The Poor Print

Issue #12 – Goodbye

A pdf of the print version of Issue #12 – Goodbye – can be downloaded here: Issue #12 Goodbye

Slow Travel: Paradise in the Pacific

by Tobias Thornes I’m going in search of an island. It’s no ordinary island. You won’t find it on any map; it can’t be seen from space. Yet it’s the size of Texas. The only way to reach it is by sea, but you won’t see it coming. You’ll only know you’ve reached it when […]

Comment, Prose

Operation Recovery

by John Webb I have to say that this is an abridged article as I have sold the full story to the Oxford Mail (World Edition) which will appear shortly under the banner headline ‘I Beat Hernia’. It is based loosely on a two thousand year-old tale about medical matters by that renowned Roman scholar […]

Comment, Prose

Dissertation on Roast Goose

by Jacob Warn On St. George’s Day at Oriel College, Oxford, it is customary to feast on Roast Goose – fat Isaic Bird! Indignant, I beat off the carnally-laden arms of our servers. Give me something blander, my appetite and I demand. My appetite, four years after forsaking the excess of Animal Meats is blanched, […]

Comment, Prose

The Frustrations of a Fallible Mind

by Lucy Mellor Unimaginable complexity; the norm in a society consumed by technology most of us don’t understand. Taken most for granted though, is the human form; familiar as anything, and yet no-one has quite figured us out. Criticism of the self comes far too easily, but we are all a microcosm of the universe […]

Print issues

Issue #11 – Rubbish

A pdf of the print version of Issue #11 – Rubbish – can be downloaded here: Issue #11 – Rubbish

Comment, Prose

Communicating Convictions

by Zixin Jiang ‘Jesus never invited anyone to a “lunchtime talk”,’ said a comedian on an Oriel comedy night last year. She was referring to the weekly talks organized by the Christian Union (CU), of which I am a part, on various questions about Christianity. You get a free sandwich lunch, a cookie, a piece […]

Comment, Prose

A Judgement of Judgement

by Jenny Potter On entering a hospital, one can be asked to describe pain on a scale from one to ten, a comparative measure based on all pain you can remember feeling. In this system a ten is a ten, an unfamiliar yet equally valid ten when compared to any other. Through our limited awareness, […]

Culture, Prose

Crossing Times Crossing Cultures

by Luke Sherridan Staring at the sculpted rock before us, no larger than my hand, I offered an answer: ‘It’s a woman’. We had been asked for our first impressions on this ancient object. ‘And why do you say that?’, asked our guide Dr. Mallica Kumbera Landrus, quickly and excitedly, and with a curiosity which […]

Interview, Prose

Oriel Interviews: ‘Oriel is my size’

by Giorgio Scherrer Marjory Szurko, Oriel’s librarian, likes books, people and Medieval English recipes I’ve been at Oriel for fourteen years now, longer than most staff members. But sometimes, I still discover things about the library that I didn’t know before. That’s always wonderful. And in a library like this there are so many things […]

Prose

‘Misjudgement’ – Kat Wood

by Kat Wood She wasn’t born to be a saint, But modelled to a mind’s ideal And, with celestial restraint, Held hostage by ill-founded zeal. The two had met a single time But in his memory each day Her image changed to one sublime, Venus incarnate, he would say. And so the girl became a […]

Comment, Diary, Prose

Slow Travel: The Search for Soul in South Korea

by Tobias Thornes Somewhere beneath the steel spires of China’s biggest city lie buried the remnants of a tiny village of ages past. Somewhere – overridden by congested roads and railways, over-trodden by millions of traipsing feet – lie the bones of countless generations now forgotten. It seems ironic that even in a city where […]

Artwork, Cartoon

‘The Real Judge’ – A Cartoon

by Tacita McCoy-Parkhill

Prose

‘Self-confidence’ – A Poem

by Charlie Willis Self-confidence Nothing you have done wraps its chains around your ankles and drags you away from a sunset streaked with gold, and nothing you have done takes you by the hand and leads you along a lucky path to freedom. For we are all picking things up and trying things out, and […]

