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EDITORIAL Thursday, 6 February 2020

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www.palatinate.org.uk/category/indigo/

FEATURES 3 What it’s like to see a therapist MUSIC 4&5 Music and mental health

CREATIVE WRITING

6 Creative writing explores wellbeing through images of the moon VISUAL ARTS 7 The importnce of being creative STAGE 8&9 DDF Preview & How does theatre become a political act?

BOOKS 10 An interview with Judith Wharton INTERVIEW 11 Deducing Durfess Fashion 12 & 13 The history of current Durham trends FOOD 14 & 15 Food for February TRAVEL 15 The Amazon Rainforest FILM & TV 16 Are we tired of rom-coms? www.facebook.com/palindigo Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @indigodurham Have a question, comment, or an idea for a story you’d like to write?

Email indigo@palatinate.org.uk Logo: Chloe Wong Cathedral Artwork: Anna Gibbs Front Cover: Olivia Amura

It takes quite a lot to be open about mental health, as a generation we talk about it so much more, but it’s hard to overcome your own internal stigma. I can’t count how many times I’ve told friends that it’s good to talk about how they’re feeling and yet held something back myself. I don’t want to be a burden, or I think it’s trivial, or I think it’s not as bad in comparison to other people’s problems so it’s not worth mentioning at all.

The point is that it’s all worth talking about. The little things which you struggle with throughout the day, or the bigger things which you find holding you back. Everyone has something, and I think we’re all realising it’s okay that we do, and that things we worry about aren’t trivial but problems which can be helped. Especially at university, especially at Durham- where everyone is constantly moving and working on something- it’s so valuable that we create those spaces where we feel we can be ourselves; a space where we don’t always have to fake a smile.

It’s a topic we’ve focused on this edition: Features looks at going to therapy for the first time (p. 3), Music explores the benefits of music for mental health (p. 4-5) and Visual Arts writes about the importance of creativity (p. 7).

It’s not something we want to brush aside though, and we’ll continue to focus on it for the rest of the term. There’s the importance of speaking to people, but there’s also the importance of responding and maintaining awareness- it’s not just something which can be written off after an initial acknowledgement.

Shauna Lewis

INDIGO EDITORS Shauna Lewis Hugo Millard (deputy) FEATURES EDITORS Kleopatra Olympiou Mary Bradshaw (deputy)

CREATIVE WRITING EDITORS Catriona Inglis Meadbh Ni Mhorain

STAGE EDITORS Harrison Newsham Isabel C. Davis VISUAL ARTS EDITORS Faye Saulsbury Florie Moran BOOKS EDITORS Clara Knight Lotte Hall FASHION EDITORS Molly Goetzee FOOD & DRINK EDITORS Elle Woods-Marshall Imogen Higgins TRAVEL EDITORS Alex Bicknell-Cummins Gracie Linthwaite FILM & TV EDITORs Aadira Parakkat Madeleine Rosie Strom MUSIC EDITORS Matthew Prudham INTERVIEW EDITORS Julia Merican Millicent Machell

FEATURES Thursday, 6 February 2020

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What it’s like to see a therapist Victoria Verdesoto demystifies the process of seeking professional help

By Victoria Verdesoto features@palatinate.org.uk

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here is one scene which sticks out to me in Good Will Hunting. Will (Matt Damon) and Dr. Sean Maguire (Robin Williams) are discussing Will’s patient file, which eventually pushes Will to open up about his trauma. Sean assures him it’s not his fault, until Will breaks down and then hugs him.

a ‘revelation’ which led me to recovery either. Therapy really is a joint process between you and your therapist, and it can take months to see real, significant progress. A lot of this process involves confronting or becoming aware of specific thought patterns and behaviors – and this can induce anger, pain and frustration.

This is just one of the many depictions of therapy in films. When I started going as an angsty, anxious teenager, I expected someone to give me answers. Answers about why I felt the way I did, what I needed to do. I wanted some sort of “game plan” which would rationally move me from A to B. I remember coming out of my first session feeling frustrated, as the only resolution was ‘We will continue discussing this next week’.

Therapists are trained to actively listen to your problems, but most likely, will never offer you clear, practical advice – and it’s probably because emotions do not work that way either. This meant that I spent a lot of the first weeks just talking.

Ellie, a student from Hatfield, explains that her weekly therapy sessions are helpful because ‘it’s just talking to someone about what is happening in your life, without having to explain or prove yourself, they are just there to listen’. While therapists might not make judgements about your decisions, they will provide a space for you to reflect on them.

I cannot pinpoint the moment I had

verely emotionally distressed to undergo it. There is a whole range of reasons why you might want to seek help, or why counselling, whether long or short-term, would be beneficial to help manage your mental health - especially in an intense environment like university. Ellie recalls feeling ashamed of it at first ‘but going ended up outweighing any sort of embarrassment or reservations I had about it.’

The Counselling Service at university offer many services such as workshops and online courses to help you manage your wellbeing, or a Mental Health nurse to m o n i tor longterm mental illnesses.

They also offer short-term counselling interventions, which can help you decide whether you need more therapy.

“Therapy is a two-way process” While Good Will Hunting is one of the more nuanced depictions of therapy – you certainly do not have to be in such an extreme position to seek help. One of the biggest misconceptions about seeking therapy is that you need to be se-

Furthermore, the NHS offers a specific number of sessions for different types of talking therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, behavioural activation or guided self-help.

Remember that while talking to a counsellor is not exactly like a friend, you might need to talk to more than one to find someone you feel comfortable opening up with You can contact the Durham Counselling service by calling 0191 334 2200 or emailing counsel.service@dur.ac.uk.

Image by Gordon Johnson via Pixabay

MUSIC 4

Thursday, 6 February 2020

In harmony: music and mental health Matthew Prudham interviews Music Durham about mental health

By Matthew Prudham Music Editor music@palatinate.org.uk

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ust like any other extra-curricular activity, student music provides an excellent break from the degree.

