From left to right: Bram Jaarsma (AC member), Henriëtte Hoogervorst (SC member), Daniël Janssen (AC Chair; EB member), Tessa van Hoorn (SC member; EB Secretary), Bob van de Mortel (AC member), Janine de Jong (SC member), Haris Kalic (SC member; EB Treasurer), Geke Hasperhoven (AC member; EB Chair). (not on the picture: Joe Carpenter…
Jelly Rats
By Sanne Tol Is it Halloween yet? A picture for the strongly stomached: no it is not a gummy rat gone bad, it is an actual see-through rat. Scientists have developed a new technique of making rats transparent, allowing them to see more anatomical detail than ever before. These details are necessary for high…
The Language Requirement: A benefit to your UCR career?
By: Marijn Thijs It is one of those topics that students generally love to hate: the Language Requirement. Commonly, students have a hard time completing this requirement in time or are not motivated to do so. Many have also failed an entrance exam to a language course at least once during their UCR career. So…
Fortress Europe: Our New Ancestral Customs
By Peter Williamson Imagine you are living your life in one of the current conflict zones around the planet. Take your pick, there are dozens. You see people dying of preventable diseases; you can no longer live as a fisherman because European trawlers have driven fish populations in your area near to extinction. People being…
#UmbrellaRevolution: Democracy in Hong Kong
by Marijse van den Berg Over the past few weeks, protesters have taken to the streets in Hong Kong to fight for political freedom. One might ask if, being part of The People’s Republic of China (PCR), Hong Kong can achieve any form of freedom at all. In order to be able to understand the…
Offensive Fashion
By Anita Bielicka In light of the latest uproar concerning the “Kent State University” sweater by Urban Outfitters— which was made in a vintage design and splattered with fake blood, causing one to remember the shooting that took place in 1970— it is interesting to explore some of the rather controversial fashion items that have…
“Banks: the true Goddess of contemporary music”
Album Review By Eden van der Moere Every once in a while, a debut album comes along that is truly magnetizing. Goddess, the debut album of solo-artist Banks, is such an album. Banks is an upcoming young singer-songwriter from California—and not the most traditional one. Instead of only using a guitar, a microphone and a…
The Middelburg Mindset
By Maddy Slot As you see the sun set in Middelburg while you stroll around the city, you wonder how people who have lived here all their lives see it. You wonder whether they, too, think of Middelburg as a bubble, a city in the middle of nowhere. The students of UCR only see a…
Burning Man
By Agate Rublovksa The Black Rock Desert sun hangs heavily above your head. The heat is excruciating. The empty void of desert surrounds you—under your feet, there is nothing but hot sand and dust, and above your head, a clear, blue sky. At a distance, there are art installations that seem to emerge from the…
The Open Mic
By Merlijn Veltman Humanity has always had a fondness of performing on stage, whether it was a musical performance, theatre, or even sports. We like putting ourselves out there, and show the world our talents. The ancient Persians showed their archery skills, the Greeks their theatre and their music in competitions, the Romans their…
FGM: More Widespread Than You Think
By Aimah Moiz Sakina was thirteen years old when the village circumciser came to her house and cut off her clitoris. As she bled and throbbed in pain her mother congratulated her, for she had now officially become a ‘woman’. Sakina is just one of the 125 million girls and women who have undergone female…
The (lack of) Scottish Independence
What did the Scottish Referendum achieve? By Dan Hasan Being home to only a handful of Scots and a minority of Brits, it seemed UCR was largely unshaken by the events of the referendum on Thursday 18th September and it is unlikely that the date will go down in history as far as most UCR…
THE INTERNET ON FIRE: Journalists vs. Gamers
By Simon Giesen If you have visited any large forum, image board or social network (such as Reddit, Tumblr or 4chan) over the last month, you will undoubtedly have encountered one of the largest controversies the internet has ever witnessed, involving some of its most (in)famous personalities and celebrities. The event began in August…
With the World in One Hand and a Bolus in the Other
By: Laura van der Laan On November 12, 2014, the whole of Middelburg will gather; the young and the old, the professors and the businessmen, the shop owners and students; all in order to explore a concept that has become increasingly important in our highly industrialized and modern world: sustainability. The term sustainability has been…