Print issues

Issue #10 – Judgement

A pdf of the print version of Issue #10 – Judgement – can be downloaded here: Issue #10 – Judgement

Culture, Prose

Cyclic Perspectives

by Aidan Chivers Some of the most charming moments of big family events are the retelling of old, familiar and utterly worn-out stories of past times. Told with delightful precision – and often, it is vaguely suspected, highly fabricated plot details – these family favourites resurface year after year, with no innovation or variation in […]

Artwork, Culture, Food & Drink, Reviews

Oxford: A café map

by Sophie Barnes The Poor Print’s definitive Coffee Map of Oxford is downloadable here!

Comment, Culture, Prose

Periods, Taboos and Female Shame

by Emma Gilpin It was a secret that we all had and we kept it, ashamed, embarrassed, scared about what it all meant. I suppose that’s because it meant adulthood, but it also meant something much more intimidating than that: womanhood. I got my period when I was twelve. I didn’t, couldn’t, tell anyone about […]

Culture, Prose

Is there life after your Year Abroad?

by Christy Callaway-Gale The beginning and end of everyone’s year abroad (yes, I am about to generalise, which in Oxford’s terms is the bait for your tutor to rip your essay into unbelievably miniature shreds) can be summed up by the question, how are you feeling about leaving? Surprisingly, I think both my answers, although […]

Comment, Diary, Prose

Slow Travel: Changing China

by Tobias Thornes A wide and enticing country brews, always, just beyond our western comprehension, like a cauldron of constant change the taste of whose broth we never can be sure. Such is the allure of tantalising China: a rich civilisation veiled behind a mist of mystery. And I, like so many awe-stricken adventurers, am […]

Culture, Prose

On Dignity

by Alec Siantonas In what we now call the Ancient Near East, beards were a sign of dignity. Beards adorned the virile and the vigorous, the warrior and father of warriors. I myself have small desire to sire warriors, but I sympathise with the viewpoint. I delight in my hair, in all its luxuriant abundance. […]

Print issues

Issue #9 – Cycles

A pdf of the print edition of Issue #9 – Cycles – can be downloaded here: Issue #9 – Cycles

Prose

New Position: Managing Editor

The Poor Print is recruiting a Managing Editor to take over the publication’s weekly operations for Trinity. This is an exciting opportunity to work with the outgoing team, with the expectation of taking on the Editor-in-Chief position in the following academic year. More details can be found here: Managing Editor Application Typical work-flow information is […]

Culture, Prose

The Gift of Memory

by Aidan Chivers After the dizzying blur of my first Oxford term, it was a strange feeling to find myself back, walking our dog, retracing the same route which had become a familiar after-school routine throughout my school days. After eighteen years in the same place, no tree, lamp-post or speck of moss on the […]

Comment, Prose

Honour Above Everything

by Madeline Briggs My high school had this motto – it was on a plaque in every classroom, repeated at chapel and assembly, hanging on banners around campus: ‘Wisdom more than Knowledge, Service beyond Self, Honour Above Everything’. I doubt many of my classmates spend a lot of time thinking about it today. Most stuff […]

Culture, Prose

Decline and Fall: Putting It Back Together Again!

by George Prew How do we put together the history, society and beliefs of a civilisation from which we have no (or very few) written records? Such is the case with the Etruscans (the Italians before the Italians moved to Italy) and the Mycenaeans (the Greeks before the Greeks moved to Greece). After all, what […]

Comment, Diary, Prose

Slow Travel: Hell on Earth

by Tobias Thornes ‘Surely, this is Hell indeed. Except that these pour souls suffer not for their own but for someone else’s sins.’ The Monsoon breaks like a sudden breath of sweet, fresh air after a long asphyxiation. Across the dry, sun-seared northern states of India reverberates a wave of joyful exhilaration: the long-awaited water […]

