Health week FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED INSIDE!

Sustainability Day 22nd March More info inside ------->

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March 2012March 2012

Bedford and Shuttleworth College Student Magazine

What’s coming up?

Money Week

12th - 16th March

Careers Week

19th - 23rd March

Diary of an Upriser, Film

Reviews, Culture,

Fashion and much more!

Sustainability Day – Thursday 22nd March 2012 by Linda Di Marco

An exciting day will take place at Bedford College on the 22nd March this year.

Sustainability Day will comprise of lots of different fun and enjoyable events for everyone. There will be a Photography Competition, where the theme of the brief given will be ‘Litter’. Participants must submit their photographic entries the day before on the 21st March, the deadline for all entries. If you wish to take part in this prestigious competition, send your entries to kluxton@bedford.ac.uk. The winner will receive an iTunes card to the value of £15. So, if you wish to enjoy some good music, make sure that your entry is literally ‘rubbish’!

On the day itself, there will be tutorials on how to make ‘solar ovens’. The recipe for how to make a solar oven goes like this: place a cardboard box within another cardboard box, wrap it up in newspaper, paint it black and cover it in Bacofoil. This way, you can generate your own electricity via solar power.

There will be a stall held by the Marston Vale Forest Centre, who will showcase and talk about everything to do with wildlife and the environment. A group of people from Shuttleworth College will also come to plant trees on a reserved soil patch and there will also be a stall offering seeds so that you can learn how to plant your own vegetables. If you have always wanted to know how to grow vegetables the organic way, this group will show you how.

You can bring in your old clothes and customize them into something new. Transform them into new products like soft toys and tea cosies by using embroidery and sewing skills and attaching haberdashery embellishments like beads, buttons and sequins on to them.

Design your own eco-friendly fabric bag and colour it in however you choose by using fabric paints and pens. You will also be able to make your own jewellery out of given sustainable materials.

Dr. Bike will be present on the day to give your bike a health check to ensure that it is in working order. He will examine and test out parts of the bike including the brakes, the gears and so on. We will also be on hand to offer advice as the Green Makeover Clinic on how to keep the cost of your energy bills down and how to conserve energy in the home. Free energy-saving light bulbs will be given away. The Sustainability Olympics will also take place on the day. Sports events being held include ten-pin bowling, a basketball competition to see how many hoops you can shoot the ball through and a rowing/cycling competition called ‘What’s Your Watts?’, to see which rowers and cyclists are the most capable of producing the most watts. Write your pledge for the environment for the ‘Pledge Competition’ on a small piece of paper and we will stick each written pledge onto a tree painted onto a wall to form the leaves. Sign up your classes to attend Sustainability Day on Thursday 22nd March. This is a not-to-be missed event for all students attending Bedford College. Please also bring in your empty egg boxes (to fill with vegetable seeds), your plastic bottles and drink cans (to build mini ‘green houses’) and bring in your old clothes to customize into a new garment, product or a fabric bag. Learn about how to respect and care for the environment on this day and drop off your items at the Brundtland Building Office. For more information about Sustainability Day, visit our website at www.greenbedfordcollege.com.

Bedford and Shuttleworth college health week - 20th - 24th February 2012

Thanks to all involved in Health Week! We hope you enjoyed it, learnt something new and feel healthier!

The Artist: In Cinemas Now

Do you care about the Oscars? It's not really an English thing, is it. It might filter though. You

almost certainly know Harry Potter, now officially, got nothing. You might even have been raging

because a film about some old Prime Minister got the award for best make up over Harry.

And you know, yeah, Harry not getting anything was pathetic snobbery. But there's a reason

that that isn't the main story this year, and that reason is down to one man whose surname

sounds a little bit like Sid Vicious: Michel Hazanavicius, aka that French guy with the black and

white silent movie which nobody cares about.

Only people do care. A lot of people care. The Oscars lot certainly care - it grabbed five awards,

including the big three of Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Film. It didn't get them because

The Oscars are voted for by a bunch of old people (though they are) or because there was a

snobby delight in doing so (though there is); no. The Artist got all those awards because, unlike

so many other Oscar winners, it truly deserved them.

