Writer’s Block: The 100% true story of how I came to write this really great article.

Finny Bicycle

It is a peaceful sunny afternoon about a week ago. The sky is also very peaceful, and so is the grass (if grass can be peaceful). I am peacefully riding my bike along a country road, on my very routine ride home from school. I am carefree, because when I get home there are no tasks for me to do today, no homework, no piano lessons, no... Suddenly, a thought strikes me like an egg out of the sky. The egg dribbles down my fluorescent turquoise helmet, and onto my face. It is impossible to ignore at this point. The student newspaper, which we so lovingly started, is asking to be issued again, and is in desperate need of articles. My brain slowly tries to process the terrible thought. Could we put up posters to get submissions. Could we do announcements. The truth is too hard to bear. No matter how many student submissions we get, I should still really write an article. I see the slow death of my gloriously free afternoon play out right before my eyes, like a popsicle melting on the road in front of me in the beating sun. Oh wait, that really is a popsicle on the road. I swerve to avoid it, but too late. The sticky melting liquid is thrown up by my tires straight onto my shirt and face. I sample the mess with my finger, blue raspberry, how tasty. I am distracted by the notion that blue raspberries don't really exist. Who came up with the name? When you really think about it, the flavour tastes neither blue nor like a raspberry. The egg from earlier dripping into my eyes snaps me back to attention and reminds me that there really are much more pressing matters to be thinking about.

When I get home, I slump down on my couch, completely and utterly defeated. My brother asks me why I'm covered in egg, and the remains of a blue raspberry popsicle. He asks me if I stopped by at the store on my way home. I tell him no, “It’s a new fashion choice” and “everyone's doing it.” He begins to ask me what exactly everyone's doing, and if smashing eggs on your head is really...when I interrupt him, and tell him to go back outside, and finish eating all the unripe cherries before anyone else gets a chance (a pet peeve of mine).

I am left in silence with my thoughts. The article needs to be written, I think to myself. Because I don't really think I registered it the first time, I think it again: The article needs to be written. It is this universal truth that keeps me from taking a shower to wash off the egg and popsicle and just having a relaxing afternoon nap. Instead, I begin to think about my article. It needs to be funny, I tell myself. Of course it needs to be funny. But what the heck should it be about. Several half-hearted titles come to mind: 7 Ways to Waste Your Summer Break; Finny’s Expert Guide (too painfully stupid), Why I Hate Blue Raspberry (not enough substance), and I Don't Have A Title Yet So I'm Going To Talk About Eggs (really too painfully stupid). The truth is evident. I have writer's block. I just can't think of something to write about.

Writer's block is really quite frustrating. I'm sure you have all experienced it. One is left questioning why they can't write. For me, questions swirl around in my head like: Has the impending summer prematurely sucked all the good ideas out of my brain? Have I got a concussion from the egg? I was wearing a helmet. Did I even have good ideas in there to begin with? With no other choice, I get up off the couch and walk outside in hopes of finding inspiration. The day is still peaceful, despite my inner turmoil. Sun dapples the ground in strange patterns as though it were dancing with the leaves that sway high above it. A butterfly lands on my arm. Apparently it doesn't matter to the butterfly that blue raspberry isn’t a real thing, it likes the sweet nectar all the same. The air is fresh, but in a bad way. I find myself hating the pretty scene. I am looking out a window at it through the veil of my article. I can never truly enjoy it because I know I can't be part of it for long. It taunts me because soon I will be back inside. Then I slip on a cherry pit, and I remember that my article is supposed to be funny, and not profound. Apparently, my brother took my advice and “ate some more unripe cherries before anyone else got a chance,” and now it's costing me. As I lay on the ground, the “dancing” leaves mock me. I think it's time to bring in the big guns. I head inside to my bathroom.

I believe it is a universally accepted truth that the best ideas come to you when you are in the bathroom. As Einstein wrote, “I think and think for months, for years. Ninety-nine times the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right. It is the time I sit in my bathroom.” I believe Aristotle had thoughts on the matter as well, but I can't remember his exact quote. The Bathroom greets me like an old friend. I remember the countless thesis statements that have come from this sacred room, the ideas for artworks of mine. Of course, it is not required that you actually use the washroom, but I do so anyway. The Ideas begin to form; they tug at the corners of my mind... What's that?... The secret to the funniest article in the universe is?... Write about egg and...???.... A LOUD POUNDING INTERRUPTS ME. My connection with the bathroom gods is broken. Apparently, someone else actually needs to use the washroom. Oh, shucky darns. I get up and dejectedly leave, still no closer to an idea than before.

