or if the party goes on until 4AM. Cracks begin to appear in my facade as I do the dishes and carry on conversation. Then I even start to avoid said conversations because I’ve been too distracted with being the hostess. The plates get so foamy as I scrub the caked on hummus and tabbouleh off; it all slowly clogs up the sink.

The plates and pots are shining, people are still sipping and laughing, I unclog the sink and re-join the conversation; “Ohhhh I can’t believe you texted her!” I’ll exclaim.

I keep digressing. I have to admit, I even use Tinder as a distraction now. Hear me out—it start off as a joke, but it turned out to be a great self-esteem booster. A superlike a day keeps the anxiety away! Tinder is whipped out for a party game; it makes me seem easy going as everyone plays around with my profile, swiping left and right pretending to be me. It’s all pretty bizarre, and starts to get a bit stressful as I begin second-guessing the choice to give everyone free reign of the online me. What do other people on Tinder think of me? What if they see this one side of me as the only side I have? What if they think I’m vapid, or superficial? Is this really the image I’ve wanted to curate for myself? No one seems to respond faster—and

I procrastinate on tasks to feel more adult. I’ll skip doing an essay, or even going to a lecture so I can go to the shops to get ingredients for a curry that I can show off on Instagram. I imagine that I’ll soon be struck by inspiration, be slapped by a muse, or sit down for a few hours in the near future and type, my fingers flowing with the fruits of divine intervention. In a few hours, or a couple of days— that’s when I’ll have the perfect, ideal opportunity to achieve my goals. Useful, preemptive, and preparatory procrastination.

Alas, in my four years at university that hasn’t happened…yet.

At the end of the day, the perfect distraction is just handing in that essay, or working on that assignment until it’s finished. That euphoria, that feeling of completion is such a rush that I run home and spend time with people I love. Baking, cleaning, cooking up a weird concoction. What’s more fulfilling and distracting than being done with a task, leaving the nowopen question of “what to get distracted from now?”. Think of all those shows people recommend to you that you’ve never gotten round to watching. The cycle continues. Tasks get ticked off of the list eventually; just take your time.

Immerse yourself.

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BY Kaisa Saarinen

PEER ROPE MAKING CONNECTIONS IN A HYPER-DISTRACTED WORLD I first heard the term “peer rope” after learning that a friend had started going to fortnightly events in my hometown. “Peer rope” is the practice of shibari, the Japanese tradition of artfully tying up a person. What distinguishes peer rope groups from shibari workshops or kinbaku performances is that they are non-hierarchic, inclusive groups where everyone can participate and share knowledge with others, regardless of their level of experience. The way my friend described it made me curious: rather than a sexual situation, as I might have expected from previous media exposure, it sounded like an emotional process of reconnecting with yourself and your partner by blocking out unwelcome distractions.

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To find out more, I decided to participate in a session, interviewing one of the organizers beforehand. Laura has been practicing shibari for 3 years, and has spent 5 months in Japan, where she trained in specialised dojos.

What kind of thoughts and feelings do you think most participants have about tying or being tied?

A lot of people are stressed and have a need to be in control, to always be on top of things. When you’re being tied, you just trust your partner and loosen the feeling of control. That letting go is a meditative state of mind. I like being in ropes and I also like tying. When I’m tying, I’m expressing myself, being connected to the partner, and just having a good time.

That meditative aspect is something people who don’t practice shibari don’t really know about.

The idea that shibari can be non-sexual is really important. I don’t think it should ever be assumed that shibari a sexual situation.

We aren’t tying parcels, we’re tying people, and you have some kind of relationship with the person you’re tying. They could be your lover or your friend. I do tie my friends, and there’s nothing sexual between us. When I’m tying a person, it always depends on the person—what kind of relationship is there between us? When I tie someone, I want to express myself and also figure out the other person’s feelings. I think it is so much more than sexuality, it is so much deeper than that.

Have you encountered a lot of prejudice that it’s just a sex thing?

Yes, I have. At the moment, I’m making an art piece with shibari. When I’ve talked about this with other artists, I’ve felt that they’re afraid that what I’m doing is a BDSM show.

But really, I’m researching trust and the beauty. How can you sculpt the human body?

There’s so much beauty in it, and I think it’s way too simplifying to portray it as a sex thing. Of course I understand the prejudice, because that’s all you can see in the media; erotic pictures. Sex sells.

Shibari tends to be presented as erotica or a quirky fetish. True, it is often practiced within BDSM communities and frequently contains a sexual element. However, reducing shibari to its sexual aspect doesn’t do justice to everything else it entails; connecting with yourself, building trust in others, processing emotions. This may be common knowledge to the people practicing it, but it’s not obvious to outsiders.

Learning more about it is not necessarily so easy, either, as a certain shroud of secrecy

surrounds the peer rope community. Most events are only publicized within closed fetish communities; if I had not heard about it from my friend, I would have never found my way into this space. The strong association with BDSM communities reinforces the image of shibari as an expression of sexuality; I couldn’t help but wonder if this was a self-stigmatization of sorts. At the same time, I understood why some participants felt the closed nature of the events was necessary to secure their safety. Peer rope events are safe spaces by design and necessity; you can’t do shibari without trust. The event I attended began with a recital of the safe space policy. Several organizers monitored the space to make sure nobody was being emotionally or physically harmed.