Take a look at the calendar. It's March, you know that? It's pretty intoxicating to be in March

and to know we've already seen the best movie of the year. It's pretty intoxicating to become so

wrapped in a film that you forget it's in black and white, has no talking, with an image that

doesn't even cover the whole screen.

Three days later and you'll be trying to work out what was missing that made it so extraordinary:

and that's the point. There isn't anything missing. In fact next time you spend your dad's hard

earned cash, you'll be trying to work out what's missing in the majority of modern films.

Because The Artist truly has everything you could ever need.

So it's a silent, so it's a black and white, so what? Is everything you've never experienced crap

just because you've never experienced it? Feels pretty stupid to realise you've been thinking

like that, doesn't it. Open your eyes. Grab a ticket.

The Artist will do everything for you.

FILM & CINEMA review’s by Han Quintrell

Discovery Special: Introduction To The Silent World

So the silent movie game is all the buzz in the media and even we've shoved it down your

throat now so would we kindly shut up?

No. No we won't.

Instead here's a quick masterclass of three geniuses of silent cinema, one whose face you

think you know, and the other two who may be completely new:

Harold Lloyd - Where to start: Safety Last!

There's a famous picture of a guy hanging from

the arm of a clock-face the height of Big Ben.

Bonus points if you recognise the image from last

year's Hugo, a love-note to early cinema from the

man who brought the world Goodfellas. No,

seriously.

The picture isn't a mockery, or a Photoshop, or

any of that rot. That picture was taken in 1923

and is actually a still from Harold Lloyd's most

famous film, Safety Last!

We'll give you a second to guess why it's most famous.

Got there yet? Guys, he's hanging off a clock in the middle of the air.

We're not going to reveal to you how he managed to actually do this stunt without dying, as this

was the hardcore days where film stars were serious clowns who did the hard work

themselves. Where would the fun be in that?

DISCOVERY : reliving films from the past by Han Quintrell

Continued on next page...

Buster Keaton - Where to Start: Steamboat Bill Jr

OK, alright, we'll tell you how they do those stunts - ready? They just did them.

Very few tricks of the light in early cinema, see. Very few mechanical tricks at all, in fact. There

was a reason the stars of the day were truly stars.

If the majority were stars then Buster would be the asteroid, hurtling around in aimless beauty

as he crashed down to earth in a spectacularly orbit each time. You had no idea how funny

watching someone fall over is until you've seen this guy do it. Now the more forgotten of the

three, Buster did have his own hanging-off-the-clock moment in 1928's Steamboat Bill Jr, where

a house fell on him. A two-ton prop house literally fell on him. And he survived. And it was

Buster, the star himself, doing the stunt. No games. No lies. Put it into Youtube.

It has to be seen - several times - to be believed.

Charlie Chaplin - Where To Start: The Great Dictator OR The Kid

Here's the one you've been waiting for, the name you know. Funny little man with the Hitler

moustache and the walking stick, right? Yeah, that's him. That's all he ever was, right? Throwing

custard pies and things? Yeah. That stopped being funny when we were six. Shame his films are

silent really, and that he can't do fart jokes, because man, they never get old.

Hold on a minute, though. What about The Kid, where he teams up with a five-year-old boy and

has you sobbing with every single emotion. Actually, what about that time he made what was

then known as a talkie?

It was called The Great Dictator, and it was about Charlie being the only man in Hollywood to

have the balls to take on Hitler, playing a thinly-veiled version of the living devil because

Charlie's half-brother's Dad was Jewish, and to top it off this Hitler git had stolen Charlie's whole

toothbrush moustache thing. Hell, there was no way he was going to let that slide.

So why do you recognise Charlie and not the other two? Simple. Buster and Harold were

amongst the brightest stars of their day, but Charlie's a supernova. The man was a genius to

rival Sherlock Holmes, The Doctor, and Einstein, all in one. Oh, and did you know he came from

London routes so poor that he once literally lived in the poor house?

Check back next issue and we'll tell you more. Not convinced? Oh, alright. We'll be looking at

the time Robert Downey Jr almost won his own Oscar portraying this great man.

