Posted on by nayantarac

Severus Snake

At least 90% of the Harry Potter fans that I have met think that Severus Snape was a good person. And I beg to differ.

Severus Snape had a frightfully miserable childhood, that much I will admit. And that must have been hard on him – living in such a low-life area, being constantly bullied by his peers, having to return every summer to a place that he hated passionately, and being rejected by a girl he liked.

But that sound quite familiar, doesn’t it?

Oh, right, that’s because Mr. Harry Potter went through exactly the same thing. Except Harry also had the pressure of saving the entire world from downfall and he had to deal with pesky reporters (cough, Rita Skeeter, cough) as well the public mistrusting him and the government turning against him. But all that harry did was have a few emotional outbursts when it became too much. He remained a good person inside despite so much manipulation, and that’s what matters.

Snape? Well, he decided to join a group of racist extremists intent on murdering an entire race of people whom they considered impure. And this is dealing with half the amount of stress that Harry did.

Now, many people will justify his actions by saying, “He was in love with Lily! He had his heart broken! You can’t blame him!” But I don’t agree one bit. Both Severus Snape and James Potter were in love with Lily Evans and she rejected both of them. James responded by becoming a genuinely better person and stopped bullying people unnecessarily, because that was the reason that Lily rejected him. Snape, on the other hand, decided it would be fun to start murdering all other people like her.

Furthermore, in high school, Snape had an ongoing rivalry with the Marauders (James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter). This was the sort of rivalry that many people have in high school, so you wouldn’t assume that it would become such a big deal. But they both allowed it to. Since Severus was a Death Eater (a follower of Voldemort) he knew that Peter Pettigrew was a traitor to the Order of the Phoenix. But when Sirius Black was unfairly convicted and sent to prison for twelve years, he did nothing to stop it, despite being aware of the fact that he was innocent. He could easily have testified and saved an innocent man from twelve years of torture, but chose not to, simply because of a high school rivalry.

Snape also bullied children.  Children, who were excited to learn potions for the first time. And these children, who were supposed to be able to look up to these teachers as mentors, were terrified of him.

I’m sure we all remember that scene, from The Prisoner of Azkaban, where Remus brings the third years a boggart to fight for their Defense Against the Dark Arts class. And how Neville’s greatest fear is Professor Snape, and he makes him wear his grandmother’s clothes? Hilarious, it really was. But Neville Longbottom, a boy whose parents are going to forever be in a mental hospital because they’ve been tortured to insanity – his greatest fear is his Chemistry teacher?

I mean, imagine being that terrified of someone who is supposed to teach you, to mentor you, to guide you, to be your guru – whatever you want to call it.

And when handing out detentions to Neville, Severus was intent on making his life a living hell. In the Order of the Phoenix, he made Neville disembowel toads as a punishment for being late to class, knowing full well that he had a pet toad.

Poor Neville. Snape really did have it out for him, didn’t he? And I don’t think that having the love of your life die is an excuse to make other people live through the same pain that you did. Especially innocent children.

Many people may say, “He became good at the end! That means he is a good person!” Well, let me just clarify that, honey, because you’re not taking the prophecy into account.

The prophecy stated that the one to bring the dark lord’s downfall would be “Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies”. This could have applied to either Harry Potter or Neville Longbottom. Tom Riddle (Lord Voldemort) chose Harry to be his opponent, and this is the reason that Snape betrayed him – because he didn’t want his master to kill the woman he loved. However, if Voldemort had chosen Neville, Severus Snape would have lived and died as the most loyal Death Eater who ever lived.

I get that Severus’ childhood could not have been easy. But do you really think that a bit of bullying and a teenage ‘lost love’ is an excuse for treating everyone else in your life so abominably? Because I sure don’t.

Posted on by nayantarac

The Perfect Body.

I looked at myself in the mirror and then down at my body, as I realized for the first time that having a “perfect body” was not a blessing. It was a curse. Not that having an “imperfect” body is any easier, though.

It’s like Sebastian said – the seaweed is always greener in somebody else’s lake.

See, people always think that pretty girls have it easy. They’re popular, they can wear anything, all the boys run after them. But is that really the case?

Two hours earlier, I was in the park with Connor. We were just sitting together on a bench and talking, looking at the stars through the branches of the tree. You know, normal couple stuff – when I remembered something Olivia told me earlier. So I asked him why he liked me.

He was fairly confused and looked at me in surprise.

