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Meet The Editors: Chloe – News Sub Editor

Hi guys! My name is Chloe and I’m in my second year at Edge Hill University. I’m currently studying English Literature and I’m hoping to go onto a PGCE afterwards! I spend my time reading, playing the ukulele and hanging out with friends. I wanted to work for The Quack so that I could develop my experience within blogging. I also really wanted to write about what I am interested in and this seemed like the best times to do it! My role in The Quack is News Sub-Editor, so I keep an eye on what I think uni students would like to know, whilst also writing posts about bookish things that I enjoy!

Quickfire Interview

do you have any nicknames?

I’ve never had a really inventive nickname but usually get called Chlo by those who know me.

Where is your favourite place in Ormskirk?

I love so many places in Ormskirk (mostly the Waterstones) but if I’m being specific to Ormskirk, I’d have to say Nordico Lounge. The atmosphere is incredible and the food is so tasty and extremely affordable!

What is your go-to meal deal?

I’ve never been very adventurous with my meal deals but it’s usually a tuna sandwich/chicken wrap with sunbites and water.

What is your favourite book?

It’s really hard to choose one so I’m going to say a couple: Radio Silence by Alice Oseman, Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

One piece of advice you would give to an Edge Hill fresher:

Don’t panic about making friends, you will have so many opportunities to meet people and sometimes it can take until 2nd year to meet the ones that you really feel comfortable with!

my favourite post that I’ve written is my ‘5 Female Authors I Admire’! Please give it a read below 🙂

5 Female Authors I Admire

Hope you enjoyed this piece!

Chloe 🙂

Everything you need to know about the strike…

The strikes occur from Monday 24^th February to Friday 13^th March. On the 6^th March (a Friday), the strike will pause for one day. Use that day to contact any lecturers about help you may need!

Recent emails have also stated that deadlines are likely to change if they fall into the final two weeks of the strikes but not next week.

Also, not every lecturer is striking! Please check with any you may not be sure about and ask them for as much information as they can give.

Whilst the strikes make things difficult in terms of deadlines and contact hours, it’s important for us to remember that the strikes are occurring due to numerous conditions that negatively affect our lecturers, such as pay and work place treatment.

I hope this helps for anyone who may have been unsure on the facts!

5 Female Authors I Admire

By Chloe Royle

As an English Literature student, I really enjoy reading novels by a variety of authors. I particularly enjoy reading books written by women and often feminist women. Below is a list of some of the authors I particularly admire!

Jane Austen

Jane Austen is one of my favourite female authors. I enjoy all of her books and love the vast array of characters. Austen was a woman who enjoyed her own company. She never married and whilst she was engaged, she broke it off the next day. Her female characters tend to be independent and full of personality, such as Elizabeth Bennett and Emma Woodhouse. Austen writes with a flair for imagination and I particularly admire her descriptions of the countryside.

Virginia Woolf

For me, Virginia Woolf is a literary and feminist icon. She wrote A Room of One’s Own to discuss independent women and what they need to uphold a career. I personally love the way she used her role as a woman to fight for what she believed in and gathered numerous feminist friends to encourage her. She celebrated the obscure and lived her life on her own terms, with an independence that I am always in awe of. Her admiration of the obscure is shown in many of her novels, including Orlando. She was bold and wrote continuously well, giving her an amazing portfolio of novels, essays and letters.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft is often seen as the original feminist. She fought whole-heartedly for educational equality between men and women and generally for women’s rights. She wrote her Vindication of the Rights of Women demanding more recognition of her sex and was admired by many in her lifetime (when she died however, she was disgraced for having children out of wedlock). She produced a masterpiece with her Vindication and I will continue to read and reread what she has to say throughout my life.

Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott is an iconic woman for numerous reasons. The one that sticks out the most for me is that she demanded the rights to her novel Little Women. When she was writing (in the 1860s), it was a struggle for female authors to own the rights to certain aspects of their lives. However, Alcott fought hard to own Little Women and defied expectations of the time. Furthermore, she never wanted to write her character Jo as someone who would simply get married and tried to incorporate her own feminist ideals into the novels she wrote. Alcott never married herself and remained a feminist activist throughout her life!

