Dear Readers,
While we often think of the themes of Spiegeloog issues in grand, overarching terms, it is important to remember the intensely personal ways that we experience life in practice. For Spiegeloog 443: Challenge, we encourage you to do just this: reflect on the ways you are challenged day by day, week by week, year by year. There are no right and wrong answers. Getting ready to aim for a new personal best, facing unfair treatment for features about yourself out of your control, living under an oppressive government or fleeing from one, working to break new ground to better the lives of others, trying to take better care of yourself, having your whole life turned upside down by illness or injury, or trying to get up in the morning—how does every challenge you face affect you? Not us, not them, not society, not your surroundings. You. On this issue of Spiegeloog, we dive into challenges both small and large, but all deeply personal.
Cover by Jules Kotowicz
Autumn by Mikko Harvey begins the issue, as our chosen Words to Start poem. Izzy, using Paul Kalanthir’s When Breath Becomes Air as a medium, lays bare how disease forces change upon us. In this issue’s Athena, Arya looks at all the fuss about the brain on social media and in pop psychology, and asks why the nuance that surrounds talks of the brain in neuroscience don’t seem to have reached the public’s idea of it.
We then move to the body as a whole, with Sandra looking at the rise in participation for the seemingly superhuman Ironman challenge and with Nora’s Tabula Rasa about What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. For a different kind of sport, Alex’s piece on ‘Oppression Olympics’ talks about why talks of oppression often steer away from solidarity and morph into twisted one-up contests. In our Ask The Expert column, Lara Engelbert answers Sasha Cook’s question about becoming more charismatic, and Zhen takes a peek inside the Human+ lab for his article on hyperscanning.
In this issue’s Crescendo column, Jules writes about Lorde’s Virgin. Barnaba writes about deaths of despair, replacing the Church in secular society, and loneliness, and Manu recaps the recent VSPA conference about change and resilience.
In the home stretch of Challenge, we turn to the hardships faced living in and moving out of countries. Merkury’s Camera Obscura covers Mr. Nobody Against Putin, and the harsh reality of living under increasing amounts of propaganda. Aliki looks at the often under-discussed harms of waiting and uncertainty in the immigration process, and Laura closes out the issue with a more personal lens on her experiences as an immigrant in Bacchus.
Thank you for reading Spiegeloog. We hope you enjoy this issue.
Barnaba & Jules
Dear Readers,
While we often think of the themes of Spiegeloog issues in grand, overarching terms, it is important to remember the intensely personal ways that we experience life in practice. For Spiegeloog 443: Challenge, we encourage you to do just this: reflect on the ways you are challenged day by day, week by week, year by year. There are no right and wrong answers. Getting ready to aim for a new personal best, facing unfair treatment for features about yourself out of your control, living under an oppressive government or fleeing from one, working to break new ground to better the lives of others, trying to take better care of yourself, having your whole life turned upside down by illness or injury, or trying to get up in the morning—how does every challenge you face affect you? Not us, not them, not society, not your surroundings. You. On this issue of Spiegeloog, we dive into challenges both small and large, but all deeply personal.
Cover by Jules Kotowicz
Autumn by Mikko Harvey begins the issue, as our chosen Words to Start poem. Izzy, using Paul Kalanthir’s When Breath Becomes Air as a medium, lays bare how disease forces change upon us. In this issue’s Athena, Arya looks at all the fuss about the brain on social media and in pop psychology, and asks why the nuance that surrounds talks of the brain in neuroscience don’t seem to have reached the public’s idea of it.
We then move to the body as a whole, with Sandra looking at the rise in participation for the seemingly superhuman Ironman challenge and with Nora’s Tabula Rasa about What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. For a different kind of sport, Alex’s piece on ‘Oppression Olympics’ talks about why talks of oppression often steer away from solidarity and morph into twisted one-up contests. In our Ask The Expert column, Lara Engelbert answers Sasha Cook’s question about becoming more charismatic, and Zhen takes a peek inside the Human+ lab for his article on hyperscanning.
In this issue’s Crescendo column, Jules writes about Lorde’s Virgin. Barnaba writes about deaths of despair, replacing the Church in secular society, and loneliness, and Manu recaps the recent VSPA conference about change and resilience.
In the home stretch of Challenge, we turn to the hardships faced living in and moving out of countries. Merkury’s Camera Obscura covers Mr. Nobody Against Putin, and the harsh reality of living under increasing amounts of propaganda. Aliki looks at the often under-discussed harms of waiting and uncertainty in the immigration process, and Laura closes out the issue with a more personal lens on her experiences as an immigrant in Bacchus.
Thank you for reading Spiegeloog. We hope you enjoy this issue.
Barnaba & Jules
