This week in Trinity: Intellectual interest

Intellectuality abounds this week with a Budget Breakdown, a Metaphysical book club and a Climate Migration-themed festival

As we delve deeper into October or Spooky Season Trinity News is here again to bring you the society highlights of the upcoming week.

To start the week off on a nice, light note, Trinity Politics Society and Trinity Young Greens are holding a Budget Breakdown panel discussion on Monday evening at 8pm. Neasa Hourigan, Chair of the government’s Budget Oversight Committee, will join the discussion to talk about the 2021 Budget ahead of its announcement on Tuesday. With the looming threat of a Level 5 lockdown along with a budget deficit this year of €21 billion, what indeed could be a spookier topic?

To get you in a suitably socialist mood ahead of the Budget Breakdown, the Metaphysical Society (Metafizz) are hosting a Reading Group on Monday at 6pm. This term they will be reading One Dimensional Man by Herbert Marcuse, a critique of industrial society’s system of production and consumption, beginning with a discussion of Chapter One tomorrow evening.

If this is all starting to sound a little too intellectually and emotionally exhausting, an alternative could be the speed friendship dating Zoom call organised by the Korean Society and Japanese society on Monday at 6.30pm.

On Tuesday, DU Film will be holding its weekly Video Café on zoom, with “coffee, chats and cinema” – what more can one want in life? Also on Tuesday is Conradh na Gaelige’s online Irish Chat, in which Cumann Gaelach TCD will be participating from 9 to 11pm. There will be a quiz at 9, followed by a chat room. Cumann Gaelach TCD will also be hosting a debating workshop this Thursday, during which they will explain how the online format will work for their debating events this year, including the all-important question of prizes.

On Wednesday, Trinity Law Society welcomes Gina Miller as the third recipient of the Praeses Elit Award 2020, which is awarded by the Law Society to those who have been a source of inspiration through their line of work. Gina Miller is a businesswoman and campaigner who challenged the authority of the British government to trigger Brexit’s Article 50 without parliamentary approval in the British Supreme Court. She was also successful in challenging Boris Johnson’s attempt to suspend the British Parliament in 2019. The presentation of the award will take place over Zoom, beginning at 4pm.

Moving on to Friday, DU Photography Association (DUPA) are holding their weekly coffee hour at 12pm. After the success of Home, their virtual debut exhibition, DUPA is also currently accepting submissions for their second 3D virtual exhibition of the year, entitled Arrivals and Departures. The deadline for submissions is Tuesday October 13, so get cracking. For more details on how and what to submit, head to their Facebook page.

This is also the week of the STAND Student Festival on Climate Migration. A number of Trinity’s societies are involved in the various events happening throughout the week, including TCD Environmental Society and the Visual Arts Society. Events will take place each day of the week, including panel discussions, film screenings and virtual workshops, all centred around the themes of Climate Justice and Climate Migration.

A number of Trinity Societies hold their Emergency General Meetings (EGM’s) around this time of the year, often to elect First Year Reps. Being part of a society committee is a sure-fire way to make friends and is perhaps a first step on the road to achieving Big Name on Campus (BNOC) status. This week both the Archaeological Society and the Classical Society will be holding their EGMs to find new First Year Representatives.

Finally, a reminder that DU Dance is hosting weekly workshops in a variety of dance styles, including ballet and heels. Trinity Yoga Society also holds classes throughout the week in a number of different yoga styles. The classes cost between €2 and €4, and you can book your place on Eventbrite.

Again, be sure to check your emails and society Facebook pages for more events. Go forth and socialise.