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou was a poet and civil rights activist, amongst numerous other roles. Her iconic novels and poetry collections (such as I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings & And Still I Rise), resulted in her recognition internationally as an iconic feminist woman. I find her work fascinating and find myself constantly in admiration of her strength in combating prejudice both racially and sexually. She was described by those around her as phenomenal and continues to have an influence on the world after her death in 2014.

Notable mentions:

Scarlett Curtis, Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison, Sylvia Plath, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie & Charlotte Bronte.

I hope this list encourages you to read more female authors, especially in the run up to International Women’s Day!!

SU Elections – Everything you need to know

Daisy Lewis – Joint Editor-in-Chief

Yes, it’s that time of the year again, the Student Union Elections! You might have seen a few posters dotted around The Hub or you may have come across a couple of Instagram posts and didn’t think much of it or that it wasn’t your ‘thing’ to get involved in, but I’m here now to convince you otherwise. The SU Elections take place annually and are the time of year when a new set of Student Officers are chosen. These Student Officers are the people who “represent the interests of all students at Edge Hill”, who “use student feedback to develop policies, campaigns and events that influence positive change”.

To give you more of an idea about what happens during the SU Election, here’s the timetable for the upcoming weeks. Put these dates in your diary!

MONDAY 17^TH FEB – FRIDAY 28^TH FEB: Nominations are open

MONDAY 2^ND MARCH – FRIDAY 13^TH MARCH: Candidate briefings and workshops

MONDAY 16^TH MARCH: Candidate question time

TUESDAY 17^TH MARCH: One day election (Voting all day)

FRIDAY 20^TH MARCH: Election results night

So now you know the plan, you probably want to know which roles you can actually nominate yourself for. There are 14 roles that you can run for, four of which are full time paid positions and they are: SU President, Vice President of Welfare, Vice President of Activities and Vice President of Academic Representation. These Full Time Officers (if you didn’t guess by the name) work full-time hours, and receive a salary of over £18,000. The remaining 10 are Part Time Officer roles and include Disabled Students’ Officer, LGBQ+ Students’ Officer and Women’s Officer. Please head to Edge Hill Student Union’s website for the full list of available roles and the complete job descriptions.

Something to remember is that any Edge Hill student can apply for one of the full-time roles, however when applying to be a Part Time Officer, you must “self-define as – or qualify with specific reference to Mature, part-time, postgraduate, and international students’ officers – the identity that your position represents”.

It really couldn’t be any easier to apply, just decide which role you’d like to run for and select the position on the Nominations Dashboard on the EHSU website (linked below). After that, a small manifesto is required, “a two sentence bio, followed by three bullet-points about your proposed campaigns and values”.

If you feel as though changes need to be made and you’re bursting with ideas, or you’d love to represent your community within Edge Hill then why wait any longer – go and nominate yourself today!

https://www.edgehillsu.org.uk/suelections

Basically Bobbi – Chapter Two

Rebecca Hodge

‘Basically Bobbi’ is a creative writing project written by Edge Hill student Rebecca Hodge. Please enjoy the second chapter and look forward to more as we delve into the world of Bobbi…

Happy Birthday to our beautiful daughter, Roberta .

Have a lovely day sweetheart, hope you enjoy this present!

We long considered what to get you that would top last year’s mini break to the Netherlands to visit that Dutch Cheese Museum you’d cleverly hinted at a month or so before your birthday.

We’re sure this will be much more beneficial.

Love, Mum and Dad xx

This gift voucher entitles you to 6 months free membership to ChooseFit Gym, Hartley Village.

Welcome to ChooseFit

(See reverse for terms and conditions)

Hmm, 6 months. Okay then. Thank you Mum and Dad.