Amy Simpson, Music Durham’s Welfar Officer, quickly emphasises its social benefits: “people can isolate themselves quite easily at university; not having a space outside of their work can lead to some people being alone in their room.”

Music broadens your social horizons from your college or degree – as Kirsty, President of Music Durham, states, “it’s a great way to meet like-minded people”.

Personally, I’ve made great friends through student music.Yet, before that first rehearsal or meeting, we all feel nervous about fitting in. Kirsty highlights the importance of social secretaries in these cases. Bar crawls, film nights and other socials, which social secretaries organise, help everyone fit in right from the first rehearsal.

“Student music is a great way to meet like-minded people” As Welfare Officer, Amy’s role has a “a bit of everything”. She is responsible for signposting welfare campaigns and events, and organises events where musicians, often incredibly busy with rehearsals, can relax. These include film nights and doughnut drop-ins; it’s important for musicians to have time to relax away from rehearsals.

There’s also a variety of ensembles offering different levels of commitment; some non-auditioned ensembles are more focused on relaxed music-making and forming connections. The auditioned ensembles often place focus on commitment and working hard to create high-quality music.

Musicians during second term’s ‘summative season’ often feel under pressure.

At this time, communication between an individual and their ensemble is vital.

Kirsty stresses that it is valid for people to drop out if they believe they have too much on their plate, but also points out that communication between individuals and ensembles is crucial; “if they know at the start of term that they won’t be able to make many rehearsals, then say at the start so a decision can be made early on; this ensures everyone can feel comfortable with

I bought last minute tickets to see Wolf Alice in Newcastle with a mate. The experience in the moshpit was so revitalising, a community of people coming from all over to see this one artist and share this experience, it was something special.The next day, I felt refreshed and cracked on with work.

Amy also touches on the fact that musicians themselves raise issues of their own mental health issues through their music: “Having performers and composers sharing their own stories to which a lot of people can relate, it helps people realise they’re not alone with these issues; it also normalises them and makes it okay to talk about.”

“Singing together is so empowering”

what’s going on”.

Kirsty and Amy also keenly detail how music helps them look after themselves.

Kirsty joined Gospel Choir this year, and has found it “so uplifting, you see all the Gospel Choirs moving and clicking together. They’re doing it because they are feeling the music, not being choreographed. The feeling you get from everyone singing together is so empowering.”

Music certainly has helped my mental health more often than I realise; the cathartic feeling of rock music allows me to release frustration, anger, or disappointment. During a week I felt particularly low,

Overall, Kirsty and Amy keenly highlight the benefits of involvement within music for student mental health. If you join a non-auditioned ensemble to burn off negative energy through making music, or a demanding orchestra that allows you to divorce yourself from the stresses of life, music can have a profound impact on your wellbeing either way.

Student music also adds something to look forward to in your weekly routine. The feeling I receive after a successful concert, when you’ve put much effort in rehearsing pieces to a high standard, is unlike anything else.

Without being involved in the range of opportunities here at Durham, I’m sure that my experience as a student would be a lot worse. It affords me moments to escape from stress, to revitalise myself, and see that there is life beyond the degree.

Image credit: Music Durham & Jessica Lawrence

MUSIC Thursday, 6 February 2020

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Music is the remedy Two enduring personal reflections on music’s role in mental health

By Will Entwisle

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often wonder whether music is a language or not. If music is not a language it clearly has communicative qualities which unite us in different ways. In this way, we can engage with others through, and often because of, music. How, then, can music unite us? Moreover, can music remedy our struggles with mental health?

It has been two years since my first Cognitive Behavioural Therapy session.

During this time, I realised that the compulsive evasion of social interaction induced mental health struggles. That is, my misery derived from solitude.

humans, ultimately need community. In this case, music remedies our woes by engaging us in human experiences. Often, artists convey impressions of experiences in their songs. As such, we can relate, or at least engage, with the artist’s rendering of life and the reception of it from other listeners. Music clarifies the confusion of life and offers company in solitude.

While therapy helps alleviate stress, music also provides us with community.

We can form relationships because of shared music preferences and the experiences attached. For instance, DJing

Psychologist Jung helps us understand that therapy is grounded in ‘personality’ rather than ‘technical tricks.’

Here, Jung’s emphasis on the person over method demonstrates that we, as

By Anonymous For me, music is a source of stress and a reliever of stress. In the postexam period of first year of university, I was really busy with various orchestras. Whilst all my friends from college had loads of time on their hands to hang out and do whatever they wanted, I felt drained; I felt so busy and tired, as if none of the people I ate lunch with could understand. Of course, I was doing what I wanted as well, playing beautiful music with a different group of friends, but it still felt hard balancing two completely separate social lives: Music, however, also provided release for me from this stress. I would lie on my bed when I had spare time and listen to Bax’s In Memoriam, which we were playing in DUOS. It is a truly beautiful piece.

I would just listen to it, think about my part and get lost in the melody. My mind

reflects the use of music to communicate with an audience. In an interview, the techno artist Helena Hauff mentions that part of her motivation to DJ is because she ‘likes people.’ Hauff’s pithy motive encapsulates music’s communicative nature as she performs for others. Hauff forms bonds with listeners and also facilitates relationships between happy listeners.

Paradoxically, I find techno helps remedy mental health struggles by instilling an optimism and perseverance in the listener. Industrial techno is associated with post-industrial scenery characterised by years of neglect. Yet, techno provides the neglected buildings with a caring community of listeners. Jeff Mill’s The Bells reconciles chaotic and brutal sounds, and buildings, with our inherent need for community. It is this music, over any other, which helps remedy my solitude. deadlines and stressed about my own mess of emotions and stressed about all the time I was spending playing.

would go blank. It was like meditating, but easier, and I would feel so relaxed.