“Why are you asking me this now?” he asked me. “We’ve been dating for three months. Are you questioning our love now?” I shrugged. I mean, I couldn’t exactly tell him that it was because my little sister thought he only cared about my looks and using me as an accessory.

When he didn’t answer immediately, I should have known then that something was wrong. If my boyfriend had to think of why he liked me, surely, he didn’t really. But I was foolish; blinded by love – at least, what I thought was love. I told myself that there were so many things that he loved about me that he was just trying to think of which to say first.

And when he opened his mouth, I was horrified.

“Well, you’re beautiful,” he said. “Absolutely gorgeous. I mean, seriously, the entire football team is jealous that such a drop-dead gorgeous girl is all mine,” he said, snaking his arm around my waist. I turned to him expectantly.

“And?” I asked.

“And…what?”

“What else do you like about me. I meant more about, like, my personality, or who I am…?”

He laughed. “Well, you’re adorable,” he smiled.

I untwined my fingers from his and pushed his arm off my waist. “You’re still only talking about how I look. Is there nothing else you like about me?” I asked angrily.

“Woah, woah, woah,” he exclaimed, putting his hands on my shoulders to steady me. “What’s this all about? What’s the problem? You’re a beautiful girl and you’re mine. We’re in a happy relationship, we’re both popular, and you’re coming with me to prom next month. We’re the perfect couple! Why are you trying to rock the boat?”

I pushed his hands off my shoulders and stood up. “Perfect couple? You know what, I really don’t think so.”

“Maya, where is this coming from? Why are you talking back to me suddenly, as if you’re not agreeing with what I’m saying?”

I scoffed. “This is what I mean! All you care about is yourself; you act as if I don’t have feelings or opinions or…or I’m not a real person. Connor, the only reason you have ever wanted to be with me is for yourself. Like it makes you ‘cool’ or something to have a girlfriend. So that you can use me as your…your accessory, to gain popularity. The only thing that you care about is my looks. Because it makes the football team think you’re cool. You know what, I’m not ‘yours’. You act like I’m your property; like I belong to you. Like…my opinion doesn’t matter and that my job is to make you…feel good about yourself by agreeing with everything you say, and making other guys jealous of you.”

Connor didn’t even reply. He was just staring at me, expressionless. I looked at him expectantly. “Well? Don’t you want to say anything?”

A smile dawned on his face. “You look so hot when you’re angry.”

I couldn’t believe him. Of course, that’s all he was thinking about when I was talking about how I had a personality, had feelings. I walked up to him, and thank god he was still sitting down because it’s so much easier to intimidate people when you’re taller than them.

“Listen up,” I said, getting right into his face. “Women are not just accessories and sexual objects. We are just as real as men and deserve to be treated like it. And I not going to be in a relationship with someone who refuses to acknowledge that.”

With that, I ran home. As fast as I could. I wanted to get away from that jerk as quickly as possible. And when I reached home, I cried. And cried. And cried. For almost two hours.

It probably doesn’t make sense to you that I cried. I had just stood up for my rights and broken up with someone who didn’t respect them. But it’s not that simple.

I had liked Connor for two years before he finally asked me out. Two years. Which is why, as you could imagine, I was over the moon when he did. But during those two years, I changed myself. I started dressing differently and I grew out my hair. I told myself that I wasn’t changing for him and that I was changing for me. I knew that I was lying to myself, but I did it anyway. That’s what made this hurt so much more. That despite doing so much for him, he didn’t care about me.

I’ve always had this body though. I didn’t change that for him. Yet he sexualized me like I belonged to him alone.

If that is was my natural body, then was I always going to be sexualized? Were people always going to want to be my friend just for my body? All I wanted was for someone to love me for who I was. And that’s almost impossible when you’re a girl with society’s definition of a ‘perfect body’.

So maybe fat people do have it easier. Maybe ugly people do too. Because when you’re ugly and someone loves you, you know that they love you for who you are.

Posted on by nayantarac

A Committee That Will Go Down In History

After a 20 minute unmoderated caucus with no clear results, the head chair of the HSC stated that “the efficiency of this committee is riDicULouS”, banging his gavel repeatedly on the table to get the attention of the delegates. The delegates of the UK and Iran were excused from committee to complete writing a directive to initiate an invade into Iraq. After a long silence in which no points or motions were raised, the chair got a bluetooth call with an update that “Saddam Hussain was chilling on the beach with American playboys”, while all the countries in the committee sat quietly, unwilling to speak about the matter at hand. Only motion on the floor was raised by Qatar to discuss the specifics of this update, which was immediately shot down by the chairs as well as questions from the US as to where the playboy models originated from. Another question regarding where Saddam Hussain was “holidaying” was followed by a discussion as to whether or not Baghdad was the capital of Iraq.