As I slump back on my couch I decide enough is enough and get my computer out to start writing. My crusty egg hair reminds me that I really should have taken a shower while I was in the bathroom. I guess it's too late now. I go to open a blank Word doc, but before I can even get my mouse to the button, I'm prompted to sign in to Office 365 (I guess it's called Microsoft 365 now, wow I feel old). I dutifully put in my username and password, and the screen begins to load. Then: “Uh Oh, looks like you're not quite done yet. Please sign in to Word. Please make a new password because your old one sucks, and then use two-step verification to authenticate. Thank you.” Sometimes I feel like the universe is against me. When I finish that I begin to type. My fingers are sticky because of the popsicle. My hair smells so bad I cover my nose with my shirt. My body aches from slipping on the cherry pit. I’m sweating because even though the day is peaceful, it's way too hot. I power through it like a slug in the mud. I hate this article. And then....

I finish the article!

I hope you enjoyed, and have a good summer.

- Finny Bicycle

The Irreversible Impacts of Fast Fashion.

Star Phillips

The fast fashion industry has had negative impacts on both people and the environment. It's become inescapable, these brands have seamlessly integrated themselves into our everyday lives. Every time you go to the mall, every time you shop online, even while scrolling through any social media network, it’s covered in fast fashion brands. It’s been permanently integrated into the 21st century landscape. The rapid overproduction and overconsumption present in this industry has made mass amounts of carbon and textile waste. It is also responsible for numerous factories with incredibly inhumane working conditions. Fashion is moving at a pace that has already caused irreversible impacts on climate change and global consumer culture.

The recent trend turnover has accelerated at an unprecedented rate that we have never seen before. “The lifecycle of a fashion trend has five stages: Introduction, rise, peak, decline and obsolescence. This cycle used to take around 20 years, from the initial debuts on runways to the eventual shoving to the back of closets by the masses. Now, a trend’s lifecycle can happen in a matter of months.” (Dominus, 2023). The pace that the trends are flipping didn’t come from nowhere, the trend cycle has always existed, but never in the way it’s seen today. It is more common than ever for trends to emerge seemingly from nowhere only to be seen in landfills less than a year later. “Social media promotes clothing trends by exposing millions of users to new clothing styles. The more people adopt these trends, the higher the demand for the clothing items becomes.” (Rafiq, 2023). Although the development of fast fashion came before the exponential rise of social media and its influence on consumer culture. It has had a great effect on the spread of these trends that are brought into public consciousness just to be quickly forgotten

The consequences of the speed of our trend turnover have incredibly detrimental effects. It's not only the obvious repercussions of the clothing being created and distributed that we’re dealing with, but the aftermath. “According to an analysis by Business Insider, fashion production comprises 10% of total global carbon emissions, as much as the European Union. It dries up water sources and pollutes rivers and streams, while 85% of all textiles go to dumps each year.” (Maiti, 2024). The growth of accessibility to these products, along with the practices the fast fashion industry is using to make their products as cheap and easy to manufacture as possible, has also led to a growing culture of rapid overconsumption of fashion items. “The number of clothes the average consumer purchases has increased 60 percent between 2000 and 2014, and the clothes are kept about only half as long.” (Vasquez, 2022). With this rapid increase it’s easier than ever to buy any item of clothing you see just to get two to three wears out of it before moving on to the next item you’re being told you “need” to buy.

There has also been an astronomical growth of cheap synthetics such as polyester appearing on clothing labels. “Polyester production has increased from 20 million tons in 2000 to 60 million tons in 2018 and is expected to exceed 90 million tons by 2030. It’s estimated that in 2015 polyester production alone was responsible for over 700 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent" (Vasquez, 2022). Using cut-rate fabrics like this may maintain the bottom line and continue to preserve the cheapest price possible for the consumer, but the impact this has had on the environment is unfathomable, these production practices cannot be sustained without the price of our earth's future. “Items made from polyester or nylon take up to 200 years to break down, and sitting in landfill means the opportunity to recycle them is lost.” (Aliano, 2024). Unlike natural fibers, this synthetic clothing will likely never get the chance to naturally decompose and will only continue to pollute our world for the rest of our lifetimes and beyond.

To continue providing the lowest possible costs, there are real people who pay the price. The workers that are responsible for creating these garments are famously overworked and underpaid for their continued labor. “The exploitation of garment workers is glaringly evident in Bangladesh, a country heavily reliant on the industry. An Oxfam report reveals that 91% of Bangladeshi garment workers struggle to afford enough food for themselves and their families and 25% face some form of abuse. Despite the garment sector contributing nearly 16% to the nation’s GDP, and 84% of the nation’s exports, workers remain poorly paid.” (Helms, 2024). At best these companies are simply turning a blind eye to the practices their suppliers are using. But in most cases, they are completely aware of the abuse that is taking place in their own factories, but they simply choose to continue despite the obvious mistreatment these people are being subjected to.

