Month: March 2022

Editorial

Haute Couture: The Wearable Art

By RotaractArts 0

Do you think that ladies in your family shop too much? Oh darling, please. I justified my shopaholic habits when Kevin Kwan himself said his best-selling novel “Crazy Rich Asians” was based ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY PERCENT on REALITY! Don’t come at me when I say outfits in Emily in Paris is faux pas when compared to what is in the couture industry. ‘Haute couture’, this term conjures up images of intricately beaded and feathered garments on elegant models strutting down runways. This is the epitome of high fashion and French sophistication. It extends beyond simple dress and into something intangible, somehow inaccessible, and above average. Couture is special because it celebrates the highest level of craftsmanship and creativity. We…

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Editorial Poems

Voices

By RotaractArts 0

Can you hear it? The sounds of many Screaming in pain, Engulfed in death and anguish Not a sight one would wish To see on a beautiful Sunday morning Begging for a drop water Crying out for scraps of food Barely clinging onto dear life Did you see The tears in their eyes? A little boy Burnt, broke, and bombed. Thousands And more to count. Voices that will be never heard, But if you listen closely, You'd hear their whispers A faint but steady chant ‘Never let history repeat itself’. - Rtr. Heshani Dharmapala

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Editorial

The Study Aesthetic

By RotaractArts 0

Watching StudyTube videos for both motivation and procrastination? If yes, join the club! For both those who love and hate to put their stationary to use outside class, StudyTube is the latest and rapidly growing corner of YouTube where many of our peers are turning for advice and motivation. On the outside, these creators appear to be benevolent, academically inclined and guiding their audience members through their education. However, beneath their perfectly crafted role model exterior, ‘StudyTubers’ are perpetuating pernicious ideas of obsessive productivity, including alarming content such as the ’15 Hour Study Day’ video, which could be devastating to students’ wellbeing. UnJaded Jade’, StudyTube’s golden girl uploaded a video titled, “hustle culture is quaking”, where she reveals her epiphany that there’s more…

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Editorial

Black or White: The Sad Truth behind Michael Jackson’s Skin Color

By RotaractArts 6

In November 1991, Michael Jackson released the first single for his Dangerous album: Black or White- a catchy song which infused the styles pop, rock and rap. It remained No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for six continuous weeks and was his most successful solo single since Beat It.  In Black or White, while Jackson communicated social themes of racial discrimination and social injustice, it was also a song in which the Pop Icon could lash out against public and media speculations pertaining to his skin color. In the song’s rap verse appears the line “I’m not going to spend my life being a color”- and even though Jackson makes it clear that he would not be concerned in…

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Events International Service Our Events

Shell Out!

By RotaractArts 0

Sea Turtles are known as a “keystone species”, which means that they are a very important part of the marine ecosystem. If sea turtles were removed from their habitat by going extinct, the whole marine environment will be disrupted resulting in world-wide impacts. Therefore, in an attempt to support marine turtle conservation, Project “Shell Out” was initiated as a joint initiative of the Rotaract Club of the University of Colombo, Faculty of Arts and Rotaract Club of Jadavpur Greens in RID 3291. Rtr. Buddhimali Parindya and Rtr. Kavindi Gunawardana were the co-chairs of the project. The main objective of our project was to contribute to sea turtle conservation by providing volunteer services for the Galbokka Sea Turtle Conversation and Research…

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Editorial

Look Around Us

By RotaractArts 0

When I was young, I always wanted to live on the top of a mountain, where the sunlight would filter through the woods and the wind would whistle in my ear. Looking at the stunning photographs of mountain tops which I found on the internet, I longed to have a house of my own on one of those mountains. I wanted to stare into the clear night sky, unlike what I can see from my home, I want to look into a sky mostly covered from the huge treetops. The idea did not leave me until one day, when I stepped outside one morning, and saw misty mountain tops from a distance. The sight of the smoky blue mountains was…

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Editorial

Forget About Your Worries and Your Strife; It’s Time To Revisit Your Childhood!

By RotaractArts 0

Why would a university student care about Disney movies right? I mean Disney belongs to your boxed up childhood, doesn’t it? Truth is, adulthood can be exhausting and once in a while, in those moments when you desperately yearn for the simple joys of childhood, go turn off your phone, grab your old DVDs and be prepared to be engulfed by a world of colourful music, powerful stories and loveable characters. Bonus points if you grab your siblings to come singalong! Now keep in mind, all Disney movies are treasures in their own right, but obviously I had to narrow it down, so my preferences are subjective based on how closely I associate it with my childhood and how my…

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Editorial Poems

Rent Free

By RotaractArts 1

A plunge pool of tears fills my sink,I drown into my bed day after daylooking at the roof, recalling those calls, of the voice I thought that once was mine. Weeks go by and they turn into monthsthe loudest thought become my closest friendI would sit and stare at flowers, food, arguments, deaths, books, and pensyet see no difference.but still I smiled and laughed to hide the feelings that were flowing alongside my blood. So I turned to my religion,the voices that once deafened, became my comfort,I greeted an old friend, the piano,Singing “help of the helpless”, for life to go on. I thought I was the strongest, I thought I was resilient, and I held myself to the highest…

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Events Our Events Professional Development

A Look Back At ‘Writing Clinic 2.0’

By RotaractArts 0

Amidst what is potentially one of the hardest times in our lifetime, during the past two years we, especially as students, have been facing a gigantic educational crisis. As such, education and learning methodologies have changed dramatically with the distinctive rise of e-learning, whereby teaching is undertaken remotely and on digital platforms. For most Sri Lankans, the novelty of online learning - even after more than two years since the country was initially locked-down - is yet to be fully-adopted. Most students, without reliable internet access and/or technology, struggle to participate in digital learning; and this gap can be seen across various areas within the island and between income brackets within the country. The intensive lockdown, especially during the past…

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Events International Service Our Events

Revisiting ‘Kuppiya Phase One’

By RotaractArts 0

“You are beautiful just the way you are”, this set of words is quite hard to live by in the twenty-first century. Generation Z is believed to have a lifestyle that eradicates the idea of being comfortable in your own skin and tends to chase the illusion of perfection which has given rise to various mental health problems such as Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD). If you have BDD, you may experience frustration and anxiety about the appearance of your body, and that it gets in the way of your ability to live normally. Many of us have what we think are flaws in our appearance. But if you have BDD, your reaction to this “flaw” may become overwhelming. Kuppiya Phase…

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