NUKS Down The Rabbit Hole SUMMER 2019-2020

NUKS

S um me r 2 02 0

Down the Rabbit Hole

Adil Boughlala

Book Recommendation Spot the Real Artwork Zine Tutorial

Shanna de CaluwĂŠ Psychedelic Drugs Whimsical Places Dark Dreams

Charly Hermanns Short Story: Finale

Daniela Piangiolino Online Experiences Alice in NYC and more!

What’s Insid e .. . ?

Table

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Contents Preface..................................................................3 Book Recommendations....................................................4 The Weirdest Theme Parks...............................................5 Short Story: Finale........................................................ 6 Tutorial: My KNUS Zine................................................... 8 Story Time: Psychedelic Drugs....................................... 10 The Big Bois of RU? What About the Big GIRLS of RU?!........ 12 5 Arts and Culture Online Experiences............................ 13 Spot the Real Artwork: Animal Crossing Edition.............. 14 Alice in Wonderland in Central Park, NYC...................... 15 GXRLHOOD.................................................................... 16 Tutorial: Dalgona Coffee............................................. 17 KNUS in the Picture...................................................... 18 Whimsical Places in the NUKSers’ Hometowns................ 20 Madame Zheng: The Most Successful Pirate of all Times...... 24 Dark Dreams................................................................. 26 Teabox: What Your Choice of Tea Reveals About You......... 27 A Personality Test Based on Your Favourite Pasta Shape.....28 Poetry.................................................................................................29 Cartoon.............................................................................................30 Sponsors.............................................................................................31

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Editors Adil Boughlala Charly Hermanns Daniela Piangiolino Gwen Tummers Minsun Kang Sarah Selena Selena Soemakno Shanna de Caluwé Vera van Nuenen Chief Editor & Designer Tatyana Dimitrova

Preface

“Muchness: the innocence and imagination that appears in the hearts of young children. As the children grow older, they become more mature, and gain responsibilities. They lose their muchness.”

- The Urban Dictionary

Dear Reader,

As you are reading this last issue of the NUKS for the academic year of 2019 2020, I hope I showed you enough muchness. This is important for me because a muchier person has imagination. And who even wants to hear Tim Burton’s version of the Mad Hatter tell them “You used to be much more…MUCHIER. You’ve lost your MUCHNESS.” Does this make sense? I hope it does, because down the rabbit hole all things sound like that. At least in the rabbit hole from Alice in Wonderland. Maybe the lovely NUKSers have managed to give you another version of what it’s like to go down the rabbit hole? Who knows?

This academic year, it was a great pleasure for me to get the opportunity to lead the NUKS committee and design the magazine. I hope I managed to visually convey my muchness through it. Hopefully, whoever takes over that task next academic year, continues to convey their muchness. But we will not worry about that for now. Because the future, as Tennessee Williams said, is called “perhaps,” which is the only possible thing to call the future and the important thing is to not allow that to scare you. Let us focus on the present.

With this final issue for the academic year, we want to give you a blurring of the wearisome lines of what is acceptable. We want to look at reality through an honest lens that makes us all slightly uncomfortable with that whimsically, wacky, eeriness that suggests the world we think we live in is not the world that is. Because, if you think about it, each one of us lives in a different world from everyone else, right? I was in class once and my lecturer blew my mind when she asked me what my culture is. I replied that I am Bulgarian. She then said “No. I mean what YOUR culture is. Your Bulgarian culture is different from your mother’s Bulgarian culture for example. Because you encountered different things, went to different places and you are influenced by different knowledge.” So what do you say? Would you venture down the rabbit hole between the pages of this last NUKS and find out all the other worlds, cultures and worldviews?

Head of the NUKS committee and Designer, Tatyana Dimitrova

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B o0K ReccoMendati0ns: Alice in... horrorland

Ever wondered what could have happened to Alice after she jumped into the rabbit hole? Surely, the story couldn’t have been all sunshine and flowers, and the artists of the books below understood that. If you love a good horror story, you will enjoy these Alice in Wonderland adaptations.

by Adil Boughlala

Alice in Borderland by Haro Aso Arisu (the Japanese pronunciation of Alice) is a delinquent who, upon looking at a firework show, wishes to live in a different, more exciting world. His wish is granted, and he is transported, together with his friends, to a post-apocalypticlike parallel Tokyo. This world, also known as ‘the Borderlands’ is one filled with games. But here is the catch: everyone begins with a set amount of ‘days’. If your days expire, you’ll die. The only way to survive is to play the games, and, based on the difficulty of the game, you will get days added to your life. Will Arisu be able to escape this hell of a world? Read, and find out!

Alice by Christina Henry The Chronicles of Alice are a series of books that mimic the original Alice in Wonderland stories, but in a slightly different way. Alice revolves around a mysterious former-blondhaired woman who finds herself in a hospital, not knowing why. One night, the woman escapes from the hospital in a big fire. She finds freedom and sets out to find out what happened to her, and how she ended up losing all her memories. However, during her escape, a beast was set free. In order to find the truth about herself, she has to find the beast in ‘the Old City’, where the rabbit is waiting for his Alice. The story is very dark and disturbing, and a great read for during the night!

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The

Weirdest Theme Parks

Do you have any unforgettable memories involving theme parks? The ones below can distort your lovely memories of theme parks.

Here are three weirdest theme parks which are popular in the world because of their unique and shocking themes!

