MT16 Wk.4 Ed.6
New Year, new Pink Times! We’re super excited to be taking over your college magazine (no really, we are), fingers crossed we do the previous editors (and PT creators!!!) proud! It’s been a pretty eventful term so far, mostly centering around the arrival of this year’s freshers, while the rest of us look on proudly as they discover the wonders of Farthings, Emporium and *cough* the library… aah so much to learn. As for the rest of us, the vac feels like a veeery long time ago already, but it’s good to be back, mainly because of the new beers in the college bar, but I guess there’s a few pals we might have missed a bit as well. It’s been great to have so many contributors to our first issue, from newly arrived freshers to absent friends on their years abroad, we think we’ve got a pretty good cross section of PMB life for you to peruse. So take a break, have a cup of tea, push that deadline back a bit (well, within reason) and enjoy the all-new Pink Times! Lots of love, Sophie and Lily xoxo Contents: Gap Yah Bop
pg. 3
Freshers’ Week Review
pg. 4
Making Extra Cash at Uni
pg. 5
Krikor Exhibition Review
pg. 6-7
Oriental Ponderings
pg. 8-9
Füssen
pg. 10-11
Book review: Ada’s Algorithm
pg. 12-13
Battle in the Chapel
pg. 13-14
Quiz: Which Staircase Are You?
pg. 15
San Sebastián
pg. 16-17
Roaming in Rome
pg. 18-19
Front and Back Covers: Wanda V. Knobelsdorff
How times have changed! 2
Izzy Troth
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Fresher’s Week: Lukeria Zharova
The Fresher’s Week Review
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Abraham Williamson
whopping 11,603 of us Freshers packed our many bags and headed off to Oxford this autumn, ready to experience a number of firsts. For some, it was the first time living away from home, having to trek to hall for a three course meal, or even having to do laundry once getting to the I’ll-just-wear-my -swimsuit stage. For me, however, and over a hundred other Pembrokians, this week is my first week living at Pembroke College, and boy, do I feel welcome.
and from the club was definitely put to good use (so long, thieving Welsh taxi drivers). I doubt there’s anyone who didn’t get lost at some point during this first week, and the help getting to these important nights out was definitely needed! If you are like me, and cannot physically miss GBBO, then you took Wednesday night off, feeling all too cosy to party with Disco Stu. The JCR was warm and inviting as always, and the night made for a lovely mid-week break. Of course, there were a range of activities to do every night instead of clubbing, such as ice-skating, board games and the incredibly popular laser tag. It wasn’t all board games and Bake Off, however, with a lucky few of us having a collection or an essay to write in first week. Despite missing Bridge on Thursday (sigh) and royally messing up my collection the next day, I am still really looking forward to getting stuck into my course.
After receiving our timetables and exhausting our capacity for small talk, we’ve turned to the bottle. Pimms, of course. I have a great room (it tops the mac) and a lovely group of friends. Learning which utensils people would be during an ice-breaker really helped to build So, after a week here in Pembroke, I friendships, and maybe even break a few learned two things. 1. The porters don’t fragile ones. judge…but they know. 2. Pembroke is one big family. As cheesy as it sounds, we all Clubbing in the evenings was a huge want each other to have a good time and highlight. What’s better than early Christmas, cheap drinks and cheesy chips settle in well. Some siblings have connected remarkably well and some of us on the long road home? Plush and Wahoo have definitely learned to Pace ourselves. were personal favourites, but I’m sure Despite being overshadowed just a tad by everyone had a great time wherever they Christ Church in size, I’m sure there’s no went. The charming committee members college that could beat Pembroke on its were always on hand to save us from 4looming sharks (reminds me of home), and friendliness. the extra fiver in your purse from walking to #bleedpink
Making extra cash at Uni
Tutoring is another common way for students to earn some dolla. You can tutor school students from all over the world via Skype, or local students from Oxford reshers – Welcome to the world of schools. Without a tutoring qualification financial independence and self(such as TEFL), you can earn £15 an hour sufficiency... Well, apart from the and with one, it can be £25 an hour. student loan, hall-cooked dinners Repping for certain societies within Oxford and weekly cleaners, you’re pretty much on your own! Student living can sometimes can be a big earner. Unsurprisingly, it is break the bank and so we’ve come up with the law firms which pay the biggest cheque for representing them on your university a few tips on how to boost your beer campus. For the mere labour of handing budget. out leaflets, organising the occasional First of all, there are opportunities at drinks party and pestering your JCR Pembroke to make money. The Telethon Facebook page, you can earn £600 over takes places every vac before the start of the academic year. term and consists of current students Club repping, on the other hand, is less calling a database of ex-students and lucrative. It can be a total faff getting asking for donations to the college. It can everyone to pay you back, rushing to be great fun if you sign up with friends, if pidges at the last minute or having loads of you love talking to new people and is a great way to network with ex-Pembrokians unsold tickets left over. The main benefit of who did your subject. You work 3 hours in being a club rep is the free entry and drink the weekday and all weekend, earning you on the night, rather than huge profit margins. £.. over two weeks.