It’s turning up to rehearsal after rehearsal that allows you to achieve a true sense of relief. In the week running up to the performance of Singin’ in the Rain last year, we had rehearsed so much I could basically play it on autopilot. This turned out to be a relief, as this week coincided with the breakdown of a relationship. I was so consumed by confusion and hurt that I could hardly concentrate. You would expect having seven shows to play in made it worse. In a way it did, I was stressed about

All this time spent playing, however, was easy. For two or three hours in the pit, I listened to the story and the tap dancing, the actors and the audience.s.

I still thought about my failed romance, but I could play without thinking. My failed relationship reminded me of a far more longstanding, stable and rewarding relationship: the relationship I had with my instrument. I played sad slow melodies, and furious double stops and cried in my room until I stopped feeling sad because I wasn’t thinking about why I was sad, I was thinking about the music itself. My instrument comes with a routine and stress of its own, but it also comes with a social life of its own and an escape which is vital for me.

Image credit: deepskyobject via Fickr & Creative Commons

Creative Writing 6

Thursday, 6 Februrary 2020

“You are the Cosmos, the Universe” Creative writing explores wellbeing through images of the moon

By Harrison Newsham creative.writing@palatinate.org.uk

What Are You You are the moon. You are the moon with her ever-turning cycles. You are the moon, whose climb to beauty, shrinks to darkness, but always maintains. You are a mind magnificent and mighty, an elastic band that will pull, pull, pull… but never snap. A tossing, turning ship that braves cold waters and expanses of endless deep. You fizz in the dust that travelled lightyears across the cosmos to form your frame. No – you are the cosmos, the universe, and the stars that will keep burning. You are the force that can withstand every black hole’s pull, every meteor shower – each supernova – just by being you.

You are in the breath of your great-great grandmother.

You are in the blood of your great-great granddaughter. You are apples ripening on your family tree, full of life, full of vigour and sweetness – purely oozing ‘you’. You are in the lingering smell you leave upon your lover’s lips after a passionate kiss, and the thoughts they wake up with each morning. You are the dreams your friends sleep with

By Maeve Moran Co-Creative Writing Editor

every night. No matter how thorny life becomes, you are not thoughts, emotions, diagnoses. You are not numbers that flicker up on charts and diagrams, that spin senselessly into oblivion – you are not those who’ve stung you. You can weep, cry, sigh, scream, shout, hurt burn, bleed! – but these are not a spot on your innate magnificence.

You are brilliance.

You are not even your body. It is simply a vehicle, your possession – just like your eyes, your mouth, your legs, your stomach.

They are your snake-skin clothing, your cocoon

Evening Moon I can still see honey high notes, drizzling and filling your hair, tangled earphones.

Grey pleats wax to skin at your knees and no one can see you here in the pitch-warm evening orange and sparking.

I don’t forget the jasper cracked magma rain in inked black puddles or the terracotta splash at your laces, teeth bright in a melting parked car window.

You were ready to lick the thunder from the sky face creamy and beaming at a bewildered moon you’d loved a hundred times already.

Image by Nick Kenrick, accessed via flickr

VISUAL ARTS Thursday, 6 Febuary 2020

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The importance of being creative Amie Kirby explains why creativity deserves a serious place in the field of academia

By Amie Kirby visual.arts@palatinate.org.uk

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uman beings are inquisitive.

Since we could walk, talk, open our eyes and look at our surroundings, our species has discovered, explored, pioneered: created. As an archaeologist, and one especially interested in visual culture, I’ve seen countless debates about Neanderthal cave drawings and how they’re expressive of symbolic thought. It is for this reason that I argue creativity is integral to being human.

Perhaps the first question we ought to ask in this discussion is ‘what is creativity?’

In a report published last year by the Durham Commission on Creativity and Education, creativity is defined as “the capacity to imagine, conceive, express, or make something that was not there before.”

When one thinks of ‘creativity’, I don’t think I’d be wrong in presuming that one imagines an artist with their sketchbook or their easel, creating a great opus. However, in reality creativity extends far beyond this.

Creativity involves the ability to think imaginatively, allowing oneself to take risks and become inspired. This act of becoming inspired can occur through many different means: perhaps reading a book, going to a museum, or even watching a film. Engaging yourself in a book for hours on end, or exploring different pieces of art or archaeology in a museum, can activate the imagination in ways you often don’t expect. Creativity is cyclical: we see great displays of creativity and we are ourselves inspired to create.

Given that creativity is far more than just pens and paintbrushes, I argue that it deserves a serious place in the field of academia – and I’m not the only one to think so. David Bohm, a renowned physicist, wrote an essay in 1968 entitled ‘On Creativity’. In this influential work, he argues that creativity has a ‘kind of harmony’ within both the arts and sciences.

A scientific theorem that describes con-

cepts of our universe is just as much the sum of creativity as Picasso’s Guernica.

This is because the ability to think critically and inventively lies at the heart of both.

“Creativity has a ‘kind of harmony’ within both the arts and sciences” One example from America is illustrative of this. Over the summer, I felt a distinct lack of creativity. Attempting to get the juices flowing, I got out my sketchbook and stuck on a Netflix documentary entitled The Creative Brain which discusses the importance of creativity and how to harness it.

Interviews were varied, from architects to musicians, but one example stood out: The H. R. Wheeler school in Vermont w a s, years ago, on the verge of

failing. In a bid to save the school, they redesigned their curriculum to place creativity and the arts at the heart of every subject.

This innovative move was met with wide success and has engaged students with the importance of creativity from an early age.

I myself witnessed this today, when I volunteered at Palace Green Library for their Norman Cornish exhibition.

Emily Dowler, Learning Assistant in the University Library and Collections, ran a workshop with local school groups.

Activities involved asking students to info-hunt around the gallery and practice their own Cornish-style sketches. It was truly encouraging – to see so many children with lit-up faces scrutinising a drawing, thinking of how to recreate it.

This experience highlighted to me that the arts really are at the base of everything we do, and whilst they’re unfortunately faltering in funding, they allow us, as humans, to flourish into inquisitive, original individuals.