Did I not tell them exactly why we enjoyed the trip to the Cheese Museum so much last June? Maybe I didn’t put enough emphasis on how relaxing the stay at the hotel was, and how we really appreciated the time out from work and the routine of everyday life. Did I not send them a postcard from the gift shop on the second day telling them how we could already smell the freshly baked cheese and onion rolls coming from the cafe just waiting in line to present our tickets? And how upon entering each room (at a leisurely pace, might I add) we were given free samples of one of the varieties of cheeses showcased in that exhibition? And when we weren’t strolling, comfortably observing cheese wedges or effortlessly absorbing rather unnecessary facts about their origins, we were resting. (And eating, but mostly resting.)

Nothing was going to top that!

Ah well, a gym membership might be equally as… no. It’s basically the other end of the cheeseboard… I mean scale! The complete other end of the scale. I suppose tasting the crumbs of the other side won’t cause me any harm, will it? I’ll just have to dig in! Take a bite! Or do I mean, step? Yes- take a step! Although that’s what I told myself last time I partook in something out of my comfort zone, and that caused way too much discomfort! In hindsight, I probably did over-react slightly to the sound of the words “short fasting period” from Twix. After all, she did say it was an optional detox process, but I’d already stood up in protest with my hands on my hips, (well, ‘sides’ is probably a more realistic image than hips) that it seemed too late to backtrack.

I wonder whether the gym gives out free samples of what the cafe is serving that day. You know, like, upon approaching each exercise ‘zone’.

“Hm, that wouldn’t be so bad!”

Ah but I just bet they make you do something on an exercise machine first, before letting you take the sample. Will was telling me just the other week how Jack’s wife had him out buying ingredients for honey-glazed carrot and parsnip soup after she had the soup-of-the-day in the cafe for her post-workout lunch. She gets obsessive like that, Daisy. She’s probably made a huge batch and got a freezer full! I would’ve thought she’d have brought some round by now, only living three doors down. Oh well, I suppose the gym might sample that one anyway if it’s a favourite.

Quite a few of our neighbours go to ChooseFit- it’s only five minutes down the road just past the Bakery.

“Ooh! Now that’s a thought!”

Gym, post-workout lunch courtesy of the café (I assume the membership entitles you to free meals, it makes sense seeing as it’s all part of the experience and it wouldn’t be worth the money otherwise) then a quick pop into the bakery for a re-energising cinnamon bun to enjoy with a cuppa when I get home. I read somewhere once that you must be careful when it comes to exercise- a lot of people don’t “replenish the nutrients” (or something or other) that they just lost after exercise. It’s all about the balance you see! So the nearby bakery will be handy.

I’ve driven past and seen Daisy coming out of the gym loads of times on my way home from the Indian takeaway. I don’t know how she does it at that time. What does she do about her tea? Does she have it before she goes? No, because someone like Daisy would know the rule about not eating a big meal before you swim, and surely that applies for any major exercise. Does she go home and make it? (Who could be bothered with that?!) She never has a takeaway bag in her hand so she must go home and cook herself a meal! Unless, surely not, maybe? Does she… skip tea?

Nooo! What am I thinking- no one in their right mind would skip a meal, especially not the best meal of the day! Jack must make it for her before he has his breakfast. Did I mention that Jack is a fireman and works mostly night shifts?

To be quite honest, I don’t know exactly what to expect. I’ve got a feeling it’s not going to be quite my scene. But who knows! My motto in life is ‘Always try it before you say you don’t like it!’ I usually say that to the children at dinner time, as it sure did great things for my appetite. I’ve recently started working as a dinner lady in St Matthew’s Primary school- after just a fortnight it’s proving to be quite enjoyable! I made a promise to myself after quitting the office job two months back that I’d start spending more time doing the things I actually like… and this seems like a step in the right direction. Of course, I don’t get a free meal like the infants, but when a child starts crying because they thought it was ‘Pie Friday’ when it’s actually ‘Waffle Wednesday’, sometimes it seems best to just make the waffle disappear. You know, out of concern for the child’s emotional wellbeing.
Maybe I’ll go for my first gym tasting… I mean, taster, session tomorrow morning.