As the event got to a start, I was struck by the variety of different practices occurring in the same space. In one end of the room, beginners were practicing simple single-column ties and harnesses, while in the other, more advanced participants were performing full-suspension shibari. Clothes were kept on, and there was nothing explicitly sexual about the practice. Participants discussed new methods they’d like to challenge, such as the takate kote, a foundational shibari technique of restricting one’s hands, and honed their technical skills. Yet it was not a clinical handcraft either; observing the practice, what I realised was that it’s about connecting, whether to yourself or to your partner—and that this connection may be sexual or it may not, and that’s never all there is to it.

“It’s always intimate, but not necessarily sexual”, explained one participant. “Cats and small children seek out confined spaces like cardboard boxes because being restricted like that provides comfort. It works the same way for me”, said another.

What’s really at the heart of it is the connection between the person tying and the tied, with communication before, complete focus during, and emotional care after the practice.

In the beginning of the session, participants would state what they felt like doing that day.

Looking at the eyes of people in the middle of a practice, it was clear everything but their partner had ceased existing for them; the kind of full focus that is ever more elusive in a hyper-distracted world. After the ropes had been untied, practitioners would embrace each other, their expressions completely relaxed.

Tying is neither a clinical act nor a sex act in itself—it is what the participants make of it. By offering a safe, low-barrier space to explore this, peer rope communities are helping people connect with their true selves, while also building trust in others.

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“The culture of the Glasgow skate scene is slowly, but surely changing. The likes of Glasweigian, ungendered skate brand Doyenne and female skate group Skateburds provide a platform for inclusion, as they welcome and give opportunity to folk who would otherwise feel out of place. Viewing the term “distraction” as having an intrinsic sense of motion, we wanted to play with the idea that, being the only womxn in the skate park, it is very easy to get lost in amongst the mass of whizzing male bodies.”

—Lynsay Holmes

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the art of skateboarding

“I have worked—and still do—extremely hard to assert my place in skateboarding, and I don’t regret it one bit. I am convinced that one day the small seeds that current and the past generations of skateboarders have sown will grow stronger and louder for the years to come.”

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Photographer James Turton Skater Julitta Triantafyllou Creative Directors Lynsay Holmes and Nina Mdwaba

yourself from the expectations and negative feelings that linger within you. This lifestyle has shed light onto pieces of myself that I never knew existed—but more importantly it showed me that patience and hard work are my best friends in achieving my goals. I can’t even begin to count how many times the cold cement was my battlefield, or the times I had to pick myself up and go back home with bruised hands—only to wake up the next day and start the cycle all over again.

BY Julitta Triantafyllou When you think of skateboarding, there’s a specific image that pops into your head.; probably a guy in his mid-twenties wearing a Thrasher T-shirt and drinking beer at your local skatepark, or a bunch of teenage boys going through the angst of puberty. It’s certainly safe to say that I do not fall into that category, and it took me a while to come to terms with the fact that my presence in the sport is still peculiar. Regardless, times are changing and skateboarding has started opening its arms even more to embrace a massive influx of fresh faces who fill the community with individuality and diversity.

There are no boundaries when it comes to skateboarding, and there isn’t a rigid etiquette that needs to be followed to become a skater—whatever that title implies.

My relationship with the sport started blooming a few months back when I moved to Scotland, and was exposed to the culture that pulsed in the Kelvingrove skatepark. It was truly fascinating to watch every time I walked by—to the extent that it awoke a hunger inside of me to pick up a board and attempt to emulate it. I was actually no stranger to skateboarding—I’ve had my fair share of tries in the past, and that’s where most of my hesitation stemmed from. However, I remembered how hard it was to be different in the scene a few years back, and had doubts as to whether or not it would work out. Nonetheless, I pushed these fears aside and dove into this whole other dimension.

Skateboarding is all about being comfortable in your own skin. If your mind and your body are blocked, you won’t be able to free

The day my wheels started sliding on the pavement was the day a new era of my life began. I still have vivid flashbacks of patiently waiting for my lecture to be completed so I could finally try this new trick I had been daydreaming about. It is such a liberating feeling. You sense the wind blowing through your hair, the rays of the sun tingling your skin—and for a few moments you are unstoppable. Everyone’s expressing their creativity independently, and if you pay close attention, there is plenty to learn from one another. Each muscle of your being is coordinated into a strategic—but at the same time spontaneous—movement, which not only provides you with internal gratification for learning a new skill, but an aesthetically pleasing outcome.

In addition to the physical aspect of skateboarding, my perspective of the city, and the structures that define it has shifted dramatically. I have heard so many stories of people having an increased appreciation of the architecture surrounding them through skateboarding; architecture transforms into something more than just a plain set of stairs, or a curb at the side of road. This renewed outlook on the city, and changed nature of movement becomes part of you.

The possibilities are now endless.

I have worked—and still do—extremely hard to assert my place in skateboarding, and I don’t regret it one bit. I am convinced that one day the small seeds that current and the past generations of skateboarders have sown will grow stronger and louder for the years to come. All of us who are members of this crowd should nurture the spirit of solidarity, and remind others that this is not—and should never be—a competition, or a sort of twisted survival of the fittest.

We are a family—and if there is anything that you gain out of this, I hope it is buying or borrowing a deck, and let it carry you away from your troubles, as it did for me.