Isn't it nice when things come full circle?

Catalonia is not Spain by Veronica Martin

Some people think that Catalonia is Spain. Well, in fact, Catalonia is part of Spain. It's

actually a piece of land belonged to Spain, but Catalan people fight every day since the

Middle Ages in order to achieve their goal: being independent from the Iberian Peninsula.

A long time ago Catalonia had its own laws, rights, Government, Constitution and even King!

We conquered the south of France, Perpignan and Roussillon, Sardinia, Andorra, Sicily,

Valencia and Balearic Islands, all places where Catalan is still spoken.

It's really weird going to little villages in the north of Sardinia, Italy and

communicating in your native language!

Even whether we are still being directed by the Spanish Central

Government we keep up our different culture and traditions aside from

the nationwide festivities.

Castellers: The "Castells" are human towers, a really astonishing tradition that last year was

declared Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Sardana: La "Sardana" is Catalonia's national dance. It's a

circle of people linked by hands with raised arms which

grow bigger and bigger as more people join in. Its name

comes from Catalan occupation of Sardinia.

Gegants and Capgrossos: The “Giants” are hollow festival figures usually three or four meters

tall representing Christian and Muslim Queens and Kings. Giants come out on local festivities to

dance on the streets. The "Capgrossos" are the festival figures with huge heads that are worn

on the head and shoulders and the person wearing a "capgrosso" looks out through the mouth

opening. They are made out of papier-maché.

The treatment of Catalans in Spain's political history is quite similar to Welsh. Both Imperialist

States claim for self- determination which means more power in their political decisions.

Emotional, historical and economical reasons are the main motivations that push Catalans to

fight until achieve the recognition of an independent nation.

There's a really interesting documentary (in English) that could make people understand the

main problem from a neutral point of view: "Spain's secret conflict" http://vimeo.com/24052492

UpRising: My Time So Far

During the last two months, I have participated in a number of activities and events connected as part of my time with the UpRising leadership programme. In January, we visited different places of worship located in Queen’s Park as part of an Interfaith Tour. The first building we visited was the Gurdwara (Sikh temple). It dominates the skyline in Bedford and it is one of the most beautiful examples of architecture in Bedford. When you visit, you must wear a head covering and take your shoes of f as you enter the building. Norman Ash, a convert to Sikhism, talked to us about the Sikh religion and talked about the ten Gurus who formed Sikhism and The Five K’s - the Sikh dress code and faith articles. Later, we went to the All Saints Church. It was freezing in there. The Reverend Jay McLeod talked about the Church of England faith. He has created a lot of projects in collaboration with the Gurdwara and the nearby mosque. These have included interfaith sports teams who play basketball and cricket. He also arranges trips to the Holy Land. He has done much to improve community relations and this Interfaith Tour was an example of how potential leaders can make their communities better. The final and third part of the Interfaith Tour concluded with a visit to the mosque not far away from the church. Imam Hafiz Abdul Quadeer talked to us about the Islamic religion, the Five Pillars of Islam and the prejudice towards Islam through ignorance. He also taught us how to

pray in a mosque the Islamic way and taught us some letters of the Arabic alphabet. We also had learning sessions based in London on three core subjects: Public Speaking, Project Management and Conflict Resolution. Before Christmas, we went to a top law firm, Allen & Overy for the learning session on Public Speaking. The speakers included Lord Gus MacDonald and Phil Collins (no, not that ONE!), Tony Blair’s former speech writer. Topics touched upon

By Linda Di Marco

included the importance of communication through social networking sites like Twitter and how to write and execute a good speech in front of an audience.

