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Showing posts from 2018

Strength

I have had the most incredible three weeks. I have always dreamt of becoming a journalist. You'll know this if you have been reading this blog for a while, but ever since I was in year 9 or so, I have wanted to be working in a newsroom. For the last three weeks I have been doing work experience at The Sun. I have been working on news, sport and showbiz and each desk has been fabulous. They have allowed me to write pieces in the paper and take on challenges that I haven't been able to before. I finish my time at the national paper today but last night was the peak of my experience here. Last year I was in a pretty bad place and I listened to Dua Lipa on repeat. No joke, ask my housemates. The artist really helped me through a shit time and last night I saw her live. But on top of this I got sent there by The Sun for free. My heart was so full that this year had come full circle. From questioning my career choice as it had lost me a boyfriend in January to in December dancing

Is the sporting world sending fans the wrong message?

In recent weeks three sports stars have been under the microscope for their actions on and off the sporting stage. In my opinion, behaviour on and off the itch should be to the highest standard for any sportsman due to their position of being a role model. Their wages also speak to what expectation they need to live up to. So what has been happening in the world of sport? Ben Stokes, the cricketer, was in court being accused of affray. The sports star was caught on camera continuously punching a man in the street with a teammate kicking the same man. The pair left him unconscious. The court found him not guilty and due to this the cricket board have contemplated looking over the his case but after the India test match so Stokes was free to play in the last match on the world stage despite the violence he inflicted. Stokes was caught on camera throwing punches in public. I don't know much about the game of cricket but I know that this is not standard for their boards. Recently,

July.

Every time I have posted on my blog about a good time in my life it has revolved around a boyfriend. I always preach about being independent etc but my life in the past has only ever felt completely happy if I was with a boy. Now I admit that I do miss being in a relationship (this doesn't mean I miss my ex, he is an idiot) but this last month has proved to me that I can be unapologetically happy alone. July 2018 has been the best month of my life, I have achieved the goals and dreams I had always set out to do and I have done that on my own, of course with help of family and friends, but it's a personal achievement and that's a fact that I am so proud of. I've always had a plan for my life and I have ticked off two major things from that list in July. The first was visiting my dream destination: New York City. Now I have my parents to thank for this one, it was their 21st birthday present to me and let me tell you it smashed my expectation! And the second was graduati

An ode to The Michalaks

If you know me well then you know that watching The Michalaks vlogs is part of my Sunday routine. Watching their 20 or so minute vlogs takes me out of my own life and transported into theirs and it's strangely therapeutic. But I am not here to talk about me today, oh no. I'm here to talk about The Michalaks, a family of four made up of Dad Stefan, Mum Hannah and their sons Grayson and Rufus. I've been watching their YouTube channel for three years now and I have observed three things as to why loyal viewers such as myself continue to watch them meaning they can have a continued career on YouTube. The first is their authenticity. In a recent video Stefan expressed to his audience that the family's viewing figures had taken a bit of a hit in recent months. Now upon seeing these figures many Youtubers would revert back to the old style they made videos in order to regain views and in turn money. However, although their views had been depleted by a few thousand, The Micha

Mental health and social media

I have documented my own mental health on my blog extensively throughout the last few years. I suffer with anxiety but fortunately for me it is not life changing and I only have a slight disorder. Saying this, when I wake up I don't actually know whether the day will be a good or bad one. One day I will be the most care free person and the next I will worry about everything. This is difficult for me to deal with and so I can only imagine what others go through with severe anxiety disorders, depression, OCD and all the other challenging mental health issues thousands of people tackle every day. I wanted to write about this subject matter today because I woke up to the news that Sophie Gradon, from series 2 of Love Island, had passed away. Her cause of death has not been confirmed but many of her friends on social media have implied that Sophie committed suicide. This has hit me quite hard, I do not know her personally but I absolutely loved her when she was on Love Island and she

Queer Eye and why it's a revelation

Queer Eye has been constantly criticized, mainly when it first came out, that the show was just pandering to gay stereotypes. I heard this criticism before I watched a single episode so I had an idea of the series before I began to watch it. However, since watching the show I could not disagree with these criticisms more if I tried. Yes, the gay men on the show specialise in style, interior design and grooming but this isn't what the show is about. Of course they are advising clients and changing their homes but at its core the show is about how it is okay to just be you. Do not apologise to be you is the main message in every single episode, whether they are helping a straight man, woman, gay man or trans man. They treat everyone the same and this should be what the media focus on and I think mainstream media is beginning to get it. The new series is what I have completely fallen in love with. I adored the fab five before, in the rebooted version of the show on Netflix, but i

Dear Piers Morgan...