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Political crises of “self-harm” come and go, but none have shone as presciently in the modern era as Britain’s doomed-from-thestart Brexit process. Would it be fair to argue that the UK government has struggled to come to a compatible agreement with our European Partners? The simple answer is yes. However, the decision to withdraw was unlikely to be met positively by the European Union and the remaining twenty-seven member states. Britain’s withdrawal from the EU is best viewed by the Commission as an epidemic that needs to be contained; necessitating a panacea to quell unrest elsewhere within the supranational body.

At a time when the UK should seek to bolster its relationship with the rest of the world— including developing economies that could facilitate future growth—it is preoccupied with other matters. Crucially,

innumerable outcomes for the future— the uncertainty is omnipresent. At the time of writing, 600 civil servants from the Department for International Development (DfID) are being repositioned, to be placed on secondment to other departments as the internal mechanisms of government struggle to prepare for a process that is indeterminate.

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), cuts to the Ministry of Justice since the coalition government took office in 2010, will be to the tune of 40% by 20192020. A damning indictment of the state of austerity. The consequences of this being a divide between those who can afford representation and those who are left debtladen as they do not meet the threshold for legal aid. As such, within the realms

knock-on effects of such policies. Since 2010, 258 courts have been closed, limiting accessibility for those victimised by crimes against their person.

DISTRACT, CONNIVE, MAYBE RULE

BY Rafe Uddin

However, as the process endures, the underlying issues—the disillusionment and deprivation that caused the vote—will not be addressed. With government departments tied up in planning, negotiating and facilitating the complex range of issues surrounding Britain’s departure and the

Mention of an elite by the voting base is not unfounded, especially if individuals live below the poverty line, unable to protect their jobs, homes and family from decades of social and urban deprivation brought on by global economic pressures. This holds true despite the underlyingly derogatory tone to which it has been employed by some; including those who are very much the embodiment of an elite. Indeed, dubious figures within our political sphere continue to utilize this core argument, reframing it, and dishing it out as a critique of those opposed to Brexit.

Never mind the decades of lobbying and anti-European apathy from both sides of the political spectrum, the past few years have seen a heightened context of issue ownership. The Conservatives winning out in the battle of which political party would steer the country through the Brexit process, a mandate determined in part by the 2017 General Election. Although the process is one which will have far-reaching consequences for Britons and Europeans alike, it seems that the fears of a process languishing as it is, overshadow nearly a decade of austere government policy – which was perhaps a clear driving force behind the disillusionment evidenced in the vote.

As it becomes difficult to grasp the day-today of Brexit, a culture of distraction has descended over the body politic.

Healthcare in this debate is cliché, as is defence spending. These are the areas that we continually bicker about; perhaps rightly so. However, little attention has been paid to issues within our criminal justice system, an area that has been left to languish as ministers engaged in cuts that were easier to sell to the public—facing less vocal opposition—with a clear disregard for the

The government as it stands is propped up by a confidence and supply arrangement with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP); thus, the current discussion about a stable power-sharing structure in Northern Ireland has all but dissipated. Twenty years since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, the climate remains divisive and driven by ethnonationalism. Underlying issues of sectarianism have not been appropriately challenged; rather, scholarship on the issue highlights an atmosphere of accommodation and de-escalation. Whilst the UK may withdraw from the EU, it falters in being a unified sovereign state. This disjointedness does little to foster confidence in the government’s ability to reflect the will of the people in affairs of state, a matter that has become more apparent throughout the Brexit process.

international development outlines the basis for the most elementary forms of restitution in a post-colonial context. Albeit one that is hindered by the neo-colonial terms attached to modern development aid, i.e. readmission arrangements. Effectively deployed, the DfID could facilitate market conditions that are organic and sustainable; being more environmentally aware will plug a gap in infrastructural investment left by the rapid withdrawal of Britain at the collapse of its imperial operation.

Ultimately those residing within Britain have been left without an alternative, forced down a route that would move the goalposts for any preferred reform. Will we see a general election in the coming year?

Under the fixed term parliament act, the UK is not due one until May 2022. In the 3½ years till that point, the UK will undergo further structural changes as it seeks to traverse the next steps in a process of withdrawal; procrastinating away any form of negotiating power, as fragmentary political parties fail to come to a conclusive negotiating position. Meanwhile, the country’s political infrastructure continues to falter, burdened by the demands of a government that possesses a disconnect between the realities of its objectives, and the outcomes of its policies.

Where will we be when those seeking to pry away forms of legislative oversight, succeed in disassociating with the European Court of Human Rights as a final f*** you to our continental partners?

of criminal law, a field lacking in diversity, we observe the reification of structural indifference to minorities and judgements that too harshly reflect this. Leading on to a simple question:

ŠAnnegret Maja Fiedler

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BY GEORGIA WATSON

D E L I R I U M (our) polka dot dream emotionally combats eight seconds of an empty stomach orally induced confusion this time crisis dwindling apprehension are we there yet? dramamine something to hide the time passing passing mildly into nothingness window of present a tense unknowing what is happening look over where Kusama spots blur the sky time waking up flash

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Step 7: This one is super important. Be conscious in introducing new things into your life.

After I decluttered my stuff, I got picky about buying things because I realised that I had no problem getting rid of so many of the things I had accumulated. That amount of waste made me feel ashamed. I don’t want to keep doing that.

How to be a Minimalist

BY Vaiva Gikaitė

Minimalism was originally a movement in art and design that sought to exclude all that was unnecessary, leaving behind pure truth and functionality. As a lifestyle, it’s a response to a world that feels increasingly overwhelming, and is a way to phase out distractions. Minimalism narrows our focus so that we can decide what is meaningful.

