Celebrating Earth Day 2013



(source: NASA)

Andrew Jones argues that we only have five years left to save the world. Isabel Stark suggests climate change is leading to a nightmare from which we will never awake;
 
Freya Derby celebrates the epic Voyager journey that revealed Earth's fragility; we celebrate the beautiful photograph 'Blue Marble' forty years after it was taken (see above); Daniel Rollins asks whether there is life on Mars and Tony Hicks presents a fascinating photograph of the face of the moon.

Sampad Sengupta asks whether the universe comes from nothing; Ed Harding asks why there is something rather than nothing; Jeremy Thomas investigates the past, present and future of space exploration.

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2 hours, 37 minutes: Running the London Marathon

by Lewis Chalk

 

I am proud to say I completed the London Marathon yesterday. I took the gamble this year in attempting to run 2 hours 30 and, based on previous races, I felt in great shape to achieve this.


However, the heat and the early pace I set really affected me! I completed the race in 2 hours 37, finishing in a lot of pain. I suffered dehydration, visited St Johns (twice) and my feet were so painful from the tenth mile onwards – the sensation was like I had razor blades in my shoes which contributed to my slowing pace from miles 20 – 26.
 

And yes, it was definitely worth it! I came 109th out of 36,000 runners and, best of all, we raised over £2,000 for SUDEP! Of course, it is not too late to sponsor.

 

Just click here: 26 Miles 4 Rebecca

Read also: A Reason for Running

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The Legacy of Stephen Lawrence's Murder: Twenty Years On

Stephen Lawrence

Twenty years ago, while waiting for a bus in London, 19-year-old Stephen Lawrence was attacked and murdered by a gang of white youths chanting racist slogans.

His death led to the arrest of five suspects, but they were not convicted. A subsequent public enquiry, led by Sir William Macpherson, concluded that the Metropolitan Police’s investigation had been fundamentally flawed and that the Metropolitan Police Service itself was “institutionally racist” (defined as “the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic corruption”) The publication of the Macpherson Report in 1999 has been described as “one of the most important moments in the modern history of criminal justice in Britain”, leading to extensive policing reforms.

On 3rd January, 2012, nearly 19 years after Stephen Lawrence’s murder, two of his attackers, Gary Dobson and David Norris, were found guilty and given life sentences.

See Lottie Kent's article, Racism: With Privilege Comes Responsibility: "Once we start to notice, however, this unspoken privilege from which we unjustifiably profit, we become accountable for a sin of omission: we are allowing our own privilege to continue and not speaking out for the people of colour that suffer because of our systemic negligence. We begin to notice how our society discreetly perpetuates racial stereotypes, how it allows the dichotomy of superior/inferior between white and minority races to continue, how unjust this culture is. As in law, so in ethics, ignorance is no defence. This initial realisation of culpability usually manifests itself in outward denial."

See also:
How Stephen Lawrence's Murder Changed the Legal Landscape
Interview with Stephen Lawrence's family, twenty years on


 

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'La Bayadere': Just Another Ineffable Experience At The Ballet

by Isabel Stark

A tale of love, hatred, betrayal and murder, it was just another ineffable experience at the ballet. 

Gamzatti (Lauren Cuthbertson) and Nikiya (Roberta Marquez)

(www.ballet.co.uk)

I was graced to see the exotic La Bayadère. It was not just any performance, I was to see Roberta Marquez and Steven Mcrae dance with each other, it was a dream, I had fallen in love after watching Sir Fredrick Ashton’s delightful La Fille Mal Gardee set in the “leafy pastoral of eternal spring in Suffolk.”  Within the 3 hours I found my self being entangled in the emotion and swept along by the current of Ludwig Minkus and John Lanchberry’s music. The opulence of the costumes and set were a masterpiece within their own right. Set in an ancient India Natalia Makarova’s production was a feast.

Nikiya, is a beautiful enslaved temple dancer; the petite and charming Roberta Marquez effortlessly portrayed the timid and romantic bayadère. From the first step onto the stage in a glistening white dress and veil the audience were bewitched by her fragility. Marquez has a natural aura, an enrapturing beauty that captures the hearts of anyone who sees her artistry. Solor the dashing warrior, Steven Mcrae, and Nikiya swear their forbidden and eternal love to each other in the scared fire- an enchanting sight. But he is dazzled by the stunning Maharajahs daughter Gamzatti and forgets his vows to Nikiya, Yuhui Choe replaced an injured Laura Morera to the disappointment of a few but I couldn’t help but feel secretly smug.  Morera is a talent but in the Nutcracker I failed to enjoy her Waltz of the Flowers however after seeing Swan Lake and Choe’s delicate and light Pas de Trois I wanted to watch her dance again, it was a well timed and high beneficial coincidence. Gamezetti’s entrance (much like Nikiya) established the icy stunning character dressed in gold as an untouchable object of desire that will do anything to gain Solor.

