Sixth Form Mercury Wilson’s School’s newest student‐run publication
Volume 2, Issue 7, February 2012
Titus Andronicus: ‘Behind the Scenes’ With the most exciting play this school has ever seen on the hori‐ zon, the rehearsals for the cast become all the more tense as ex‐ pectations rise. But what really goes on ‘Behind the Scenes’? The rehearsing has be‐ gun! And, boy, is this play shaping up to be something spectacular. In the first 15 minutes of run‐through the tra‐ ditional Shakespeare play took a whole new form under the direct‐ ing mastery of Mr B Kavanagh. The most ambitious ideas seen on a Wilson’s stage are underway! The auditions have been something of a novel experience for all of us, with our parts being chosen on the basis of voice alone. Each of us, though, is beginning to find our character. In rehearsals, as we take it chunk by chunk and try our best to impress with our acting skills, each cast member is made to feel important through little pep‐talks from the staff involved. Standing on a bare floor, it’s hard to imagine what it’s all going to look like. But nonetheless we do as instructed and improvise at the
same time, watching things come together before us. The show al‐ most unfolds around us as we practise. If we’ve got a problem with understanding the text (it is Shakespeare, after all!) then we have friends and teachers to help us at any time. But it’s not just group rehearsals: the more simple scenes are re‐ hearsed in rooms around the school. Cast, accompanied by nothing but a script and their
mind, begin to piece to‐ gether (with the help of Mr Kavanagh) the scenes and develop the charac‐ ters so it all ties to‐ gether. These more intimate re‐ hearsals allow us actors to think more deeply about what we are doing and why. It’s a learning curve for all of us. However, it’s not just the serious stuff – everyone has a laugh at the same time. Whether it be laughing at someone making a pun on a harm‐ less line of Shakespeare or just general amuse‐ ments, everyone is en‐ joying the rehearsals thus far. As the ‘big scene’ ap‐ proaches – the rape of Lavinia – the tension amidst the cast is slowly increasing. It is unde‐ niable that it’s going to be a bril‐ liant play, and that ‘Behind the Scenes’ is set to get all the more exciting.
By Kane Walpole
Sixth Form Mercury, February 2012
2 Hey everyone, It’s come around again ‐ time for another instalment of Mercury, and this one is a bit special to us. After a long, prolific career, we have decided to pass on the Mercurial flame to some fresh blood. Taking over as editors will be Kane Walpole and Nikhil Vyas, and we’re sure they will do a great job and continue to produce high quality publications, and we wish them all the best. It’s been a rollercoaster, not one of the scary ones ‐ more like the tea cup ride, however we have enjoyed it nonetheless. And so for the last time, thanks for reading and enjoy the issue! Yours emotionally, Will Roberts and Tim Hou (previously known as editors!)
Article
Page
Behind the Scenes
1
A Message from the Editors
2
Plastic Bags, Six‐Pack Rings and Me
2
Battling cliché as a ‘Young Reporter’
3
More To Life Than Maths
4
Riman’s Roundup
4
Plastic Bags, Six-Pack Rings and Me By Ben James Tosh. ‘Friends of the Earth’, as they are so crudely known, are crusaders of a lost war. Whilst they toil all night and day, suffering in their frozen houses and pains‐ takingly sorting all their type‐2 plastics from the type‐3 lookalikes, I sit with feet up on a warm sofa, a can of Coke beside me (which I will throw in the bin like eve‐ rything else), and the Xbox on, drawing enough electricity from the mains to power nuclear fusion for a year (I’m play‐ ing ‘Skyrim’, you see). And you know what? I’m having fun and I couldn’t care less. I have no doubt that fossil fuels will run out. I have no doubt that the Earth is heating. I also have no doubt that landfill sites are brimming, that air pollution is at its highest levels, and that poor little rab‐ bits are getting trapped in six‐pack can rings. But despite everyone’s greatest efforts, we have achieved next to nothing in curbing these. So I’ve decided to be smart about it: give up and be comfort‐ able. There’s no use peddling a campaign that won’t go anywhere. It’s like jump‐starting an underwater Ford Model T: it won’t work (or if it does, I will eat my hat). So many times I hear the same eco‐maniacs, the same folk as the shudder‐inducing ‘Friends of the Earth’, claiming “every little action you take makes a great differ‐ ence!” No it doesn’t. Are you telling me that turning off my tap will keep the human population from a cruel extinction? The water that would be saved is barely