To be continued…

Review: Paul Sinha, Hazy Little Thing Called Love

Emily Burrell – Arts and Culture Sub Editor

Location: Art Centre – Edge Hill University

Date: 8^th February 2020

The show opened with Phil Chapman, a Texas-born but Liverpool based comedian. There is only one way to summarise Chapman’s act – hilarious. His jokes were so witty and quick they had you belly laughing from the moment he walked on stage.

His comedic repertoire ranged from egging an angry gang member’s car at a car wash to a song regarding self-checkout systems. Each joke was as funny as the last and the audience roared with every punch line. It was a brilliant start to the night; I wish his segment lasted longer. Chapman is a comedian I’d happily see again.

The main act was Paul Sinha, notably known as everyone’s favourite white-suited Chaser. Sinha has quizzed opposite host Bradley Walsh since 2011 and was recently crowned 2019’s Great British Quiz Champion. The audience knew they were in for a good night when he walked on stage carrying two bottles of Budweiser.

Sinha is a natural on stage. He has a gift for turning potentially traumatic and disheartening experiences into amusing anecdotes. Although Sinha touched on his experiences with Parkinson’s Disease the tone of the show remained light-hearted. His jokes simultaneously raised awareness of the illness and inspired a message – this disease does not define him or his experiences. Although he occasionally uses it to his benefit. He recalled the time he tried to avoid the post Christmas dinner washing up – citing his sore left arm as a barrier – only to be shut down by his parents and placed as the 4^th sickest person in the family. It was the stark and brutal honestly of Sinha’s jokes that had the audience howling.

The show delved into Sinha’s life, his relationship with his family and husband Olly and his love of quizzing. Each story of his family; his experiences down the pub and his hatred for Gemma Collins had the audience chuckling. The story surrounding Gemma Collin’s inability to recall the name of her chosen charity on celebrity catchphrase was easily the most well received joke of the night. However, the evening was made as Sinha announced he would spend his post show celebrations in Alpine.

‘Golden’ – A poem by Charlotte Oxley

Charlotte Oxley

As we danced,

My locks blowing into your mouth

I thought

You are perfect.

Perfection.

Touched by the Gods.

As we danced

The music in your head stopped

You thought

No.

As we stopped

Confusing reality blowing back into my wide-eyed self

I knew.

As you let me go,

You didn’t know.

That I will continue to dance in the golden rays.

Valentine’s Day – Who was St. Valentine and why February 14th?

Daisy Lewis – Joint Editor-in-Chief

https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/who-was-st-valentine-509916.html

Valentine’s Day is approaching and whether you’re loved up with your other half or celebrating by crying into a bowl of ice-cream watching The Notebook (again), I thought it was an appropriate time to take a look at the history of the 14^th February and how it’s evolved over time to be celebrated today.

The history behind St. Valentine is a little unclear, as the Catholic Church actually recognises three saints named Valentine. There are many different stories behind this man but this is the story that is widely believed to be accurate:

‘Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine defined Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret’¹.

Other sources claim that while in prison, Valentine sent a letter signed “From your Valentine”, which was considered the first ever Valentine’s greeting and a phrase that is still used today!

So, we know who St. Valentine was, but why the 14th February? Some historians believe that this date commemorates Valentines’ death, however others say that the Christians held a feast on this day in an attempt to “Christianise” ‘the pagan celebration of Lupercalia’¹, which was a fertility festival celebrated in the name of Roman god Faunus. The day consisted of the sacrifice of a goat (for fertility) and a dog (for purification), followed by all the young women in the city placing their names into an urn. Young, single men would then in turn pick out a name and become paired with their chosen lady – these pairings usually ending in marriage.

As time passed, all over the world, the 14^th February became more attached to the theme of love – with France believing this as they thought the date marked the beginning of birds’ mating season. The first record in writing of this day being associated with romance was from Geoffrey Chaucer who wrote, “For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / When every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.”².