• Minsun Kang

Jeju Love Land, South Korea This is a theme park which will fulfil your hidden sexual voyeuristic desires on Jeju Island in South Korea. Love Land is already well-known as ‘the world’s kinkiest theme park’. This theme park focuses on sex and eroticism with numerous sculptures depicting lovemaking positions, sculpted phalluses and labia on show created by art students in Seoul. This attraction is one of the common places to visit among Korean couples who travel to Jeju Island for their Honeymoon.

Haw Par Villa, Singapore Here is a theme park to educate you in morality with scary elements of gruesome and bizarre statues and dioramas related to the afterlife based on Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian folklore. While its visitors are watching sculptures depicting horrible torturing scenes such as a tax evader crushed by a stone mallet, they can feel simultaneously disgusted and curious. The most popular part of Haw Par Villa is the Ten Courts of Hell which shows graphic punishments with explanations defending their warrant.

Diggerland - the UK and the US Have you ever dreamt of driving a digger or a JCB in a construction site? This theme park can fulfil your desire to be one of the workers at the construction site. In this park, you can drive 20 different rides including dumper trucks, a six-tonne digger, and a Monster JCB 3X. You can also watch JCB racing for a specific period during the summer. Hugh Edeleanu, the chairman of the leading JCB hire company in Europe, opened the first Diggerland to let people experience the unique activities with diggers!

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Off to Wonderland!

“It seemed as if the time was standing still and moving back and forth in the past and future as if she was living different human lives at one single moment. It was overwhelmingly beautiful.”

As Maeve was drifting through the endless nothing, she could still see Heria. Moreover, she could feel them. They were here for her.

Guiding her through the unknown that felt so strangely familiar to her.

But what did Heria tell her? Only humans rely on memories and feelings that were familiar. Making up their existence and basing their understanding of time and space on this. At this moment, nothing else was really clear except for this one thing: Maeve was not human. On the other hand, was there another way to explain that she was able to fly? No it could not be, there was no other clarification for this than that Maeve was not human and she has never been. As this thought formed in her head, it made absolute sense. Strangely enough, everything made sense in a way.

Heria let out a joyous scream just as Maeve had formed that thought. As if they knew, what Maeve was thinking. Was it possible at all?

“Stop thinking like a human, with their tiny little brains that were not made for thinking outside the box even if it is just a little step outside! Maeve you are not one of them, you are not even one. You are many, just as we are!” their voice sounded.

Maeve looked at Heria and realised their mouth was not moving. But how was that possible? Maeve and Heria were having a regular conversation, right?

“MAEVE!” echoed through her mind again, “stop this nonsense!” Heria sounded

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mad, and hurt. It was the way the voice changed and trembled for a bit. Like there is disappointment. Disappointment? Why? Why would such a breathtaking creature be disappointed in her? She was just Maeve, a boring human girl. Oh, except she was not just a human, which she, by the way, had just found out by spreading her invisible wings?!

What the heck was happening? Boy, can you imagine how Maeve was freaking out right now… and at the same time, she had to concentrate on flying, or was that even necessary? It just happened as if she hadn’t done anything else in her entire life. Had she even lived that life? Was that her only life?

Or was that just a fragment of a lifetime?

So many thoughts flying through her mind, spinning and creating a big storm rumbling around. As if that storm literally manifested, a heavy gust of wind blew and Heria seemed off for a little. Then, as if they were having fun in the danger, they let themselves fall just to be picked up by the wind, gliding in the funniest formations.

Maeve heard them squealing in joy, which seemed so unfitting for this magnificent being. Triggered by that reaction, Maeve gave in and let herself fall, fall into a spiral, deeper and deeper and deeper. That funny feeling she still remembered from the fall of the rooftops came back and she felt sick for just a moment. The wind swept her up, just as she was about to feel the tears forming in her eyes. But this was just… It was like…

There were simply no words to describe

what she felt, but she knew exactly what it was. No human would ever be able to feel it, understand it or even ever experience it.

That was for sure. It went above and beyond everything Maeve had ever known. Right?

Heria’s laugh echoing in her mind; they approached her, grabbing her hand and teleporting Maeve to a beautiful patch of land. She, once again, was unable to find any way of describing it. Was it grass? Was it anything near a thing from Earth? Even in the human realm? For sure, it was not. Why was Ran standing right there, about ten steps away from her? He was human, right. How could he even come here?

Again, Heria screamed at her “Maeve get yourself together! You’re not stupid.. How can you be like this? Are you that hurt that you do not remember? How is this even possible?” The pain and frustration in these words were heartbreaking. Maeve felt those feelings as if they were her own… This was unbelievable… And then it was gone again.

Maeve landed onto something; her feet were standing on the ground even if she saw nothing. Just as she touched the ground, it was like a veil was lifted. Her mind filled with memories, or were those moments happening right now? It seemed as if the time was standing still and moving back and forth in the past and future as if she was living different human lives at one single moment. It was overwhelmingly beautiful.

She saw many beautiful places, on earth and in realms, humans would not be able to grasp with their small human minds.

Ran looked at her and saw that she remembered. Her face lit up. His eyes wandering around as if he was seeing something else but not the here and now.

Indeed she was. He knew himself how spectacular it was to come back here and to remember occasionally what one already has experienced. But for Ran the forgetting was never as immense as Maeve’s. She has not visited this place since… Wait a minute it was so long ago that he could not even quite say how long. No wonder Heria was so frustrated with her.