Illustration by Heidi Januszewski

STAGE 8

Thursday, 6 February 2020

Durham Drama Festival: Preview DDF writers give us an insight into their original pieces performed at this year’s festival

By Isabel C. Davis and Harrison Newsham Stage Editors stage@palatinate.org.uk

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urham Drama Festival comprises of nine short student-written pieces, all being performed this week. Grappling with a variety of styles and themes, from climate change to family disputes, each writer has made a comment about their original work.

Lungbarrow’s Insomnia by Aidas Zvirblis A colourful collision of the voices that keep you up at night, Lungbarrow’s Insomnia offers an honest glimpse into the holes we all fall into, and the ways we attempt to get out. The talented cast and crew have turned an insular, isolated place into a play, which invites the audience to examine how they talk to themselves when night falls and they are left with nothing but the flickering of their late night thoughts.

The Landlord’s Arms by Charles Edward Pipe Fishbowl by Lowri Mathias Fishbowl comes from an idea I’ve toyed with for two or so years. In some ways it’s about family, and about what it means to love someone.

In another way, however, it’s about forgiveness, and how it feels to live when you’re too busy anatomising the past.

The Landlord’s Arms started out as a short, onescene play at DDF Scratch Night 2019. When it was met with laughter, applause, and great reviews I decided to extend it into a one-act play.

It was exciting to flesh out the existing characters and create new ones. The Landlord’s Arms is a love letter to classic British comedy, so be prepared for situational comedy with a healthy sprinkling of puns and absurdism.

Implosion by Issy Flower Implosion was inspired by a lifetime of watching 60s TV and an interest in the dynamics of marriage. The format of a duologue has allowed the actors to really dig into their characters and convey the ins and outs of the relationship. So if you like intense, small cast dramas with references to forgotten TV personalities you won’t want to miss it!

Tourists by Eliot Ancona Dee lives in a tent. It’s winter, and a young volunteer is standing in his home. Her name is Allie and she says she wants to help. Dee thinks it isn’t so simple. Over the border in a tiny office, two aid workers hatch a plot.

Things are getting worse and the time for action is now - but is it worth risking everything for? Tourists is a play about friendship, tea and war.

Green Alert by Ryan King Green Alert is a parody of Dr Strangelove that satirises attitudes towards the most prevalent threat of apocalypse faced by the modern world: climate change. When eco-terrorists threaten to nuke the planet unless the sea levels stop rising, the President and his top people meet in the White House situation room to coordinate a response. What are they willing to sacrifice to save humanity?

Laika by Aliya Gilmore I’ve always been very afraid of space, irrationally, and in particular dying in space. ‘In space no one can hear you scream’. Nobody can hear you talk, too. No one can hear you say, ‘I love you,’ or ‘I miss you’.When astronauts go up into space there can be no one around them for millions of miles. Laika is a play about loneliness as much as it is about space. It toys with other ideas: the human desire for adventure, folklore, animal rights. But, for me especially, Laika is a play about what it’s like to be alone.

He Never Married by Kane Taylor This play takes its name from a conventional euphemism in the obituaries of suspected gay bachelors and acts as a timely reminder of the fragility of political ‘progress’ and the necessity of claiming one’s voice and space.

The play is based upon the secret love letters of two soldiers during the Second World War, and illustrates the fierce prejudice that was, and is, held for queer people.

Number Theory by Imogen Usherwood Number Theory came from a desire to talk more openly about mental health. It follows Evelyn, a maths student with Generalised Anxiety Disorder, the night before an exam when Stella, a personification of that disorder that has been with her since childhood, shows up. Everyone should find something relatable about the play, whether that be academic stress, relationships or medical diagnoses and anything else about mental health.

Durham Drama Festival is running from 5th - 8th February.

Visit www.durhamstudenttheatre.org for more details and ticket bookings.

Image: Durham Drama Festival

STAGE 9

Thursday, 6 February 2020

How does theatre become a political act?

Harrison Newsham discusses how drama urges use theatre to make political statements

By Harrison Newsham Stage Editor stage@palatinate.org.uk

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heatre-making is art. Art is inseparable from politics. Politics, therefore, is woven into the fabric of theatre-making.

Artists have always used theatre as a platform upon which to make political statements, incite change or endorse movements. Theatre is used to make theatre-goers aware of the problems in society.

Theatre holds society to account, and the dramaturge is the journalist not of words, but of visual spectacle. They take issues they feel strongly about and use a variety of media to present it in a particular way, editing, revising and reconstructing to fit their agenda.

Theatre-making can become a political act, I would say, by taking something the audience knows well and changing one major element of it to shock them into political debate. A recent example of this is the 2017 adaptation of Julius Caesar by Shakespeare in the Park. The company made a loud political statement by portraying Caesar in a very Trump-like manner and having ethnic minorities and women stab him to death in the infamous, catastrophic scene. Consequently, the show’s sponsorship was withdrawn and Donald Trump Jr., came to his father’s defence, challenging the boundaries of art and political speech.

“Theatre holds society to account” I would argue that art doesn’t ‘become’ political speech; it naturally is political speech. Every creative decision made in any theatrical process could indicate a political message for at least one audience member. For this reason, theatre is an effective mode through which an individual can exercise their freedom of speech.

Bertolt Brecht, undoubtedly a heavy weight in political theatre and a favourite of mine, was the most significant visual journalist of the mid-20th century. He took seemingly unmanageable global issues such as the rise of fascism and condensed them into pieces of theatre which challenged the audience’s preconceptions.

Brecht claimed that ‘art is not a mirror with which to reflect reality, but a hammer with which to shape it’, a statement I believe holds true in his influential work, Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder (Mother Courage and her Children).

Watching Anna Jordan’s adaptation of this classic piece last year at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, I noticed how timeless the play’s statements are.

Brecht tells us that war is a hungry machine which consumes the poor and lines the pockets of the rich. This Orwellian notion should strike a chord with anyone who has lived since the play’s writing in 1939, since it foreshadows America’s military-industrial com-

plex during the Cold War and the West’s militant hunt for oil in the Middle East.

