The Wykehamist
Editorial
Another term, another issue of The Wykehamist.
No. 1482 finds itself born into an ever-precarious world. Much has changed since the last issue only 2 months ago, and as the College’ s main student publication, The Wykehamist has a duty to reflect the ever-shifting vox populi. Our Features thus cover a wide range of topics, from Orwell to medical ethics, not only reflecting the diverse interests of the student body, but also championing variety in opinion. Our introduction of Society Features, moreover, allows any school society to present and publish a term’ s worth of discussion or research, furthering intellectual discourse in the College. It is precisely this broad, multidisciplinary engagement that defines, and sets apart, a Wykehamist. However, this is not the only battle that The Wykehamist has to fight.
Two weeks ago, a certain table tennis-affiliated actor was met with much online backlash for referring to ballet and opera as art forms that‘ no one really cares about anymore’. And he is, indeed, right— classical art forms are dying, a change as noticeable in the real world as it is in the College. One need only approach NAS or LJQ to uncover stories of times past, of gloriously staged productions of L’ Elisir d’ Amore and Dido and Aeneas, the latter even being almost completely produced by a single pupil.
Ironically, however, we are still privileged to have professional-quality music performances practically at our fingertips. Many of you will be aware of the two plays put on in QEII this term, but how many would know of the seven Chamber Concerts in the past term alone, all at least of diploma-standard, let alone ever have been to one? Combined with school concerts and music competitions, as well as recitās and the Kenneth Clark Prize, the College is very much a space where the arts are allowed to flourish, thus leading to another duty that we Editors must fulfil.
The arts have always made up a sizeable portion of The Wykehamist, with some issues in the early 2000s even focusing predominately on music, film and literature. To throw away such a tradition would be an extraordinary waste. Thus, in this edition, you will find shamelessly technical reviews of concerts as well as school plays, not only aimed at readers already informed in the subject, but also challenging everyone else to broaden their horizons.
But, of course, The Wykehamist is also very much meant for fun.
Along with a whole host of Win: Co: Fo: coverage on what was certainly a very exciting season, No. 1482 also reintroduces The Wykehamist’ s own cryptic crossword, fully produced by pupils and back since its last appearance in 2002. This issue’ s Crossword is themed around the Winkies season, thus requiring a fairly rudimentary understanding of the College( hint: basic notions and Winkies rules) for certain clues. More obscure references that an OW would likely struggle with, however— for instance, current dons’ initials— are nonetheless avoided, making it accessible for all pupils and staff, past and current. The solutions are also published on page 15, and less experienced solvers are invited to use them to reverse engineer the parsing— figuring out a clue can be just as fun as solving it, and can serve as a valuable stepping stone to attaining the notoriously tricky art of solving cryptics.
Someone asked me a few weeks ago why I took up editing The Wykehamist, if it was just so I could publish‘ what I’ d want to read’ for my own benefit. And I do hope that, here, I have proved how the answer is a lot more complicated than that. Given the immense responsibility of the role, we have a duty to represent the College past photo collages or occasionally funny quotes.
Still, this is not a feat that one can accomplish alone— there is simply too much going on in our lives. Any interested writers in contributing any type of article are invited to contact us at Wykehamist @ wincoll. ac. uk, from writing features to making the crossword. Correspondence is welcome as always to the above email address, let it be complaints, complements, or even queries on the parsing of a particularly tricky crossword clue.
Happy reading, and have a restful
Easter.
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