He saw the shimmering tear about to

make its way down Maeve’s cheeks; this process was intense after all. As he reached for her hand, she came back into this realm and smiled.

“This… was beautiful… How could I ever forget about all these amazing things, about you Heria and you Ran. And what weighs even heavier, about who I really am?” Maeve asked.

He laughed: “It’s alright Maeve, we all do forget some things, but we will never be lost or alone. That’s what friends are for, right?”

The three of them smiled at each other and for once in a while, Maeve felt at ease.

Getting lost in her thoughts again, trusting the grounding feeling that Ran’s hand gave her... she was just about to drift off again as Heria asked excitedly as ever: “Off to wonderland then?”

In unison Maeve and Ran answered: “Off to wonderland” and many other voices seemed to join in as the whole surroundings screamed “OFF TO WONDERLAND!” Maeve smiled, content with what she just had produced. Her back hurt with this sweet pain of leaning against the big old oak tree all day. The sun was warming up her skin and she closed her eyes just for a second.

Then Ran called her from the house: “Dinner is ready!” Did she really spend here all day, in the sun, working on her newest novel?

Apparently she did. She quickly hit the save button, closed her laptop and stood up, stretching her body towards the sun, as Ran called for the third time. Oh how beautiful it was that they support her in everything she does! They are so helpful and she knows that Ran enjoyed playing around in the kitchen.

It definitely was their territory and Maeve actually never dared to set foot in it, only when they called. Then there was it again, them calling for dinner. “Off to my very own wonderland” she thought, leaving the oak tree behind for today…

• Charly Hermanns

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You want to express your creativity, but you don’t know how? Do not fret lost souls!

For I will show you how to make your own zine. You might be wondering, “What is a zine?”. Well, a zine is a small booklet of 8 pages that you can create with just ONE page (preferably A4), and a pair of scissors.

Your zine can be about whatever you want, and it can look however you want. The most important part is that you have fun making one. Be creative and try some things out!

• Adil Boughlala This is how you make a zine:

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Did this inspire you to make your own zine?

Send me a picture of what it looks like!

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T i me: Psy y r o ched St

s g u elic Dr

These stories are the experiences of individuals. We do not promote the use of drugs! Use at your own risk, KNUS claims no responsibility for your actions! If you would choose to do so, inform yourself in advance. The website of The National Institute on Drug Abuse (www. drugabuse.gov) or www.verywellmind.com provide articles on what you should know before using hallucinogens.

People have long made a connection between Alice going “down the rabbit hole” and psychedelic drugs. Alice even takes a bite of a mushroom, which is supposed to make her grow taller or shorter. For a lot of people, this is a clear reference to the use of truffles. Psychedelic drugs, like truffles, have the ability to take you on a trip “down the rabbit hole”, just like Alice. These are the experiences of two of my friends who have taken truffles.

• Shanna de Caluwé

Experience #1

“I’ve done truffles a total of three times. Each time was a completely different experience. It’s a great experience in my opinion, although the last time it went a little less smoothly. This was after I ate McDonald’s, which was very stupid as it is recommended to do truffles on an empty stomach to prevent sickness. This was exactly what happened to me. I was staring at the walls the first fifteen minutes, waiting until the nauseous feeling would go away. On the inside was too hot, on the outside was too cold. Sitting wasn’t nice, but my body felt too heavy to stand. Fortunately, this feeling quickly disappeared. I felt like painting, so that’s what I did for the whole evening. The colours flowed beautifully in and around each other, as if I had an extra sense that experienced colours differently. When I looked outside, the grass was lit up, almost neon-like. The light from the laptop shining on my friend’s face was enchanting. We sat like that for a while, painting and listening to music. Music was also a different experience. It is much more beautiful and artistic. We danced, which was nice. You are hyper-aware of everything: sound, colour, but also of your own body. It feels like you are one with your surroundings. After a while, we decided to go to bed. When I laid down, I noticed that it was not a good idea to do it so quickly, but I still tried to sleep.

It was pitch black. I had such enhanced senses that I even experienced the dark more intense. It seemed to swallow me up and after a while I started seeing vague figures. Afterwards, I would say they looked like Furbies, or a brightly colored version of Jabba the Hutt.

Then, everything just got worse. It didn’t matter if I had my eyes open or closed. There were colours everywhere and everything was circling around me. The colours and shapes were pounding. They penetrated my head. It felt really discomforting. Apparently, my friend couldn’t sleep either. When we turned on the light, the Furbies disappeared immediately. We ate a jar of applesauce, as eating sweetness weakens the trip. This helped and when I went back to bed, I immediately fell asleep.”

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Experience #2

“I started seeing the beauty in everything I laid my eyes upon. I remember taking a picture of my friends and I just started crying because at that moment, it was the most beautiful scene I had ever seen in my life.”

“The first time I did truffles was in the centre of Amsterdam. Me and two friends decided, very spontaneously, to do 15 grams of truffles each. After we bought it, we tried to find a place where we could go to the bathroom, so we could eat the truffles there. It took about 30 minutes for it to kick in. My heart was beating faster and my body felt different. At first, I was a bit paranoid. Everywhere I looked, I saw people with yellow jackets, which freaked me out for some reason. The next stage was laughing. I could not stop smiling, no matter how hard I tried. Then I got really emotional. I started seeing the beauty in everything I laid my eyes upon. I remember taking a picture of my friends and I just started crying because at that moment, it was the most beautiful scene I had ever seen in my life.