I know you say outrageous things in interviews, whilst presenting and in your tweets for a reaction and even by me writing this post I'm pandering to your immature journalism but this time I can't hold my tongue. One of your recent tweets discussed how women shouldn't complain about being objectified if they wear an outfit that highlighted their legs or cleavage. This statement is quite frankly stupid. Why can't women wear something that makes them feel confident and sexy within themselves? Are men not capable of controlling themselves? At university I have worn many outfits to make MYSELF feel good, not to impress men, and all of my male friends have been respectful. Nicola Thorpe would be well within her right to 'complain' if a anyone, not just men, made a sexist remark to her for wearing what she wants to wear. Another tweet that I just thought was ludicrous was the one where you blamed Raheem Sterling for Prince George playing with a toy gun. This I am aw

What is ASMR?

My anxiety in recent times has been getting worse, especially just before I go to sleep. For some reason my brain likes to remind me of the worst possible outcomes of all the situations happening in my life. Due to this I've been having trouble sleeping and when this happens I turn to my phone out of boredom. One night I was scrolling through my Youtube homepage and one of my favourite Youtubers, Melanie Murphy, had posted a video including ASMR which I had no knowledge of previous to this. I starting researching all around this subject and this post is based around what I found out and what affects it has had upon myself and my anxiety. ASMR stands for autonomous sensory meridian response. This sounds very complex but really its videos featuring visuals and sounds that calms the person watching and sometimes gives you goosebumps. Many of the videos may come across as strange to begin with, the rolepays and the personal attention especially, but I urge you to try them out and fin

My passion for rugby

So many people ask me why I have such a huge amount of passion for rugby and there are so many reasons for it. The first being that it was something that I grew up with. One of my earliest memories is watching an England match with my mum who was screaming at the telly as a penalty didn't go our way, something many of my friends and family witness me doing now I'm older and understand the game. However, my family only ever watched international matches and it wasn't until I was in year 11 that I embraced the club side of rugby. The superficial reason this passion began for club rugby was my love for the player Owen Farrell. To this day he is my favourite and I did fan girl a lot when I met him. Whilst watching an England game the stats came up on the screen and highlighted each players club. Saracens is who Farrell played for and continues to play for today. BT sport had just began to show premiership matches on the TV so I sat down to watch, supporting Sarries for Farrel

Thirteen Reasons Why: Season 2

It has been a long while since the last time I posted on here. I have been facing some writers block along with completing my degree, but I'm back now. Now I have free time, not chained to my laptop writing endless essays, I've binge watched a lot of TV. The most recent series that I have watched is Thirteen Reasons Why and I have some opinions on the latest season that I wanted to share. If you have not watched it yet please do not read this as this post will contain a lot of spoilers. I want to begin with the only big negative that I took away from this season. The season concludes with Tyler arriving at the school with an array of guns ready to shoot his fellow classmates. The process in which they showed Tyler's progression to get to this state of mind was well acted and written, making you feel empathy for Tyler and willing him not to go through with his hideous plan. However, the aspect that the creators did not shed a light on is how Tyler came into possession of

To my Southampton lads

If you know me then you'll know that any conversation that isn't overly sarcastic, a debate or small talk makes me slightly uncomfortable and awkward. What I've wanted to say to my housemates, that I'm about to relay in this post, has either come out through drunken messages or sarcastic comments. I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you. The last few months have been the hardest time I've ever had to go through. Excusing my parents, who were also amazing in supporting me, the girls I live with witnessed me at my worst time and they kept me going. With nights out to distract me, watching my ugly cry and always there to hear me discuss the same thing over and over. I really don't know what I would have done without them. So Catherine, Sim, Jen, Ellie and Charlotte thank you for everything. I love you all. Now I will revert back to the awkward sarcastic friend everyone knows me to be haha.

So... I have news.

Just a small update for you all, a few posts ago I wrote about how I went to an open day at City University of London. After a few weeks of thinking I threw caution to the wind and applied. When I sent off my application I really didn't expect to get anything from it, I just didn't want to regret not going for it. I'm so glad that I did as I got an interview which I went to a few weeks ago! The interview day was so much fun! I tackled all of my transport nervousness, even in rush hour, to get there which was an achievement in itself. Then throughout the day I spoke to experienced journalists, I got to go out and find a story in London and write a pitch for it and we were given so many more tasks that challenged me. I had such a great day but with limited spaces I was just grateful to have this interview experience to take with me next time I applied for something. They said they would let me know a few days after and... I GOT IT!! I am studying a masters next year (if I

Logan Paul: What is the future of YouTube?

Logan Paul has hit headlines this week for all the wrong reasons. The successful YouTube star is usually in headlines for his subscriber count or funny videos but this week has seen the public calling for his channel to be deleted. Throughout this post I'll talk about Paul and his response to his actions but also I will have a discussion upon where this leaves the platform of YouTube. If you are not aware of what Paul has done I will give you a brief explanation. A few days ago Paul, who has over 15 million subscribers, uploaded a video which featured a dead body. The YouTube star saw an opportunity to gain views and publicity by visiting an infamous forest known for suicide whilst in Japan. Aokigahara was featured, Paul went as far as to film a recently deceased body. He has since apologised in a video and tweet but many do not think this is enough. Many are petitioning for his channel to be deleted and famous YouTubers have not shied away from the issue. Casey Neistat has sent