Artograffi #126
2021 predictions
2020 was pretty bad but there’s one thing for certain: 2021 is going to be a whole lot worse. Sure, all those inspirational Instagram posts keep saying how it’s all going to be fine, but we didn’t cross off half the things on our 2020 doom bingo cards, so we’re ready for round two.
Here are our 2021 predictions.
January– I mean this has already happened and look how that went. There have been riots in the American Capitol buildings, which have lead to Trump being impeached (again).
February– Crocs go back into fashion after Kim Kardashian wears them to court to get her divorce.
March– ‘What Does The Fox Say?’ by Ylvis makes it back into the UK charts.
April– Disney buys the moon and begins preparations to make it their new Disneyland destination.
May– Horses go extinct for no apparent reason.
June– The first Roomba gains the legal right to own a house.
July– It turns out the vaccine contained a microchip and now Bill Gates can control everyone over 60 and all healthcare workers. The children are forced to battle the adults.
August– Someone creates dinosaurs from fossilised DNA, which sounds like a good movie plot.
September– The Cheviot hill turns out to be an active volcano.
October– The new Amazon drones become sentient and begin to take over civilisation.
November– Parliament gets blown up, ironically on the 6th of November.
December– Aliens invade Earth and integrate with society, making it surprisingly the least problematic thing that happened this year.
We really hope these don’t come true, especially the one about What Does The Fox Say?, but the world is so unpredictable at the minute that there’s a high chance that anything could happen. If they do, feel free to send a formal complaint to the Ambler website.
~ Ed: er, no please don’t.
By Lily and Ava
Lockdown and mental health
Lockdown has been a tricky time for a lot of people, and it has brought a lot of stress and worry to children all around the world. The Childhood Trust’s report says that some children have found lockdown particularly difficult because they no longer have access to support at school, youth clubs, or other things outside of their house. (see www.childhoodtrust.org.uk)
The director of The Childhood Trust said they are extremely concerned about how lockdown is affecting disadvantaged children. The charity wants to raise £3 million to help over 100,000 children living in poverty in London to recover from the coronavirus. It will be able to provide things like meals, play activities and counselling.
Fresh air and exercise can do amazing things to boost your mood! Try to take some time for yourself each day to go outside – even five minutes can make a huge difference. Just because you are spending all your time at home, doesn’t mean you can’t try and stay in contact with your friends and family. That means go on a zoom meeting with friends or far away family!
Having structure to the day can help you feel more in control. Why not set out an easy plan to follow during the weekday – a bit like school? Going to sleep at a regular time is important too to keep you rested and feeling ready to tackle the next day.
By Hannah
Life on Mars
DON’T WORRY, I mean Mars the planet, not the chocolate bar. That would be weird.
Anyways, it’s possible we could live on Mars! Sounds exciting, doesn’t it.
If we did live on Mars, we’d need a lot of supplies, including food and obviously water.
If Earth becomes uninhabitable or anything like that, Mars could be used as a backup planet.
There are a few reasons why Mars is the best planet to live on besides earth since it’s soil contains water, the temperature is just right, and there’s enough sun to use solar panels, and other reasons.
By Grace
Is fast fashion a bad thing?
We all want the best deal when it comes to shopping, but usually we don’t think about what is happening behind the scenes- and often it’s not pretty.
92M tonnes of fashion is sent to landfills yearly
Some of the most popular brands- Primark, H&M, New Look, Shein, etc- are fast fashion brands. ‘Fast fashion’ does not necessarily mean a brand is bad- it means they produce inexpensive clothing quickly and according to new trends, however this can rarely be done ethically as gaining so much profit means you probably aren’t paying your workers enough, and selling it so cheap makes this even less likely.
Additionally, because of the speed at which products are created they are often bad quality so you have to buy again and again- profiting the business further. This then contributes to landfills- a report from the Copenhagen Fashion Summit says 92 million tonnes of fashion is sent to landfills yearly and the average western family throws away 30kg of clothes a year.
These figures disgust me, so recently I have been trying to be more ethical in my purchases and encourage you to do the same- it’s much easier than you think!
Firstly, charity shops are a great way to shop as you are directly supporting a charity and getting something really nice in return- it’s also great to donate to charity shops as they always appreciate it and it prevents your clothes going to landfills.
I enjoy charity shopping as you never know what you’ll get, and finding a gem is so exciting.
Another way is upcycling- this just means turning something you already own (and don’t want/ use anymore) into something new and useful- this could be using an old shirt as pyjamas or whipping out the sewing machine and making something new.
Lastly is shopping small. Look for brands that are homemade and local- it can be a little more expensive but it means you will be getting a handcrafted and personalised product. This doesn’t just have to be about fashion too- it’s always best to do a little research before a purchase and find an ethical brand you enjoy instead of supporting corporate monsters like Amazon.
Understandably, not everyone is in a position to evaluate everything they buy -but remember to be more conscious of who you are funding and don’t always go for the easiest option.
If you’re interested, I own my own small business selling handmade earrings- check me out on Instagram and Facebook @ditsy.by.design
By Ava
A day in the life of a JCSC student during lockdown
Your day starts at 8:50 for registration and lessons begin at 9:15. The first lesson is 45 minutes then you have a 15 minute break. Lesson 2 is also 45 minutes, then at 11am there is a 40 minute break. Lesson 3 starts at 11:40 and then it is lunch. After lunch lesson 4 starts at 1.15, then there is another break and lesson 5 begins at 2:15. School ends at 3pm.
At JCSC all lessons are live. We use Google Meet to do live lessons, however the set work we use Google Classroom. Lessons are the same lessons that you would do in school if it wasn’t lockdown. It is a structured out day and your teacher creates a meeting when your lesson is on so you only join the lessons you have on that day.
This is a lot different to the last lockdown, when we did no live lessons. Another thing that is different is you only did one subject, but this time you do all subjects.
By Megan
Why walking in Amble is the best thing in lockdown
With the new restrictions still in place, most of us are in a similar lockdown to the one in March. This means that we’re back to staying local as much as possible on the exercise that we’re allowed, but luckily living in Amble is pretty good for staying local because, not to brag, but Amble is pretty much the best place in the North East.
There are so many beautiful places to walk and, although it would be nice to be able to go into a café or visit a friend’s house, I keep on finding that I don’t mind keeping outside when it’s so beautiful out there.
We’re lucky enough to be situated right next to the sea, which means that there’s always the beach and the dunes to walk along, which is especially relaxing in the morning when the sun’s rising (unless you try to walk barefoot in the sea in the middle of January, then it becomes a bit less relaxing).
We’re only a mile or so away from Warkworth and walking along the river is something that I’ve done a lot of over the past few months, which is especially nice along the path by the castle. I would love to be able to go in the castle again, but it’s still magnificent to look at from the outside.
We also ‘discovered’ several new paths over lockdown- I’m not quite sure how we hadn’t walked along them before, considering we’ve lived in Amble all my life. The fields going towards Hauxley are a bit muddy at the moment, but they still contain one of my new favourite paths.
There are so many places that we all want to go right now and we’re all going to feel sad about that from time to time, but it’s important to recognise how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful area. The beauty spots and natural tourist attractions that some people are missing so much are right on our doorstep, waiting to be explored, no matter how well we think we know where we live.
By Lily
