By Abel Vroegop Let’s talk about memes. What are memes? What is not a meme? Are memes important? When is a meme cool and good? As a meme connoisseur and regular meme maker, I will attempt to shed some light on these issues. Before we can talk about the impact of memes, we need a…
Runs, Puns, & Rewinds
by Krista Zwart We run this town. Running out of time. Running in circles. In the long run. Make a run for it. There are as many idioms and expressions that contain the verb to run as I have emotions for literally doing it. People often ask me why I do it, and each time I’ll…
The UCR Strategic Plan Discussion Evening – a Summary
By Anna Den Hollander, Noga Amiri and Gerjanne Hoek. Monday evening, 22 students met in C20 to discuss the strategic plan with Managing Director Jorrit Sneijder, and our Dean Bert van den Brink. As we students were only let in on the final product, and cannot claim much insight into the internal deliberations that preceded…
A Critical Perspective on the Strategic Plan 2017-2021
By Faye Bovelander Last week, our Dean, Bert van den Brink, and Managing Director, Jorrit Snijder, released the Strategic Plan UCR, 2017-2021 to the UCR community. This document contains the strategic agenda for the upcoming four years, specifying policy lines UCR management plans on pursuing. It comes following a year in which we saw our…
Being An American At UCR
By: Justine Watkins Ever since I made “the big move” I always get the questions why here, why the Netherlands, and more specifically, why Middelburg? Being from New York City people tend to think I have it all, who would want to leave the concrete streets, busy subways, horrible traffic, constant noise, and expensive upscale…
THEATRA’s Candide: the Best of All Possible Plays
Hello friends, it’s me again with a short yet sensual article about THEATRA’s upcoming Spring Play: Candide. This gem will be performed on Friday the 12th of May (week 14) in the Schouwburg at 20.30. Unlike the Christmas Plays, the Spring Play was not written by students; it was written by Scott Hunter. This is…
Suzanne Oostdam for HAC Bagijnhof Campus Elder
Can you introduce yourself? My name is Suzanne Oostdam. I am 20 years old and I am from Breda, which is the best city in Brabant. I’m not really sure what my major is yet, although I am going to be in my fourth semester. I am probably going to do something in Social Science…
LENSE Film Festival: Winners, Wonders and Witches
On April 6th, 2017, the seventh edition of the LENSE Film Festival takes place. Once more, the characteristic cinema in the Kloveniersdoelen in Middelburg becomes the centre for cinephiles, moviemakers, and film fanatics. Tonight, a number of six short films are shown, after which they battled for the numerous prizes up for grabs. UCR students,…
Nienke Raaijmakers for HAC Roggeveenhof Campus Elder
Can you introduce yourself? I’m Nienke Raaijmakers – I am 20 years old, and I am from Tilburg, in the south of the Netherlands. I study anthropology and psychology here; I am a social science major. I am a fourth semester, and I have lived in Roggeveen for almost a year. What position are you…
Professor Karas about his Utrecht University Outstanding Teacher Award
What does winning the Utrecht University Outstanding Teacher Award mean to you? Well, it is certainly a great honour to be recognised for the work. Especially in academia, where recognition is very important. However, I do also realise that, like in anything in the world, there is some luck involved. I can imagine that there…
‘Life Beyond the Bubble’
UCR’s alumni about transitioning from a UC program to a master at a regular university Do you believe that there is something more? Do you believe in life after UCR? I mean, I don’t want to be too dramatic here, but around your fifth semester you do start to wonder what life will have in…
UCR Musicians #4 – Thomas Hitchcock
My name is Thomas Hitchcock. I mainly play piano, the accordion, and I compose. What is your earliest music-related memory? When I was five, this kid, he was eight, showed me how to play Smoke on the Water. I thought he was really cool, being eight, and I was practicing those three or four notes…
Time to Party
If you have read any news article, sporadically scrolled through your Facebook feed or talked to anyone with an opinion, you have noted that the Dutch elections are nearing at an enormous pace. You might want to vote in these elections, or you are just generally interested and would like to be aware of what…
New Beginnings: An Interview With The PartyCo Board
On a sunny Wednesday afternoon, in the middle of midterms, I had a short and sweet interview with part of the PartyCo Board. The Chair, Secretary and PR manager took some time to let me in on the workings of their board and their philosophy. They also did not mind sharing a little bit about…
UCR Musicians #3 – Anne van Roozendaal
My name is Anne van Roozendaal. I mainly play the guitar, I sing, and I play a little bit of both the piano and the ukulele. What is your earliest music-related memory? My parents did a sort of experiment with me, when I was not even born yet. They played Street Spirit – Fade Out…
Humans of UCR – A Celebration of Our Diversity
Inspired by the world-famous Humans of New York project, I saw no better way to contribute to the diversity theme of this Tabula Rasa magazine than to take up such a project myself. I have always been intrigued by the fact that this wonderful world contains over 7 billion unique humans. Blessed with a rich…
UCR Musicians #2: Sam Max
My name is Sam Max. I play drums and percussion. What is your earliest music-related memory? I’ve played music for almost longer than I can remember, so it’s difficult to think back to when I started. I do remember playing drums in the attic when I was three, playing along to the Beatles. I was…
Academia: A Tormenting Taboo
With this dissertation, we would like to raise our voices for a very common disorder on which rests an unspeakable taboo: Academia. This Intellectually Transmittable Disease (ITD) is relatively unknown, but affects many of us, as it is easily transmitted via prolonged contact with nerds. An open day might already be sufficient to contaminate the…
UCR Musicians #1: Hannah Davita Ludikhuijze
My name is Hannah Davita Ludikhuijze, and I play the cello. What is your earliest music-related memory? Music was always very central in the house where I was growing up, it was always playing in the background. Music was and is very much my idea of home. Apparently, when I was just learning to walk,…
UCR Votes: We All Want Jesse
And Dutch voters reject the Wilders movement The UCR Votes project started in the sociology class “New Social and Political Movements”, taught by professor Vazquez. For this course, all students have to set up an outreach project. The idea was to raise political awareness amongst UCR students – not that we lack political opinions at…