Valentine cards and greetings have been popular since the Middle Ages, yet it wasn’t until the mid 18^th century that popularity rose and people (lovers and friends alike), exchanged notes and tokens to display their affection. Shortly after this, in the early 1900s, technology improved and ready-printed cards began to appear on the shelves – making it incredibly easy for people to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Now, of course, it’s near impossible to step into a supermarket without roses and chocolates and heart-shaped balloons being shoved in our faces.

This Valentine’s Day though, why not take a step back in time and instead of buying a supermarket card or ready-made gift, write your loved one a letter or poem! They will undoubtably appreciate the effort, just don’t forget to sign it traditionally with ‘From your Valentine’.

Sources:

1: history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day-2

2: Geoffrey Chaucer – Parliament of Foules

Basically Bobbi – Chapter One

Rebecca Hodge

‘Basically Bobbi’ is a creative writing project written by Edge Hill student Rebecca Hodge. Please enjoy the first chapter and look forward to more as we delve into the world of Bobbi…

Hartley Village Church Hall Notices:

Are you struggling to control your weight, unhappy with your body shape, or maybe

in need of some expert healthy dieting tips and tricks? Then Slimmersize is the perfect place to begin!

Come and join us every Thursday evening: 7:30 – 9pm

(£3 per session)

Alright then. Let’s think. Come on Bobbi, ‘How has your week been?’ How has my week been? How has it been?

“Not bad thanks.”

No no I can’t say that! Not bad, but not good either? Too vague but obvious I’m hiding something. Or a lot of things; most of which edible. Who am I kidding? All my secrets are edible.

I route through the draw by the side of my bed and grab my tangle brush. Pulling off the bobble that’s tied round the handle, I notice those strange white marks have appeared on my finger nails again. Not enough calcium I guess- I knew there was a reason I needed that Dairy Milk last night. See, she can’t tell me I’m not in touch with my nutritional needs, can she? I drag the brush through my tatty hair. I’m getting ready to leave the house for the weekly Slimmersize class which I joined three months ago; all the women I know seem to be doing it. And everyone kept recommending it to me like I’m some kind of desperate, lump of a woman, couch-bound, hooked on all of those daytime television shows, you know, like, Homes Under the Hammer, and Loose Women, ooh and 60 Minute Makeover. Come to think of it, I do love those shows… and Peter Andre. But that’s beside the point! I don’t need to attend these classes. No one needs a twiggy middle-aged woman supposedly helping you drop the pounds and counting your ‘blips’. I only signed up so that everyone, mostly Mum and Dad, would stop suggesting it subtly whenever I reach for another hobnob out of the biscuit tin.

I like food- doesn’t everybody? I don’t know what the big problem is. ‘Be careful’ they say. ‘You are what you eat’ they say. Really? Well I’ll quite happily take being a mint Aero every night of the week! Refreshing, bubbly, light- how flattering!

I pull my hair back into a simple ponytail. Oh crap! I forgot about the food diary she handed out last week. I was supposed to fill it in each day at different meal and snack times so we could ‘bestow our food habits amongst the group’. I do think it’s a bit odd that for each day there are only two tiny boxes to write down your snacks in, so no one would fit them in anyway. Besides, I’m more than capable of remembering what I’ve eaten over the past week- I’m 27, young, intelligent and come to think of it, actually quite peckish! I should probably just grab a couple of Kit Kats to keep me going on the way. Ooh! I knew I would thank myself later for buying the chunky ones. Mm, yes and maybe that half a pack of Digestives left over for the way home.

Okay Bobbi, now think. Where there’s a will there’s a way.

I’m racking my brain, my bottom lip pulled to the side, for any possible way of

bringing the Nutella with me without being weighed down by carrying the whole ’30 percent extra’ jar, then I realise… I scraped the last of it out last night- nooo! Gutted.

I spot the stupid food diary from behind the microwave as I sulkily close the cupboard door. I pull it out, wedged between a bunch of old wrappers I desperately crammed back there last time Aunty Enid decided to make an unexpected visit. She’s a private nutritionist.

“Who really needs a food diary?!”