After the chairs attempted to bribe delegates with mentos to come up with good motions, the delegates started discussing ways to attack Iraq to prevent it from attacking Kuwait any further. The delegate of Iraq was asked to leave committee for the duration of this moderated caucus and after attempting to record the happenings of committee on his phone, the device was briefly confiscated. During this discussion, many delegates such as the delegate of Israel seemed to suddenly either become deaf or fall asleep, unaware of the matters being discussed. Once Kuwait’s policies are questioned by Syria and multiple other countries stated that they also agreed that Iraq should be attacked and stopped. How exactly this would be done, they were all unclear of. They also all seemed to agree on the fact that Iraq should have economic sanctions.

The delegate of Iraq responded to the multiple statements regarding the fact that their country was to be surrounded and attacked with the utmost confidence. “It’s simple math,” he said, when comparing the number of foreign forces to the number awaiting them in the Iraqi capital.

Another update was then introduced stating that Saddam Hussain had been assassinated and his son had taken his place. This was followed by an emphatic speech given Uday Hussain, where he conveyed that he thought his father was “mild”. France, meanwhile, was quite busy in committee. They exploited the naval blockade and traded in military with Iraq and, also had a big part to play in the assassination of Saddam Hussain. On the other hand, they held their placard upside down, were confused when told by the chair that their head of state was, in fact, alive and then swore while turning it the right side up. 

The royal family was kidnapped and the US and UK, instead of helping them and giving in to the demand that their troops leave, went ahead with their invasion into Iraq. This move was particularly controversial as many delegates no longer knew who to trust. The delegates of Venezuela, in particular, stated many times, “We’re just confused”. However, Egypt supported the actions of the US and the UK and got numerous bangs of agreement from the delegates of the US and UK for saying, “If we give in to Iraq today, they will only demand more tomorrow.” France then took center stage and stated that they are the only hope and are the only ones who can take any action as they are the ones who managed to assassinate Saddam Hussain. Iraq believed the directive was  useless and since the US and UK could not protect the royal family, they couldn’t do anything. They had also called out Kuwait for not writing or debating any of the paperwork that was being discussed in committee as the entire crisis was pertaining to their country.

As committee began to come to a close, the delegate of Iran, once more, motioned for entertainment and was met with the response, “only if you swim on the desk” As the delegate refused to do so, even though the whole committee was thumping their tables in agreement, the chair reluctantly resorted to reading out many suggestions on how to assassinate Saddam Hussain, many that included the involvement of the playboy models.

By Nyrika, Kimaya M, Hrishi, and Nayantara

Posted on by nayantarac

The Subtle Art of Getting Free Mentos

Mentos are pretty much the only things that can keep delegates from falling asleep in committee, and the strongest (maybe only) motivation that people have to keep talking. But surely even people who hide from the chairs are worthy of artificial, sugary, chewy candies?

The chairs may not agree.

But there are ways of fooling them to get what you rightly deserve.

1. Having fast reflexes

If you’re sitting next to someone who constantly gets mentos chucked at them, it’s fairly easy to steal some. When the chairs throw mentos to them, try to snatch it out of the air before your fellow delegate can, if you’re fast enough. If you’re even more skilled (or if the chairs have really bad aim), you can catch it easily, while still seated, being subtle about your thievery. If you’re not skilled enough to do that and do have to stand up, the chairs and the delegate whose mentos you just stole are more likely to notice you and demand you give the candy back. If this happens, be sure to shove the mentos in your mouth as fast as you can, as then they won’t be able to do anything about it. You may get chucked out of committee, but who cares? At least you have candy.

2. Agreeing with your co-delegate

If your co-delegate is the sort of person who has a lot to say, it’s easy to pile on to their points to get more candy. For example:

Delegate A: I further think that Donald Trump has made a fool of himself by tweeting about how he is proud of himself for having ‘fans’.

Delegate B (you): I CONCUR.

Chair: *chucks mentos to both of you*

As you can see in the above example, the chair will have been outsmarted by your witty and thoughtful remark, and will give you mentos that your co-delegate earned for you. Yell your agreement louder for better results.