Nikiya (Roberta Marquez)

(www.roh.org.uk)

Nikiya would prefer to accept the fate bestowed by the ruthless princess on her than live without the love of Solor so succumbs to a bite from a well-concealed poisonous snake in a basket of flowers.  Solor confused and hurt smokes opium, the music crescendos and Mcrae’s chaîné turns lead us dizzily in to the transcendent beauty of the Kingdom of Shades; the slow continuous entrance of the corps de ballet is haunting. Solor is in a euphoric state when he sees visions of Nikiya and they reconcile with a moving Pas de Deux. Much our disappointment, Solor wakes though not before he performs one of the hardest variations for any male dancer -it is filled with large jumps mainly cabrioles and an amazing manege. At the Temple during the wedding ceremony Solor continues to see visions of Nikiya and struggles to complete his vows, the Gods are angered by the arrangement dramatically bring Temple down crushing everyone inside in. Then the curtain rises, and reunited in eternal love are the shades of Nikiya and Solor.

A night at the ballet is an experience that is timeless; the excitement never grows old. The countdown, picking your outfit, collecting the tickets, finding your seat, the overture, curtain up, it’s a sequence of events that bestows joy to a monumental proportion. Tickets are priced from £5 upwards, it is a truly accessible for all you can even watch certain ballets and operas live in your local Vue cinema (Live Cinema Season.) It will add a slight air of Imperial Russia to your life, which is needed within everyone. I ask, I beg for everyone to experience The Royal Opera House at least once in their lifetime, it will not disappoint. 

More infornation at www.roh.org.uk 

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Theatre Review: Quartermaine’s Terms

by Laura Burden

'Quartermaine's Terms' by Simon Gray; directed by Richard Eyre and produced by Michael Codron; performed at Wyndham's Theatre.

Rowan Atkinson and Conleth Hill
in Quartermaine's Terms
(image: Independent)

Looking at the list of West End productions this Easter break, the dominant feeling was one of being spoilt for choice. Simon Stephen’s adaptation of Mark Haddon’s novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is a must-see (at some point) and Peter and Alice and The Audience sound compelling. The Book of Mormon would at least be a talking point. Many of the plays currently onstage hearken back to the past – recent political history, the classics of children’s fiction or the comparatively innocent days of the ‘cacophonous’ gramophones and eccentric maids  in Lindsay Posner’s new version of Terence Rattigan’s The Winslow Boy.

The play I eventually settled on, despite having been written in 1981, also recalls a previous era and in fact is very reminiscent of Rattigan’s plays with the discrete group of characters and the setting of a single, comfortable middle-class room.  Like another of Rattigan’s works (The Browning Version), Quartermaine’s Terms focuses on a spectacularly unsuccessful schoolmaster. Rowan Atkinson plays St John Quartermaine, teaching English in a school for foreign pupils in Cambridge. We soon find, through the interactions between other teachers on the rare occasions when St John is not relaxing in his usual armchair, that his lessons mostly involve telling his pupils stories and reminiscing about his university life. Later in the play he fails even to arrive at his lessons, falling asleep in his chair after lunch and awakening only when his colleagues re-enter the staffroom when the bell has gone for the end of the day.

It would not be difficult for St John’s colleagues to be more professional despite their own eccentricities and personal failings. Anita (Louise Ford) is desperately unhappy in her marriage to an unfaithful husband; Henry (Conleth Hill) struggles with a highly strung and precocious teenage daughter; Derek (Will Keen) is dedicated to his students but his earnestness is continually undermined by his own clumsiness – on the first day of term he arrives with the seat of his trousers ripped open from his cycle ride in. Another colleague, Melanie (Felicity Montagu) is the consummate frustrated sixties spinster, giving her life to nursing her ageing mother and turning to evangelism. Most interesting on author Simon Gray’s part is the fact that the school has two headmasters and we only meet one of them. Eddie, in a way that is redolent of Dickens’ characters Spenlow and Jorkins, refers to how busy and distressed the unseen Thomas is when trying to control his recalcitrant colleagues: he speaks of Thomas being “besieged by Germans” when St John sleeps through a lesson. The audience soon infer, however, that within the context of the time Eddie’s colleagues are tacitly supportive of him: he and Thomas live together and are clearly in a relationship, and the play is set before the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967.