Despite it envisioning a dystopic wartorn Europe, Jordan’s adaptation, starring Julie Hesmondhalgh, succeeded in alluding to modern political crises.

The play began with the stage in a blue wash and a ring of warm lights projected over it, an apt nod to the EU and Brexit It can clearly be understood that theatre is undoubtedly inseparable from politics.

However, I believe that politics should not stop when the audience leaves the building. Just as a controversial newspaper article makes a reader want to proclaim their opinion to the world, effective theatrejournalists should make an audience discuss and debate what they have witnessed onstage, whether they agree with the views expressed or not. Otherwise, in the words of Oscar Wilde, ‘all art is quite useless’ that would be a scary road to tread indeed.

Photo by Annie Gavin via Pixaby.

BOOKS 10

Thursday, 6th February 2020

An interview with Judith Wharton Catching up with Judith Wharton following the publication of her latest novel, BUG.

By Clara Knight Books Editor books@palatinate.org.uk

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udith Wharton is a former student and Assistant Senior Tutor at St. Mary’s College, Durham. Books Editor, Clara Knight, caught up with Judith in an interview following the publication of her latest novel, BUG. BUG is a campus novel set in Newburgh, a fictional university town based on Durham.

When did you start writing?

I have to say I really enjoyed academic writing before I started writing creatively.

It got me into enjoying the process of writing. I started writing creatively when I was working in Durham and I was commuting on the train every week. The train would empty at about Newcastle and then there was a beautiful journey up to Edinburgh along the coast, I couldn’t help but start writing because I wanted to capture that emotional response I was having to this fabulous scenery, imagining the stories there. Afterwards I joined Curtis Brown Creative, part of Curtis Brown Associates, that runs amazing online courses, of which I have completed two, and I became part of their studio, which is a writing community.

Was it a help or a hindrance working in a group?

Oh, a complete help. I actually think when you’re starting out you’ve got to work with other people, because you have to be able to share ideas and your work with others. Also, if you’re working on the work of others you learn yourself, about how to be critical, what works and what doesn’t. If you only read good literature, you don’t know how easy it is to write bad literature. Being in a group is really important, I still have my colleagues from my courses to whom I can send my work.

How did you find your time at Durham?

I loved it. I tell you, being a mature student is fabulous. You realise the potential of the environment you’re in. To have the opportunity to get away and sit and listen to a lecture and then of course to do a masters was just wonderful.

I loved working in Mary’s supporting students. I was dealing with everything, any problems students had. I had students who were in the same situation as the character Craig in my novel who has come from a local school and comes to study at university. I thought it was really important to make people who felt like outsiders integrate into the college.

Do you have an ideal audience for your book?

Every writer is told that you should have an ideal reader. I really struggle with that, because everyone in Durham is my ideal reader, as well as any reader who has experienced any sort of university life. But then on the other hand, although it is about a university and a city living this very interdependent existence, it could be about any institution where people are living in a bubble.

So, I would also like people to read it who have been in any environment like that.

What do you think are the first steps to becoming a writer?

Don’t get it right, get it written. The most extraordinary things come out of your subconscious. I think it’s about allowing yourself to write from your

emotions and your gut, and not write

what you think you ought to write. Writing from the gut meant that I would be sitting at my laptop and suddenly I would realise ‘is that what was happening, that makes complete sense!’ - it happened all the time with BUG. Because I myself must be on a journey as the writer, I must be on a voyage of discovery as well, letting the story emerge organically. If you try to manipulate it, it doesn’t work. It has to flow.

Why do we need BUG? It’s about coming of age, about people finding out about themselves, finding out the beginning of adulthood. It’s a brilliant time to write about because you change so much in the three or four years you’re at university. You’re just beginning to get some idea about who you are, what makes you tick, what your values are.

I do think that its jolly difficult to be a student, I really do. Do you know what I mean? I don’t think it’s as straightforward as you think. Right now you’re so vulnerable and there’s such competition, you’re trying to form relationships with people, figuring out if you’ve chosen the right subject. The biggest problem when I was working here was that people had chosen the wrong subject because they were good at it in school, or because their parents thought it would make them a lot of money.

What is the hardest aspect of writing?

I think the biggest problem is fear. Fear that you’re not good enough, fear that you’re not writing something worth reading, fear that you haven’t got the stamina to get to the end. And I think also you’ve got to have an awful lot of patience, so if you’re not somebody who sticks at something until you’ve actually got to the end.

Image: Judith Wharton

INTERVIEW 11

Thursday, 6 February 2020

Deducing Durfess An interview with the founder of Durfess about its impact on the student community.

By Julia Merican & Millicent Machell Interview Editors interview@palatinate.org.uk

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n the two and a half years since it came into being, Durfess has become a force to be reckoned with.

‘Durfess encompasses a real undoctored image of what the student experience is like,’ its founder says, ‘and I think it gives a platform for the important bits of Durham culture and community to foster and grow into meaningful connections between Durham students.’

From its humble beginnings in 2017, Durfess has since expanded into an organisation now run by about ten individuals who work on filtering posts.

‘I didn’t see Durfess coming to this stage,’ its creator admits. They thought it might stagnate after the first week, but it only became progressively more popular, closing off 2018 with 5,000 followers, and 2019 with 14,000.

They claim that the page sees about 305,000 interactions per week, but they believe that Durfess’ most meaningful contribution to Durham has been supplying the role of a conversation-starter within the university community. ‘It fosters a sense of community. I think that’s the most meaningful impact it’s had.’

‘I think it’s also done a lot for connecting people with services and other individuals that they’re needing to be in touch with. A lot of people who’ve needed help and have reached out have been met with help.’ They tell us about a famous incident from 2019 when they published a student’s submission worrying that they were going to run out of money and wouldn’t be able to afford food. There was an outpouring of support, with about 412 offers from individual students and staff members offering to help the student in need.