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Interviews and Open Days are also fun ways to earn money in college. Again, you can work with friends and meet new students, whilst spreading that Pembroke pride. You can make £50 at an open day and £5 an hour for any period of the interviews, on a flexible schedule, with free food and accommodation.
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Wanda V. Knobelsdorff
Selling old textbooks and coursebooks. Once you’re done with your first year course, there will perhaps be nothing more satisfying than making money from and getting rid of those detested, tedious books which featured in all your nightmares during prelims.
Congrats to Pembroke’s Oxford Half Marathon runners who ran on the 9th October! Laura Tuner, Tash Fairweather, Hannah Congdon, Imo Watson, Alice Mingay, Aline Lahaye, Sophie Dowle and Tom Christie, you’ve made us all proud! #pembrokepride
“Salt Room Wanderings” Krikor Momdijan Callum Duff
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his is the first exhibition of its kind to be held in Pembroke College. Not only is it the first exhibition ever dedicated to the work of any one artist in the gallery’s history, but it is also the first solo exhibition of Krikor’s in the UK, and we are lucky to have this on our doorstep. The gallery itself is a humble, clean-cut space, and “Salt Room Wanderings” showcases its attributes; the lighting is on point, as is the curation of the works.
Krikor is an Armenian-Lebanese artist and poet, currently residing in the Netherlands. People who work by this combination of disciplines, though nothing new, are often perceptive; and “Salt Room Wanderings” goes a long way to explore the relationship between language and image. The exhibition is Krikor’s reflection on his time spent in the Salt Room (a guest room in the Almshouses that looks out over the 6
Master’s Lodgings). For this fact alone, it may be of special interest to Pembroke students; the exhibition offers up a sort of insight into what can be created under the influence of the College. The result is a vibrant and curious array of works, varying widely in tone, technique and message. Dan Kim: Undivided Photography
Themes of the exhibition include religion, time passing, and family. Admittedly, some of the works do seem slightly inaccessible. The installation that occupies the gallery for example is a little puzzling, but Krikor’s poetry is a helpful way into his exhibition. His poem “Salt Room Wanderings”, a familiar title, describes an experience Krikor had in this room in College. He was visited by his “Salt Room companions”, who awoke him for dinner. He writes: “Muses I have always dreamed of / sitting with me now at table / we are singing, united in love”. The idea of union is a key one. In the past Krikor has commented: “I see unity as a very broad, global issue… I don’t want to stick to the idea of only your own kind united… No, we have to deal with each other. That is why the table is symbolic of the idea that we all sit together at the table; it is a metaphor for communication as people sit next to each other”. Approaching the work from this angle, as a whole project, it is optimistic and communicative in itself. “Seasons come seasons go (Always in love)” is referred to by Krikor as “My Mondrian”, and the aesthetic similarity is obvious. However, whilst Mondrian’s work
Dan Kim: Undivided Photography
“In an honest summary, I think the exhibition is a bit of a mixed
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bag
had more of a reactionary element, Krikor’s communicates a different message; that of the passing of time. The experience of time as a constant, ongoing change is not a novel idea, but one I quite like, and the visual representation that Krikor offers is nice. The colours surrounding the yellow “sun” of the middle are not only used to portray the seasons, but emotions: “sometimes you feel good and sometimes you feel bad. These are the seasons.” In an honest summary, I think the exhibition is a bit of a mixed bag. I like some of the works, but am not so keen on some of the others; just like most exhibitions anyone ever goes to. That’s not to say Krikor’s work is “just like most exhibitions” by any stretch, and work that offers up several interpretations, or work that is not popular with everyone, is often fruitful. Have a look for yourself, open until the 25th of November.
