TRANSFORMER MARCH 2021 NEW WRITERS' PORTAL TRANSFORMER NEW WRITERS' PORTAL Illustration © Ruki Chuki Ruki © Illustration

25 TRANSFORMER MARCH 2021 NEW WRITERS' PORTAL takeoff: issue 1 TRANSFORMER TRANSFORMER Curators of tomorrow's writers

WELCOME to the first edition of TRANSFORMER Contents A new writers’ portal and a platform for change.

27 Ruki Chuki; TRANSFORMER is an intelligent digest by today’s TRANSFORMER's cover illustrator new writers and voices from around the globe. It 28 Want to get involved with politics? offers an incisive, bold look at a rapidly changing It’s easier than you think world inviting opinions and solutions for change 29 Communication Warfare A Brave New World? Writers invite us to look at key issues to bring about change in society, from environmental From cancer-case to marathon runner in 5 years through to political issues, human rights to One man’s race against cancer fashion, satire, the latest in entertainment 30 Is Fashion out of Fashion? and social media, new heights in tech, gaming, Has COVID changed fashion for good? streaming, healthy lifestyles, literature and travel, 31 A Love letter to the dinner party as well as showcasing new artists’ works.. Dinner is served

Appetite for consumption This first edition contains a dizzying range of Supermarkets of the future perspectives and views. We hope you enjoy 32 A Growing Problem: How global reading them as much as we have. food production is draining the If you would like to submit an article world’s water Water everywhere but not a drop to for publication please do write to us at: drink... [email protected] 33 The Cycle of Exploration: Astrobiology's cyclical nature Looking to the stars to understand the earth

34 The Loss of Cultural Authenticity: THE 21ST CENTURY offers many avenues for new writers through Travel in the time of COVID The high cost of low price travel the constant turnover of the online world, however it remains as difficult as ever to be heard or published. At the beginning of their 35 Games to look out for careers many writers spend internships at publications updating twitter feeds or making coffee rather than building portfolios. 36 Alt Right and Gaming It is getting harder and harder for authors to break into Personal Space Invaders journalism, but our need for fresh perspectives and new ideas has 37 Gender equality never been greater. It is vital that they have a stand-alone platform. Dealing with unwanted advances We are proud to offer it with TRANSFORMER, a portal for change, offering new writers a platform to explore today's important issues Six ways to stay positive with voices of tomorrow. Help in Lockdown The publication will amplify new writers’ ideas and words so they The Psychology of Isolation can be heard over the blanketing tinnitus of online discourse; to take 38 Stay sane whilst staying alive them from a whisper to a shout. TRANSFORMER 39 To Dare is to Do; TRANSFORMER acts as a CAREER HUB curating new and I love you Tottenham inspirational writers’ work and portfolios for potential employers. Faith in fallibility 26 TRANSFORMER MARCH 2021 NEW WRITERS' PORTAL TRANSFORMER This month's front cover illustration

Our lovely TRANSFORMER cover illustration is by illustrator/designer Ruki Chuki.

UKI is a London based illustrator working as a Rcreative director. She loves experimenting with colours and with body shapes. During lockdown her style evolved by searching for inspiration from within, rather than being influenced by the outside world.

The full range of her work can be seen at www. rukichuki.com and on her Instagram profileruki_chuki.

27 TRANSFORMER MARCH 2021 NEW WRITERS' PORTAL TRANSFORMER Want to get more involved in politics but don’t know how? Here are a few ideas By Ziad Qattan Cartoon © Saffron Swire www.saftirical.com Swire Saffron © Cartoon

Whether it’s signing a petition, getting elected, or starting a mass movement, here are a few ways to create change on issues that matter to you:

Read, listen, and learn…

Educate yourself. Knowledge and passion are the basis for any political project. Whatever you care about or want to change, learn as much as you can about it first. And don’t just stick to traditional news sources. Check out reddit forums (there’s one on virtually everything), look for lesser-known blogs, YouTube channels, and Facebook groups. Join a debating club to sharpen your public speaking and persuasion skills. debatematevirtual. com run a ten-week online course at the start of every school term. For a free option, check out meetup.com where you can join discussion groups and societies over TRANSFORMER Zoom, or in person. See what is already out there. There are hundreds of campaigns, clubs, charities, or online Highlands, all accessible from your bedroom in your university’s student union elections, or groups where you can find people who share your desktop. standing for local councillor are all ways to get political goals. You’d be surprised. Speak to them involved in politics. You’ll learn how to create a first before embarking on whatever it is you want Join a political party and register to message which resonates with people, formulate to do. Learn from their experiences, and don’t vote! a campaign strategy, and gain incredible on-the- duplicate something that already exists. Start ground experience. something new! If you don’t know where to start, check out There are no lower age limits on joining the Green YouthPolitics.org.uk, the award winning non-profit Party, Liberal Democrats, or Conservative Party. dedicated to giving youth a voice. Keep an eye out You can join the Labour Party if you’re 14 or over. Volunteer for a charity at home on their events page, where they have a busy line- Read their manifestos and decide where you and abroad up of workshops, discussions, and panels ranging stand! from debating to political journalism. Becoming a member allows you to participate From food banks to football coaching, non-profits There’s also the British Youth Parliament. If you in the internal elections of a party. That means make up a huge part of our life and economy, are aged 11-18, you can stand or vote in elections you get a say in who your leader is, what policies but they are often underfunded and rely on every two years. If elected, you’ll get to debate the party will advocate, which candidates are committed and passionate volunteers. Give up in the real House of Commons and House of selected to stand in local and general elections, a bit of your time after school, study, or work, Lords, hold meetings with your local MP and local and more. and you will get huge gratification and valuable residents, and make regular visits to Parliament. Depending on your party, you can also become job skills in return. Check out these volunteering The next elections will be held in March 2022. a ‘youth officer’ in your local area, and run for databases for job opportunities near you: Now is the time to start planning! charityjob.co.uk is the UK’s largest job election yourself, in the youth wing of the party. board for the nonprofit sector. With thousands You need to register to vote before you can of positions available, you are bound to find vote in UK elections or referendums. In England Say it louder, and spread the word! something for you. and Northern Island, the voting age is 18, but this vinspired.com is the UK's only online platform does not mean you can’t volunteer, or campaign Write to your MP, create a TikTok video, start a dedicated to connecting young volunteers with for a political party during an election beforehand. petition on change.org, or stage a protest… Be the causes they care about, helping them build Most parties will also run activities throughout cheeky and creative. Don’t be afraid to make skills, networks and confidence. the year, not only in election time. Contact your trouble or upset people. The truth needs to be Do you have three or more years professional local party branch to find out about leafleting, heard loud and clear. experience? ReachVolunteering.org connects door-step canvassing, and more. Creating change will be challenging. You skilled volunteers to charities who desperately will face resistance, sometimes viciously, but need them. Stand for election be thorough, consistent, and clear in what you The world is bigger than the UK... Goabroad. advocate. Don’t be afraid to dream, but also com has tons of online volunteering opportunities If you think you’re too young, you’re probably remember that winning small battles can lead to from the Moroccan Sahara to the Peruvian not. Becoming a student representative, running something bigger. 28 TRANSFORMER MARCH 2021 NEW WRITERS' PORTAL TRANSFORMER