Throughout the trip, my senses were sharpened. Colours were intensified. Whenever people walked past me, it felt as if I was part of their conversation for a second. My friend’s hand felt like silk while my other friend’s hand felt like alligator skin. Because of this intense feeling, we often stopped on our way back home to fully take in our surroundings. People were also putting up Christmas lighting all over the city, which looked magical. This is actually the best way to describe my trip: magical.”

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The Big Bois of RU?

What about the

Big GIRLS of RU?!

by Gwen Tummers

She said that a stable management of common sources could succeed when working according to eight design principles, namely that people should:

Elinor Ostrom did not pick up the rice from the church where the wedding had been (that was Eleanor Rigby), but she did a lot of other things that caused the building for the faculty of management sciences at the Radboud University to be named after her.

It was built in 2018, 6 years after she died.

Elinor Ostrom was born in 1933 and became a political scientist and a Nobel prize winner. She is known for her analysis of economic governance and especially for, what she called, “commons.”

While most economists thought that common use of natural sources (e.g. land, forests and irrigation waters) would lead to their excessive exhaust, Elinor Ostrom proved them wrong. She did this by doing research on small groups that did use natural sources in such a way without causing problems. This led to the following thesis being named after Elinor Ostrom:

A regulation of sources that works in practice can also work in theory.

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• define clear group boundaries; • match rules governing use of common goods to local needs and conditions; • ensure that those affected by the rules can participate in modifying the rules; • make sure the rule-making rights of community members are respected by outside authorities; • develop a system, carried out by community members, for monitoring members’ behavior; • use graduated sanctions for rule violators; • provide accessible, low-cost means for dispute resolution; • and that people build responsibility for governing the common resource in nested tiers from the lowest level up to the entire interconnected system.

One of Ostrom’s field researches which led to this list of conditions took place in a Swiss village where farmers shared a meadow for their cows. This did not lead to overgrazing. It worked perfectly fine because the farmers had set rules that prevented ruining the land.

For example, the farmers agreed that they could graze more cows than they could care for over the winter.

Ostrom found similar examples of common use of natural sources in amongst others Kenya, Guatemala, Nepal, Turkey, and Los Angeles.

She received her Nobel Prize in 2009 and, with this, became the first woman to win one in Economics. Her research plays an important role in debates today about the use of resources and public sphere and its influence on the future of the planet. Because of her, sharing property has become a new way to use natural resources, without ruining them, for many people that did not believe it was an option.

5 Arts & Culture Online Experiences During COVID-19

by Daniela Piangiolino

The outbreak of COVID-19 brought an explosion of ideas from the Creative Industries in order to appeal to the masses relegated at home. Arts and Culture has become a means to explore, connect, and communicate with the world from home, through various platforms.

Hereby, I will present you my favourite Arts and Culture links that helped me get through self-isolation for the last few months.

1. Google Arts and Culture

Do you miss museums and exhibitions? Google Arts and Culture comes and rescues you with its high-resolution images from more than 1,200 museums from all around the world! It’s a real journey throughout global artworks, accompanied by captions, stories and facts that guide you. You can lose yourself into the van Gogh Museum, the Uffizi Gallery, the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Museum Frida Kahlo, and so much more, just looking at your devices from your home!

2. Cirque du Soleil

If the museums are not really your cup of tea and you want to experience art on your skin, then immerse yourself into the thrilling experience of the Cirque du Soleil, the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. The official Cirque du Soleil YouTube channel has already uploaded four 60-minutes-special performances that will make you feel part and parcel of the show, with live music, extravagant mise-en-scene, and crazy acrobatics.

3. Arts Podcasts

There’s nothing better than a good art-focused podcast while you are drinking your cup of tea! In the last few years, many art podcasts have been

released, focusing either on the curatorial side of the coin or on the general facts on art. I would recommend these four to you: ArtCurious - about the unexpected and marvelous stories of famous artists and their artworks; The Jealous Curator: Art for Your Ear - inside scoop-stories about artists told by other artists; The Modern Art Notes Podcast - a weekly, hour-long interview program featuring artists, historians, authors, curators and conservators, where you can get a taste of all things contemporary modern art; 99% Invisible - focused on the stories of all the ‘invisible’ things around us, from city design, elevators, fortune cookies, everything to boost your inspiration.

4. BroadwayHD

Miss all your favourite Broadway shows?

No worries! Subscribe to the free 7-day trial of BroadwayHD and access all the wonderful performances unlimited for a week! Some titles?

Be ready to get yourself into performances like Gypsy, Putting It Together, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Cats, Phantom Of The Opera, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, and so much more. And if you’re obsessed with Hamilton like me, you’ll finally be able to watch it from July 3rd on Disney Plus!

5. Animal Crossings - van Gogh Museum

Have you been living on your Animal Crossing island more than in your room? Now you can bring some art with you into your virtual home! Decorate your house with van Gogh’s paintings, or wear dresses inspired by his magnificent artworks, or create your own exhibition inside the game. Go to the Nintendo Switch app on your smartphone, enable the Nooklink on your Nintendo Switch, and select all the designs that you prefer! You can find more information on the official website of the van Gogh Museum. Not to be missed!

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Spot the real artwork: The new Animal Crossing: New Horizons for the Nintendo Switch has introduced a way to buy artworks for your museum. The only way to do so is by buying them off ‘cousin’ Redd, a sly fox that is rumoured to be the arch-nemesis of loan shark Tom Nook. To buy the art, you must first enter Redd’s mysterious ship, and you can only buy one artwork a day. But beware! Cause Redd is known to sell forgeries. Can you guess which artwork is the real one?