I read Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying last year, and found peace in decluttering my physical space— but my head still feels busy. So, I decided to work on applying minimalism to my schedule. Every good project starts with a well-thought out plan, so:

THE

PLA

N

F OR MO

I will (hopefully) graduate soonish and my needs will change. That’s when I plan to reassess.

Drawing on my experiences, I know how it feels to be constantly busy—and realistically, I might feel busy until the day I die. But at least I have some power over how I choose to spend my time. I can say no to the distractions.

BEIN G

Step 6: Repeat as needed.

You’re never “done”. Needs and priorities change. Your life should change accordingly.

Step 5: See how you feel. Do you like your life when it has less in it? Do you feel calmer? Like you have more time? Or do you feel like you’re lacking something?

This is going to take a little getting used to. But I feel a little lighter already. I don’t feel like I have to rush.

RE

Step 3: Take stock. Look at a typical day and see what feels unnecessary or in excess. What thing do you do, or own that feels pointless, or causes you avoidable stress?

Step 2: Define your aims. Do some good soul searching and figure out you want and what’s important to you. This should take some time and will change at different stages of the year, as well as at different stages of your life.

I have a tendency to try and do the most. Yet, the more I divide my attention, the less energy I have to devote to anything in particular, and I end up doing things half-assed.

Unsurprisingly, I’ve decided that university is what’s most important for me right now. Then, I want to focus on my relationships, my part-time job, and a few hobbies to stay balanced.

Time to chill out a bit.

Step 1: Realise you’re feeling mentally busy.

MINI

You feel like:

M A L I S T:

• •

• • • •

You’re doing a lot but not getting anywhere You don’t have enough time/ energy/money for that thing you want to do You never get a moment to relax You can’t focus Your attention is being pulled in too many directions You’re flapping and faffing about

I keep too many tabs open, switch between tasks, and check my phone too much.

I don’t get much benefit from scrolling through Instagram, or flitting between opinion pieces and news articles without spending the necessary time to actually form an opinion on what I’ve consumed.

There’s just too much for my brain to deal with, and I don’t need to waste my time.

On the more tangible side of things, I noticed that the amount of stuff I carry about on a daily basis has gotten ridiculous.

Surely I can save my back and declutter my backpack. Carrying less and being a bit neater will also probably save me from having to make sure I have everything I need like 5 times before I leave in the morning.

Step 4: Strip away the excess. But having stuff isn’t bad.

Goodbye tabs, goodbye apps I don’t use, and goodbye to the people I follow but can’t remember why.

However, minimalism isn’t about getting rid of everything. It’s about having the things that matter to you and not being distracted by the rest. Mindless Instagram scrolling can go, but I’m not a robot. For me to be truly happy in life and feel human, I need to allow time in my schedule to watch Big Mouth sometimes.

by JOYCE CHOONG

Form distracting

from content in art

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When Marcel Duchamp submitted Fountain (1917) to the Society of Independent Artists (under the name R. Mutt, no less), the readymade was repudiated due to its vulgarity.

The Society of Independent Artists itself was established for the exhibition of avantgarde art.

Yet Fountain was too much—inappropriate, unacceptable, not art. The furore was compounded by the one-two punch of the work bearing no trace of the artist’s hand, and the fact that it was of all things, a urinal. For those evaluating Duchamp’s work for exhibition, its form and inherent object-ness prevented it from being a work of art. But for Duchamp and his circle, it was art because of its form.

He was taking a stab at the stale congelation that was the nature of art—as avant-garde as the Society was, even they remained rooted in conventional notions of originality, authenticity and beauty. Evidently those initial protestations have been long overlooked, as ‘R. Mutt’s’ work has been inaugurated into the canon and our minds as art.

“expansive” as Farquharson describes. The narrator talks about the origin of the mononym ‘Bridgit’ from neolithic past to present.

It features the misty, rolling Scottish landscape and the also-misty, wrinkling blue sea, each punctuated by the splotch of a red vehicle. It is also every bit as close to you as the palm of your hand — the shakiness of a hand-held camera trying its best feels so familiar it may (ironically) be hard to shake. For Prodger, its medium is an indispensable part of the exploration of class, gender and sexuality she undertakes in the film. As anyone who desired a peep into someone else’s camera roll would know, an iPhone film is as personal and intimate as you could possibly get.

The ready-made pushed ideas of what could be considered art through highlighting this ubiquitous, industrially-churned-out object.

Because of just how unremarkable a urinal was (and maybe still is), the ‘gate-keepers’ of fine art decried it. Attitudes toward new media in art could not be more different now.

Glaswegian queer, feminist artist Charlotte Prodger received the Turner Prize for her films Bridgit (2016) and Stoneymollan Trail (2015)— though if you’ve heard of this you probably know of the former, a film shot entirely on her iPhone. Tate Director Alex Farquharson noted it was the “most profound use of a device as prosaic as the iPhone camera that we’ve seen in art to date”, “not what we expect from video clips shot on iPhones”. The bit of the film available online is perhaps every bit as

If the trumpet of headlines is anything to go by, Prodger’s film has been folded into the embrace of that hard-to-crack establishment that is the art institution. The lofty, inaccessible ideas of what art is have come crashing down since Duchamp’s early da, and now Prodger’s work has been accepted, nay, awarded the prestige of unequivocally being art. No longer does the art world thumb its nose at the accessibility of tools such as the iPhone for artistic creation. The content of the film is augmented by the fact that it was shot with a personal, hand-held device. Prodger’s audience, one far more accustomed to the screen of a phone than the silver screen, is allowed a familiar space in which they can plunge into forces that shape identity, time and landscape. The medium is the message.