Chinese bots propagating anti-vaccine content in the US, action will be a long time coming. Time for on social media, the scale and impact of state- New digital rights laws in the UK would serve sponsored communications warfare is dramatically as a good placeholder for more comprehensive communications increasing. change. Meaningful action on state-sponsored Just as Herakles needed new tactics to disinformation is also required. A good place to warfare fight the Hydra, democratic states need new start would be to expand the brief of the DCMS By Jasper Rose approaches to fight communications warfare. This subcommittee on disinformation: communications is where the concept of strategic communications policy needs to have a central role in both comes in. It suggests that to be effective in domestic and foreign planning. Failure to adapt modern communications warfare, planners have to the new warfare risks terminal entropy for to look beyond myopic tactical approaches (the international democracy. Communications warfare will define catastrophic combination of military force, short- We must take bold steps now towards a new term objectives, and little local engagement in way of thinking on how to defend ourselves and international relations over the next post-Saddam Iraq spring to mind), and consider confront disinformation. decade. Changing our approach methods of bringing together a wide range of to the public/private dimension of resources to achieve a common strategic goal. In practice, this entails everything from counter- communications technology is now disinformation campaigns, building cyber- the only winning strategy. defense capability, legislation, surveillance, digital education and cultivating traditional hard power e increasingly rely on communications, resources. Now, more than ever, defense strategy Wespecially the speed, complexity and has to be linked up to broader principles of accessibility of digital media, to make sense of and communication and public engagement. participate in the world around us. To be truly effective, strategic communications But as the necessity of expanded communications requires a radical rethink of how we view the capacity has become more apparent, so too have relationship between the private and public the threats. Chief among these threats is the sectors. Countries like the UK face a losing battle unprecedented proliferation of disinformation, against disinformation in the context of social fake news, and conspiracy theories. media platforms. These are underpinned by Academics have suggested that we currently algorithms biased towards sensationalism and face two pandemics: Covid-19 and disinformation. user-content engagement. If traction is to be A toxic combination of paranoia, fear and mistrust gained, companies like Facebook and Twitter must is being fueled and capitalized on across the be subject to far greater oversight and regulation. globe. Whether it is Russian troll farms sowing Though lawsuits investigating these companies’ doubts over the U.S. election’s veracity, or monopolies are currently gathering momentum

TRANSFORMER

promising. The tumour was caught early and a happy life. And every kilometre I conquer on From cancer-case to isolated in one area (my chest). I was immediately London soil will forever remind me how great it is prescribed four cycles of chemotherapy, 8 to be alive. marathon runner individual sessions every two weeks, and Please consider donating to my fundraiser radiotherapy, 21 daily sessions. for Lymphoma Action. Your money will help this in 5 years For any unfortunate soul reading this that has incredible charity provide vital information and ever endured these cycles of chemotherapy, you’ll support for everyone affected by lymphoma. know what it felt like. Inexplicable hell in the form of constant nausea, fatigue, dizziness for a week. https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/amadeus-runs- Clapham resident Amadeus Redha Then once you feel like you’re better in week 2, the-london-marathon it’s back to the catheter pumping poison in your shares his personal struggle and bloodstream. That ended in January 2016 and inspirational victory over a rare form radiotherapy came after. That wasn’t so bad. of blood cancer, as well as his plans to After a few months and a few scans, they saw that my cancer had shrunk drastically, enough for run the London marathon for charity my own body to fight against it. They told me it to mark becoming cancer free. was all ‘self-management’ from there onwards,

and that I would be considered in remission Hodges Samuel © Photograph It’s September 1st 2015. I’m 22 years old. I’ve just until 5 years had passed. Only then would I be quit my retail job to take up writing full-time at considered cured. the behest of my own frustration. Summer was Fast-forward to today and I’ve nearly beginning to wind down, and it felt like I was on approached 5 years. To mark the occasion, I’ll track to achieving my ambitions. It’s also the day be running the London Marathon in October. before I’m diagnosed with cancer over an informal I’ll be sponsored by a charity called Lymphoma email exchange with a consultant haematologist. Action, the only charity in the UK dedicated to At this point, I’m dangerously thin. Any medical helping people with Lymphoma through guides, practitioner could tell, just by looking at me, that workshops, buddy services, and more. They I was ill. I weighed just 9 stone, I was constantly helped me when I needed it most, so I’ve set up a lethargic and two weeks prior, I found a small fundraiser, my way of returning the favour. lump on my neck. Then the diagnosis came. It By the time I run the marathon, I’ll officially be wasn’t a bang so much as a whimper. Somehow cancer free. Though there is a risk that I’ll relapse, I saw it coming. Somehow I didn’t. But one thing due to the nature of my treatment putting me at was for certain: you can never plan for how you’ll risk for further types of cancer. The inner voice feel when someone drops the ‘C’ bomb. asking, ‘what if it happens again?’ won’t ever be Thankfully, my prognosis was more than silenced, but it’ll be quiet enough for me to live 29 TRANSFORMER MARCH 2021 NEW WRITERS' PORTAL TRANSFORMER Is Fashion Out of Fashion? By Olga Bate

London Fashion Week 2021 is coming up and the shift to digital has catalysed a new era for sustainable fashion. An industry that escalated into overproduction froze and now needs to be resurrected. But it is unlikely that it will return to fashion ‘as we knew it’.

he stereotypical ‘fashion uni’ student is Toften mocked for their eccentric outfits. The Instagram account @thats_so_csm satirises these wacky looks, with the Central St Martins students sporting lampshade hats and checkerboard trims. One student abandoned practicality entirely, stumbling blindly down the stairs with a bucket on their head. It brings a whole new meaning to the ‘bucket hat’ trend. Alessandro Michele, said “we (the industry) of where it came from. The information is the In a consumer-driven industry, why are usurped nature”, asking brands to adopt a luxury.” designers flaunting apparel that could never sustainable fashion initiative. Although Michele’s So, can sustainably sourced fashion be ‘sexy’? belong on the high street? A second year student cry might seem melodramatic, it highlights the Founder of Stripe and Stare, Katie Lopes, thinks from the London College of Fashion spoke to severity of change that is now required to reinvent so, saying: “money may not grow on trees, but our me about how these styles draw attention and the industry. Last year, he abandoned the fashion knickers do!” Their items are responsibly sourced, lay down trends for high-street-brands to follow. week calendar to announce ‘seasonless’ shows, using Lenzing Micro Modal Fibres from TENCEL, She said, “just like couture, the value is not in the deviating away from throwaway fashion. Without who promote “innovation by nature”. These clothes themselves but in the movement they the demand for ‘next season's Gucci’, a look can fibres are spun from beechwood pulp sourced spark”. These students are using unique looks now work all year round. Seasons in fashion are from sustainably-managed forests in Austria whilst having one goal in common: to make a like chapters of a book, removing them risks a and neighbouring countries. The fibres are then statement. But what exactly are they trying to collapse in structure. But extreme looks and ideas woven together, dyed and finished in a ‘closed- say? are bringing in new innovations, that are about loop’ system. The Eco Soft technology means that Covid has caused the nation to wash their more than the clothes themselves. Fashion, as we the pulp mill uses renewable energy with very hands religiously and now the fashion industry is knew it, is going out of fashion itself. low air emissions. The remaining components are doing the same. The creative director of Gucci, Now consumers are concerned with recovered as co-products such as sodium sulfate, provenance. A prominently asked question in which is then used in their laundry detergent. the run-up to Fashion Week is 'where is fashion Dope-dyeing the fibre brings up to 50% life-cycle heading?', but to answer that we must first ask, savings on water and energy, as well as a 60% ‘where is fashion from?’. This is not to ask about reduction in carbon footprint whilst creating the historical context of a piece of clothing, but vibrant, long-lasting colour. Lenzing fabric is also about the source. The ‘organic fad’ has already biodegradable and compostable, making even proven it has legs with the taboo on processed throwaway fashion sustainable. But don’t worry, foods. In the UK this year, 74% of people have you won’t come home to find a garden plot in changed their diet for ethical reasons. When your underwear draw as this fibre requires soil or picking out a yoghurt in a supermarket, people marine conditions to biodegrade. According to The look to see if it’s responsibly sourced as if ‘organic’ Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), the materials was a flavour. We are beginning to look at clothes used by TENCEL are more than doubly sustainable in the same way. Now people are looking further when compared to cotton, the leading competitor than the price tag, screening a pair of trousers in the fight against polymer production. for the dreaded ‘100% polyester’ or ‘Made in The next step in expanding the use of these China’ label. It is no longer fashionable to ignore materials is to make them universally accessible. what is behind-the-scenes. Instead, the industry A source from TENCEL described the UK as a is encouraging ethical consumerism by learning currently “untapped market” which they are trying exactly where your clothes came from. This year, to crack. The student I spoke to from the London London Fashion Week has launched Selfridges College of Fashion hopes that these materials can Project Earth, sparking the conversation: ‘Ethical be made available to all designers for the catwalk, Consumerism: Oxymoron or Opportunity?’ This whether at a show or on the street. It will be year it seems fashion is going back to the roots. interesting to see whether these fibres will satisfy Richard Malone, designer and CSM graduate, consumer appetites in a sustainable way. said, “Information about soil and land use is not Is this the way to combine sustainability, very sexy… people don’t necessarily want to hear accessibility and originality with this year's fashion about the dirt. But I think there is a new luxury reboot? Maybe a bit of dirt is exactly what the in people wanting to buy something because industry needs.