enough for a plankton to survive in. What about that card you threw in the bin! How impossibly harmful! Again, no, for the card will decompose in a matter of months on a waste site, and what hap‐ pens when you fill up those sites anyway? You make some more. There’s still quite a lot of countryside left. Problem solved. Why must we slave over whether our lights are on, or if they are off? So what if I end up preventing that extra hour of energy from being used in the future? The point is, it will still be used, so let’s just use it now for comfort’s sake. I men‐ tioned already that oil will run out: we can’t make more of it, so why delay the inevitable by suffering and devolving back into our monkey‐like cavemen predeces‐ sors? Pointless. And guess what? All of this costs even more money trying to correct. We’re spending such vast volumes of money on technological developments combating the increase in carbon emissions that we’ve entirely forgotten about the true needs of our country. Think about all the spending on important issues that we’ve put priority under environmental reform: transport, industry, agriculture, and per‐ sonal social services all drew less money from the government’s total 2009 expen‐ diture than protecting the environment. When I see this, I can’t help but lament. How can we be so absurd as to put liveli‐ hoods at risk by attempting to cure the incurable disease of pollution? The mind boggles at the efforts to rid the atmos‐ phere of the infamous CO2; there’s no going back now. Should we marginally prolong our existence in return for incon‐
venience? Al Gore seems to find the warming of the globe inconvenient. I find recycling even more so. As for overpopulation: if abortion were legalised, promoted, and not seen as a taboo, then we’d have a hope. And with abortion comes less crime too. A study carried out in America showed that 16 years after abortion was legalised State‐ side, the crime rate dropped to its lowest levels in history. Not only do we cure crowding of the tube, but also stabbings. Sweet. Unfortunately, America is not a secular society (Westboro Baptist Church comes immediately to mind) and this isn’t going to happen anytime soon. Shame really, bringing on your own downfall. And extinction? Please. We are not ani‐ mals like the 100,000 species wiped out every year, as my opponents would doubtless compare us to. We are the pinnacle of evolution; the most superior primates. We have instilled in us a sense of human camaraderie that will prolong our life for a long, long time. The thought of being wiped out is an unmitigated scare‐story, and will continue to be tossed around as a convenient way of getting others to save paper when there’s really no need. So, the environment. Can we do anything about it? No. Can we save extinction? No. Can we prolong it through measly efforts of turning lights off? No. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention: I like warm weather. Now, where’s my Xbox controller? Nikhil Vyas will respond in the next issue.
Sixth Form Mercury, February 2012
3
Battling cliché as a ‘Young Reporter’ For those of us with ambitions to become journalists, finding work experience is noto‐ riously difficult. Last year I wrote to count‐ less newspapers, both national and local, emailed dozens of magazines and received a grand total of one reply: a swift no in the post from Private Eye. In the end it worked out brilliantly with two days at ITN news and a week mid‐summer holiday at a small but friendly skate and music online magazine named Caught in the Crossfire. However, after listening to interviews with top journalists on the career advice section of the Guardian website, I realised that this would never be enough. It seemed they had all been working for their local paper all holiday since they left primary school. So when I found out about the Young Re‐ porter scheme, run in association with the parent company of local newspapers such as the Sutton Guardian, giving students an op‐ portunity to write once a month for their website, I couldn’t believe my luck. After paying them a cheeky £10 for the admini‐ stration costs of dealing with my free labour, I received an instruction booklet. September: In this booklet I was told that my monthly article should deal with issues regarding Sutton from a young person’s perspective. Additionally, we were not al‐ lowed to submit news stories previously covered by any news organisation. With full‐time, paid journalists constantly searching for good stories, it seemed stu‐ dents from all over the borough would be left fighting for the leftovers. This led some aspiring journalists to write about brilliantly stereotypical local news items such as bin men missing their street, oyster cards arriv‐ ing late in the post and best of all, a rant branding dog owners as ‘the bane of soci‐ ety’. I don’t blame them. In fact, when I saw them go up on the website I was jealous. At least they had an idea of something to write about. My job was made harder by the fact that I live in Lewisham, a borough that isn’t even adjacent to Sutton. I’ve been to Sutton town centre perhaps five times in my life and the only real connection I have to the borough is through Wilson’s, a school a mat‐ ter of metres away from Croydon. My first article was a month‐old story that had appeared on national news and most young people I interviewed hadn’t even