Nobody has ever disregarded the fact that Fountain is a ready-made urinal. In the same vein, neither should the fact that Bridgit is shot on an iPhone be dismissed as mere distraction either. Although heavily advertised as such, that an iPhone film is prosaic does not detract from its quality.

While works of art can be dissected and appraised for its formal qualities, it should not diminish a holistic experience of the work. Maybe this sounds like too easy an answer to a complex question; but as technological advancements loom large over the art world, it will be altogether impossible to imagine cleaving away the art from the technology or vice versa. In time to come, something like virtual reality art wouldn’t just be a cool-new-trendy headline grabber, but an exciting possibility advanced by technology.

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Populism can be a nebulous term, based around the idea of “the people” versus a nefarious elite, it is expandable across the political spectrum. There is no denying that right-wing populism in particular is having a moment worldwide. Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro, Nigel Farage, and Marie Le Pen are all capitalizing on populist movements; but where did these figures come from?

How does media coverage give oxygen to these ideas, and why is right-wing populism so, well, popular?

Each of these populist actors claims to represent an alternative to the ‘elite’. Trump promised to “drain the swamp”, Bolsonaro’s predecessor Lula da Silva was jailed for a corruption scandal, and UKIP’s rise came in the wake of the MP expenses scandal.

In their respective countries, trust in politicians and the political system was at an all-time low. Not least because the reverberations from the 2008 financial crisis are still being felt. It’s harder to have faith that the people in charge are doing a good job, when your life itself feels markedly worse.

The irony of course is that every single one of these figures is fully ensconced within the social elite. Farage and Bannon are both ex-bankers, Le Pen is part of a political dynasty, and Bolsonaro was a senior officer under a military dictatorship that he has described as being “glorious”. So, what do these figures add to populism? In his interview with Holyrood, Bannon answers this question with his “theorem”: “You put a reasonable face on right-wing populism and you get elected.”

Central to populism is the seductive idea that there are simple solutions to complex issues. When these ideas are articulated from an authority figure—peripheral to the

elite, but distancing themselves from it— they carry power. James Meek characterised the power of a simple story in an article about Brexit that contrasts two myths of Britishness; Robin Hood versus George and the Dragon. In Robin Hood, change comes through continuous redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor. In George and the Dragon, people are terrorised by a dragon, George slays said Dragon; everything is better! A much punchier narrative. Brexit succeeded in part because it was able to rally around a triumphal moment of “Independence Day” and posit a villain who could be removed.

Unfortunately, right-wing populism is exclusionary; “the people” don’t represent everyone, but an in-group, based on nationhood and race, and the “dragon” is often characterised as immigration and threats to a national culture. In a fast news cycle, populism has the upper hand in terms of story, and therefore press coverage, when simple, sound bite solutions are offered to a nation’s problems. When the alternative being presented is complex, technocratic policy that even politics wonks struggle to keep on top of, news channels will pick ‘build a wall’ for the headline, even if critiquing it. This was reflected in the 2016 election, where Trump received double the coverage of Clinton, although 77% (depending on the moment of the campaign) was negative in tone towards him. It seems that there is some truth in “all publicity is good publicity”.

Should the media interact with an ideology that is discriminatory at its heart? Is the alternative of no platforming effective or does it feed perfectly into a narrative of elites silencing “the people”? The Holyrood

interview with Bannon may have been in depth and with the very best of intentions, but by publishing a cover that equivocates Bannon and the working class, and using pull quotes such as “we are on the right side of History”, his position is legitimised as part of the mainstream political dialogue.

The Overton window shifts, and people are emboldened to hold and act on discriminatory views.

There is real poverty in prosperous countries, with food stamp usage in America rising to a high of 47.6 million people in 2013. That’s 47.6 million people in the richest country in the world who can’t afford to feed themselves. Last month the UN’s rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights declared that levels of child poverty in the UK were “not just a disgrace, but a social calamity and an economic disaster”.

The report also talked about poverty as a political choice that imposed “punitive, mean-spirited, and often callous” cuts in the name of austerity.

You can see why a redemption story of “taking back control” or “MAGA” might be tempting when life is a daily struggle. If we have learnt anything from Trump, Brexit and Le Pen, it’s that it is not enough for the press to regurgitate the sound bites of populist leaders, even if opposing them.

Reporting on a story is what journalists do, but it is essential that the excitement of a simple solution and the energy it garners doesn’t simply fan the flames of right populism. Equally it is time for those who oppose the anti-migration wave to start telling an equally compelling story, one where the “dragon” is not the most vulnerable people in society.

FANNING

THE FLAMES In December, Scotland’s leading political publication, Holyrood, produced a front cover with a photo of Steve Bannon and the line ‘Blue Collar Bannon’ emblazoned on it. This editorial decision was much derided, as it was seen to be playing into exactly the image that Bannon wishes to project; that of the little man, speaking up for the hard workers in this changing world. In the Holyrood piece, Bannon is quoted at length; given space to lay out his argument in a reasoned way, without being called up on some of his more dubious bedfellows. The week before the interview Nicola Sturgeon refused to share a platform with Bannon by boycotting a conference. This brought its own criticism as she appeared unengaged with “current ideas”, having thoroughly rejected a wave of populism.