30 TRANSFORMER MARCH 2021 NEW WRITERS' PORTAL TRANSFORMER

someone to say placement in a French accent? TRANSFORMER A Love Letter Forget it. It’s just a relaxed dinner party! No seating plan! to the Dinner Party Someone arrives early. You’ll never forgive them. Someone else arrives late and now the Appetite for timings are all off. People fill up on the over-priced snacks you bought from that deli. Good, because consumption you don’t think you’ve made enough food. Bonus, By Ali Coco Epps they turned up with a bottle of wine each, so there is definitely enough of that. You worry that everything is overcooked, and it’s probably cold And here come the supermarkets of because you never remember to preheat the plates. You spend the first five minutes leaping up the near future. to get salt/mustard/mayonnaise and people make complimentary noises, which you’re sure are just to be polite. You wonder if it is a little overcooked.

Photographs © @thebonoeuf © Photographs You say so. You think it could do with a bit more salt. You say that too. Fully-ceilinged ghost-townships of gleaming, And then, of course, invariably, everything lab-grown consumables. Flanking miles-long, is… lovely. Because no one really cares if it’s temperature-controlled avenues are vast, silent, overcooked or under-salted. They don’t notice multi-storey catalogues of stacked edibles and the mismatched wine glasses or the chip in the non-edibles alike; aisles and aisles of pre-cleaned, side of the salad bowl. You definitely could have pre-packaged, untouched and, as yet, unbranded bought the own-brand crisps and the cheaper goods. bottle of wine, because that isn’t really why people are there. They aren’t there to critique, no one is expecting to eat the best meal of their lives. People are often just happy to be cooked for. Once everyone is round a table, the background music you spent too much time thinking about gets drowned out by laughter and chattering voices. They don’t mind that pudding is just ice cream and half a pack of dark chocolate (with a hint of sea salt); in fact, they’re probably pleased. The Christmas candles do their job, casting a flattering light over flushed faces and spilt food. ome over for dinner, I’ll cook!” You suggested You stack the plates next to the dishwasher, “Ca date that seemed absurdly far away. That vowing to do it before you go to bed tonight. The date is today and, so far, no one has cancelled. In sink is full, but someone is insisting that it’ll be fact, they are ‘looking forward to it!’ You spent done in no time if everyone helps. And it is! You yesterday trying to decide on a recipe that is easy, shoo people back to their seats and put another yet impressive. A bit special, but also inexpensive. date in the diary. Could just do roast chicken. Or did you cook that Until next time! the last time they came over? They’ll think you can’t cook anything else. Are people funny about Poppy eating red meat? Safer not to. Fish might be nice. The Bon Oeuf But then, your friend ‘likes fish, but not fishy fish’. You don’t know what that means; too risky. Risotto would mean spending the whole time in The Bon Oeuf is a food website with celebrity the kitchen. That’s a no... Or maybe a yes? interviews, recipes, and more recently (during You write a shopping list and forget it. Off lockdown) meal kits to cook at home. Carol, on the checkouts for her thirty-second to the big supermarket (the little one never has The website is: www.thebonoeuf.com and the year last spring, has been checked out. There's anything), wondering how many bottles of wine Instagram handle is @thebonoeuf. no recognisable organic life serving us here; no you need to buy. You should probably get beers unpredictability, no sick days. Only premeditated, too. Hope no one asks for vodka, because there’s mediated repetitions in the form of thousands hardly any left and you don’t want to buy another and thousands of robotic operatives; near-silent, bottle now. You think there’s gin. The tonic is mechanical, pre-programmed arms, each carrying probably flat. Now, ‘nibbles’. The idea of smoked out, without speed but with unsettling stealth, salmon blinis and cocktail sausages appealed in their instructed selection process. the morning, but now they are a stress too far. Instructed by you. Like an upscaled, tonally- Starters can piss off too. Crisps and dip it is. The emaciated Vegas vending machine for the busy, crisp aisle is sprawling: too much choice. Multiples deserving, overworked, working-from-home of multipacks. Will come back to that. Maybe workforce. crisps from the expensive deli would be nicer, And the items you chose in real-time from anyway. Laden with straining tote bags, you rush a happy, digital, self-personalised façade – and home, certain you’ve forgotten something. Realise the safety and comfort of your government- it’s the pudding when you get back. There’s issued swivel chair – just moments ago, sit in probably some dark chocolate in the fridge. Can’t these nouveau-anonymous townships; generic face going back out. Plus, no time! and non-proprietary, waiting to be imprinted You spend too long setting the table. Can only upon checkout with your own, just-sufficiently- find Christmas-themed candles. Notice that one individualised, price-point-dependent, multi- of your wine glasses isn’t the same as the others. templated branding, before droning their way You’ll have to drink out of that one. Is it lame to the air above your single-storey dwelling in to make name places? Will that just encourage patient, millions-long, hovering queues. 31 TRANSFORMER MARCH 2021 NEW WRITERS' PORTAL TRANSFORMER

A Growing Problem: How global food production is draining the world’s water By Theodora Lonsdale

After oxygen, food and water are the two most fundamental requirements for the existence of life. So what happens when the production of one begins to threaten the security of the other?