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Dan Kim: Undivided Photography
Oriental Ponderings Jack Murphy
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can kind of seem like just a blatant disregard for personal safety. The other thing about taxis is that if you look like a foreigner/an easy target, drivers will either take you on a longer route, or simply charge you extortionately for the journey. The trick to avoid this (stressed countless times to us before traveling, and after arriving) is to firmly insist on them using the meter (or the 3daad in Arabic), and to have a general idea of the route/ direction you want to take.
t feels odd for a place to become such a big part of my life after spending so little time there, but when my flight to Amman landed, the fact that I wasn’t going back to Oxford struck home. Being in the desert for the past two months has been one hell of an experience, and it’s really been an interesting time to get to know myself better, as Secondly, still on the topic of transportation: well as learn about a new culture. the public transit system. Unlike in Europe, it consists pretty much entirely of buses, There are a couple of really fun/odd distinc- which don’t really have a set schedule, but rather leave from various stops when they tions that are a bit jarring at first but then get full and will pick up more passengers en you get used to. For instance, taxis in Amman. Taxis are refreshingly cheap, but com- route if space opens up. As a result, I haven’t personally made much use of them aside ing from England there is a catch ; men always ride in the front, and never wear a seat- from specific routes that I’ve been introduced to by locals. belt. It’s a matter of respect for the driver’s ability, but if you’re not used to the culture it
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Thirdly, the harassment. Being male I haven’t experienced it nearly as much as my female classmates and friends in Amman (that’s not to say I haven’t at all), but I’ve listened to so many stories ranging from really creepy men trying to make conversation, to masturbating in public while watching foreign women (okay, that was one time, and is far from normal). Generally, most harassment experienced in Jordan consists of comments in passing such as “I love you” or the under-the-breath “Welcome to Jordan.”
“Every city, country and culture has its flaws
”
Fourthly, the lack of green spaces. Okay, maybe this one is a bit of a given considering the climate here, but there’s a difference between acknowledging that and experiencing it. Coming from being able to take a bench on Chapel Quad and sit in the sun and study to being here with neither greenery nor benches to make use of is a
bit frustrating. Sometimes I just want to take a walk, a desire which is then quelled by remembering that it would just be walking down streets and alongside traffic.
Every city, country, and culture has its flaws though, and it just takes a bit of getting used to accustom yourself to the norms. I’ve really appreciated being in Amman due to the sights to see and the people to meet; I’ve had the best time exploring various heritage sites with new friends and learning to appreciate the friends from Oxford who came here with me!
