Forgive me Father, for I have sinned
Walking into a church always carries with it the risk of immolation. At least for me. Consecrated bread has never touched my lips. I’ve never been baptised, nor have I made my Confirmation. While my family were devout Roman Catholics, my parents broke away from the church and decided I should decide my faith for […]
The success and scandal of Uber
“Patience is a virtue.” The age-old mantra loses its relevance in this era – an era christened that of the “Instant Gratification Economy”. In these modern and technological times, almost anything can be assessed, perused and ordered through a single tap of a screen. Talking to other humans to confirm an order is replaced by […]
Kissing around the globe
In the year 1979, the German Democratic Republic celebrated its thirtieth anniversary. While the festivities and commemorations were underway amongst politicians and public figures, an alert photographer snapped what has since become an iconic photograph of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German President Erich Honecker sharing a passionate “fraternal kiss”. This striking and provocative […]
“But I’m not here for love”
“Sugaring” is an interesting neologism. Conjuring images of confectionary and added frosting, the sticky term has a secondary implication of persuasion or seduction. Amateur linguistics aside, the term is becoming increasingly common, appearing in several recent stories about the rise of students supplementing their incomes by working as “sugar babies”. Many of these students use […]
Drag culture in Ireland
Drag finds itself in new bloom as wider recognition of the art form, partly due to the popularity of hit shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race, has brought it to the forefront of pop culture. The very practice of drag creates a fertile space not only for exhilarating performances but for the exploration of the making […]
The panopticon in the twenty-first century
In the late eighteenth century, an English philosopher by the name of Jeremy Bentham had a brainwave after visiting his sibling in Russia. His brother Samuel, determined to reign over his unskilled workforce, placed himself in the centre of the factory to ensure that his employees were completing their designated tasks. This visit resulted in […]
Under the covers
The most common path to success in the music industry is to re-interpret, re-invent and recycle what has worked in the past. Covering songs has been an established tradition in the music world since the birth of music itself. A striking aspect of covers is that many artists take songs that may not have […]
Symbols on a pedestal
A statue can assume great symbolic meaning. Static and carved from stone, the figure may remain physically unchanged for centuries. The connotations of a statue, however, fluidly adjust alongside the interpretations and associations that society develops. As features of a nation’s cultural landscape, national stories can be illustrated by the monuments erected and removed. As […]
A terrible state o’ chassis
With Dublin’s traditional commuter towns of Ashbourne and Greystones recently being declared “pressure zones” due to an increase in rents across the board, student accommodation is increasingly difficult to find for students on a tight budget. The most affected are those who rely on the Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) grant to cover their fees […]
South Africa vs. Ireland: Comparing student life
South Africa. You’ve heard about it on the news. You watched that movie with Morgan Freeman in it. Your aunt possibly even told you about her trip around some vineyards over there. But what is it like to study in this country at the opposite end of the world? Having lived there for several years, […]
