This Week in Trinity: Week 10

Between a ball, a debate final and Daisy Edgar Jones’ address to TCD LawSoc, get ready for an exciting week

Stumbling into Week 10, I think we are all feeling a little disorientated after the extra long weekend. Excessive consumption of sunshine, ice cream, and some sneaky canal cans may have momentarily suspended the reality of a looming end of term. With only three weeks left of classes, exams are suddenly on a closer horizon than I think most of us would care to admit. Although we can’t help you with studying, or catching up on the past nine weeks of online lectures, we can provide some distraction with the week’s upcoming schedule of society events.

Pull out your ballgown and laurel wreath on Tuesday for the Classical and Archaeological Society Ball. Festivities will begin at 7pm via zoom. Classical themed attire is not mandatory, but bear in mind that there will be prizes for best dressed, so if you have any imperial looking togas, now is the time to show them off.

For all those Normal People fans out there – and I don’t doubt that you are out there – Daisy Edgar Jones, who played Marianne in the much-discussed BBC adaptation of Sally Rooney’s best-selling novel, is the next recipient of TCD Law Soc’s Praeses Elit Award. Having risen to fame after her portrayal of Marianne, she appeared on British Vogue’s 2020 list of influential women and will also star in an upcoming adaptation of Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing. She will be addressing the society on Tuesday at 7pm.

Wednesday also brings a number of exciting events for you to attend. At 9pm is Cowboys Loving Aliens with DU Film, an event which is part of the ISDAs Theatre Festival. Heralded as the “Intergalactic Wedding of the Ages”, this is sure to be a wild ride of an evening, a bold modern day take on the timeless theme of star-crossed lovers. Snacks for sustenance are definitely recommended, and attendees are urged to dress as either alien or cowboy, so start thinking of costumes now.

Also on Wednesday is the final of the Hist’s Mary Harney Debate Competition. Over the past two months, over 80 students from 5 universities have debated each other, and this week the competition culminates with the motion ‘This House Believes That Eve Should Eat the Apple’. The chair for the debate is Senator Lynn Ruane, who previously served as President of the TCD Student Union from 2015 to 2016. Following the debate is the Harney’s Heavenly Afterparty with a variety of music performances, poetry readings, and game rooms. This is definitely an evening not to miss.

For a more sedate Wednesday evening, albeit one that may leave you with a sense of dread at the future of the planet, DU ZooSoc are holding a screening of Seaspiracy at 6pm. If you haven’t already seen it on your Netflix account, Seaspiracy is a documentary film about the havoc we are wreaking on our oceans and marine life through overfishing, plastic pollution and other damaging but ubiquitous practices. So perhaps not the most uplifting thing you can watch, but definitely fascinating and something we should all be more aware of.

Finally, Trinity Social Democrats will be hosting a guest speaker event on Wednesday at 7pm on Drugs Policy in Ireland: Where We Are and Where We’d Like to Be. Cllr. Tara Deacy of Dublin City Council and Dr. Garrett McGovern of the Priority Medical Clinic will be speaking at the event.

Moving on to Thursday, head to TCD Environmental Society’s Instagram Live at 7pm for a Q&A with Mark Jacobs, the Managing Director of SEED Madagascar. SEED has been running a research programme in the coastal area of St. Luce for the past 15 years. They carry out research on this area of rich biodiversity, collecting data about species present, their distribution, density, behaviour and habitats. Mark Jacobs will be talking about how to jointly address social and biodiversity goals in developing conservation programmes, in order to protect Indigenous rights and enhance livelihoods.

Also on Thursday is DUGES AGM, where they’ll be electing a new committee for 2021/2022. If you’re interested in running for a position, or would like to attend to cast your vote, keep an eye on their social media pages for more information.