Despite these minor complications, at the very least I can say without hesitation that I’ve had a fantastic start to my year abroad and I’m really looking forward to seeing what the rest of my time here has to hold, but damn, if I don’t miss Pembroke. #PinkPride
“I’ve had the best time exploring various heritage sites with new friends”
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FĂźssen: Maisie Vollans
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Winning Library Book Review: Ada’s Algorithm Laurence Wroe
I
f the computer age had started two centuries earlier, it is, quite frankly, impossible to imagine how civilisation might look today. James Essinger boldly proposes in his biography of Ada Lovelace that had the work of Lovelace been appreciated and understood by the sexist and dismissive 19th century society, we would not have had to wait for Turing in the 1930’s and 40’s to usher in the computer age. Born in December 1815 to Annabella Milbanke and the scandalous Lord Byron, Ada had a privileged upbringing. Despite being plagued by illness as a child, Lovelace entered the upper-class circle of 19th century Britain as a woman of stature and intelligence. Essinger conveys his excitement for this period of history (Lovelace’s circle of friends includes Charles Dickens, Michael Faraday, Mary Somerville and Charles Babbage) and Essinger’s interest is infectious as you read about these great figures interacting with each other. It is Ada’s working relationship with Babbage that forms the bulk of Ada’s Algorithm and it is through their work that she becomes a pioneer of the computer. Babbage first attempted a special-purpose mechanical computing device, the Difference Engine, before realizing that a much more general device, the Analytical Engine, would greatly supersede it. The work on the Analytical Engine commenced in 1835 and in 1842 and its report was 12
written in French. Lovelace translated this, and the addition of her Translator’s Notes gave her the reputation as the ‘first computer programmer’. The Notes are split into seven sections and are highly technical: Essinger argues that ‘she understood exactly what a computer was’ . It is in Essinger’s frequent use of his lengthy quotes and passages that my main criticism with Ada’s Algorithm lies. Much of Ada’s work and life is inferred from surviving letters (particularly the 110 between her and Babbage) in addition to her Notes. Essinger frequently quotes entire letters and this often interrupts the flow of the book. It does, however, add credibility to Essinger’s arguments, since experts have argued that evidence is too scant to justify the originality and insightfulness of Ada’s work.
Despite Ada’s ‘understanding of what the Analytical Engine could really achieve – an understanding that even eluded Babbage himself’ being evident in her Notes, the translation was only appreciated by the scientific community and did not cause the sensation that Ada had hoped for. Essinger holds the sexism of the time responsible for the lack of impact, as her research would have been more significant had she been a man.
amusing story that Dickens wrote about his friend Babbage when he launched ‘a war on street noise’, capture his character. This lead him to refuse Ada’s offer of help, resulting in his failure to receive funding for the engine.
Ada soon declined into poor health and died at the age of 36. However, despite her short life, Essinger highlights her importance and overlooked genius. This is a book I’d recommend for anyone wanting to read about the computing age that Although Babbage had the ‘technical wizardry’, he lacked that ‘velvet yet driven nearly was. skill at dealing with influential and sceptical people’. Anecdotes, such as the
Battle in the Chapel
I
Dan McAteer
n one sense, aesthetics are nothing but various arrangements of shape and form, but from a historical perspective they give unique insight into the tastes, aspirations and delusions which once swirled around in the heads of people long since gone. The 18th century is known as the ‘Age of Reason’. Newton’s Principia Mathematica (1687) had revolutionised science, the British Empire was growing, and a quasireligious faith in the power of rationality was widespread: this is reflected in the architecture. It evokes a weltanschauung, or worldview, that places great emphasis on harmony, order, symmetry and balance.
The Rad Cam and our chapel have some things in common
The chapel has regular features; it is small and human-sized and evokes stability. Townsend might even have called it a ‘rational’ building.
Upon completion in 1732, the College’s chapel was an excellent, if humble, Fast-forward 152 years and the chapel example of the early 18th century English obsession with the style of Andrea Palladio develops something of an identity crisis. (1508-80). 13
A famous Gothic Revival glazier, Charles Kempe, was asked to re-do the interior in 1884. By this time, Britain had become an industrial economy, prompting – in some quarters, at least – a growing horror at the realities of a polluted, slum-ridden, Dickensian society. As early as 1804 William Blake wrote of the ‘dark Satanic Mills’, and 1818 saw Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’.
the chapel is akin to a jewellery box: plain and elegant on the outside, but dazzling on the inside. Personally, I quite like it, but that doesn’t get away from the fact that it’s a mishmash of styles.
Pugin would want the ceiling to disappear via Gothic vaults into the heavens, whereas its original Palladian vision keeps the ceiling low, and rooted firmly on earth. It’s a physical manifestation of the conflict between those who sought to rationalise The literary, artistic and architectural response to this was to reach back to everything in the world, and those who before the ‘Age of Reason’, to the medieval sought to preserve mystery and doubt. The ‘Age of Faith’. Classical exterior is literally containing a Medieval-inspired Gothic Revival buildings neo-Gothic rebellion. sprang up everywhere – from Keble College A small – you might think unremarkable – to the Houses of Parliament. For Augustus chapel such as ours bears the marks of Pugin, the co-architect of the Houses of centuries of spiritual and intellectual angst Parliament, Gothic architecture was a and conflict, and because its physical manifestation of a spiritually purer, structure still exists, means that those allmystical, medieval world. consuming thought-battles of the past are there for us to see and touch today. Which brings us back to the chapel. People’s aesthetic choices, then, can tell us Its 1888 interior is Gothic in style, but the a lot about the people who made them. Who 1732 building is Classical. The result is that knows what Schlid says about us?