These companies attempt to maintain the highest profit with the lowest losses, which quickly leads to these horrific stories that come out of the factories located in developing countries facing constant exploitation. “In 2013, an eight-floor factory building that housed several garment factories collapsed in Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 1,134 workers.” (Maiti, 2024). It needs to be remembered that these are real people simply going to work every day. The scale of these disasters is only exacerbated by the profound lack of safety measures present in these factories. Fatalities such as these are incredibly unnecessary and driven by nothing but corporate greed. Each and every garment that is created for these brands can only be made at the cost of human labor. We can’t just continue to prioritize our convenience and choose to overlook the treatment these factory workers are facing.

All these contributing factors have led to a plethora of consequences for both people and the environment. There are things that we can do to help the problem, there are simple changes such as being more mindful of our own purchasing habits. The most important thing is to simply shop less, find new ways to wear clothing we already own, and when we do choose to buy new clothing be aware. We must vote with our wallets, buy more sustainably, shop second hand, and do research on the companies we’re spending our money on. The side effects of this industry end up affecting all of us, a change must happen for our earth's future.

A 13th century song's celebration of summer

The summer solstice passed us just a few days ago, though you wouldn't have guessed it, and we have since begun the swing back into the shortening days. This and our fast coming release from school for summer break reminded me of a sweet bit of 13th century poetry i enjoy, and wish to share, as i too welcome the easier months. The left example “Sumer is icumen in” is a 6-part round from 1250 welcoming the summer warmth after winter, set to the back tune of a cuckoo’s call - our second oldest surviving record of secular song in the English language! It was discovered in Reading Abbey, England as part of a collected manuscript containing miscellaneous religious music, medical material, satire from Goliards, and the best of the poet Marie de France’s writings. Observing the photo on the following page, you can see the lyrics penned in a black inked Wessex dialect of middle english, and in a small box on the right, instructions for its performance written in Latin. Four of the voices are to sing the same melody, but staggered; the instructions use the word “rota” to describe the effect the melody gives of rotating, as 4 voices all sing the same melody at different times. E.g., when the first is reaching the second bar the second is just beginning, so on, and so forth. This is typically known in music as a round, and you most likely sung in a similar manner as a child to tunes like Row, Row, Row Your Boat, and Three Blind Mice. Also given are a short of cuckooing lyrics for the pes, a latin word for foot. The pes in a song are the base, sung underneath the main round to support and give foundation to all other parts of the music, much like the bassline in a modern number. Rounds, and Pes, continue to be popular musical composition pieces to this day.

“This rota can be sung by four people together; however, it should not be sung by fewer than three, or at least two, not counting those who sing the pes. And it is sung in this way: while the others remain silent, one person starts, together with those who are carrying the pes; and when he comes to the first note after the cross, the next one begins, and so on with the others. And the individual singers should stop at the rests where they are written and not elsewhere, for the space of one long note.”

On the pes: "One person repeats this as often as necessary, making a rest at the end.

The other one sings this, making a rest in the middle and not at the end, but immediately repeating the beginning."

You may have noticed written beneath the black Middle English a second set of lyrics in red: This, my friends, is a prime example of what was once the common musical practice of writing one song to the tune of another. While Sumer is icumen in celebrates the arrival of summer, with no reference or involvement of religion, the red ink presents in Latin the christian devotional song, Perspice Christicola. The pairing of a secular and religious song like this was not uncommon, and was, in fact, one of the main preoccupations of the before mentioned Goliards, who frequently parodied and satirized catholic hymns and verses, as well as composing "unholy" carols. As the song [Sumer] appears in a compilation of various Goliard's works, one could be quick to assume that such is the case here, and take Sumer a bastardization of Perspice Christicola. However, just a slight reflection of the idea finds little evidence for the claim. There is seemingly zero lyrical or tonal relation between the two songs, and one would be hard pressed finding anything to offend in the celebration of summer, if the Goliards truly were attempting to do so. Some see evidence for the idea that Perspice was actually a secondary christianization of Sumer, in the point that it lacks Latin equivalents for the pes, therefore leaving it incomplete. Giving further ground to this theory of Perspice as secondary, the musical notation of Sumer was at some point altered, and we can see where the original notes have been rubbed out. When sung or played in accordance with the original notes, there is a clear repeated imitation of cuckoo's song in the melody, and a joyful overtone to its sound not present in the amended version. It's thought that perhaps the lightness of this composition was deemed "inappropriate" when sung to the lyrics of Perspice Christicola, and was hence rewritten to be more broadly suitable. We have attempted to find correlation between the two songs, cause for their appearing on the page together, and found none, and therefore must accept the fact that Christicola is simply an alternate devotional option of tune. It's, overall, a neat little ditty to worm around with in your brain, and it's round (or rota!) and repeating structure makes it an excellent hiking, walking, or working jingle. I propose, and promote to you, how fantastic a party trick it would be to burst into polyphonic middle-english song as a gang of 6 friends.