Feral, Flirty and (sometimes) Dirty
Dating columnist for The Sauce
Help! I have an avoidant attachment style
I recently had the realisation that my friends and I all talk like we’ve swallowed a self help/ psychology for dummies book. We talk about our “boundaries” and “triggers”, whilst scoffing pastries, flicking one another with buttery crusts and discussing the “anxious attachment” style of our latest Hinge match over brunch. It’s kind of insufferable, but I also absolutely can’t stop!! So, if you too want to be able to talk like a budget version of Esther Perelle! Look no further my fine feathered friend.
The Towel Hug
Love, loneliness and failing as a feminist
I used to wear my independence like a badge of honour. Like only depending on myself was something to be proud of, protective of almost. I haven’t ever relied on someone else to fill me up, take me out. Being a person all on my own, whole on my own, not half of somebody else.
What your first date location says about you
A first date tells you a lot about someone. What they wear. Where you go. How they smell. (Just me?? ok). We thought we’d give you a run down of first date locations and what the hell your choice says about you:
#1 Coffee shop
You’re literate, we get it.
Let’s talk about sex (on the first date) baby
Yes, no, maybe, I don’t know. Having sex on the first date can be hot, it’s all new and passionate and fumbley but in a gorgeously awkward way. Discovering someone’s body can just feel like a great extension of the intimacies you’ve already exchanged about your childhood pet fish Parsley, or that you might be in the middle of having a quarter life crisis, whilst delightfully stripping each other off. Most of the feral/flirty community shared the sentiment of: “FUCK yes! Try before you buy!!” . With all of this ringing in my ears I went on a first date this week.
Journalism Portfolio
A day in the life of a domestic violence helpline
“Hero” is a word that has been batted around a lot lately. The NHS staff, grocery store workers, key workers. To describe someone as a hero places them above being human and it’s dangerous. The impact on mental health of Covid-19 on domestic violence helpline workers cannot be underestimated. Since lockdown began there has been a 700% increase in visits to Women’s Aid’s sites, nine homicides in the UK in the first week of April and a 120% in the number of calls made to Refuge. The women manning the other side of the phone, giving advice, information, recommendations and sharing in the pain of victims of domestic violence have had struggles of their own facing this increase in pressure. This week, I interviewed helpline workers from domestic violence charities Women’s Aid Ireland to find out the true emotional impact of being a so called “hero” at this time.
ThisThat App
Data journalist and columnist for ThisThat.
A Dark day for American Democracy: Is this a video game?
Daylight. A government building is surrounded. It’s a multiplayer game. The protagonists, men and women in costume, eagle faces, animal fur and striped in war paint, scuffed boots haphazardly rest on an office table for a photo, official objects carried away gleefully, the chaos is being live streamed, reveling in the disorder. No, this is not a new level of Halo you’ve yet to hear about or a classic dystopian episode of Black Mirror, but a description of very surreal, real life events that took place in Washington DC last week, much to the shock of the world.
Washington Capitol riots
What do women want? (Now what you’d expect)
It’s an age-old question, one that men and women have been asking themselves since the dawn of time in that hard worn battlefield of L-O-V-E. A question in fact made famous by a noughties rom com sharing the same name, featuring a taught, DILF like Mel Gibson, who is suddenly able to hear women’s thoughts after being electrocuted by a hairdryer in the bath. (PLZ DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME).
The Surprising Secret to Finding Love Online
Your eyes meet, there’s some seeerious vibes a happen’ and then, you decide. You’re going to say something, but what to open with? A cheesy/ semi-ironic pickup line? You quickly try and think of something to say, anything, on some kind of topic – music, films, AIR? Oxygen… ah WORDS, words are hard to come by at times like this. You go for it, pluck up your courage and… tap their photo on an app, like. It’s a meet cute, but not quite like you know it. Dating apps are in, meet cutes are OUT.
Unwrapping Spotify Wrapped
It’s getting to that time of year again, the decorations are up, the temperature is dropping and you’re luxuriating in eating an advent calendar chocolate first thing in the morning. That’s right, it’s SPOTIFY WRAPPED TIME! The most wonderful time of the year. A time to revel in your top tunes, question why you had to listen to Taylor Swift’s Folklore quite so much whilst gracefully crying over a glass of red….
A Christmas Movie Special
Christmas won’t look the same this year for a lot of people, even with Michael Buble blasting. (Seriously, would sell an organ to see M. Bubbles live). Many will be spending it a part from family, without Mum’s classic roast potatoes or Nanna’s probing questions on WHEN you are getting married, despite basically still feeling in utero, there’s lots of things we’ll be missing out on. But, one such tradition, perhaps even as old as the religious holiday itself, is the watching of a classic Christmas movie.
Who Cares? Zillenials do
It’s 2020 and it’s cool to care. Suddenly, actors that aren’t activists are considered out of touch, musicians or influencers that lack social awareness – passé, and this has all been dictated by a more politically and socially engaged millenial generation. One, which attends climate protests, supports the Black Lives Matter Movement, and has gone on strike in support of Greta Thunberg.
Nomad
Copywriter for the Travel Magazine Nomad, an app which allows you to plan trips with friends. A focus on meaningful travel experiences and personal recommendations.
Where To Eat, Sleep and Play in Mexico City
A lifetime spent in Mexico wouldn’t be enough to discover everything it has to offer. So, we’ve pulled together some of our favourites for you. There’s more to this city than just mezcal and delicious food. Here’s a guide on what to do when you touch down in one of Latin America’s most colourful, lively cities.