It is a traditional production that has enjoyed and suffered mixed reviews. My view was that Richard Eyre successfully rendered a touching exposure of loneliness and betrayal but that the moments of comedy that exist in the script could have been timed more precisely. Those I know who have enjoyed it most have worked in schools: perhaps the play’s depiction of staffroom politics and a certain breed of teacher means little to those not having experienced such a setting. The casting of Rowan Atkinson may have filled the house but many struggled with his presence on stage: St John Quartermaine is a foolish and an often silent character - but he is not a buffoon and it was difficult to appreciate the poignancy of his distress towards the end when the lines were being spoken by the man we all think of as Mr Bean. This was a solid production (indeed, Time Out gave it a ‘B+’) that happily filled an evening but will not rank high in a lifetime’s worth of theatre.

It would be interesting to see what PGS students could do with Quartermaine’s Terms: its staffroom setting and the even balance of male and female roles would make it the ideal school play. We would also be celebrating the work of a local author: Simon Gray (1926-2008) was born on Hayling Island.

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PGS German Exchange: Easter 2013

by James Harper

Guten Tag!

At the end of the Easter holidays, thirteen PGS students flew to Düsseldorf, Germany, for a holiday that none of us will ever forget. From here, we travelled to Halver, where we were warmly welcomed by our German exchanges.

On Monday, we spent the morning in the Anne-Frank-Gymnasium; we experienced what sort of lessons they did at school and what they liked, and then, finished at half-past one- a little earlier than our school!

The next day, we went to the big and popular city of Cologne- here, we visited a Roman-history museum, one of the world’s biggest cathedrals and last but definitely not least, a ‘Lindt’ chocolate factory. It was a perfect day, until we all got stomach aches from all of the chocolate.

Wednesday was a day trip to Bonn, another huge German city. We visited a ‘Geschictehaus’ in which we learned about the development of Germany after the Second World War, and also how and why Germany is how it is today. We also learned about the musical life of Ludwig Van Beethoven, a famous Classical composer, and then had a few hours of free time to explore the beautiful city of Bonn.

                        

In my opinion, Thursday was the best and most exciting day- we went to a vast swimming complex, with a huge variety of slides, diving boards, saunas and swimming pools for four hours! Even though it was extremely tiring, it was worth it!

Friday was our last activities day- we visited the ‘Phänomenta’ museum, which was a building complex with a hands-on theme of strange yet wonderful science. We also had a barbeque in the school in which we had typical German sausages, and then ice-cream (which I will admit is better than English ice-cream.)

 

On Saturday, we had free time with our German families, which I am sure everybody enjoyed!

Unfortunately, the next day was Sunday- it was very hard to say good-bye, but we eventually returned home extremely late at night. However, it would not have been such a great trip if it were not for Miss Coward, Mr. Hogg, and, of course, Mr. Priory. A big thank you, it was a great week! We are now looking forward to our exchange partners coming here in July.

 

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Racism: With Privilege Comes Responsibility

by Lottie Kent

          Recently, I have come into contact with and collated various forms of media that, cumulatively, have formed the impetus for this article. I was provoked to write it after coming across a multitude of YouTube videos, newspaper articles, blog posts, quotes and art forms – all focusing on the subject I have chosen to dissect: racism – or more precisely, the issue of white privilege.

          Racism – and rightly so – is not necessarily a neglected issue in today’s society and white people are mostly taught (again, rightly so) that racism is something that puts others at a disadvantage. However, what we are not taught about is the concomitant problem of white privilege – the aspect of a racist society that gives white people, like myself, an unearned advantage over people of colour. White people are taught that racism exists purely in the conscious acts of prejudiced individuals – something that is implemented through active malicious behaviours, such as verbal or physical abuse. This teaching makes us see racism as a discriminatory force achievable by any person of any race. By capitalising on this idea that a person can only be racist if they act racist, we are ignoring the fact that racism is actually a system of power and privilege. Individuals belonging to a dominant racial group (in this case, White people) cannot and should not be separated from the system of advantage based on race that they benefit from every day, whether this benefit is unbeknown to them or not. 

          Once we start to notice, however, this unspoken privilege from which we unjustifiably profit, we become accountable for a sin of omission: we are allowing our own privilege to continue and not speaking out for the people of colour that suffer because of our systemic negligence. We begin to notice how our society discreetly perpetuates racial stereotypes, how it allows the dichotomy of superior/inferior between white and minority races to continue, how unjust this culture is. As in law, so in ethics, ignorance is no defence. This initial realisation of culpability usually manifests itself in outward denial.