Prose

Eighth Week – A Poem

by Jenny Potter Lips bruised by the cool taste of your Mouth still clinging to my tongue. College steps, Cool stone, Feelings of ineptitude. A physical catharsis: Tracing the shapes of words but Releasing only the sounds Of a metronomic breath. The kiss of the mist Frustration at the expectation of Social conformism. Steel steps […]

Comment, Prose

Why Britain Should Leave the EU

by William McDonald ‘To remain in the EU is a more dangerous option for British security in its deepest sense economic, political, military and social.’ As the dust has settled on the recent EU negotiations and the date for the referendum has been set, one thing is clear: these negotiations have not fixed the great […]

Comment, Prose

The War on Encryption

by Sam Wilkinson ‘We’re off; We’re starting’ This SMS message signalled the start of a series of coordinated terrorist attacks against the people of Paris. That night in November, seven terrorists claimed 130 innocent lives in an act of abject barbarism that shocked the world. This brutality was swiftly followed by a heated media discussion […]

Comment, Prose

The Case to Remain in the EU

by Max Clements Recently the European Union has been maligned both from the right, by the conventional Eurosceptic, and by the left – in the wake of the imposition of austerity measures on Greece – who increasingly view the European Union as an advocate of greater deregulation and privatisation. Leaving the EU would be economically […]

Comment, Prose

English in Hong Kong: The Unfortunate Decline

by Jonathan Yeung Hong Kong has two official languages: English and Chinese. Legally, both languages are meant to have equal status. This is clearest on the streets, where all road signs are bilingual; English on top, Chinese on the bottom. Before 1997, when Hong Kong was a Crown colony, English was the language of government, […]

Comment, Prose

Rhodes Must Fall: A Perspective

Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh is a DPhil student in International Relations and an organising member of Rhodes Must Fall Oxford Since its inception, Rhodes Must Fall (RMF) has bent over backwards to accommodate Oxford’s ignorance. But the time has come to speak plainly. Oxford’s response to our campaign has been nothing short of shameful. Oriel College’s backtrack […]

Culture, Food & Drink, Prose

An 18th Century Recipe: Gateaux à la Madeleine

A recipe provided by Marjory Szuko To a pound of Flour, put a pound of Butter, eight Eggs, Yolks and Whites, three quarters of a pound of Sugar Powder, a glass of Water, a little Lemon-peel chopped very fine, and dried Orange-flowers ; work the Paste well together, then cut it into pieces of what […]

Print issues

Issue #8 – Decline and Fall

A pdf of the print version of Issue #8 – Decline and Fall – can be downloaded here: Issue #8 – Decline and Fall

Comment, Prose

In Defence of Protest – Editorial

The Editors For an aeroplane’s aluminium and composite canister to fly serenely through the sky, two great, guzzling turbines spin ferociously on each wing. These explosive extremities provide the force to carry those in the comfortable, quiet middle toward their destination. The Poor Print recently published a cartoon on the Rhodes Must Fall movement, in […]

Comment, Prose

Taiwan’s Greener Pastures

by ZX Taiwan’s president-elect, Tsai Ing-wen, is a skilled politician who brought her party from its worst scandal to its greatest electoral victory, and she is the first woman to officially lead a Chinese-speaking nation since the eighth century. Ms Tsai, who was introduced in one British newspaper as a ‘democracy campaigner, gay rights champion, […]

Interview, Prose

Oriel Interviews: ‘I’m here to do what I’m here to do’

Daniel Hurn, 28, electrician and maintenance supervisor, has been working at Oriel since he was fifteen. He brews his own beer, bakes his own bread, and likes the mutual respect in his team. | Interviewed by Giorgio Scherrer “I wouldn’t say that I have much of a relationship with students. Sure, when I happen to […]

Culture, Prose

The Case for Zero Waste

by Sophie Barnes We have produced more plastic in the last ten years than we have over the last hundred, yet it takes approximately 500-1000 years to degrade. Zero Waste is an attempt to reduce what we throw out to zero, making our lives 100% sustainable. It’s a growing online community. The Zero Waste Bloggers […]