Artist: James Laszcz
“Fast-forward 152 years and the chapel develops some-
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thing of an identity crisis.
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Quiz: Which staircase are you?
Favourite club? Preferred way to predrink?
A. Emporium
A. Get the whole corridor involved and whack the tunez on
B. The Bully yaah C. Wahoo/ Park End/Bridge
B. Head to the nearest cocktail bar
D. Cellar
C. Erm I dunno‌ latch onto someone else’s plans? D. Have everyone round to your room and try out your new speakers
Favourite student meal? A. Pot noodle
Favourite view of Pembroke? A. Brutalist architecture B. The dreaming spires C. Chapel quad D. I never open my curtains
Mostly A: you are the MacMillan Building
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Mostly B: you are the Samuel Johnson Building
B. Cheeky itsu between lectures C. Hall D. A delicious home-cooked meal
Mostly C: you are Staircase 9
Mostly D: you are Staircase 14
San Sebastiรกn: Maisie Vollans
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Roaming in Rome Nathalie Kantaris-Dias
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arrived in Rome late August, everything still very much in a sleepy, sun-drenched holiday mode, including myself.
weekend to Calabria to report on a Mediterranean culture prize for it -- all paid
“We host many a gathering on the terrace”
for, and notably including a free five-course gala dinner with wine, a very decent threecourse lunch, and unlimited breakfast In the centre, the city is everything you buffet… Inevitably thanks to the food, it was would expect it to be, and seems to fit all its a particular highlight of mine so far. stereotypes in quite a humorous classicallyItalian way -- the cool ancient/modern Working in the dead centre of the city, contrast, terracotta-coloured buildings, having to literally push past crowds of tourists to get to work every day, it is a buzzing traffic, cobbled streets, stunning piazzas, great weather and food. During my relief to live outside of the central bubble. I live with three other young Italians -- two first week I was on a pizza a day -- still an students and a pharmacist, in a lively absolutely essential part of my diet here. student area. We host many a gathering on I work on a street literally just off the Trevi the terrace, and live near the classic Fountain, in Rome’s Foreign Press studenty graffiti-filled bar and club areas, Association, for an English-language so is a lot of fun and much more varied and newspaper reporting on Italian current affordable than what the centre has to offer affairs, politics, culture, sport etc., actually in terms of nightlife -- namely rip-off Erasmus networking events. founded and edited by an old Oxford graduate. I was sent down south last
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Everything has been very problem-free so far, so have had a nice smooth start to Roman life -- apart from the first night I arrived, which happened to coincide with the big earthquake in central Italy. Luckily Rome was not affected in a bad way, but it was a shock to be woken up at 3am by my bed and bedroom door shaking violently, in what I initially thought was a weird new flatmate frantically knocking on it! I was then churning out earthquake stories for the next two weeks at work, and ‘The Italian Insider’ intern team became such ‘experts’ on it that we were asked to be interviewed about it on Canadian radio. All in all, I am loving living in the capital with so much going on all the time, and the job is definitely better than photocopying and coffee-making. One criticism, though, would have to be the terrible public transport. I have often had to wait about 40 minutes for buses or trams that are meant to come every five, along with other Romans by now just waiting in quiet resignation. And the metro with only two 19
metro lines closes at 11.30pm on weekdays -- they have supposedly been trying to finish the half-built third line for years, but use a typically Roman excuse of always bumping into archaeological ruins during the construction process to poorly cover up the corruption surrounding it. It is saddening to think I will have to leave it all in a few months’ time!
“The first night I arrived happened to coincide with the big earthquake in central Italy
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