That said, as a completely anonymous platform, the ethics of Durfess can be complicated. ‘Once you accept that as a

sort of premise, everything that comes afterwards is difficult,’ they tell us. When people turn to Durfess for help, the organisation says that it does the best that it can to help within its limited authority.

‘We’ve developed systems and processes to try and connect them as best as we can with people who can help. If people are talking about self-harm or sensitive topics like that, we will publish a bogstandard set of resources on Durfess just as a post with links and resources about how to find the Nightline number, counselling, Samaritans, and just urging people to reach out if they’re in dire straits.’

Durfess claims that there are no official rules about what they do or do not deem appropriate for publication.

The page has guidelines to say they are unlikely to post things targeted at individuals and what they see as being ‘patently untrue’; they also avoid attacking companies and lecturers in order not to cultivate a hostile environment.

During house-hunting season, for example, Durfess avoids publishing submissions they get attacking landlords, of which, we are told, there are many with hugely unsubstantiated claims. ‘Ultimately, there’s nothing we say to outright “Durfess won’t post this” unless it’s against the Facebook community guidelines,’ their spokesperson has said.

In terms of external censorship imposed on Durfess, we are told that while ‘there is nothing explicitly stated by external organisations’ that they are not allowed to publish, ‘there have been strong requests from various independent bodies, societies, and trusts’.

In their notorious confrontation with the Durham Union society and their elections, for example, Durfess was told that they would rather not have their candi-

dates talked about or their manifestos scrutinised, which led to a formal discussion between the two organisations about this. ‘There is no one we won’t sit down and have a conversation with. It seems to have worked so far in de-escalating pretty polarising situations with lawyers threatening things, and whatnot.’

In terms of their recruitment process, Durfess has modified things ever so slightly since 2017. ‘In the early days, it was me being slightly inebriated and someone saying, Can I moderate Durfess? and I’d say, Yeah’. Now, there is a lengthy application process, with a series of interviews and practical assessments. Of the 250 applicants last December, Durfess hired a grand total of three new people. ‘We want to make sure that the people who moderate Durfess are passionate about it, and represent a diverse range of opinions.’

Diversity seems to be one of the organisation’s chief priorities. ‘One thing Facebook does publish about anonymous pages is their diversity statistics,’ they tell us, and Durfess makes a concerted effort to ensure that they broadly represent the socio-political landscape of Durham University. ‘Again, it’s the aspect of engaging the community.’

The founder of Durfess, along with a high number of its current moderators, will be graduating this summer, but they don’t seem worried about the page functioning business as usual without them, perhaps because of the enforced stringency of their application process.

‘We’ve got a good team to continue,’ they say. ‘The idea is to get Durfess to be a long-term, standing institution of Durham, ensuring that is part of the job.’

Durfess has created a social network which as students we can all be grateful for.

After all, what’s Durham without Durfess?

FASHION 12

Thursday, 6 February 2020

The history of current Durham trends Ever wondered where your favourite Durham trends come from?

By Molly Goetzee Fashion Editor Fashion@palatinate.org.uk

D

urham’s fashion trends seem to be an inescapable part of the student experience. From flares, to puffer jacket and headbands, there are some firm favourites whether you bleed Hild Bede or constantly correct ‘JoBo’ to ‘Butler’. Whilst these trends aid the daily strut through the library, they also have a fascinating social history.

“Flares became synonymous with a counterculture ” Flares originated in the 19th century.

US navy officers had no uniform as of yet

and denim was the material of choice to wear. Denim was cheap, hardy and durable and perfect for long voyages as it would not have to be replaced.

“It used actual sleeping bags and sleeping bag covers, into which the coat folded” However, the shape of the jeans made them difficult to wear. When denim was wet, the shape meant that they were difficult to remove and get into dry clothes in a short space of time. Therefore, flares were born. The shape of the flare meant it was easier to remove them when wet.

The shape was also useful in enabling the sailors to roll up their trousers with much more ease. Whilst originating as a male garment, flares quickly became a shape of choice in the 1970s for both men and women. In this period, young people became disenchanted with department stores. They were the stores of an older generation, unbefitting to a new, rising adolescent movement. Therefore, teenagers and young adults began shopping at army surplus stores, where bell bottoms were discovered as a fashion item. Flares became synonymous with a counterculture. When the stocks of the real army surplus jeans ran out, people began to make their own. Some used jean fabric, but others used brightly coloured fabric panels to let out the bottom of their jeans.

The puffer jacket was first invented

by another sea-faring gentleman. Eddie Bauer, a fisherman, first created the puffer jacket in 1936. Bauer had almost died of hypothermia on a fishing trip, and thus created a quilted jacket, stuffed with feathers to ward off the cold. It was originally called the Skyliner, and was first patented in 1940. It first came into fashion with this period, with James Charles creating a puffed jacket, the ‘pneumatic jacket’, in 1937 with white silk. The puffer coat did not quite catch on then, but in the 1970s it really took hold. Charles’ jacket became a cult icon and was replicated by designers such as Norma Kamali. Norma Kamali originally named it the ‘sleeping bag coat’. It used actual sleeping bags and sleeping bag covers, into which the coat folded.

Taken on by mountineering wear designers such as Moncler, in the nineties puffer coats became firmly entrenched in the history of fashion.

The current trend for North Face in Durham has its roots in New York streetwear. Their iconic Nuptse jacket was first designed in 1992, a classic mountaineering jacket for the newly formed North Face outdoor brand.

The coat solved a problem.

According to Michael Horsch, product director at North Face, when lower-income families moved into cramped housing projects in Queens, there was little space

FASHION Thursday, 6 February 2020

13

sure to be around for just as long.

“[Turtlenecks] were invented in the Medieval period” Turtlenecks are possibly one of the

for young people to socialise within their own homes. In Horsch’s own words, “Imagine being a teenager in that environment”. The only communal space that was afforded to teenagers was outside, where teenagers needed the warmth of a proper jacket in freezing New York winters. It became the uniform of the New York street-wear aesthetic. This Queens subculture, the first streetwear aesthetic of its kind, infiltrated the masses. It appeared all across the world in mainstream media, even in music videos for iconic artists such as LL Cool J.