BY Anna Rieser

OF P

PULISM

O

HOW I ALMOST T O O K A DV I C E FROM A LAD IN A POLO SHIRT 24

DISTRACTING FASHION

BY NINA MDWABA It’s a millennial tale as old as time. Girl meets Boy, Boy tells Girl “she’s hot”, and they make out. Of course, he makes out with her friend too—in the same night—and then proceeds to play them both by texting them at the same time. Little does he know that they’re on to him. Eventually, one girl loses interest, and one stays. She does everything in her power to impress the stupid boy she met in a club, and who she knew would eventually screw her over. But she couldn’t resist his green eyes, even if his pupils were so large he could have been an alien. Of course, she knew, Boy was an idiot and she should have just pushed him to the curb, but she was young and impressionable and succumbed to the same culture that many young girls do when dating in the city, she simply lost all of her sense. Looking back

in retrospect it’s like watching a tragic romcom unfold—the kind you watch between separated fingers—like in the days when you would pretend to look away at the sex-scenes in that PG12 movie you weren’t quite old enough to watch with your parents. My reflective 23-year-old self now sits with a bowl of salty popcorn, shouting “Girl don’t do it, he doesn’t love you! Remember self-love, self-love!”—only moments later it fades into the next scene and it’s all too late.

Six years pass and that relationship still plays out in her memory like projectile bile—you know the kind—unavoidable, messy, and not at all worth the hangover? Now, she eventually came to her senses, she forgave herself, gained some perspective, gained a whole new understanding of self-respect, dumped the bum of course, and never looked back.

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DISTRACTING FASHION

At this point, I imagine one may be thinking, “Honey, it’s not that deep, cool the dramatics”, and I may have agreed with you—if I hadn’t committed the biggest fashion faux-pas of them all—taking fashion advice from a man in a polo shirt and skinny jeans. I remember that night so vividly: I wore a cropped turtleneck, my American Apparel ruby red velvet skirt and my 3-eyelet 1461 Docs with fishnets. He, of course, wore his yellow polo shirt and his dark blue skinny jeans, his shoes I can imagine were not all that great because they were clearly not all that memorable. We stood outside and whilst he sipped on his drink and took a drag of his fag; he scanned my body as though searching for a virus, eventually landed on my shoes, then alternating quickly between my shoes and my breasts, finally letting out “I think you’re hot, I just don’t think the way that you dress is...it’s distracting “. In truth, I should have walked away, and told him where to shove his opinion, but I didn’t, and like the many young women who came before me I let a clueless, badly dressed, potentially abusive man speak over my self-esteem and dictate my choices, whilst I dwelled on words that I wish had far less of an impact than they did.

So naturally, at the ripe and impressionable age of 17, I tried to wear clothes that would be more revealing.

Clothes that would make me look more attractive to the male gaze; sexier, more approachable. I tried to wear clothes that wouldn’t “distract” from my tits, my legs or my ”beautiful face” because it became painfully clear that I belonged to a society that told me that it was okay for a man to focus on my cleavage rather than my conversation; or that I had to adhere to a certain dress code, all whilst being fully conscious of the fact that I, “may be asking for it”. When really, all this was distracting from was a more serious problem facing society. The same problem that protects the desires of men and their reputations, rather than protecting our women and our children. It is the same kind of politics that makes light of negging culture, lad culture, internalised misogyny, and blatant misogyny.

And finally, it is the same politics that would put a young girl on a stand in front of her rapist whilst a panel of cis white straight men handle a pair of her underwear on public display to remind her that she was somehow “asking for it”, and the presence of the authorities she entrusted to protect her shares a common narrative we have all heard far too many times—one that no amount of therapy will correct. It is the same politics that allows women to suffer in silence, whilst He walks free. I wish I had the courage to say then what I without hesitation can say now: “I’ll wear whatever the f*ck I like”.

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in bloom // amfiedler.tumblr.com

by Annegret Maja Fiedler @pineapplemamba

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BY Ethan Kelly

A DISTRACTION FROM YOUR DISTRACTIONS

Before I begin, I want you to try and capture your own intuitions about distraction: what does that word mean to you? Is it positive or negative? How does it happen, and how do you know it’s happening? What makes it happen, and what good does it do us to let it? If you have the time, spend a minute or two considering what this concept means to you.

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To me, and I would say a great deal of people reading this (perhaps including yourself), distraction will have fairly negative connotations. It’s the kind of activity that frustrates teachers and friends in conversations, but where does it come from and what is the purpose of it?

If we wanted to answer this question, until fairly recently the literature was still developing and no clear conclusion could be drawn. However, last year a team of researchers from the universities of Princeton and California, Berkeley found that your mind is assessing your environment continually, with increasing and decreasing focus according to your own rhythmic brain cycles. What this means is that, when we say ‘distracted,’ that’s not what is occuring at all.

Instead, we move from focusing on something before us – an essay, a friend on the other side of the road, etc. – and our focus broadens without us knowing it, in order to gather information about the wider environment – the cup of tea you’ve forgotten about, a car coming down the street meaning you can’t cross the road yet and so on. In fact, what the researchers found is that your brain focuses on four distinct, individual things per second and collects this almost film-like existence that we comprehend through our sense-data is far from the reality of our perception: indeed, it’s simply another remarkable feat of the mind that we experience our world the way we do.

