Maria Green, Author at The Orbital

As anti-gay torture continues, we need to pay attention to Chechnya

30Mar

By Maria GreenNo Comments

News

As anti-gay torture continues, we need to pay attention to Chechnya

It's likely you'll remember the first wave of attacks on LGBT+ people in Chechnya, a federal subject of Russia, in April 2017. The independent Russian newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, reported that up to 100 people suspected of being gay were abducted and tortured as part of a coordinated government campaign. At least three men were reported to have been killed by this governmental scheme, but the actual number of victims is likely to be much higher. 'Honour killings' still take place in Chechnya, as individuals deemed to have dishonoured their family by being LGBT+ are sometimes killed by a family member. While some gay men have been able to flee Chechnya and tell their stories, others in the LGBT+ community desperately need media attention, activism, and governmental help. Since December ...

Lily Parr: the lesbian football icon I didn’t know I needed

24Mar

By Maria GreenNo Comments

Culture & Literature, News

Lily Parr: the lesbian football icon I didn’t know I needed

I'll start off by saying that I don't like sports. I have little to no knowledge about most sports, P.E. was my least favourite lesson at school, and I spent the majority of Sports Days at home 'sick'. But while brainstorming ideas for this LGBT+ issue of Orbital and researching how many premier league footballers have come out as gay (hint: really, really not many at all), I stumbled across a woman who has now introduced me to the incredible history of women's football. Lily Parr's football career began in 1919, at a time when the popularity of women's football was at an unprecedented high, until the Football Association banned women from playing on their member grounds in 1921 (due to women's teams playing charity matches to raise money for the families of striking miners, and also...

10 films and TV shows that would be better if they were gay

24Mar

By Maria GreenNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Film & TV

10 films and TV shows that would be better if they were gay

Love Island It would just be better, right? High School Musical If Chad and Ryan's homoerotic performance of 'I Don't Dance' in HSM 2 didn't convince you something steamy was going on in the locker room after that baseball game, I don't know what will. Titanic ‘Jackie, I want you to draw me like one of your French girls’. To All The Boys I've Loved Before This could be a great bisexual one. Stick a few girls in. You'd have to change the title I guess, but it would be worth it. Gilmore Girls Some people preferred Dean, others preferred Jess, and Logan was there too, but there should be one thing that we can all agree on: Paris should have been gay. Whether or not Rory should have ended up with Paris is up for deb...

BBC Music Introducing Live: Making it in Today’s Industry

7Nov

By Maria GreenNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Music

BBC Music Introducing Live: Making it in Today’s Industry

BBC Music Introducing Live invites aspiring artists, producers and music managers to their three-day event where attendees will learn everything about how to get into the ever-changing music industry. Held at London’s Tobacco Dock on 8-10 November 2018, BBC Music Introducing Live features talks, panels, performances, masterclasses and more, to inspire 15,000 future music industry leaders. BBC Introducing are giving young creatives the opportunity to meet the biggest names in the industry, including brands, record labels, streaming services, artists, BBC DJs and producers. As well as live performances with Ben Howard, Deadmau5, Duke Dumont, Tom Grennan and more, the event includes a UK music careers fair, bars, markets, and surprise performances. BBC Music Introducing Live is th...

25Oct

By Maria GreenNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Music

Introducing: Lesedi

So perhaps we can start with you guys introducing yourselves. Who are you, what do you play and what do you study? E: I'm Eve! I play sax, flute, and sing, and I study music along with Dan and Tom. D: I’m Dan, I’m going into my second year studying music and I play keys for the band. T: I'm Tom, I'm also going into second year and I'm the drummer! Awesome! Did you all meet on the music course at Royal Holloway? D: Yes we did! It didn’t take us long to realise we were all interested in similar things, and Eve approached Tom and I and asked us to start a band with her! T: We mainly play funk music, which ranges from covers to originals but we also cover rock, pop and plenty of genres in-between. An interesting mix then! Who are your greatest influence...