“the headband in the 20s was an iconic wardrobe staple” Headbands have been around since

the Hellenic period through the use of celebratory wreaths. The origins of headbands as we know them come in the early 20th century. The headbands, called ‘headaches’, were used as a medical treatment for their eponym. Headbands soon became entrenched in flapper style, with these ‘headaches’ being bejewelled and decorated all in the name of fashion.

Flappers used them to keep their hair

inplace whilst dancing.

From Coco Chanel to Suzanne Lenglen, the headband in the Twenties was an iconic wardrobe staple. In the wars, the headband was replaced by the headscarf, worn by munitions women to stop their hair getting caught in machinery. The headband has remained in fashion ever since, albeit with variations and changes.

The 70s and 80s saw the headband creeping ever lower, with hippie headbands being worn across the forehead as a fashion statement rather than from practicality. Bright coloured headbands matched equally bright leotards, leggings and leg warmers in the eighties. And who could forget the headbands that made up a part of Alicia Silverstone’s iconic Clueless wardrobe.

Headbands have been making their way back onto the catwalk recently, most notably in Prada’s 2019 spring/summer wardrobe, where padded alice bands take the fore. It would be safe to say that headbands have been around for a long time, and are

oldest styles of garment. They were invented in the Medieval period to serve a practical purpose for knights. Knights used turtlenecks to prevent chafing from chainmail, which inhibited movement and was extremely painful. Turtlenecks became more fashionable in the Sixteenth century with the ‘ruff’, popular with Queen Elizabeth I. The bigger the ruff, the more prominent and privilaged member of society you were. In the 1860s, the turtleneck was incorporated into sports dress for English polo players, hence the English term ‘polo neck’.

However, it wasn’t until the mid-20th Century that the turtleneck became more minimalist and closer to the modern interpretation. The turtleneck was made popular by Jayne Mansfield and Audrey Hepburn, and ‘beatnik’ look. It was a sleek, all-black look that was the height of fashion. The look was epitomised by Hepburn in Funny Face, where she takes on the Paris nightlife in nothing but a clean black turtleneck and skinny jeans.

Image Credits: Flickr

FOOD AND DRINK 14

Thursday, 6 February 2020

Food for February Emerson shares two of his go-to recipes to comfort you during the winter months

By Emerson Muhmoud food@palatinate.org.uk

Greek butterflied prawns & Fried Asparagus This is the perfect recipe for two. Inspired by a meal I used to have at my greek friend’s house, this warm meal is perfect to eat over a conversation. The asparagus side is a favourite at most family meals, it’s always good to have around.

Ingredients (serves 2) 10 raw prawns Thin Asparagus Spaghetti 6 cloves of garlic 1 shallot Oregano Olive Oil Salt + Pepper Parmesan Cheese (optional)

Method 1. Preheat oven to 220 C. 2. Mince garlic. Slice Shallot. Slice along the back of the prawn to butterfly them. Make sure to completely remove shells.

3. On a baking tray, lay out asparagus, pour olive oil until there is a thin layer on all the asparagus. It’s important to make sure there is no overlap on asparagus.

4. Add pepper and oregano generously. Sprinkle salt.

5. Place in oven for 30-40 minutes. You really want it to be roasted to the point that a bit of an oil/oregano crust forms.

Note: This recipe also works very 6. Boil and salt water in a pot. Add a bit of well with scallops. If using defrosted olive oil and spaghetti and cook as directed. seafood, make sure to completely 7. Once spaghetti is finished, remove water. dry off the prawns/scallops before Then add olive oil and half the garlic. Mix over cooking. Rosemary is also a good medium heat for a couple minutes. herb to use with the shrimp instead 8. In a skillet, on low heat, saute shallot and of oregano. garlic in a lttle bit of olive oil.

9.Add butterflied prawns. Sprinkle them with salt, pepper, and oregano. Cook until no longer opaque.

10. Serve with parmesan cheese on top.

Tantalising Tacos As it continues to be cold outside and your potato based food count increases, here is my own taco recipe. The perfect pick-me-up during winter as they explode with flavour.

Ingredients (makes 3 tacos) 1 boneless skinless chicken thigh or breast ¼ lemon Salt Black Pepper Olive oil Fresh coriander 3 soft tortillas 6 cherry tomatoes 1 shallot or ½ medium white/yellow onion 1 garlic clove Soured cream (optional) Grated mozzarella cheese (optional) Rice (optional) Romaine Lettuce shreds (optional) Method 1. Thinly slice lemon (~¼ cm thick).

Mince garlic clove. Thinly slice ½ the onion and dice the other half. Placed the diced onion aside for the salsa.

2. Put 2 spoonfuls of olive oil into a frying pan. Add garlic, sliced onion, and lemon.

Sprinkle salt on the lemon slices. Put on low to medium heat for 3-4 minutes.

3. Dice chicken, then cover in black pepper. Place chicken in pan, and cook until done. Make sure to regularly stir.

4. While the chicken is cooking, cut the tomatoes into quarters and chop the coriander finely. Mix together with diced tomatoes, and you have the salsa.

5. Warm tortillas either in oven for a couple of minutes, until soft.

6. Soured cream, cheese and rice are to place in the taco shells with the salsa and chicken.

Photograph by Emerson Muhmoud

TRAVEL 15

Thursday, 6 February 2020

The Amazon Rainforest

Milly Minter discusses her conservation volunteering with DUCK

By Milly Minter Travel@palatinate.org.uk

F

lying over Puerto Maldonado, in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest, the thick, green trees dominate the landscape, just as the largest jungle in the world should do. However, in the seven days I spent in the Amazon, raging flames set fire to both precious habitats and wildlife, as well as the Western media.