• Adil Boughlala

B: Real, all details in this painting are just like the original!

A: Fake, the real Mona Lisa does not have eyebrows

C: Fake, real Greek and Roman sculptures don’t have watches around their wrist

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E: Fake, the trees in the background have been removed

D: Fake, there is more milk flowing in this painting than in the real one

Do you also play AC:NH? Ask the board and join our WhatsApp group chat!

Alice in Wonderland in Central Park, NYC If you wander through the Central Park in New York City, you’ll face the giant whimsical bronze sculpture of Alice and her friends at a tea party held by the Mad Hatter. Commissioned in May 1959 by the local philanthropist George Delacorte in honour of his wife, Margarita, the statue is a celebration of the beloved children’s classic Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

The statue was designed by the sculptor Jose de Creeft - Picasso’s friend - and the figure of Alice resembles the designer’s daughter Donna. Alice in Wonderland’s characters depicted in the statue are Alice, seated atop of an enormous mushroom, surrounded by the White Rabbit, the Dormouse, the Cheshire Cat, and the Mad Hatter, supposed to be a caricature of George Delacorte himself. Atypical for most sculptures, children are invited to climb, touch and crawl all over Alice and her friends. In fact, through the decades thousands of hands and feet have literally polished parts of the statue’s surface smooth. The sculptor also included an inscription in a granite circle surrounding the work: a line from “The Jabberwocky,” also by Lewis Carroll: “‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe.”

• Daniela Piangiolino

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GXRLHOOD GXRLHOOD What is more magical, peculiar, whimsical and curious than being a teenage gxrl? It’s an experience that is fleeting and so quick it almost feels like it never happened in retrospect, yet feels like a lifetime when you’re in the midst of it. I talked to two teenage gxrls whilst in Hong Kong, Elsa and Guen, who are both turning fourteen this year and have gone to school together for two years now. We spent the day in Central, the city area of Hong Kong, where people wear tailored suits and branded bags. Being a teenage gxrl is a ‘if you know, you know’ type of thing that allowed me to start a conversation with the gxrls the second we met at the fast food restaurant. I think the sheer experience of it gives fellow teenage gxrls a very specific language that’s only for us, and it’s probably the reason why we started talking about boys and astrology (Elsa is a Sagittarius and Guen is a Leo) the minute we sat to eat our food.

Guen wanted to be interviewed first and Elsa kept herself occupied next to us by making TikTok videos and dancing in public. We talked about social media, which seems to be the go-to topic older generations like to bring up with Gen Zs, and both admitted that they care about how many followers they have. “I make YouTube content, so I feel pressure to have a lot of followers there,” Guen says. “Yeah, I care, it’s what Hong Kong society is based on right now,” Elsa agrees. They both bring up Instagram right away, and they both know the amount of followers they have by heart. It’s also where they get to interact with their celebrity crushes, and Guen was quick to list Tom Holland, Noah Schnapp and Johnny Orlando. “All the white boys,” she adds with a laugh. Elsa, on the other hand, chose Tony Lopez, a TikTokker, and the gxrls giggled about how cringey his content is.

I’ve always been passionate about what teenage gxrls have to say. Guen and Elsa prove that they’re welcoming by nature, and are almost always willing to open up, if someone would just ask the right questions. The gxrls talk about drama at school, and both mention how they seem to get dragged into drama that isn’t theirs. “It makes life harder, makes going to school harder,” Guen shrugs. We even talk about crying at night, “I cry about my insecurities and people I’ve lost in the past,” says Elsa. “I tend to keep it bottled up, too, since I don’t want to bother anyone,” Guen admits.

We talked about rebellion, honesty, and passion. Earnestly, Elsa tells me that the most rebellious thing she has done is shoplift. I instantly asked her if she was scared, and she was, “but I did get away with it,” she laughs after. Guen, on the other hand, is occupied by societal issues, “I grew up with activism around me, so I’m passionate about gender equality and feminism,” and she notes that standing up for the queer community is kind of like rebelling against her parents. They both wish people understood them better. “I wish people knew that I’m not mean, and that teenage gxrls are just trying to figure out life. We really don’t care about what you look like, we just care about what we look like,” Elsa explains. “I wish people knew that I’m tough, that I work hard and I’m passionate, even though things don’t come easy to me,” Guen says. “I wish people knew teenage gxrls are all going through something, too. Just because we’re young, doesn’t mean it’s dramatic.”

They are multificated people, and I know they have worlds within them, but being a teenage gxrl almost always seems to depend on the way you look. I asked them what they would wear if there were no restrictions, and Elsa admits that she’d wear something out of her comfort zone that makes her feel good, “my insecurities stop me from wearing what I want to wear, and I’m trying to get over that,” she says. Guen shares a similar sentiment, saying that she wishes she could wear clothes like cropped tops and shorts whenever she wants. “It makes me feel the most me, it’s my style.” Finally, I asked them for a song that makes them feel alive.

They both chose Drake; Elsa’s is Trust Issues, the remix with Justin Bieber, and Guen’s is One Dance.

