Emma Holly, Author at The Orbital

“I don’t recognise my country”: Orbital Reacts to Roe v Wade

27Jun

By Emma HollyNo Comments

Features, News, Opinion

“I don’t recognise my country”: Orbital Reacts to Roe v Wade

“We are better than this”, my mother says. “I don’t recognise my country.” I can’t help but agree. Because this isn’t what the United States of America should be. This is not what it was founded on. This is not a reflection of its population’s views. This is an act of ostracisation in the pursuit of control. This is not democracy. There have been many times in recent years that I’ve been embarrassed by my country, by my accent and by my passport. Friday’s overturn of the Roe v Wade ruling topped everything else (a high boundary to break after the election of our last president). Equality, that often-distant dream, felt obtainable. We could see it off in the distance, and if we could just get a bit closer, keep moving forward, then maybe we could reach it, touch it, smell it, lick...

12May

By Emma HollyNo Comments

News, Opinion

Dying For Help

People are being ignored amidst a mental health pandemic By Emma Holly There’s nothing quite like the feeling when you hear that the waiting list is eighteen months long. A molten liquid spreads through you, and you think you might vomit. You are the little person waving from their desert island, realising that your S.O.S. message got washed away by the sea. You don’t quite know if you can make it through today, let alone the next 547 of them. It feels as though you are the sole being on the planet who is experiencing this. Of course, you are not. In the wake of the pandemic, the demand on the NHS for mental health help has been at an all-time high. An estimated ten million more people are predicted to need help within the next three to five years as a result of th...

6Feb

By Emma HollyNo Comments

Creative Writing

A New Heart Moved In

What happened to my well-trodden pathway Of certainty and the pungent cologne Do I not take part, or possess a say? Masculinity is my comfort zone Femininity is cryptic, who knows And, mum, I'm scared shitless at this newness, Because my best friend gives me tornadoes In place of butterflies and I'm clueless. Dad, I thought I knew what was going on Walk me down the aisle to the unknown Won't know who I love 'till I'm too far gone I'm an atheist praying; I'll atone Now I find myself fumbling at the edge of an oblivion only I know. Photo by Marc A. Sporys on Unsplash

13Nov

By Emma HollyNo Comments

News, Opinion

Taking Up Space (and Keeping it)

When Roxane Gay said that “weight loss, thinness really, was a social currency”, she hit the unfortunate nail on the even more unfortunate head. It’s a currency I lack, along with roughly two billion overweight others. Weight loss is a powerful industry and has the world within its grip; if it’s not fat-free yoghurt, it’s the brand new meal-replacement smoothie. If it’s not that, it’s fatphobia. Fatphobia is described as a “fear of fatness”, which is shocking enough itself. It gets more disturbing when you realise that the vast majority of fat people have had experiences with it. Although there isn’t one specific cause of fatphobia, the media has played an important role in its rapid expansion. Quite frankly, the media is obsessed with weight. Rebel Wilson is on a diet? You can hear th...