Without access to the constant stream of information that is the Internet, our team of eight volunteers worked in a conservation centre, completely unaware of the fires that raged a mere five hour walk from the site.

Having witnessed firsthand, the incredible, unique habitat that houses a host of wildlife and biodiversity, ranging from two-toed sloths to the tapir, it is devastating to hear that according to the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research, there have been over 75,000 fires from January to August this year, an increase of 84% from the same period in 2018.

After the media storm in August that mimicked the explosive nature of the fires themselves, coverage has since lulled.

Nevertheless, the shattering repercussions continue, as indigenous people struggle after the destruction of their inherited land and livelihood, and much wildlife has been left endangered as their ecosystem’s food chain has been suddenly disrupted, threatening the survival of both a range of animal and plant species.

So ultimately what can we do to protect the existing Amazon Rainforest, one of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth? The Rainforest itself is an integral resource in

the battle against climate change absorbing millions of tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. As such, human actions have transformed the rainforest from an active combater against climate change, into a primary source of CO2 emissions, emitting unprecedented levels due to the fires.

When our DUCK expedition group volunteered in the Amazon, we worked

“We must [...] not allow ourselves to be passive bystanders” with a conservation shelter which is affiliated with an NGO named Jungle Keepers that works to protect existing land from poaching, logging, or illegal deforestation. Jungle Keepers was set up 5 years ago and the NGO has since bought 11,000 hectares of jungle and 6 rangers to patrol this protected land. I think in our fragmented political climate,

we are consumed by Brexit, by Trump and our societal quotidian, but we must step back and not allow ourselves to be passive bystanders of the destruction of nature’s resources. We must support charities such as Jungle Keepers, and be active protesters.

At the shelter, where we volunteered in the Amazon, we nursed a sick woolly monkey named Nicolas who was destined to captivity after having been previously kept as a pet in Peru’s capital, Lima.

Nicolas’s tame nature and love of human company, reflected in his love for lying on his back to have his tummy rubbed, degrades his chances of survival in the wild.

Whilst endearing, Nicolas’s domestication symbolizes humanity’s destructive streak: by disrupting his innate wildness, he cannot survive freely in the jungle. This pattern transcends this example: why are people corrupting the natural order – logging, poaching and deforesting land, for economic gain at the expense of a finite rainforest?

Flying out of the Amazon Rainforest, a mere week after I arrived, the vast greenness was tainted by billowing smoke and ashy wastelands: a visible manifestation of humanity’s destruction.

What have I learnt from my harrowing visit? Please donate to Jungle Keeper’s plight in whatever form you can, whether that be in time, money, or simply voice: it is our united voice that will secure prioritization of the preservation of our natural resources.

Images by @ardievans via Unsplash

FILM & TV 16

Thursday, 6 February 2020

Are we tired of rom-coms?

As Valentine’s Day approaches, Film and TV take a look at the romantic comedy genre and it’s declining popularity in recent years

By Aadira Parakkat Film & TV Editor film@palatinate.org.uk

A

s Valentine’s Day comes around, a time-honoured tradition draws nearer: getting together with your significant other or your best friends, and watching a romcom. The history of the rom-com is filled with numerous reiterations of meetcutes, airport chases, and happily ever afters; you know what you’re going to get, and the genre’s reliability is what makes it a comfortable indulgence for many.

However, in recent years, film lovers have noticed that the genre which heavily defined the 90s and 2000s, infiltrating people’s DVD players and daily conversation, is now few and far between. Apart from a few Netflix originals and young adult novel adaptations, the Nora Ephrons and Richard Curtis’s of the world have laid their directorial hats down, but is the rom-com really and truly dead?

The early origins of

the romantic c o m e dy formula as we know it today can be traced back to the 1989 blockbuster

When Harry Met Sally, followed by Garry Marshall’s Pretty Woman in 1990; two movies that still hold immense pop cultural significance. These films portrayed the subtleties of falling in love amidst the hectic frenzy of the average adult’s life. People flocked to theatres to see a bit of themselves in Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan, eager to buy into the narrative that true love can strike when least expected, and everyone is destined for the adventure of love, heartbreak and convenient reconciliation.

However, as much as this genre retained a fan base that, even today, regularly frequents its feel-good predictability, filmmaking in the genre began to feel uninspired. In the later 2000s, as female-driven comedy gained traction, the rom-com genre grew scarce, with films like Bridesmaids and Trainwreck taking over the silver screens.

In today’s climate of female empowerment, the rom-com formula is obsolete; it is no longer enjoyable to watch a woman throw away her career for a man’s benefit, or selfishly sabotage another woman’s happiness. Additionally, the fantasy of people with perfect hair and interesting jobs began to seem hollow, and the genre ultimately lost its relatability factor. The formula of the romcom began to suggest to its audiences that if you aren’t conventionally beautiful or successful, these story arcs aren’t for you.

And that’s where the idea of the New Rom-Com comes in.

2019’s Isn’t It Romantic took the tropes of the rom-com to create a perfect glossy alternate reality for

its protagonist. Rebel Wilson, as a plussized woman, defies the image of the classic rom-com heroine, and the movie ultimately ends with a message of self-love.

These films explore love stories of people who depart from the formulaic image of the rom-com protagonist. In The Sun is Also a Star, the heroine’s family is being deported to Jamaica, and her KoreanAmerican love interest is battling his family’s expectations of becoming a doctor. These cultural issues aren’t relegated to the background in this story – they drive the plot. Five Feet Apart, on the other hand, follows two cystic-fibrosis patients who fall in love but are forbidden to come within six feet of each other because of their condition.

“If you aren’t conventionally beautiful or successful, these story arcs aren’t for you” Needless to say, these protagonists are very different from the norm. Today, where the conversation around diversity and representation is louder than ever, the romcom genre is keeping up by revamping its predictability factor. In the New Rom-Com though, this fantasy isn’t only reserved to those of us who look like a movie star (or to those of us that can’t afford their stylists.)

Image via Unsplash