he agricultural industry is responsible for T90% of freshwater consumption globally, and 40% of the water it uses is pumped directly from underground, often at unsustainable rates. Nearly 10% of people do not have enough to eat already and global food production will likely have to increase by 50% over the next 30 years in order to meet the demands of a rapidly growing population. This does not bode well for the future of water security given current unsustainable water extraction practices. It's no secret that water is the key ingredient to growing food, but the virtual water that goes into its production is often overlooked. ‘Virtual water’ refers to the total amount of water used in the growth and production of food and accounts aspect that can be tackled. The materials used for the visible water used for irrigation and animal in food packaging (plastic in particular) all have hydration as well as the ‘hidden’ water required their own water footprints and are often used to manufacture packaging and enable transport gratuitously on food products that don’t need of the final products. When taking into account them. This, along with the global transportation the true volume of water that goes into feeding of food, is an area of ‘invisible’ water use that can modern society, one can easily understand be challenged by both producers and consumers. why supply is fast becoming inadequate. The At a consumer level, individual actions can ‘cheaper food’ paradigm is another aspect of similarly be taken to reduce the water footprint today’s agricultural industry which is driving of our food. A shift from the modern, meat-heavy down resource levels. Striving to produce cheaper diet, replacing water-laden products with more food in greater quantities puts a huge strain on sustainable alternatives, would have a significant freshwater resources and reduces soil quality, impact on overall water consumption and could ultimately to the point that the land loses its safeguard both food and water security for years productive capacity. This, in turn, intensifies to come. Eating on a more seasonal and local agricultural practices in a vicious cycle which leads basis is another change we can individually make. to further exploitation of water resources that are relationship we have with the resources upon Even a simple decision to reduce food waste can already under stress. which we all depend. On the farmers’ part, contribute to the preservation of precious water This draining effect is not equally spread improved irrigation systems can ensure maximum resources. throughout the various sectors of the agricultural efficiency by providing the right amount of water We can’t produce food without water, but the industry. Water footprint, which is another name for healthy crops whilst reducing waste. This current nature of our growing dependence may for virtual water content, varies depending on goes hand in hand with the management and well threaten the security of both. Whether it’s a the type of agricultural product, and even from conservation of the water resources that feed change in the foods we eat, or the development of region to region. For example, because factory- these systems. Groundwater irrigation is fed more efficient and sustainable methods by which farmed animals are often fed on grains as opposed from aquifers which store the water underground they are produced, action needs to be taken to to grazing on land, their food comes with its own and are refilled naturally from surface water and prevent two of our most vital resources from water footprint which hikes up that of the final rainfall. High water demand leads to excessive dragging each other into scarcity. animal product. This contributes to meat and pumping which, if it occurs at a rate faster than poultry having the largest water footprint in the that of natural groundwater replenishment, agricultural sector. The water inefficiency of meat can cause the water table to fall as the aquifer production is compounded by the fact that the becomes depleted. Proper supervision of farming of animals for meat and dairy accounts pumping rates and water levels can protect for 78% of agricultural land use, yet only provides against this whilst allowing sustainable irrigation DONATE 37% of the global protein supply and just 18% of to continue. Rainfed agriculture is another global calories. Plant-based products, on the other sustainable alternative, involving the use of dams & SUPPORT hand, such as grains, pulses, fruit and vegetables, and other means to harvest and store rainwater. tend to have a smaller water footprint and supply This is particularly promising in developing THE WORD ACADEMY the vast majority of the world’s calories. countries where advanced pumping and irrigation There are multiple ways in which both industry technology may not be available. See page 8 for details and consumer can address the dysfunctional The indirect consumption of water is another 32 TRANSFORMER MARCH 2021 NEW WRITERS' PORTAL TRANSFORMER Photograph © NASA/JPL-Caltech © Photograph Photograph © NASA/Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-Caltech NASA/Ames/SETI © Photograph

in the search for extraterrestrial life. The cycle The Cycle of continues. On a mission to uncover the chemical origins Exploration of life, a team of researchers led by Dr. Steven A look into the cyclical nature Benner, founder of the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution in Alachua, Florida, came up of Astrobiology with innovative methods to search for alien life by By Dalia Kirshenblat way of synthetic DNA. The Benner group spent decades studying the chemical conditions needed to produce self-replicating RNA (thought to be the precursor of life on Earth) from a prebiotic soup of molecules stirring in an early Earth Crock-Pot. From this, Benner’s team created a synthetic, eight-letter genetic language that seems to store Life began the moment that nature intrinsic to the search for life: Earth life and transcribe information just like the natural, gives us the secrets to finding life in space, only to four-chemical DNA that is the basis for all life on information molecules started to hope that life in space will one day reveal hidden Earth, suggesting that there is nothing particularly reproduce and evolve via natural secrets about life on Earth. magical about the four chemicals that evolved on selection. But how did this actually We are closer to finding life in the cosmos Earth billions of years ago. than ever before. Over the coming decades, a Like Lego pieces clicking perfectly into happen? While we don’t have a time helicopter-like drone will glide through the skies microscopic holes and prongs, Benner’s team machine, we can look to other worlds of Saturn’s moon Titan, soaring over methane created new synthetic bases which combine in the solar system and beyond lakes and electrified sand-dunes. An orbiter will with DNA’s natural nucleobases (A, T, C and survey the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa, G). The synthetic DNA, named Hachimoji, can to uncover the secrets of life’s searching for subsurface seas and byproducts of be predictably transcribed into RNA, which is beginnings. Consequently, the closer metabolism. New rovers will land on Mars, and essential for life. RNA takes the information we look at the origins of life, the we’ve already tasted the plumes of Saturn’s moon stored in DNA and gives it to proteins. And in Enceladus, sampling its eruptive, icy ocean. terms of living beings, proteins do everything. broader our search for life in space No one knows how life began on Earth, billions So how does this study of Earth life translate becomes. of years ago. We do, however, have some ideas into the search for alien life? One way we might about where it started, which gives us clues on try to look for alien life is by creating something e mainly look for life in the universe by where to look for life elsewhere. Early Earth had “alien” on Earth. Expanding our idea of molecules Wlooking for biosignatures, or clear signs the chemical ingredients for life, but chemicals that might store information in life on other worlds of past or present life, ideally in the form that a can’t do anything without outside energy. One can help us broaden our horizons in terms of simple experiment could identify. By studying of the leading theories on where life began on alien genetic materials If life on other worlds isn’t what chemical traces organisms leave behind Earth is around hydrothermal vents: cracks in the carbon-based, or doesn’t use our DNA, how could on Earth, we know what chemical clues to look Earth at the bottom of the ocean that spew out we recognize it? Using synthetic biology to make for on other worlds. Trees, plants, and plankton hot chemical-laden fluids, possibly giving rise to life-detecting instruments is a start. Regardless of in the ocean faithfully replenish oxygen in our the first cell membranes. Through studying solar chemical composition, no matter how foreign or atmosphere. This leads us to look for high levels system moons like Enceldaus and Europa, and the extreme, if the structure of alien life (microbial or of oxygen in the atmospheres of exoplanets, or anticipated hydrothermal vent environments deep otherwise) resembles the structure of DNA, we planets orbiting other stars. We tend to think of within their dark, icy seas, we might concretely should be able to detect it. the search for life as linear in this way: by studying identify that life first arose in the deep sea on As a result of Dr. Benner’s research on life on Earth we develop better tools to look for Earth. Or from studying Saturn’s moon Titan, a synthetic DNA, and therefore the investigation life in space. But astrobiology is really more of a moon whose chemistry is eerily reminiscent of into the precursors of life on Earth, we are closer cycle. early Earth, we could discover how life arose from than ever to detecting life that is chemically If we do find extraterrestrial life, even in non-living matter billions of years ago. completely different to our own. One can only microbial form, we may very well uncover But how do we look for life if we don’t know imagine what discovering life elsewhere will secrets about the prebiotic history of our own what we’re looking for? As we investigate life’s illuminate in our own biological history, and reveal biodiversity. In other words, there is a cyclical origins, we expand the scope of what we look for for the future of life on Earth. 33 TRANSFORMER MARCH 2021 NEW WRITERS' PORTAL TRANSFORMER The Loss of Cultural Authenticity Travel in the Time of Covid By Theodore Dingwall-Main Illustrations © Elsa Murphy