This way of experiencing reality seems to make much more sense when considered from an evolutionary point of view: let’s say our focus acts like a spotlight, and it broadens and narrows periodically.

If our hunter-gatherer ancestors were concentrating on preparing some food to eat, they would want to know if they had attracted the attention of any other creatures posing a threat to them. Similarly, if we’re working on something mundane, perhaps copying lecture notes, something outside of the area of focus that seems more important will draw our attention if this spotlight will broaden enough to include it in these discrete,

four-per-second analyses the brain carries out. By more important, it may mean that this external stimulus would provide more positive emotions – it maybe something on TV or a favourite song and this could very easily be favoured by our brain and so our focus moves towards it. This is what we would call distraction. It is this rhythmic behaviour of focus that has given excellent evidence to a longstanding debate in psychology: it suggests that our perceptual experience is based on brain rhythms, rather than a continuous movie-like collection of data. But, to me what is remarkable about these findings is that distraction is evolutionarily beneficial to us – it is conducive to our survival, or else why did natural selection leave it in us all?

Why is it that perception is like this? One suggestion made by the researchers is that the brain could not possibly take in all details of our environment at once and so the brain has evolved to use these techniques to give our perception as continuous a feel as possible, while prioritising only the deemably important aspects of our surroundings and drawing attention to those if and when required. These results could mean a great deal for people living with attention-affecting disorders: take attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The researchers have conjectured that this neurodevelopmental disorder could be explained by an uneven rhythm dictating the focusing and broadening of this spotlight on our environment: in certain individuals, it is broad too much of the time and they have trouble focusing; in others, it is narrow too much of the time and they find it difficult to build a sufficiently detailed picture of the world around them.

Although this science is all very new and exciting, I want to end with another more personal consideration. Why are you reading this magazine? Is it to distract you from the routine of your everyday life, or do you find it conducive to your general focus? By extension, why do we write/edit/design/etc. this magazine? Do we think it is conducive to some greater good, and so we devote focus to it and fight past the desire to focus on something more enjoyable, or is working on this publication the more enjoyable distraction to our everyday lives? My suggestion is that there is a thereaputic aspect to all involved: my assumption is that we are all under stress in our daily lives, and reading or helping create this magazine is a distraction, a form of respite for our minds from the difficulties we put them through daily in order to maintain studies and social lives. I have no delusions of grandeur – I don’t believe this article will have a remarkable impact on science, nor on the reader’s life, your life.

However, I hope it provides a welcome distraction for you to read as it did for me to research and write. I’ll leave you with this: allow yourself some distractionst from time to time, follow them and let them take you – people often say life is in the in between, in the time away from work and education, so let these moments be just that for you.

Reference Pinsk, Mark A., Kastner, Sabine; A Dynamic Interplay within the Frontoparietal Network Underlies Rhythmic Spatial Attention, Neuron vol. 99 issue 4, pp. 842-853, August 22 2018.

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Distraction

BY Eden Dodd

I can see an aged couple sitting shoulder-to-shoulder. They’re both holding guitars. The instruments speak in a whisper - greying strings straining to sing. I’m outside looking in, bay windows framing their October Wednesday. I’m aware of the cold against my cheeks. A feeling of frost made almost painful by the warm glow of what I assume is their front room. I can’t see their faces, but I imagine a shared look of concentration. Sharp and silent focus, inwardly content. I keep walking, the soles of my shoes mulch newly fallen leaves into a wasting watercolour. Bombarded with bitumen and the thought of the day ahead, I imagine what the old couple had for breakfast. I reckon she’s a coffee drinker and he has tea. Milk, two sugars, bag left in. They had eggs that needed eating and more time to spare than usual, so she scrambled them, and he did the toast. It was almost cold by the time they sat down. She grumbled a comment about how he’d taken too long to cut the bread. His reply - a glance over his glasses and a hiccup of a cough. They eat in silence. Not harmed by hostility but instead coated in comfort. A familiarity.

This is known to them both. This morning, the near-cold breakfast shrouded in quiet. It’s their normal. Its unchanging pattern welcomed. Steel scrapes plates. My feet hit carpet and air conditioning brushes my face. A friend’s hand lands on my shoulder, pulling me out of the coffee-coated kitchen of the old couple’s house. I leave them to brush their teeth and pick up their guitars, trudging through the motions of their day as I do the same.

30

Library—Level 9—2100hrs

Night closes in, liminal. stretched sun pulls on the last moments of light, bringing hollow cold. Moon there as it has always been, breathless

BY Scott Norval

Now the lighting of the lamps, over parched streets focus lost with the opening of curtains and noise trickling out. soft voice light spilt, then Up to cold railings next to concrete blocks and leaves with eyes meeting over phone screens, first, then a physical moment, earthy, a light touch a light touch of cards on gates and now funnelling out into space Which is borrowed for the moment with bookish restriction Is used in the ebbing and flow of focus in the movement of bodies around you and you find yourself lost, in that moment, lost faced with a choice and the presence of both knowledge and surrounding people, lost again in that face, this is the nature of distraction meaning diverted complicated engrossing amusement preoccupied absorption in a world, through distraction, found 31

POSTDEATH Does etiquette distract us from candid discussion of controversial legacies?