• Selena Soemakno

Elsa

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Guen

Dalgona Coffee:

The Beverage of

Self-isolation

The whipped coffee, so-called Dalgona Coffee, became one of the popular beverages to get rid of our boredom during the Corona quarantine. If you are fed up with your mundane coffee, you might be interested in this coffee. In particular, if you are not afraid of doing a crazy activity in order to escape this boring situation, try to make Dalgona Coffee without a whipping machine!

Ingredients: (for 1 serving) • Granulated sugar (white, brown, raw or coconut sugar) - 2 tbsp • Instant coffee - 2 tbsp • Cold water - 2 tbsp

Source: Jessica in the Kitchen

Instructions:

1. In a proper container, combine

Additional ingredients: • Milk • Ice

every ingredient (the ratio of the main ingredients must be 1:1:1) 2. Vigorously whisk it until mixture turns light yellow colour and shiny with thickens and foamy shape.

3. Fill a glass with ice and milk as much as you want but leave some space to pour the mixture on top!

4. Pour a dollop of the mixture and swirl.

5. Mix it before drinking!

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Whimsical Places in the NUKSers’ Hometowns We have asked all the NUKSers about places in their hometowns, or towns that they live in, that seem whimsical or otherworldly. This is what they showed us:

Tatyana

“Halkata”, or in English “The Ring”, is a rock formation in the mountains near my hometown Sliven in Bulgaria. Some say that many years ago, at the place of my town, there was a sea and that the captains would tie their ships to the ring so they wouldn’t be blown away by the strong wind (another thing my hometown is known for). Another story tells that a beautiful young Bulgarian girl was being chased by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and she was saved by passing through Halkata’s hole.

However, ever since I was very young, a lot of people have told me that if one passes through the hole, one changes their sex. The most famous legend (and probably my favourite) is that if two lovers pass through Halkata’s hole holding hands, they will remain in love and together forever.

Shanna

This is a fountain that stands on the central marketplace in front of the city hall, in my hometown Hulst in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. It is called the Rabofountain and was a gift to the city of Hulst from the Dutch banking company Rabobank. The fountain was made by local sculptor Ronny Ivens and was placed in 2009. Since then, I have actually never seen any water come out of it, that I can remember.

The words around the fountain are place names of villages surrounding Hulst, where a Rabobank location used to be. Most of these locations have been closed down by now. My friends and I have this game where we walk around the city at night and try to find places that could be a portal to another world, and we found this as the perfect gateway. We decided that each part of the fountain was a portal to the village of which the name is on it. This might be a weird hobby, but I would definitely recommend to try this in your own town!

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Gwen This sculpture of a table with a teapot, a mug and a pear stands in a park in Wijchen, which is near Nijmegen. My grandma and I would always walk past it and talk about the giants who lived there.

Vera

Objet Mathematique is an artwork that was part of the world exposition in Brussels 1958. It was part of the “Philips Paviljoen” which was built

by Le Corbusier, but was taken down after the exposition. Since 1998 it has been part of an art institution in Eindhoven and is located on the campus area of the TU/e (Technological University of Eindhoven). The artwork is made by Gerrit Rietveld and has a rich history due to its significance with Philips. Philips used the object to show their new innovations with this object. But even when it has historical importance not only for the innovation of light/sound and by its importance of Philips and Eindhoven as the “city of light”, the artwork is barely known. It is part of the TU/e and has its significance there but is not seen as a real important artwork or hotspot in Eindhoven. As a kid we walked past it often and with the new LED light construction to it, it had a beautiful glow and due to its high and simple construction had something animal-like and mysterious in my opinion. It is a hidden gem in one of the important areas of Eindhoven.

Adil

This is a sculpture by Florentijn Hofman called “Feestaardvarken”, it is the biggest artwork in the entirety of the Netherlands. The sculpture is located in Arnhem, which is close to the small village where I live. As a kid, I used to climb onto it and always wondered how people got onto the snout of the animal (which I still don’t understand!)

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Minsun

In my hometown called Chunpo, there is ‘Goblin’s Embankment’ which has a legendary story related to history in the period that we were colonised by the Japanese Empire.

The villagers used to pump water out of this embankment when they were farming or catching fish. One day, they scooped out the water from the embankment and caught a fish. However, the fish they had caught suddenly disappeared. A few days later, when they went to Bonggae Mountain, there were fish bones everywhere that someone had eaten. Adults thought that it happened by goblins’ prank. After that, before catching fish in Goblin’s Embankment, when they cut off the horse’s head, performed a ritual, and left a mirror around this embankment, the fish did not disappear. The goblin was afraid of the blood of the horse and ran away because he was scared by his reflection in the mirror.

This legend reflects our hard time of the colonial period where we had to send Japan everything we had harvested every year. The villagers had to survive from the poverty and oppression by Japanese domination. There is a saying in Chunpo, “Japan steals rice, and goblin steals fish.”

When I was a kid, I was afraid of visiting this embankment at night. We believed that we could see will-o’-the-wisp (atmospheric ghost light) around the embankment at night.

Daniela

Out in the countryside near Acquaviva delle Fonti, my hometown in Italy, you can lose yourself in the Paleolithic Curtomartino Cave. Visiting the cave is like reading a book made of stone, where nature has described its creation. The Curtomartino Cave is an extraordinary example of a karst phenomenon, full of shining concretions, powerful columns, stalactites and stalagmites that produce a small cathedral of rock. Linear graphemes and zoomorphic drawings, constitute a complex of wall and furniture art of great importance and make Curtomartino a unicum of our territory.