n every level, the pandemic has provoked a Oreckoning: with ourselves, our society and our individual social responsibilities. Among the most pronounced of these is our relationship with travel. Until recently, we have seen the world as accessible, as something to enjoy and be consumed. Large-scale globalisation engendered a level of standardised mass-travel which meant that anyone could go anywhere in a matter of hours. We shrank the world, and in so doing, came to see it as a commodity. The rapid evolution of physical travel and wave of the pandemic. Studies have found that As time has gone by and we have grown more digital communication created a new normality an increase of one million international arrivals familiar with the nature of the beast, we have wherein the exotic and the distant were was associated with a 3.4% rise in the mean been forced to gingerly acknowledge that it was conceptually destroyed. A quick internet search daily increase in Covid-19 deaths. Little wonder precisely these habits that have exacerbated the can reveal what any place or people look like, then, that the UK, long an ardent supporter of magnitude of the pandemic. It is natural for us or what their customs and traditions are. More globalisation, has felt the effects so keenly. to long for a return to pre-pandemic conditions, pertinently still, we discover that no matter where Moreover, the linkages between the pandemic, but how do we reconcile this yearning, with the we look around the world, the people that we find, commercialised travel and climate change knowledge that the globalised conditions of our even in the farthest-flung corners, share many of have become increasingly apparent. We are previous lives have contributed to where we are the same habits as us. They have the same mobile understanding more and more how each has now? It is a painful irony that has now become phones, they listen to the same music, they drive fuelled the other. According to the Harvard clear. the same cars. It seems that people, in general, are T.H. Chan School of Public Health, many of the One of the many long-term effects of Covid-19 very much alike. root causes of climate change also increase the must then be a re-evaluation of the constant flow This parity has, by and large, been celebrated risk of pandemics. For instance, loss of natural of people across borders. We know the effect it as a new dawn for global political unity and habitats caused by deforestation forces animals has already wreaked upon the airline industry: cohesion; a foundation from which to build. But, to migrate, increasing contact with other animals the number of flights taken internationally has implicit in this ambition is a necessary loss of or people and spreading germs. Such matters are plummeted from 40 million in 2019 to 16 million cultural authenticity. Culturally speaking, the exacerbated by having massive concentrations in 2020. But we must also act on the individual turn towards a globalised society has been to the of people in mega cities (hubs of globalised level. We must ask ourselves firstly what our own detriment of local cultures rooted in traditions society) all connected by continuous international responsibilities are, and secondly, what rewards and identities authentic to a place or locality. This migration. These societies exert an enormous we might reap from scaling back globalisation. is a social phenomenon obvious in young people pressure on nature, so that in the past century Perhaps, in making the world seem larger and everywhere, who are less and less in touch with we have lost species at a rate unknown since the thinking of it as less accessible, we will see a their grandparent’s cultural identity and heritage, dinosaurs, 65 million years ago. reinvigoration of traditional, authentic culture, identifying more readily with a global culture; one This proves that the effects of this virus have created and upheld by local communities. Perhaps centred on, and perpetuated by, the internet. been intensified by what, until very recently, were cultural institutions will cater more directly In this world, the traveller or tourist who the usual habits of our collective lives. At first, the towards their localities, specifically reflecting their sets off abroad in search of 'authentic cultural struggle was in understanding how we could learn identities, histories and contemporary needs. experiences' (as most do), has found them to abandon these habits, a difficulty eased by the Surely this shift would be a price worth paying if increasingly hard to come by. Ultimately, this is belief that this change would only be temporary. it could reduce the risk of future pandemics and because they have to battle with themselves, contribute to the de-escalation of the climate as it is they who, incrementally, diminish the crisis. authenticity of the destination they visit. For The cynic will say it is unlikely; that the most instance, a hilltop village in Provence cannot be lucrative, not the most responsible path will experienced authentically if the locals are replaced inevitably be the one taken. And, in all likelihood by tourists and most of the buildings are empty they will be right. Airlines will ramp up operations second-homes. The traveller is left trying to in order to make up for what they have missed, enjoy the ghost of what once was: the traditional, and tourism will bounce back. But the cultural authentic society now at odds with a globalised impact of the pandemic will persist. Change will world. be gradual. Those who previously traversed the Since commercial air travel first began in world for mundane business meetings might 1914 with the world's first scheduled passenger instead choose to stay home. Governments, rather service, popular culture has rarely questioned the than shelling out millions to rescue failing airlines, potentially detrimental social implications of the might instead aim to reduce airplane emissions globalisation project, preferring to see it as a brave to a level comparable to that of cars. We know new dawn that would foster an internationally now that there is a collective need to address cosmopolitan society. In this time of pandemic, our relationship with travel in the post-Covid however, these questions can no longer be landscape. We know that there was much in our ignored. This is particularly true in the case of previous normality that came back to haunt us. travel. Recent data suggests that international It is the understanding of the damage we have travel was the single biggest determinant of death caused, which is key to making sure it doesn’t rates in the countries hit hardest during the first repeat itself. 34 TRANSFORMER MARCH 2021 NEW WRITERS' PORTAL TRANSFORMER

though it was developed by the studio behind Arkham Origins. This action-adventure game will come to PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X and will be a single player with two-player co-op.

Release Date TBA Gran Turismo 7

The next instalment in “the real driving simulator” games brothers warner © Photograph series will see a return to its roots. This includes a return of some iconic race tracks such as Trial Mountain Speedway as well as hundreds of real life cars to race with. Aside from the return of GT Mode, the single-player campaign mode, GT7 will herald the return of Special Events, Championships, Driving School, Tuning Parts Shop, Used Cars dealership, and GT Auto. But it will also keep the GT Sport Mode as well as Brand Central and Discover that all made their debut in Gran Turismo Sport.

Release Date TBA Horizon Forbidden West Join Aloy in the sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn as she braves the Forbidden West, a majestic but dangerous frontier that conceals mysterious new threats. Explore distant lands, fight bigger and Games to look out for more awe-inspiring machines, and encounter astonishing new tribes as you return to the far- There are many games to look future, post-apocalyptic world of Horizon. The land is dying. Vicious storms and an unstoppable blight forward to over the next year. Here’s ravage the scattered remnants of humanity, while a selection of some that we’re most fearsome new machines prowl their borders. Life Bennett Frédéric © Photograph excited about. on Earth is hurtling towards another extinction, and no one knows why.

Released in February Werewolf: The Apocalypse–Earthblood Take either human, wolf, or werewolf form as you fight to save a dying Earth. Each form has its advantages: the wolf can sneak around Release Date TBA may also want to try Oakwood, a similar survival undetected, Cahal as a human can interact with Crash Bandicoot: On the Run! horror game where dinosaurs stand between you other people, and the half-wolf Crinos can unleash Crash is back but is now on the run and on and your goal. its inhuman Rage to tear enemies apart. Your mobile. Think Temple Run only on Wumpa Island as worst enemy is yourself: if you don't contain your you race to save the world from the evil Dr Neo Release Date TBA Rage, it can destroy you once again by letting it Cortex, smashing crates and avoiding obstacles Lord of the Rings: Gollum consume your soul. as you run into some of your favourites from this Return to Middle Earth as Gollum as you platform universe. Battle against some of your escape the dungeons of Barad-Dur. Driven by the Coming out in March favourite bosses as you earn rewards, build bases, desire to reclaim “the precious,” you will rely on Circuit Superstars and even craft weapons. You will even be able to stealth and agility to survive in this harsh world. This will capture the thrills and intensity of customise Crash himself. Your decisions affect the character’s personality as motorsport in a charming way that will likely hook he struggles between the deceitful Gollum or the anyone, not just racing fans. This features a unique Release Date TBA endearing Sméagol. It’s up to you to decide which “dynamic driving system” that promises to be both Indiana Jones side takes over as you make your way towards easy to learn and rewarding at the same time, an Bethesda (Elder Scrolls and Fallout) has “the thieving Bagginses.” important feature for any good game. This allows announced a title based on the classic movie you to focus on mastering the tracks as you battle franchise. So little is known at the time of writing Release Date TBA wheel-to-wheel for the chequered flag, managing that we don’t even know what the title will be. God of War: Ragnarok the car’s condition and your pit strategy. However, from the teaser trailer it appears to be The sequel to the 2018 reboot will arrive set in 1937. This puts it between the events of sometime this year and will see Kratos and his Coming out in May Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Temple of Doom. son Atreus return as they hunt gods. Ragnarok Resident Evil Village It also seems to be set before The Last Crusade in Norse mythology is the death of Odin, Thor, The latest in this iconic survival horror franchise and judging by the same teaser, it may involve an and Loki, among others. We may see Kratos pick sees Ethan Winters return as the protagonist. The ancient race of Cyclops. Bethesda is also working up some new weapons such as a hammer to take game also introduces Lady Dimitrescu as its latest on the highly anticipated sequel to Skyrim, though out the thunder god Thor. At least that’s what we villain. Clearly inspired by the infamous historical that is some time away. expect. But even the title is speculation at this countess Elizabeth Bathory as well as Stoker’s point so we will have to wait until its release to Dracula, this new title promises to keep the horror Release Date TBA find out. that has made Resident Evil so beloved by fans. A Deathground trailer as well as a sneak peak into the gameplay For anyone who’s wandered what you'd get if Release Date TBA has already been released though player discretion you combined Alien: Isolation with Jurassic Park. Gotham Knights is advised! Survive on your own or join a team of up to three Batman is dead! It’s up to the rest of the “Bat where there’s safety in numbers. Anyone who family” to watch over the streets of Gotham. This remembers Dino Crisis will certainly be looking means Batgirl, Robin, Red Hood, and Nightwing. forward to this. If you can’t bear to wait then you The game is not based around the Arkham series Compiled & edited by Fahad Redha 35 TRANSFORMER MARCH 2021 NEW WRITERS' PORTAL TRANSFORMER Gaming and the Alt-Right By Max Feldman