           This is how I felt watching ‘The Event: How Racist Are You?’

The program was a Channel 4 documentary that we saw during one of our first Cogito lessons in Year 10. I’m ashamed to say that it was most likely the first time I had properly confronted issues of white supremacy in such a patent way. In the programme, Jane Elliot, who was a white schoolteacher at the time of the Civil Rights movement in America, recreates the same experiment she carried out forty years ago on her nine-year-old pupils to teach them about racism. Thirty adult Britons undergo a simulation akin to Apartheid, experiencing discrimination based on eye-colour in order to show them how it feels to be on the receiving end of arbitrary prejudice. In her exercise, those with brown eyes are always the dominant group and those with blue eyes are made to feel inferior. All of the blue-eyed group are white. I remember watching it and feeling angered that Elliot had precluded the ‘fact’ that some of the white people in the group might not have been at all racist, but was treating them as though they were automatically guilty of this. Though I understood her purpose, I felt it was unnecessary bullying and couldn’t see that the experiment was valuable or relevant.

 I re-watched the video yesterday. I completely agreed that her method was, and is, entirely constructive and significant. Though the effectiveness of the exercise might be measured by the positive impact and the cultural lessons it imparted on the white participants, I personally found it to be an intense and incredibly educational practice. Understanding the effects of discrimination is an experience we should all undergo in order to best empathise with those who must endure it throughout their lives – so we can work for a better society for all.

My views changed greatly and rapidly after watching the program. This growth and understanding is a process that I can liken to ‘Helm’s White Racial Identity Development Model: Abandonment of racism and developing a non-racist identity.’ In this template, the initial stage is identified as ‘contact.’ A person in this status is ‘oblivious to racism, lacks an understanding of racism, has minimal experiences with black people, and may profess to be colour-blind.’ Furthermore, he or she would consider racial and cultural differences ‘unimportant’ and ‘seldom perceive themselves as “dominant” group members, or having biases or prejudices.’ This is how most White people will grow up.

The subsequent five stages are identified as: disintegration, re-integration, pseudo-independence, immersion/emersion and autonomy. Stages five and six involve searching ‘for an understanding of the personal meaning of racism and the ways by which one benefits from white privilege’ and ‘acceptance of one’s own role in perpetuating racism’ with a ‘renewed determination to abandon white entitlement.’ I would, as an individual, place myself somewhere in these two latter statuses. I still, however, feel guilty for my privilege and I know I have yet to grow and learn more about cultural and ethnic diversity. I try to be conscious of my advantage over others by reminding myself of an article by Peggy McIntosh, who sees white privilege as an ‘invisible weightless knapsack’ containing ‘unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day.’ She explicitly lists the daily effects that her ‘knapsack’ has on her own life. For example:

'I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.’

'I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.’

'I can expect figurative language and imagery in all of the arts to testify to experiences of my race.’

'I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the "person in charge", I will be facing a person of my race.’

        These are all relevant to my life as a white female, as is much of the rest of her knapsack contents . Even now, as I read the index again, my conscience is pervaded by a sense of responsibility that I cannot ignore. And therein lies the most important question: what should I, and other Whites who feel this way, do? I sated my own thirst for guidance after watching this YouTube clip:

          In fact, the Top Comment for this video very well summed up my feelings of uncertainty. It read:

“As the grandmother of a half black (African) half white little boy, I am now very much aware of this now and slowly feeling my way. How can I use my white privilege to stand up against bigotry without offending the very people I want to stand up for?”

The video itself shows Joy DeGruy, an African-American woman, describing an example of experiential racism that she underwent on a trip to the grocery store. In the end, after obvious mistreatment by a cashier because of Joy’s race, her mixed race sister-in-law, Kathleen (whom Joy describes as ‘looking white’) makes a stand. She pointedly asks the cashier why she had treated herself [Kathleen] and Joy differently – an action that influences all of the other people in the store to see the racial prejudice acting against Joy and stand up for her as well. At the end of the video, DeGruy says:

‘But what would have happened – I can’t know for certain – had the Black woman said: “this is unfair. Why are you doing this to me?” Would it have had the same impact? But Kathleen knew that she walked through the world differently than I did, and she used her white privilege to educate and make right a situation that was wrong.’

It is from Joy DeGruy that I have learnt my most significant lesson thus far about racial dynamics and my own white privilege. It is important to stand up to other white people when they speak or act in discriminatory ways and not leave it to people from Minority to groups to do so. To quote DeGruy herself: “That’s what you can do. Every single day.”

See also: Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham Jail: Fifty Years On

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