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Charly

In my hometown Solingen in Germany, we have a museum that shows an original product next to its fake counterpart.

Solingen has kind of a long story with plagiarism due to the excellent reputation of Solingen’s steel ware and cutlery.

The city is also known as “Klingenstadt” (“City of Blades” in English). It even goes so far that no other city in the world is allowed to call itself Solingen because the name of the city is registered trademark since 1938. The museum Plagiarius shows the world of innovation vs imitation. In the permanent exhibition around 350 products and the fake ones are shown next to each other. Sometimes it is not even possible to see a clear difference when standing right in front of the products. The special thing about this museum is that it showcases plagiarism, and exposes companies that make a lot of money off inventions that are stolen. They also hand out an annual negative price for the best imitation of an innovation, in the sense that it goes out to the company who profits the most off another person’s innovation by stealing it. The story of the gnome with a golden nose can be found on the website of the museum and is quite an interesting and funny one. It’s kind of a small museum but still an important message and worth a visit.

Selena

This is a pineapple fountain right in front of my apartment in Tung Chung, Hong Kong.

Sarah Selena

This is a gazebo in Singapore’s Botanic Gardens known as the Bandstand.

I don’t believe in marriage or would like to be married, but the romantic in me is convinced it would be beautiful. I don’t have too many memories of visiting the gazebo during my secret trips to the botanic gardens, but I do remember it being beautiful and whimsical.

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Madame Zheng:

The Most Successful Pirate of all Times

by Tatyana Dimitrova

At the height of their power, infamous Carribean pirates we have all heard of like Blackbeard and Henry Morgan, had as many as ten ships and several hundred men. But their stories pale next to the story of the most successful pirate of all time: Madame Zheng. Yes! Isn’t it curious that history has erased that tiny little detail that the most terrorising pirate to ever exist was not a man, but actually a woman?

Madame Zheng, born Shih Yang, commanded 1800 vessels, made enemies with several empires and still lived to old age. She began her life as a commoner, working on one of the many floating brothers, or flower boats, in the city of Guangzhou. By 1801, she had attracted the attention of a local pirate captain named Zheng Yi. The two soon married. Interestingly, Guangzhou’s fishermen had long engaged in small-scale piracy to supplement their income in the offseason. However, a peasant uprising in neighbouring Vietnam at the end of the 18th century had raised the stakes. Due to the ongoing maritime battles, Guangzhou’s pirates were commissioned to raid the Chinese coast.

Zheng Yi came under Vietnamese patronage and this turned them from gangs aboard a single vessel, to professional privateer vleets with dozens of ships of their own.

In 1802, the pirates lost their patronage because their Vietnamese patrons were overthrown. Instead of scattering, the Zhengs met the crisis by uniting the rivaling Cantonese pirate groups into an alliance. At its heights, the confederation included 70 000 sailors with 800 large ships and nearly 1000 smaller vessels.

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The Zhengs were unlike many other historically-known pirateers, who acted on behalf of various naval powers.

Instead, they were true outlaws, operating without support or approval from any government. Sadly, Zheng Yi met his death in 1807. However, his widow Madame Zheng did not hesitate to secure their gains. Through skilful diplomacy, she took charge of the confederation. Meanwhile, she appointed her late husband’s young protege, Zhang Bao, as the commander of her most powerful squadron. He became not only her right hand, but her lover, and soon her new husband.

Madame Zheng consolidated her power through strict military discipline, combined with a progressive code of laws. Under her leadership, female captives were theoretically protected from sexual assault. While pirates could take them as wives, mistreatment towards them was punishable by death.

In addition to that, the pirates greatly increased their power. Within a few years, they destroyed 63 of Guangdong Province’s 135 military vessels, forcing the military commanders to hire more than 30 private ships.

Madame Zheng was so feared that Chinese commanders charged with apprehending her spent most of their time ashore and sometimes even sabotaging their own vessels to avoid battle at sea. Using her administrative talents, Madame Zheng established financial offices in cities and villages, allowing her pirates to extract regular protection payments on land and sea alike. This effectively created a state within a state whose

influence reached far beyond the South China Sea. At the peak of her power, Madame Zheng’s confederation drove five American ships to safe harbour near Macao, captured a Portuguese ship and blockaded a tribute mission from Thailand - all in a single day.

Perhaps Madame Zheng’s greatest success was knowing when to quit. By 1810, her confederation was weakened because of conflicts from within and made it more vulnerable to attacks. When the Chinese government, which was desperate to stop the raids, offered amnesty in exchange for the pirate’s surrender, Madame Zheng

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agreed, but only on her own terms. Her husband Zheng Bao was allowed to retain 120 ships for personal use and became an officer in the Chinese navy. Fighting pirates himself, he quickly rose in the ranks of the military command. Madame Zheng, on the other hand, enjoyed all the privileges of her husband’s status. After he died in 1822, Madame Zheng and her 11-year-old son returned to Guangzhou, where she opened a gambling house and quietly lived off the proceeds.

She died at the age of 69 - an uncommonly peaceful end to a pirate’s life.

Pictures to illustrate what Manelle Otto saw:

Dark Dreams

by Shanna de Caluwé Whatever happens while you sleep, feels like the unknown and is surrounded by mystery.

We can have happy dreams, nightmares, or not remember anything at all. What happens in your subconscious, feels like a completely different world.