n the shocked aftermath of the Columbine Ischool shooting, the American government took a long, hard look at the lax gun control laws that had allowed the massacre to take place. Then they took an equally long, hard look at how much of their re-election funds were bankrolled by the NRA and gun manufacturers. As a result, it was quietly decided that it was probably the fault of violent video games instead. Since then, video games became something of a recurring villain for the morality police, as the old standby of ‘heavy metal promotes Satanism!’ began to look a little hoary in the bright light of the 21st century. Whilst the exact nature of the existential threat posed by video games to ‘the youth’ has shifted repeatedly over the last 21 years between anything from violence and sexual situations to creating addictive tendencies in pre-teens. Recently however gamers have been increasingly conflated with the alt-right, with juggernauts such as Fortnite accused of serving as recruiting grounds for white nationalists. Has the increasingly online world of video games opened relationships between journalists and developers seen recent entries accused of being ‘political’ for up as a new front in the culture war or is this just demonstrated a conspiracy among reviewers to taking such a bold stance as “Nazis are bad”. the same old moral panic in an up-to-date guise? focus on progressive social issues rather than The cliché about gaming is that it’s exclusively The gaming community had its cultural gameplay and that ‘gamer identity’ was under for socially deficient teenage boys. As ‘social watershed moment in 2014 with what was called threat from what is now commonly referred to deficient teenage boy’ is just a kinder way of the Gamergate scandal (the -gate suffix being as 'cultural Marxism'. Future luminaries of the saying ‘incel’ (short for ‘involuntary celibate’, a perhaps the most abused in the English language). nascent alt-right like Milo Yiannapoulos first came subculture of men who resent women for not Gaming journalism had built up a reputation for to the global stage by cheerleading Gamergate, sleeping with them and frequently lean to the being extremely susceptible to corporate pressure. many under the auspices of future Trump Svengali far-right), it does make gamers sound like they’re Terrible games made by industry heavy hitters Steve Bannon, the then editor-in-chief of right- prime targets for the alt-right. Gamergate itself like Activision or EA would (and indeed still do) wing news site Breitbart. Hundreds of incidents of was only ever the bubbling-over of a regressive score inexplicably positive reviews from gaming death threats, rape threats, and doxing (the public cultural climate that has been building since sites due to fears that a genuinely negative review leaking of private information like home addresses the mid-1980s, when women were squeezed would see the angry publisher cut off their access or phone numbers) took place for months with the out of computer science roles (after having to future previews or purchasing advertisements. overwhelming majority of those threatened being been integral to the original development of Those who paid attention to this kind of thing had women. coding), and thanks to the wake of the 1983 been growing steadily more frustrated for years In the howling storm of Gamergate there crash that nearly collapsed the industry. Video and a reckoning was deemed inevitable. When the were no clear leaders and countless bad actors games rebranded themselves as toys sold almost tension finally boiled over however, it spun out in who were less interested in ‘ethics in gaming exclusively to boys, having originally been sold an unexpected direction. journalism’ than the savage repression of attempts (and with significant success) as products for both In 2013 an independent game designer named at increasing racial, ethnic, and gender diversity genders. As those boys grew up in a hobby that Zoe Quinn had released a free game called in society. It was the first real glimpse of the was still niche but blossoming, they were hawked Depression Quest. Depression Quest isn’t a “game,” hate-spewing maelstrom that would consume the regressive teen fantasies by companies that in the way we traditionally conceive of it; it’s online discourse and see the election of Donald became largely homogeneous themselves. more a story or a piece of interactive art which, Trump. Naturally because it was ‘just’ about However, taking a closer look at the statistics, as it unfolds, tells the story of a young adult’s gaming it was almost universally ignored, and there has been a sea change in gaming’s depression. The game attracted both criticism any lessons that might have been taken about demographics. Male pastime figures recorded by from those who found it pretentious and rave the rising spectre of the alt-right were ignored the Interactive Software Federation of Europe reviews from critics who appreciated its bold until it was far too late. As far as gaming goes the in 2012 broke down the gender divide in gamers approach to game design. It was later revealed smoking battle lines remain drawn, with many as being as little as 10 percent, with 45% women by one of Quinn’s ex-boyfriends that she had online communities of gamers such asreddit or vs 55% men. With such a large proportion of had an affair with one of these game journalists 4chan still hyper-fixated on not allowing identity women gamers, the industry is slowly pulling and he accused her of trading sex for positive politics to influence video games. Games which itself out of the quagmire of its own deleterious reviews (his employer the gaming website Kotaku feature ethnic minority or women protagonists past. Significant proportions of gamers are afraid has totally refuted this accusation). This led to will frequently be victim to waves of online attacks of industry changes being imposed from above, an explosion of online rage, that swiftly moved and derision for making a ‘political’ statement, but the changes are coming from within instead. away from the original complaints over video whilst no issue is taken with recent historical Gaming does have a problem with an extremely game review practices into savage anti-feminist first-person shooters such as Call Of Duty that vocal minority espousing Alt- and Far-Right ideals, attacks that spread beyond Quinn to women and allow you to play as a Nazi officer. Indeed, long but the changing demographics point to a future progressives even tangentially involved in the established series like Wolfenstein which have where gaming might finally grow up. industry. Accusations were made that the close featured Nazis as the villains since the '90s have 36 TRANSFORMER MARCH 2021 NEW WRITERS' PORTAL TRANSFORMER

to check something on my phone, when he came Fortunately for me I soon heard voices; a It’s not just a walk back around the corner. My immediate assumption female one stood out as other people came in that moment was that I must have dropped around the corner, and I took the opportunity to in the park something and this person was kindly returning round off my feigned gratitude with an “I’m just it. To my disappointment, instead he started to here for a walk”. I made my escape and called Gender equality: come up with some nonsense flattery. I admit at my mother immediately to describe this person, this point I may have rolled my eyes in incredulity, in case he decided to follow me. Unpacking this Dealing with that this had happened twice within the space of all too common and uncomfortable experience an hour. with friends and family made me think about the unwanted advances The man’s stare became hostile, he started conditions that led this man to think that he was By Fathayha Begum huffing and puffing, his body was tensing. I entitled to a response, favourable or otherwise, stopped speaking and instinctively moved from an absolute stranger. And why I felt I needed backwards. To my horror I realised there was to acknowledge him. I have a better grasp of the nowhere for me to go, he was positioned in front answer to the second question, because rejecting of me and the only way for me to turn was left someone with a fragile ego carries the very real where he had his arm outstretched, and there risk that they could possibly inflict violence against were no people around. For a brief moment I felt you, and survival instinct kicks in to mitigate that. his week I went on a perfectly routine riverside dread, and anger at myself for putting myself in I will not forget this in a hurry or be complacent Twalk, and was twice approached, separately such a vulnerable position. I felt it was safer to about my personal safety. But I will also not live by two men. The first one fairly innocently asked wait for him to break the silence and I tentatively in fear. I will still go about my business, though I for a date and was gracious enough not to hurl smiled a smile that I hoped said 'don’t attack am not a business manager. I share this story, not abuse at me when I delivered the obligatory politer me', at which he changed character once again. to discourage men from approaching women, but version of ‘thanks but no thanks’ that any woman Complimenting me on my standard coat and to remind those that may consider approaching who has found herself in this position is familiar shawl, saying that I looked like a business manager, strangers that the person you are seeking contact with, and walked off in haste. The second stranger intimidating me into apparent submission. I knew with is a human, who is worthy of respect and encounter was sinister. I happened to pause on the I had to buy time so I began issuing a series of dignity, even if you do not get the response you side of the river path moments after passing him obligatory thankyou’s. want.