heard of it. No boxes were ticked. I claimed that the scrapping of modular exams was best viewed in hindsight, a huge story to young people, and added a couple of inter‐ views with young people of Sutton (people who happened to be in the common room/ on Facebook when I wrote the article.) I really was desperate! My first crack at news‐ paper journalism had been drawn out, hugely unprofessional and pretty pathetic. October: I realised that this time I would have to find a story that didn’t stretch the ‘relevant to Sutton’ criteria quite so far so I began to ask school friends if they had any ideas for stories. Thank God one did. Syed Imam, a (slightly too) keen Lib Dem, had set up ‘Liberal Youth Sutton’ at the start of the year and was keen for a bit of free publicity. I’m not sure if he realised that the article would be in an obscure corner of the online edition of a paper I’ve never even seen before but he gave me all the details on his group I needed and I felt comfortable writing a 400‐word plug. I even agreed to put in his contact details at the end for good measure! Although the article lacked any balance whatsoever, I would like to think it was some improvement on my first one. I even managed to get ‘Sutton’ into the title! November: I had emailed Tom Brake in early October requesting an interview and as this hadn’t been sorted for my second article, I assumed I had my November article cov‐ ered. Mistake. Every time I refreshed my email the deadline grew closer and closer and all Hotmail had to tell me was someone who I haven’t seen since primary school wanted to be my friend on Facebook. On the 29th I realised that I would have to come up with another article. I resorted to writing about skateboarding, something I do far too much. The people who judge the articles don’t know that I have conducted similar rants to my English class and my form group via Power Point. However I pity those who have read or lis‐ tened to all three. Sorry! December: This was the month when I stooped to possibly the biggest cliché of any school reporter‐type business: an interview with my local MP! I had first emailed Tom Brake just after I had finished the first article but it understandably took him a while to get back to me. When he did, he asked
By Louis Woodhead whether I would like to do the email over the internet or if I would interview him in person. I had assumed that any interview would be a pretty quick email: a few easy questions and get a couple of sentences worth of answers. I jumped at the opportu‐ nity to conduct my first ever proper inter‐ view in person. Unfortunately a combination of article deadlines and personal commit‐ ments meant this was not to be so I sent him 10 questions instead. I tried my hardest to make them a little bit more interesting than the standard ‘what do MP’s do?’ But I’m afraid to say that I didn’t have the courage, even behind a computer screen, to ask him what he was thinking when he voted for raising tuition fees. Tom Brake gave good replies to all my ques‐ tions and I spent a lot of time writing this article as I realised this was probably going to be the best topic I would have to write about all year. So I would like to think the article turned out reasonably well despite the concept being a massive cliché. January: For me, January was a month of Maths past papers so yet again the deadline crept up and caught me woefully unpre‐ pared. My not‐so‐cunning plan was to dis‐ cuss the modules season and how it’s a bit different at Wilson’s. I find it hard to believe that anyone in the world would want to read this article so I won’t dwell on it too long. It did however tick the relevant to Sutton, relevant to young people and vaguely topical boxes. However I am far from proud of the finished piece. So far I have written two articles about ex‐ ams and two about politics, all with Louis Woodhead of Wilson’s School written in the header. If that doesn’t spell out nerd I’m not sure what does. But the experience has been brilliant and I am truly grateful to all the people involved in running it. I have learnt to stick to deadlines, however tight I leave it. I have practised my writing and have gained vital experience that hopefully will help me gain further work experience in the journalism industry. With four months of articles left, the young reporter of the year award is still up for grabs. I’m not getting my hopes up so if any‐ one has any events that could do with a bit of publicity, they know where to come!