4Feb

By Maria GreenNo Comments

News

UCU Strike Action at Royal Holloway

The University and College Union (UCU) has announced that 61 universities will be taking part in 14 strike dates, beginning with a two-day walkout on 22 and 23 February. The UCU represents over 110,000 people in universities, colleges, prisons, adult education and training organisations across the UK, and is the largest staff trade union at Royal Holloway. 61 universities, including Royal Holloway, are protesting in response to proposed changes to the USS pension scheme: the largest pension scheme for higher education institutions in the UK. The 14 days of industrial action were announced on January 29. The two-day walkout on 22 and 23 February will escalate to three, four and five day strikes in the following weeks (26-28 February, 5-8 March, 12-16 March). On 23 January, the J...

Plans to build student accommodation in Egham town centre rejected by Council

3Jan

By Maria GreenNo Comments

News

Plans to build student accommodation in Egham town centre rejected by Council

Runnymede Borough Council (RBC) has refused plans to build 105 student accommodation units in Egham. The decision, made on December 6, comes after proposals made in July 2017 to demolish existing buildings and construct student units at 40 and 41 High Street. The accommodation units, which would have housed Royal Holloway students, have been a topic of controversy among Egham locals. Chris Fisher, planning co-ordinator of the Egham Residents’ Association, described the RBC’s decision as a “rare and encouraging victory”. Fisher has previously claimed that “Egham is relentlessly being turned into a further campus of Royal Holloway." The RBC stated that the proposal was refused because of its “scale and height compared to surrounding buildings”, adding that the units would “fai...

Royal Holloway students win technology competition

29Nov

By Maria GreenNo Comments

News

Royal Holloway students win technology competition

A team of five Royal Holloway students have won the Cisco University Challenge. At the annual event, over 70 students from the UK’s top universities compete against each other in a two-day hackathon: a competition in which teams of developers build products to address a set of challenges. This year, Royal Holloway sent two teams of students to Feltham to compete in the challenge that took place on the 26th – 27th October. The winning team, referred to as Team Shark, comprised of Megan Goh, Hugh Wells, Dulcie Jackson, Awen Saunders and Shaurya Puri. The winning team’s entry to the competition was a programme called TrainShark, aimed at improving IT throughout the rail network in the UK. Their programme would allow train passengers to determine which carriage is least crowded befor...

Football coach from Staines jailed for attempt to meet underage girl for sex

25Nov

By Maria GreenNo Comments

News

Football coach from Staines jailed for attempt to meet underage girl for sex

Ashley Emery, 44, has been jailed for a year for attempting to meet a 15-year old girl for sex. The football coach from Staines-upon-Thames was exposed by two vigilantes from the Internet Interceptors Group after they posed as a fictional school girl through messages. After exchanging sexual messages, Emery suggested they meet in central London, where he was confronted with two ‘paedophile hunters’ instead of a child. They filmed the encounter and posted the 10-minute clip on Youtube, in which Emery can be seen sitting with his head in his hands on a bench outside Parliament. The film was then given to police. Emery was convicted in September after a trial at Southwark Crown Court, and was sentenced to 12 months in prison on 3 November. He has also been made subject of a sexual ha...

It’s time to commit to a loving relationship with yourself

8Dec

By Maria GreenNo Comments

Opinion

It’s time to commit to a loving relationship with yourself

Maria Green discusses the importance of body positivity in women Many young people in this country will have struggled with body image at least once during their lives. A study conducted two decades ago highlights the effects of the media on our perceived self-worth: until mid-1995, the Nadroga province of Fiji had not been exposed to Western television, and there was a distinct lack of body image issues. Three years after Western television was introduced, eating disorders emerged and many girls expressed an interest in weight loss to look more like the American TV characters. This information is nothing new, yet we still put ourselves down about our figures. We know we feel bad about ourselves because we look different from those worshipped in the media, yet often, we do nothing about...