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available on YouTube) and skipping are great ways Six ways to stay to improve balance and coordination, and gently introduce some activity into your routine. Heading positive in lockdown outside for a brisk walk or bike ride are also easy ways to clear your mind and leave you feeling 3.0 energised. Dopamine is released during and after By Abigail Fraser exercise, boosting physical and mental well-being. Play your favourite music! Music can energise the body, induce relaxation, enhance concentration, and even help manage pain. Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube are convenient With dark mornings and dark ways to play your favourite songs and lockdown evenings, the light at the end of is the perfect opportunity to create and organise the tunnel is looking dim. The rapid playlists. As we prepare for another Summer reminders of positive moments in life prior to with no festivals, music events continue to move increase in vaccinations should be Coronavirus can help you reflect and be thankful. online, with a range of livestream concerts now cause for celebration, but it often Perfect those baking skills, learn calligraphy or available virtually. seems overshadowed by the loss create and send bespoke cards to cheer up friends Finding joy in the little things is essential for and relatives. Perhaps you could even make a us to feel fulfilled and grounded. Appreciate your of employment, loss of loved ones, pandemic time capsule with letters to your future surroundings on a cold morning walk, or lose and a general loss of morale. Now self! yourself in a good book before you sleep. Keep that the brief highs of Christmas are There’s no doubt the diary is looking emptier a gratitude diary, noting down the things you’re than last March, so fill in those pages and set grateful for every day. Wake up early one morning something of a distant memory, here daily short-term goals to help with productivity and take time to stretch and be present, or step are six ways to keep you inspired and purpose. Ticking off daily tasks, means outside and watch the sunrise. Take in the silence and motivated whilst coping with so accomplishment and releases dopamine, a and peace. There is always something to feel chemical that mediates pleasure in the brain. happy about. many mixed emotions. Whilst in lockdown, many of us are guilty of Whilst this pandemic continues to challenge rotating the same few outfits or just living in our our daily lives, it is important to remember this favourite loungewear. Although comfortable, try won’t last forever. According to Ofcom, the average time adults in wearing clothes that make you feel empowered, the UK spend looking at screens each day is now motivated and ready to start the day. A change of 6 hours and 25 minutes. Many of us are online outfit can encourage a change of mindset. Whilst for work during the day, and even ‘winding down’ dressing presentably increases confidence and DONATE in the evening still tends to involve watching self-esteem, it also differentiates work from leisure TV or aimlessly scrolling on social media. Now and creates a more focused, productive work more than ever, it’s essential to find a hobby that environment. & SUPPORT doesn’t revolve around a screen. Narrow down Try to achieve short bursts of activity every what brings you joy and stimulates those good day. According to the NHS, at least 150 minutes THE WORD ACADEMY endorphins. Maybe create your own cookbook a week of moderate-intensity activity is enough consisting of your favourite healthy meals, or a to keep you feeling fit and healthy. 10-minute See page 8 for details scrapbook you’ve been putting off for years. Visual yoga routines (plenty of beginner’s videos are 37 TRANSFORMER MARCH 2021 NEW WRITERS' PORTAL TRANSFORMER The Psychology of Isolation By Krissy Waite

he Covid-19 pandemic has forced extroverts Tand introverts alike into their homes since the beginning of 2020, and with the winter months limiting outside activities, the loneliness many people are facing can seem endless. For younger individuals, the loss of quality time with their friends or fun nights out are restrictions that have impacted their overall wellbeing. Social isolation is linked to poor sleep quality, impaired function, cognitive decline and lower immunity according to the American Psychological Association. So what tools can be utilized to minimize these effects? A part of what contributes to feelings of loneliness is a lack of human skin contact and (non-romantic) physical touch. The skin is the largest organ of the body and is made up of billions of cells. When it comes into contact with something, it sends neurochemical cues to the somatosensory cortex of the brain. Here, the brain processes the chemical cues to make sense of them and determine their nature and meaning. Over time this primal process, once used for perceiving danger, has evolved into the amygdala detects stress, the hypothalamus Mayo Clinic, laughing has several short- and long- a type of language capable of reducing stress releases stress hormones. term benefits. In the moments of laughter, organs and strengthening human social bonds. In Whilst the world is still fighting this virus, are stimulated by oxygen-rich air, endorphins are response to a hug or a pat on the back, the brain hugs and other forms of friendly physical contact released by the brain, and tension is soothed as releases oxytocin, also known as the ‘bonding with those outside of your home are highly muscles relax. Over long periods of time, laughter hormone’. This chemical release triggers a discouraged. Although the future concerning the has been shown to improve your immune system, reaction of feel-good hormones like serotonin pandemic is looking up, it is still unsafe to think relieve pain, and improve overall mood. (which is responsible for regulating mood, body that life is as it was before Covid-19. Physical If you have Netflix, try scanning the “Netflix is a temperature and appetite) and dopamine (which exercise is one alternative way to increase Joke” section, and start a virtual watch party using is in charge of mood and muscle regulation, as your hormone levels and encourage endorphin the Teleparty extension (formally known as Netflix well as the brain’s ‘reward system’). When these production in these difficult times. But what other Party). Instagram Live also features comedians hormone levels change suddenly, such as when tools are available? giving virtual shows; @comedyquarantine hosts an you‘ve not been able to see, let alone embrace, Instagram Live show every Wednesday to Friday anyone in months, you may be more apt to Utilize Technology at 7 Pacific Standard time. Thelaughbutton.com experience feeling low or sad. has thousands of comedy videos available, whilst For a lot of people the pandemic has also At this point of the work-from-home lockdown, comedy.co.uk and thecomicscomic.com have a list caused feelings related to anxiety. In the UK, you may be rather tired of Zoom and other video- of other resources. Alternatively, Badsalva.com is MentalHealth.org found that over half of the call applications. However, mental health experts the largest open mic website out there and allows adult population has felt anxious or worried just in say it is important to stay connected with each you to search by location. The key is to find the December of 2020. A study led by the University other during this time. One study, published type of humour that makes you laugh and to join of Nottingham and King’s College London found by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics that community. that levels of stress, anxiety, and depression Engineers, found that virtual face-to-face As a young adult who has navigated my last have been significantly heightened during social technology is able to stimulate feelings of social year of university through this pandemic entirely restriction, with 57 percent of adults in the study presence and can even help in the bonding of from my computer screen, I can assure you these reporting symptoms of anxiety. Women and young social relationships. Why not coordinate a virtual tools have made me and my friends’ lives slightly people were the most affected. According to the pub event with your friends (with pints in hand), or more bearable. One feeling that keeps coming up U.S. Center for Disease Control, in June 2020 U.S. take a virtual tour of a museum whilst ‘facetiming’ in conversations, other than how depressed and adults reported a significant increase in symptoms some friends? The National History Museum has mentally exhausted we all are, is FOMO (The Fear of anxiety and depression, with these symptoms, several current exhibits online and the British Of Missing Out). For us, the pandemic has stolen again, being disproportionately worse among Museum is also offering online exhibitions. Finding key moments in our coming-of-age story that minority groups, younger adults and essential a safe way to connect with friends and loved ones we may never get back: university graduations, workers. While stress and anxiety are related, they by utilizing technology can help increase some of high-school proms, and weddings were cancelled. are caused by different things. Stress is influenced these feel-good hormones. Additionally, virtually Several of my friends’ monumental 21st birthdays by external factors, such as an argument or event, hanging out with friends, even if it is over a quick (as well as my own) took place during complete whilst feeling anxious is an internal response lunch, often leads to laughter. lockdown. In the U.S., this milestone is often spent caused by stress. When someone feels anxious, drinking your way through pubs, making memories regions of the brain begin to go into fight-or- Laughter you’ll never fully remember or that you wish you flight mode. The amygdala, which is part of the could forget. Instead, in order to do our part in brain’s limbic system, is responsible for giving Genuine laughter is one of the body’s many built- fighting this virus, we celebrated on Facetime. emotions meaning and attaching associations and in stress-relieving mechanisms. It doesn’t matter Was it entirely the same? No, but the laughter, responses to them. The amygdala communicates if it’s a lighthearted chuckle over a newspaper conversation, and smiles made up for the lack of with the hypothalamus, whose job is to release cartoon or if you are laughing so hard tears are hugs, and I think we all felt, even just momentarily, hormones and regulate body temperature. When forming; the effect is the same. According to the like things weren’t all that bad. 38 TRANSFORMER MARCH 2021 NEW WRITERS' PORTAL TRANSFORMER To Dare is To Do: I love you Tottenham, but I wish I didn’t have to By Theodore Dingwall-Main Bluejam © Photograph