3. Sneaking them out from under the chair’s nose

If you want to be super dramatic and get out of your seat to stand at the front of the room while talking, there is a likely chance you’ll be able to steal mentos from the chair’s desks. This will be a lot easier if you have a boisterous co-del who can dazzle the entire committee as well as the chairs with their sensational points, giving you time to steal a handful of mentos for the both of you. (The delegates of France in the HSC would be very good at this.)

4. Making deals with logistics

The logistics team are always in committee, passing chits and getting bored out of their minds. And they have access to the mentos that you rightly deserve. This is incredibly unjust, but cest la vie. If you’re smart enough though, you can strike a deal with them and get yourself some candy. Or bribe them. Either works.

5. Take them during lunch

The chairs almost never let their guards down, but the rare occasion that they do is during lunch breaks. If you are sneaky enough, you can stay in the room until the chairs leave for lunch and then take mentos from the blessed jar so temptingly standing on their desk. Hope that the chair has not counted the number that are in their jar before they left for lunch, and don’t take so many that it’s very obvious. Then once committee starts again, eat them slowly, making everyone around jealous and in awe of how you have earned so many of these divine, artificially flavoured, overly sweet candies.

Posted on by nayantarac

The Artfulness of Man

If you were to walk into a high school environment, girls are more likely to opt for art than boys. According to the National Museum of Women in the Arts, 70% of fine art bachelors degrees are done by women and 65-75% masters are done by women. Today, arts are generally considered feminine, and therefore inferior. But throughout history, a large majority of the great artists have been men. This incongruous gendering of the arts is something that has been a part of society for as long as art has existed, and its self-contradictory nature has perplexed many.

The role of gender stereotypes in art are very clearly related to the role of gender stereotypes in society. Men are generally considered more ambitious, confident, and authoritative whereas women are considered nurturing, compassionate, and empathetic. So, of course, the only things women are suited for are producing children. Historically, women have been confined to their homes and not been given opportunities to express themselves, which might be why male artists get so much more recognition than them. Generally, in societies men have been more noticed and respected than women. While this has been slowly changing, it has still affected our society’s understanding of a number of fields today – art being one of them.

But just because male artists are the ones who are the most famous, it doesn’t mean that women have not played a vital role in art over the years. According to the google dictionary, art can be defined as the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination in any form. Men are better known for their work as fine artists and musicians, simply because they were better educated than women. Knowledge of painting and music often came alongside education. Women, on the other hand, would learn skills such as textile making or cooking because these were practical skills used around households. Fine art, which is what men did, requires far more patience and technique (to a certain extent) and is therefore considered more intellectual. While decorative arts are also considered art forms today, traditional art was much more structured. Even many famous female chefs today, such as Nigella Lawson, are overshadowed by male ones like Gordon Ramsay. (Although this might just be because for some reason people enjoy watching a grown man throw abuse at people’s food on reality television.)

Furthermore, because of the patriarchal nature of our society, even when women created their own art, it was dismissed and they were not able to sell it or get any recognition for it. Take Frida Kahlo, for example – her life was pretty Kah-low to be honest, with her art disregarded, many near-death experiences, and a tumultuous relationship with her husband. But today, her paintings are sold for millions of dollars and appreciated all over the world – ‘Roots”, a self portrait, was sold was $5.62 million in 2006 at an auction in New York. So it’s not that Kahlo was less talented than Van Gogh or Monet, she just lived in a male-dominated society. Even today, female artists only make 74 cents for every dollar a man makes.

Although women were not allowed to express themselves nearly as much as they are now, they still played an important role in society and are depicted in many paintings. But the depiction of women is from a male perspective. For example, famous musicians, once again, are largely male. But in depictions of muses, the muse is always feminine. Muses act as symbols of enlightenment and creativity, which makes it ironic that a man depicts a woman in such a way. These muses are depicted as female deities, lovers, or mistresses, i.e. a woman that brings out the best in a man and ‘bestows greatness upon them’. The woman may be the object of the painting, but it is male hands that paint the picture of the woman. Because men’s opinions are always far more important than women’s, even when a matter does not concern them (cough, Alabama, cough).

Until the 20th century, women did not get much recognition as artists of any type. This was when many feminist movements came about and women got a stronger voice and started demanding more and more of their rights. Women starting teaching and studying in many art schools. These art schools became a strong center for all sorts of feminist activity and women started to be more represented in art. This is something that may have affected the perception of art as something feminine.

So while art has long been something that one would associate with other stereotypically female characteristics, well known artists are predominantly men. But then again, are there any fields where men aren’t more prevalent than women?