Unfortunately I missed about twenty minutes of the second learning session held at the London Business School due to getting lost with two other UpRisers on the Underground. This session was about Project Management. The last learning session in London that I attended was held at another law firm - Wragge and Co. - and the speakers there talked about the most com-monly used methods of conflict resolution in a professional setting. They were litigation, negotia-tion, arbitration and mediation. Dean Atta, an UpRising alumni, also read two poems inspired by the Stephen Lawrence murder and the riots last summer. Afterwards, some of us stayed behind for a social at the Cittie of York pub for a drink. I was one of them because I wanted to get to know the UpRisers from London. We also did two presentation of our social action campaign, which is called Ethnic Mosaic; one was held at The Pilgrim House (The Bedford Charity headquarters) in front of an audience which included the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords, Labour peer Baroness Roy-all. The other was at the Borough Hall council chambers and in front of Mayor Dave Hodgson. I also attended the optional training session on Business Planning, held at the Corn Exchange led by Alison Peacock, Natwest bank manager. Unfortunately I forgot all about attending the train-ing session about Conflict Resolution, held at the University of Bedfordshire. That was meant to be an extension of our learning session at Wragge and Co. Our local Conservative MP for Bedford and Kempston Richard Fuller was generous enough to treat us to dinner at the Bengal Brasserie Indian restaurant at The Broadway. A buffet was served, featuring such delights as Chicken Tikka, chicken, lamb and vegetable curries, pilau rice, onion bhajis and naan bread with soft drinks also provided. The food was delicious and Richard was a nice guy to talk to and really funny as well. He filled us in on his schedule for last week and the upcoming week and we talked to him about the progress we are making in our social action campaigns. We are making great progress as Ethnic Mosaic through regular meetings at each other’s houses and planning our actions for the events we are going to hold. I have met some great people as part of this group - a music producer called Ru who has a studio in Cranfield called ‘The Lost Boys’. He is going to help us with the production of a film we are going to make. Laura Pottinger, who works as an Audience Developer for Bedford Museum, temporarily located in a different office due to the ongoing redevelopment work happening there, who talked us through the cultural and practical side of our tasks. Both were really cool.

So far, I am enjoying my time on the UpRising Leadership programme. I would never have met all these wonderful people if it wasn’t for that, nor have learned new skills along the way. It is also good to see how our project progresses. I will further inform you of developments in later editions.

ON TREND -The latest affordable fashion! PASTELS : DENIM

River Island £20

Top Shop £25

Dorothy Perkins £25

One For The Boys! Jumper, River Island £35 Chinos, Topman - £35 Trainers, Fred Perry @ Schuh - £45

>Interested in Fashion? Want to decide what’s hot and what’s not? If you want to be involved in this section of the magazine please email mag.student@bedford.ac.uk for more information<

River Island £4.50

Top Shop £5

ACCESSORIES - nails

Barry M £3.99

New Look £16.99

Nails Inc £9.90

Want to represent the college on the next open day? Email epunter@bedford.ac.uk or find Ellen in the library

10am - 4pm in the Sports

Hall, Thurs 22nd

March

Careers week @ bedford 19th - 23rd march, careers fair - 9am - 2pm in the mezz, competitions, break activities and careers group work. For more info pop into student services

EVENTS AND AWARENESS WEEKS

COMING UP

THE STUDENT WELLBEING

ZONE Bedford College

NEED ADVICE on Sexual health, giving up smoking or drugs and information about alcohol? the Student Services team are here to support you! We have drop - ins at Yourspace (the common room building) Monday - Friday Brook contraception and sexual health clinic (and free Chlamydia testing) every

Under 25? Sign up

to the FREE NHS

C-CARD Scheme

and receive Free

Condoms and

Chlamydia Kits

anywhere showing

the C-CARD sign

above (including the

College) For more

information find

Lucy in Yourspace or

Luke at Kempston

YOURSPACE - Opening Hours Monday to Thursday: 8:30am - 4pm Fridays: 8:30am - 3pm

These times maybe subject to change

Thursday lunchtime.

The Team:

Student Contributors: Veronica Martin Linda Di Marco Han Quintrell All those students who helped at the Health Fair

Additional thanks to Student Services >If you want to get involved in the student magazine project please email mag.student@bedford.ac.uk for

more information<

Shuttleworth Student Wellbeing

Drop into Student Services between 9am – 5pm For Information on sexual health, mental health,

enrichment and sporting activities.

We also have a free condom distribution scheme, help with drugs and alcohol and support to stop you smoking.