t comes with a slow shudder of shame. One- Inil, first-half penalty, a totally predictable affair. Neville said it would happen. Carragher said it would happen. Arsenal-player-but-secret-Chelsea- man Merson said it would happen. But then he would. Yet, as if to spite the lot of them, there lingers that secret pride ready to flare out if they are proven wrong. When this starts to fade, when the last hopes are extinguished, things have got really bad. an important example of an alternative to team- sycophant, fawning over Mourinho’s sheer I will never forget the 5-2 loss to Arsenal in building. Under Pochettino, Spurs focused on celebrity, it has become harder to believe that he 2012. 2-0 up; Saha’s fine shot, and Adebayor back the assets they had; they bought into the coach, knows what he’s doing, in regards to the current in front of his old fans rubbing it in that much and believed in his project. It was the first time manager. harder. Then, in a flash, they were level. Spurs a club had gone without a signing in the summer And here we are. Talks of a title-challenge put were shaken. It was clear to see. Half-time came window, since it was introduced in 2003. Here to bed months ago, looking upwards at the top and Arsenal were smelling blood. was a club adamant to grow sustainably from four, and hoping against hope that we might just But to concede three more? Three?! That was within, refusing to be slaves to the market. To me, squeeze in, courtesy of Liverpool’s injury problems unforgivable, unconscionable even. How could there was nobility in that. There would have been and the fallout from Lampard’s sacking at Chelsea. they have thrown in the towel like that? more had we beaten Liverpool, but, alas, history Mourinho is looking suspiciously like he will fail The utter humiliation of having turned from remembers only the winners. to deliver on his promise, and Tottenham, having swaggering victor to abysmal loser in a matter It all came crashing down that night in Madrid. come so far, appear to be back at square one. of moments has haunted me ever since. I was The wheels came off, and the effervescent It is the unique hardship Tottenham fans have fifteen years old, but wise enough to clock that emotion of the previous five years spluttered to endure. Watching a team that is almost very it wouldn’t be the last time. It was only then that like a whimper. The next few months were the good consistently fail at the final hurdle. Not I understood the almost paranoid reluctance hardest, as we watched the ghosts of what had everyone can be the also-ran; not everyone is to dream with abandon; something I had been, trying to recast themselves. When they good enough. There are clubs where the aim is encountered in other Spurs fans. The bitter fear sacked Pochettino, we knew the dream was over. just to stay in the league. There are the just-about- that no matter how good things might seem, there That team was so obviously his, no one else could comfortable teams. There are the teams you might will inevitably come a moment when it all goes recreate the same spirit or capture that magic. back to surprise or be competitive. And then there wrong. Lightning doesn’t strike twice. are teams, that for some strange reason, have Then came Mauricio. To me, Pochettino So they went with Mourinho. The king of that something in them that pushes them over the embodied what football should be. Emotion, pain himself. His task would be to bleach the finish line. Then there is Tottenham, who don’t camaraderie, loyalty and crotch-grabbing wounds and eviscerate the sadness. I didn’t want quite fit anywhere. Argentinean passion. He understood the game: Mourinho. He was too tainted. No matter what At the biggest clubs, those who have won its unpredictable beauty, its wild energy. He loved he did, he would never be remembered as a before, the expectation is to win again. Tottenham the fans and the fans loved him. Under Pochettino, Tottenham man. But, if it had to be Mourinho, he have never won. In nearly thirty years of the Tottenham was one club; its team, manager and had to win. You can’t look at what happened at Premier League, Tottenham have never won. Yet fans united through a common bond. We cried United without dreading it for yourself – all the Tottenham’s ambitions are the same, and not with him, when on his knees he pounded his lethargy and misery he seemed to inject into the unreasonably. Spurs boast world-class training chest, overwhelmed with emotion and gratitude, club. How could you want that for yourself? facilities and the shiniest stadium the world has and thanked those lucky Spurs fans in Amsterdam. Because he’s a winner. Three league titles. ever seen. A talented squad and, despite it all, At that moment, that team, that manager and Respect. Have some respect. So, we choked a highly decorated manager. There is enough to every Tottenham fan dared to dream. Pochettino down the coarse treachery of his appointment, attract, and retain, world-class players. So why dispelled the cobwebs of fear, of hesitation, the and believed that Daniel Levy and the board saw shouldn’t the expectations be the same? reluctant apprehension to believe. He reminded us something more than the depressed has-been that It is because Tottenham are not decorated. what Tottenham stands for: to dare is to do, and to Man United Mourinho had become. Maybe they They’re not champions. Though I hate to dare is to dream. knew what they were doing? Maybe United stifled even think it, this team, filled with players of The magnitude of what Pochettino did at him? That would be just like them. But we would generational quality, might never be champions. Tottenham is sometimes forgotten. Flying in the let Mourinho be Mourinho. We wouldn’t expect Few teams have experienced disappointment like face of what we think to be possible, in an era of the world from him, need him to kiss the badge or Spurs have: coming within inches of a title that oil-state-backed corporation clubs he crafted a move to Enfield. But he did have to win. was usurped by a Leicester team (backed by every team on a shoe-string budget, nurturing players We hoped Levy felt the steely, whetted point breathing creature save Spurs fans), reaching a from the academy. And in the process he gave of Mourinho’s being, and bargained that that champions league final in genuinely spectacular English football its best ever player, Harry Kane, was what Spurs were missing: a razor-edge, bad fashion only to stand lifelessly by and watch and took the team within a hair of the very top. reputation, and anger management issues. The Liverpool dominate, or playing and losing seven It is said that had Tottenham signed even a squad, still reeling from the loss of the Champions times in a row when reaching the last-four stages single player of quality in the summer of 2018, League final, had lost the man who had nurtured of the FA Cup. they would have got past Liverpool in the them into internationals; their benevolent pater But maybe, just maybe, this is the secret to Champions League final. But not enough is said familias. So Levy went with the antithesis. A bold Tottenham’s strength; the unerring will to keep about the achievement of reaching football’s and desperate move. Still, for all his failings, Levy trying. Ultimately that is what Tottenham is all biggest game with an unchanged squad from the has steered the ship responsibly. I believe that about. Where we dare to exceed our expectations, year before. It was, first and foremost, a testament he really is a Tottenham fan, and is as desperate and where we dare to dream of winning it all – to Pochettino’s work and to the strength of the as anyone to see the club win. But ever since over and over again. That is Tottenham; where to bond he shared with his team. But it was also Amazon Prime exposed him to be an excruciating dare is to do. 39 TRANSFORMER MARCH 2021 NEW WRITERS' PORTAL TRANSFORMER NEW WRITERS' PORTAL

A PLATFORM FOR CHANGE

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