Graphic by Sophie Benbelaid

This term at the Blue, we’re so lucky to be able to present yet another cast of talented columnists! We have a variety of topics this Michaelmas, ranging from food reviews and identity to social commentary and environmental activism. We hope you’ll enjoy reading them all as much as we do. So, without further ado, here are our columnists…

~ Sophie and Riana

Bea Munro

Hello again! I hope you’ve been keeping (and eating) well: I certainly have! My column follows the food I have been eating, tracks food trends and (my?) cravings. For these vac articles, the focus is on London, where I spent part of my summer doing an internship. I ventured far and wide to try new food and report back with my findings. So whether you are looking for something different, or just want a tease of food-envy, I hope you’ll find something to love in my column. Happy eating!

Bea will continue her column into term-time, but if you want to read her long vacation column instalments, click on the link below:

http://4jy.5c0.myftpupload.com/category/columns/always-hungry/

Alice Emmett

Hello! I’m hoping to merge my long-term identity crisis with political and social discussion in Of No Fixed Land. I am from Northern Ireland, which can make me feel like an outsider in several places. I see myself as Irish, but I was brought up surrounded by British media, and streets plastered with union jacks. When placed in Oxford, I begin to feel like a half-in, half-out person.

Identity and culture are physically ever-present themes in Northern Ireland, and it became impossible for me not to think about them as I was growing up. However, in the heart of establishment Britain, I’m not convinced that much thinking is happening about what it means to be British. I want to have a conversation about inevitability, and political-ness. I am from a place which is obsessed with tradition, but England has sometimes struck me as even less open to change. The questions I ask myself about where I fit in Ireland and Britain are interesting, and will be discussed, but I think it is potentially even more engaging to ask why some people in England don’t seem to question those things at all.

Claire Torina

In 2018, we watched as 15-year-old Greta Thunberg called upon the youths of the world to unite, demanding their politicians take immediate action and enact policies to protect and rehabilitate the planet. The youth of 21st century Earth wake each morning to a starkly different environment to that of their predecessors. Yes, after years of public awareness campaigns, climate activists have successfully stirred the public and impressed upon the urgency of the situation. But if the feelings of dread and anxiety felt by us and our peers are palpable, what might that say about those who will undeniably be hit the hardest by climate change? What of the teenagers of indigenous tribes or developing nations? 

In this series of columns I want to take a look at the policies that let mega-corporations get away with “it”, what “it” is and what “it” means to climate activists like Jasilyn Charger or Mitzi Jonelle Tan; in essence, examining some of the biggest threats to our environment through the lens of indigenous people and those of poorer nations. I hope to convince you through these highly inspirational young people that there is hope and that our futures are worth the fight. That every strike, protest and vote we deliver puts us that much closer to a future we can all feel safe in.

Hannah Davis

I’m back ! I’m so excited to be taking We’re Not, Like, Endangered Animals into its 3rd term, where I’ll be continuing to overshare fortnightly. The column has functioned as a space for exploration — first as somewhere to untangle my thoughts and then as somewhere to untangle my family history. This term, I’ll be back to basics with a focus on mental health and identity, asking questions linked to my own self-discovery and self-determination. Again, I’m hoping that I’m going to be able to use this column to write extended, more delineated diary entries — with you as my audience. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

You can still become a columnist at The Oxford Blue!

Fill in this application form by Friday 2MT22 (21st Sep 2022) to join the Columns team.