Sixth Form Mercury, February 2012
4
More to Life than Maths! If the education experience thus far has taught me anything, it’s that we should all fight for what we believe in (that and “homework ruins lives.”) So I was dis‐ mayed to find that a battle is forever be‐ ing fought to keep the arts alive in educa‐ tion. I will henceforth join that battle … Picture the scene: Maths and Science sitting in their mansion‐sized classrooms, a whole building for each of them. Mean‐ while, in the darkened corner of the school with solemn expressions are the bound and gagged English, Classics and History departments. Possessing just a few rooms between them, they cry for the injustice of this genocide. As a student of the arts and humanities, this image has always been one in the foreground of my mind. It is clear in all educational institutes that the subjects formerly viewed as the most intellectual and useful – English, Latin, History, Poli‐ tics and Languages – are now secondary
to Maths and the sciences. As people move to higher education they see only that doctors, accountants and architects help keep the world afloat and, to quote a friend, “the arts provide nothing for the economy.” Many of you reading this will be of that belief, but is the measure of a man purely his economic worth? I think not. This ig‐ norance, then, is the saddest part of edu‐ cation and something which definitely needs to be rectified. I am not here to argue that Maths and Science are useless; I want to prove that the arts are equally vital to our society. In a world where depression, social unrest and ignorance are rife, the ability for peo‐ ple to express themselves and to under‐ stand others should be of the utmost importance. English gives a person those expressive qualities. Languages help us understand
Riman’s Roundup
By Kane Walpole
others. History and Latin allow us to un‐ derstand in greater depth the world of today and political studies help us change it for the better. So the arts have a hugely positive impact on the social harmony of the world. A question. Would there have been stu‐ dent riots last year, if people could just express themselves with some good old‐ fashioned poetry? I say, no! So I call upon all of you reading (and upon the biased members of the educational system) to think seriously about what matters in life. The truth of the matter is that maybe the arts don’t directly pro‐ duce money for the economy, but there’s more to life than money. Pick the subject you enjoy, and if you decide to choose the arts remember this: that it is one small step for you, but one giant leap for academic enjoyment!
By Harley Riman
Five tips on how to play ‘FIFA 12’ without wanting to smash your TV in Last night I nearly passed out. Not be‐ cause I held my breath for too long, but in anger at the fact that Jody Craddock scrambled in a last‐minute winner that saw me miss out on a point away to Wolves. Jody Craddock? Really?! There is no doubt that ‘FIFA’ delivers some euphoric highs: there is nothing like some intense male bonding over a virtual El Claśico or that moment when the opposition’s keeper accidentally passes it straight to you. But the lows … those devastating lows … Why Jody Craddock? To make the experience more enjoyable, I’ve compiled a short list of tips on how to get the most out of your manager mode or games with friends, without wanting to gouge your eyes out or chop your fingers off.
1. Play at a comfortable difficulty level When I first got the game I trucked right in at Legendary. Bad move. Defending on ‘FIFA 12’ is much harder than on any other ‘FIFA’ so there is no shame in bath‐ ing in the shallow end that is World Class. It may seem weak, but you can’t be thinking of your e‐go (get it?) when people like Jody Craddock are scoring last minute winners. 2. Buy Micah Richards And play him at centre back. When start‐ ing a manager mode, don’t muck around with sending scouts to Europe. Just go to transfers and shell out whatever it takes to buy him, even if it means selling a few players. It’s almost as if the developers took all the characteristics of a freight train and put it in player form. Buy Micah Richards. 3. A late night game is a good game I don’t think it’s physically possible to be wound up at two in the morning. This
means that the positives of ‘FIFA’ will be accentuated and the negatives ignored. When you get home from school try to GET YOUR HOMEWORK DONE or maybe READ A BOOK. Wait until about midnight to hear that two‐second symphony that is the X‐box introduction theme and your enjoyment will be maximised. 4. Play against rubbish people Maybe next time you’re messaging friends about a ‘FIFA‐sesh round mine’ think about leaving out the really good people. If you win all the time it makes you feel like the alpha male and being the alpha male is fun. 5. Set the commentary to Dutch Martin Tyler and Alan Smith are two thoroughly boring people, but their Dutch counterparts are absolutely price‐ less. The other option is French, making the Dutch commentary seem all the more appealing.