BY Betty Henderson From a young age, we are taught that it is wrong to speak ill of the dead. It is an idea that is so ingrained in our society that it has become taboo to speak badly about someone who is no longer around to defend themselves, even if people were more than happy to criticise them when they were alive. But how does this affect the way we remember a polarising figure after their death? Are we distracted by this social convention to such an extent that we alter the truth of their impact in life? Does this level of respect equate to a sort of collective amnesia where we discard any prior negative opinions we might have had about a person, or does it actually allow us a more objective lens through which we can view their legacies without unwarranted hatred?

In line with custom, the internet-wide reaction to George Bush Sr.’s death in November this year was remarkably respectful and—in some cases—almost nostalgic. This is surprising considering that the 41st President of the United States was booted out of office amidst a cloud of criticism after serving for only one term. He failed to make good on his promise not to raise taxes, and was largely viewed by the American public as uncaring.

It is perhaps because of this that the general coverage following his death seems to have focused on Bush’s personality rather than his policies. He has been depicted as 32

an upstanding member of society, a kind and committed president who was perhaps the last stalwart of a different era of politics.

Indeed, even those who vehemently opposed Bush’s actions, both during his presidency and his previous appointment as the head of the CIA, cannot help but express a nostalgia for the pre-9/11, pre-Trump era of American politics. Ariel Dorfman, writing for The Guardian, states what’s on everyone’s minds: ‘for all the elder Bush’s shortcomings, I would rather have a finger like his on the nuclear trigger than that of an ignorant bully and self-aggrandising, insecure liar’. More than simply respect for the dead, it is perhaps the current climate of political disillusionment that we live in, which has distracted people from the more negative aspects of Bush’s presidency. Dorfman does not let Bush Sr. off the hook for his questionable policies but—like many others—expresses the sentiment that his approach was preferable to that of his son’s chaotic and destructive presidency, and even more so the current situation under Trump.

Collective memories seem to have been warped by distance: Bush’s most controversial and unfavorable moments mainly concerned foreign policy, while his domestic policies— such as the Disabilities Act—were successful and popular in the States. His actions abroad have been condemned by many, but it appears

-TSOP HTURT that his impact at home secured his longterm popularity.

Thatcher, however, was a politician whose time in office had a severe and tangible effect on the British public. The former Prime Minister of Great Britain—who was in office at the same time as Bush Sr.—was widely unpopular during her life thanks to her harsh policies and approach to the 1984-1985 miners’ strikes. Unlike coverage of Bush Sr.’s passing, when she died in 2013 the sentiment across social media platforms was far more celebratory than mournful.

People across the country tweeted reminders of her controversial approach to politics, and—just as during her life—were not shy in their criticism of the Iron Lady. Impromptu street parties popped up nationwide, pubs in pit villages hosted “happy hours”, and the week after her death the song ‘Ding-Dong!

The Witch is Dead’ reentered the charts at number two. It must be noted however, that for the most part, media giants and newspapers stayed true to tradition and retained a respectfully neutral tone in their coverage of events. The BBC were even criticised and accused of censorship as they chose not to play ‘Ding-Dong’ in full out of respect for the former prime minister.

of the dead still holds weight in our society at an institutional level. Although, it is abundantly clear that not everyone agrees with this societal norm. The rise of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter has given the general public license to publish their opinions on an unprecedented scale—and they are certainly not afraid to do so. While official news outlets strive to maintain a respectful— if slightly rose-tinted—stance when covering these issues, there is no shortage of people candidly speaking their minds online.

It is evident that this taboo stems from reason; it is understandable to feel the need to talk respectfully about someone who is no longer capable of defending themselves, and in the same way, there is little sense in ruthlessly insulting a person who can make no further imprint on the world. However, this does not mean that we should paint a falsely positive picture of a controversial figure, or dismiss any harm that they might have caused in their lifetime. A balance must be found wherein we can discuss a person’s legacy candidly, yet respectfully, without being distracted by social norms or unrestrained resentment. In this modern era of fast news and social media, we might be a little closer to finding one.

Looking at the reaction to the passing of these two figures, the taboo of speaking ill 33

GLASGOW M A G T U

UNIVERSITY A Z I N E R N S

GLASGOW UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE IS CELEBRATING 130 YEARS OF BEING IN PRINT. BEING SCOTLAND’S OLDEST STUDENT PUBLICATION, IT’S EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTORS OVER THE YEARS HAVE SEEN THE FORMATION OF THE EU, THE DISCOVERY OF THE DOUBLE HELIX, WHITE WOMEN GAINING THE VOTE THEN ALL WOMEN GAINING THE VOTE, THE

GLASGOW M A G T U

UNIVERSITY A Z I N E R N S

CREATION OF THE NHS, BRITNEY SPEARS’ 2007 BREAKDOWN, THE INTERNET… OVER THE COMING MONTHS WE SHALL DELVE INTO OUR ARCHIVE, REFLECTING ON PAST ARTICLES. WE ARE CURRENTLY IN THE PROCESS OF DEVELOPING MERCHANDISE AND AT THE END OF TERM ARE GEARING TOWARD A BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR THE AGES. STAY TUNED!

issue #002 distractions spring 2019 glasgow university magazine facebook / Glasgow University Magazine twitter / @gumagazine instagram / @gumagazine email / editors@glasgowuniversitymagazine.co.uk

Š Gabriela Saldanha Blackwood