Lisbon City Guide
Lisbon has been steadily growing in popularity over the years. Businesses are moving there, oat milk drinking trendies are using it as a Berlin substitute, and friends are saturating your timeline with photos of them eating Pastel de nata by the water. Usually, when a city has a boom like this, it tends to die down. But Lisbon is one of those special places where we don’t see that happening.
6 Country Walks Right on London’s Doorstep
Living in a city is wonderful, but sometimes when the weekend comes all you’re after is some fresh air, blue skies and not standing on the tube for an hour a day. Here are six of the best places to escape for a country walk near London, along with the nearest pubs to have a cheeky bevy in while you’re there.
Affordable Yoga Retreats
Maybe you had a stressful winter and want to make good on your 2020 New Year’s resolution to live a healthier lifestyle. Perhaps it’s a matter of wanting to feel closer to nature, or maybe you simply want to treat yourself to a holiday in an exotic destination and feel a little smug about doing lots of yoga. So here are five awesome, yet affordable yoga retreats – you can thank us later.
How to Be A Respectful Traveller
Chances are you’ve recently come across photos of someone riding an elephant, petting a tiger, or showcasing the fact that they did charity work one time on their gap year. These may seem like ‘eye opening’ experiences, but the underlying truth can be a lot more sinister. Do your research (or let us do it for you).
Nomad’s Guide to Skiing Cheap this Season
Swooping down a mountain, overdosing on cheese fondue, hot chocolate by the fire, screaming along to songs you don’t even understand at apres ski; Ski trips are a thing of beauty, but they can also be outrageously expensive. Check out these tips to avoid some unnecessary costs.
Arts & Culture Editor
“For a year I worked as the Arts & Culture Editor of the Saint at St. Andrews University, it was a joy to curate and layout the paper. Spending many a weekend in a windowless office, editing, writing, laughing and (occasionally) napping… or drinking, duty calls.”
DO ACTORS MAKE GOOD ACTIVISTS?
ARTS & CULTURE COVER
THE WORLD OF ST ANDREWS THEATRE
Issue 204 Issue 205 Issue 206 Issue 207 Issue 208
Issue 209 Issue 210 Issue 211 Issue 212
Every week, I worked with my sub-editors and writers to create an Arts & Culture section which both engaged, informed and challenged the students of St Andrews. Articles were a mixture of local and international news pieces, op-eds and listicles and I instigated the creation of columns in each section to give the paper a strong sense of individuality and voice. I ran weekly writers meetings and brainstorming sessions, upping online output to daily rather than weekly. Click through above to see the full issues.
WRITING : SEX, POWER, TECH, THEATRE & FOOD
As the Biebs once decreed, “you should go and love yourself.” But I don’t mean spiritually –– no, I’m talking shameless self-love with a little electrical help. I recently had a conversation with a friend, and even in the cradle of liberal university ideals, she thought our friends had just been joking about having vibrators, as if it was too perverse an idea for women to enjoy taking control over how and when we orgasmed. In the same way we fought for the vote, women also fought for control over their orgasms…
Can LOLA, the live performance streaming software, make it easier to connect musicians across the world? You’re in a concert hall. You’re watching an orchestra perform at the Royal College of Music in London, whilst also attending a dance concert in Barcelona and a folk concert in Helsinki…. at exactly the same time. This is not time travel, you’re experiencing LOLA. The groundbreaking video streaming service which allows musicians to simultaneously perform with other musicians on another continent.
If James Bond were to become ‘Jane Bond’ or ‘Jamie Bond’ what would it be but a poor oversimplified adaptation in which a female character is again shoe horned into an unrelenting male world? The fundamentals of James Bond’s character, one that sleeps with a new woman in every film, is that he is impeccably well dressed, occasionally heartbroken, suave, slick, charming, and shaken and not stirred – your typically ultra-masculine lady killer/regular killer. Women can do and be all of these things, true. So what would be wrong with a woman playing this part, I hear you cry? Essentially, because it may win this battle, but fails to see that there’s a greater argument to be had here.
An interview with Kendra, Danielle and Ebe – the production team behind ‘Black Spring’ a theatrical response to the London Riots of 2011. We talked the creation of the work from the narrative concept to the rehearsal process and more generally on the importance of breaking the white bubble of St Andrews and their experience of race relations in such a small town.
Shine Theory: A column c
hampioning other women’s successes rather than feeling threatened and competing for recognition. Anna Friedman, who coined the concept of shine theory, simply puts it – ‘I don’t shine if you don’t shine.’
The Lumsden Club : working women, role models and the recent Winning Women conference.
Kendra Eno: showcase manager for St Andrews' Afro Caribbean Society, on the vision behind their new, upcoming event Ubuntu, and what it means for Ms Eno to be growing up in the age of blackgirlmagic.
Maddy Bazil: a photographer and filmmaker based in Capetown. Covering the importance of freely available sanitary products in Nyanga with her charity ‘She is Strong’, her role models and the essentials for a day of shooting.
Liam Sinclair was announced as the Byre Theatre’s new artistic director for this year. Expectations are high: what will the new director do with such a recently rejuvenated and therefore somewhat unstable theatre? I caught up with Liam over the phone this week, fresh from a trip to Rio with Scottish Dance Theatre Company and still catching up on meetings in St Andrews.