I make myself jump as I subconsciously slap the crumpled pages down on the kitchen ledge. Not me anyway. I can remember everything! If I’ve eaten it, I won’t forget it! Well except for that one time when Will asked about the last pork pie that I’d completely forgotten about eating. Oh, and the time with the cocktail sausages. And the Pringles he hid in his sock draw. And the…

…but anyway, I am being extremely good lately! Everyone’s been commenting! People are very impressed! Well… you know, like when Will got home yesterday, he seemed stunned to find his mini fridge untouched and his pack of mini pork pies still intact.

Thinking about it, reading through each other’s diaries won’t even be beneficial- hearing about all the naughty nibbles and last-minute takeaways and midnight snacks. Dieter’s Hell! Or Heaven, however you want to look at it. You’re basically gaining all the lost pounds back in under the hour! That’s not doing me any favours, is it? Honestly! And then she weighs you. Fantastic! Who even is this twix?

I pick up my Kit Kats, Digestives, jar of Chunky Peanut Butter I’d forgotten I’d bought on Sunday on my way home from Mum and Dad’s, and the last of the mint Matchsticks from Friday night. Still, maybe I should take the diary with me and scribble some things down at the red lights. Just in case.

“Where are my keys?”

I drop my snack bits back on the kitchen ledge and empty everything out of my bag frantically, like I’m trying to get the last few crumbs out of a Walkers crisp packet. My keys drop out onto the floor. I pick them up, quickly shove everything back into my bag and lock the door behind me. My car is sitting opposite the house- a grey Volkswagen Polo. It’s not the car from the new KFC advert, but I like it. I press the button on the car fob and can’t help but wonder whether hearing the beep as you impressively unlock your car from a distance is just as satisfying to every car owner as it is to myself. Adjusting the mirror and starting the engine, I snap a mint Matchstick, put both halves in my mouth and think back to the start of the week.

“Right. Let’s recap. Monday.”

To be continued…

Academic Reading: How I conquered it.

Alice Cattell – Joint Editor In Chief.

In September I began my university life. Reading had only ever been a thing in my English GCSE or for fun so being presented with several books for several modules, the concept of journal articles, and much more, was very daunting. At first, I thought the approach was to just read the textbooks as normal, and try to splice in journal articles, but this didn’t last too long.

Mid-way into semester one I hit a roadblock, I was faced with my first assignments that took up most of my time and reading for my other modules became non-existent. I don’t think my studies suffered due to this, but I felt a lot of guilt that I wasn’t keeping up with some reading. I got back into my reading, mainly because of the exam fear I had about one I’d be sitting in January.

Continuing to trudge through semester one of my first year felt like going through the trenches in a war in terms of reading, but then I found a solution to that issue. I began reading for fun again. My favourite book of all time is ‘Sharp Objects’ by Gillian Flynn, a book I actually discussed in my personal statement, despite it not really being related to my degree at all. Try to get the bug to read anything again, I started ‘Sharp Objects’ for probably the third time in my life, and couldn’t put it back down. Finishing my favourite book again gave me the motivation to continue my reading into my end of semester assignments. Over Christmas, I continued my academic reading and pleasure reading, finally finding myself back in the zone. I spliced reading about different marketing concepts with ‘What Remains: A Memoir of Fate, Friendship, and Love’, two very different texts that gave me the variety I needed to motivate myself.

Now into semester two, the hope the weeks will go quickly so I can enjoy a very long summer emanating throughout everything I do, I have a new reading ethic that I didn’t have this time in last semester. I’m still working through ‘What Remains’, though I might move onto ‘Gone Girl’ soon, alongside countless textbooks about Market Research, Marketing Communications and much more riveting texts that I know all our readers are dying to hear about (That’s sarcasm if it doesn’t convey that way through the internet).

The purpose of this article, other than seemingly reading like a diary entry about reading, is to present a method to combat writing burnout or lack of a desire to do academic reading. For me the key was variety in what I was reading, for others it may be something else. Being a first year, I don’t know if this approach will be viable after this year, so granted I’m still writing for the Quack by then, possibly a revised version of this piece may one day see release. However, for now, consider trying what I’ve suggested if your academic reading is a slog.