Welcome to the Express!

By Editor-in-Chief Claire Watson

Welcome back, welcome home, and welcome to UCC. If this is your first time “picking up” a copy of the Express and flicking through our gilded, vellum pages, or if you’re a returning reader ready to indulge yourself on our tales of splendour, then you’re in good company. Read our tome, become invested in the magic of the University Express.

I’m returning to the paper as a post-graduate now, after having joined on a whim in my second year because our Features Editor and my good friend said that it’d be a cool. Boy howdy was she right. I’ve loved every moment of this paper, as it’s taken me into the heart of life at UCC. 

If there’s any advice that I can give to students both new and old, is do the thing. That’s my silly sermon. It’s not about taking the leap and seeing where you land, it’s about the feeling of your hair in the wind and the rise in your chest as you sail through the sky. You might miss, you might stumble, and it might hurt. Or you might stick the landing and strike the pose, but if you spend your time worrying about landing, then you’ll have never gotten to bask in the glory of your journey. The world ahead is dark and scary but filled with so much potential. 

And maybe that leap takes you to the submissions page of our website- I mean scripture. Throughout the year we welcome all kinds of works, such as articles, creative fiction, art, and poetry.  

I’m so excited to share with you our first issue of Volume 27 of the University Express. We’ve got incredible articles, covering a range of topics such as the colonialist lense of nature documentaries in our new Science and Environment section, upcoming events in Cork’s art scene, and an exploration of the hidden feminism of 1930s film. Buckle up and get ready for a brilliant year of some of the finest writings by Cork’s finest writers. And maybe, one of the writers just might be you.