“When I was about thirteen or fourteen I started getting sleep paralysis almost every night. I had a very bad sleep schedule and mental health issues. There was never a night that I completely slept through. I woke up multiple times every night, even though I was exhausted. When I woke up I knew I was awake but I wasn’t able to move my body, the only thing I could move were my eyes. Most of the time I would snap out of it and get a glass of water and go back to sleep.

But one night I woke up and felt an immense pressure on my chest. I looked at my chest to see if maybe I fell asleep with my laptop on my chest but there was nothing there. I looked up and saw a man hanging over me with a lantern in his hand. He had a hooded, dark green cloak and even though I couldn’t make out his face I knew he was looking at me. His lantern was dangling over my face and for some reason I could tell he was a sailor. I was terrified beyond reason and my heart was beating in the back of my throat. We just looked at each other and I begged for my limbs to move. My breathing became faster and faster and I’m sure I had a panic attack, but nothing seemed to snap me out of this paralyzed state. I decided to blink really hard and fast and finally I was able to move. I quickly sat upright and the man was gone but the panic wasn’t. I started crying and yelling for my mom. She slept in my bed that night and held me the entire time. I haven’t seen anything in my sleep paralysis since then and I don’t have it often anymore. I do believe it wasn’t just a visual dream but something paranormal visited me that night.” - Manelle Otto

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Teabox: What Your Choice of Tea Reveals About You It’s tea time! Have you ever had the overwhelming desire to know what your choice of tea reveals about your personality? Well then, I come just in time! Would you care to sit with me and have a cup of tea?

• Tatyana Dimitrova

Green Tea

You’re not someone who blindly follows trends, but you’re not afraid to follow the crowd if you have a good reason to do so.

Black Tea

You’re direct, just like your type of tea. You like to be energetic and productive, so the high caffeine content of black tea really works for you.

Chai Tea

You’re complex, just like the flavor of chai tea. You’re a kind person, with sweet notes, but you’re not afraid to throw some sass if people pester you. You like to do things in life differently.

Herbal Tea

You like variety. You’re not someone who likes the same things day in and day out, so the wide array of flavors available in herbal tea really appeals to you.

Earl Grey Tea

You value efficiency and productivity. Your approach to tea is, “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.”

Earl Grey tea has been a top choice for centuries, so why change it up now?

Chamomile Tea

You’re the kind of person who seems to have a calming effect on those around you. You won’t just say “relax”, you act relaxed and everyone feels it.

Fruity Tea

You are the life of the par(tea)! Always radiating positive vibes, everybody wants to be in your company. Just like the tea, you too are versatile and know when to shift from having a robust personality to one that is understanding and warm.

Ginger Tea

Not many find ginger tea to be their cup of tea but you’re adventurous, and not afraid to try new things! You see problems and difficulties as challenges and nothing is impossible for a true Ginger-Tea Lover!

Peppermint Tea

The complex flavor of peppermint tea represents your thoughtfulness and exciting personality.

You are completely out of the box in your thinking process. You put in a lot of thought into everything you do.

Oolong Tea

You’ve got a lot of swings in your moods. Just like this tea, sometimes you’re mild, and other times you can come strong. Either way, you’re always nice to have around. You are inquisitive and enjoy exploring new places and cultures.

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A personality test based on your favourite pasta shape

by Shanna de Caluwé Pick your favourite shape of pasta and find out what it tells about you!

A. Conchiglie

C. Ravioli

B. Farfalle

D. Rigatoni

A. You are a classy person. You enjoy the finer things in life, the beautiful things, which, of course, includes food. You have the ability to share these things with people by having deep conversations over a drink and some good food. You are often defined by your friends as the “mom” of the group, because you are mature and sensible.

B. You are a creative and outgoing person, who is not scared of being themselves. Everything you do, shows your creative way of thinking out of the box. People enjoy being around you, because you never hold back on being yourself. Farfalla means butterfly, which suits your personality perfectly.

C. You are a spontaneous person who likes surprises.

Your friends would describe you as someone who is always willing to do something impulsively. Whether it is going on an unplanned adventure or taking a late night trip to the supermarket. The way to your heart is a good surprise, because you like the thrill of it.

D. You are somebody who has a lot of love to give.

When people are around you, you have the ability to give them that warm, fuzzy feeling and make them feel appreciated. You give the best hugs and advice, which is why people truly enjoy your company.

E. Spaghetti

F. SpongeBob pasta

E. You are a hard worker. When you want to achieve something, you go for it without thinking twice. You are clear minded, which helps you in reaching your goals through your hard work. When you talk to people, you are able to motivate them with your words and smart thinking.

F. You are a child (at heart). Which is not a bad thing, of course. You are someone who always seems to be happy and when people are around you, your excitement about the small things in life rubs off on them. You bring joy into people’s lives and you should never stop being your happy self.

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I’ve fallen down a wishing well

By Sarah Selena

I’ve fallen down a wishing well; fallen from a living hell But did you hear my piercing yell, beginning when suspicion fell; Having impel my shrieking wail, “Everything’s swell!”

I’ve fallen down a wishing well; far from this living hell But you won’t hear my piercing yell, finishing when suspicion farewell; Having compel my convincing tell “Everything’s swell!”

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Here it is! The last page of the last NUKS for the academic 2019 - 2020. Enjoy this last cartoon I am giving you because who knows if you’ll get them in the NUKSes of the years to come. • Tatyana Dimitrova

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@alisonzai

Friends of KNUS: Marcel van der Haak

N UKS S umme r 20 20

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