The internet is a wonderful place. We all know we can find information, meet new people, have debates, express opinions, play games and read news on the internet, and many things in our lives wouldn’t exist without it. For example, I wouldn’t have found out information about my university course without being able to look it up on the internet. TWE also wouldn’t exist!
However, one major drawback of the internet is the idea of ‘fake news’ as President Trump likes to call it. Fake news is simply that, articles posted (mainly online) that are completely fake and fabricated, and full of lies. One more well known tidbit of fake news is rumours of celebrities dying, which is weird, I know. So to avoid promoting any kind of fake news on the internet and potentially causing a panic, here’s what to do. First of all, check where the news is coming from. Is it a website you recognise, like The Daily Mail, the BBC or The Guardian? Or is it a site you’ve never even heard of? If you’ve never heard of the site, it’s likely to be fake. Also, how many places has it been reported in? If it has been reported across more than 2 major news broadcasters then it is definitely true (as these sites will already fact check for themselves before posting it!). Check the internet! If the news is about someone dying, check that person’s verified Twitter or Instagram page as it is likely that a spokesperson would have posted something there to let fans know what has happened. It is also likely that someone has already debunked the fake news and is letting everyone know the truth. If it is about a crime, check that area’s police Twitter as most areas (particularly in the UK) will Tweet about any major/serious crimes. Spreading fake news can be dangerous. While a joke about a celebrity dying can occasionally be funny, there have been numerous reports of people posting about terrorist attacks and political gaffes that never even happened. My advice to you is to always carefully read what you see on the internet, and if you can, try not to retweet/reblog/share anything to do with serious news from an account that isn’t verified. Here is a brilliant resource with more information on how to spot fake news! https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/fake-news.htm
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Job interviews can be incredibly daunting. You are under intense scrutiny and pressure to do well, and to hopefully get a job! I really struggle with job interviews personally (as I deal with anxiety) but I’ve learned some really good techniques to help you succeed!
The first one is to dress appropriately. A lot of employers look for interviewees to dress for the job they are going for. The majority of jobs require “smart casual” - think suits, shirts/blouses and “appropriate” makeup (if any). A smart appearance will make your employer think that you are a hard worker, and will do well in a work environment. Your facial expressions are also very important in a job interview. Employers interviewing you might look for eye contact and a happy, bright vibe from you. This seems a little weird, or at least it did to me, but it shows them that you are a cheerful personality, that everyone wants working for them. It also means that they think that you will be happy around customers and make customers feel good, something incredibly important to getting a job. Having a passion! Having a passion that you can talk about in your interview that is reflected in your CV is so useful! My passion is writing, and writing opinion and advice pieces. In addition to this, I am incredibly passionate about mental health, which is why I chose to write for TWE, as there is a focus on helping others. Being able to talk about this in job interviews, or even in a personal statement for university is something that has helped me a lot as it shows that I can really care about something important. The passion you have could be anything from making short films, running a YouTube channel or running an after-school club or society at university. Anything that you are passionate about, that you have done something with. Don’t just say ‘I’m really passionate about the environment’. Go on litter pick ups, attent climate change protests, show the interviewer that you really care. So in conclusion, that is my advice for doing well in an interview is follow these tips, and hopefully you will do really really well in a job interview! Good luck!! For further information, visit: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/top-interview-tips-2058577 For a long time, I was ashamed of the fact that I had my period. I’d never seen a woman have her period on TV or film or in adverts, and I also lived with my dad and not my mum growing up so there wasn’t a very constructive discussion about it all.
Even adverts for sanitary pads seem afraid to show any indication of blood, instead a pretty blue liquid is used to show how absorbent the product is (however recently Bodyform has been showing red liquid in an attempt to stop period shaming and start to normalise it). This is period shaming. Period shaming is behaviour that appears normal but makes a person with a period feel ashamed of what is happening to them, when they shouldn’t. This behaviour could include anything from being laughed at while buying tampons and ‘discrete’ quiet sanitary towel wrappers, to hiding used products in the bin so no one sees and having a bad mood put down to your ‘time of the month’. All of this behaviour can lead to a feeling of shame and uncleanliness due to your period, which simply isn’t right. We shouldn’t feel ashamed for having a period, because it’s completely natural! Women have had periods since human beings became human beings, so there is no reason to feel like it is dirty or unnatural. Here are some tips to try to overcome period shaming that I found worked for me!
Feel free to look through our other articles about periods if you need any more advice, and you can always send us a message! Good luck, Kaitlyn x So, as most of you know, writing for TWE is a volunteering position! None of us are paid, and we all dedicate our free time to writing, taking photos, posting on social media, proofreading and coming up with new ideas, among probably hundreds of other different roles.
Writing for a blog is just one of many different ways in which you can volunteer. You can volunteer at a local homeless or animal shelter, and at a food bank helping others in need. You can volunteer at a charity shop, which is the same role as working in any shop, but you do it usually for free. If there are big events on in your town/city, you can usually volunteer to point people in the right direction or hand out water or other promotional products. You can even sometimes volunteer within your school! In my school I volunteered to help low ability year 7’s with their reading skills by reading with them once a week! All I did was give up my lunch once a week and I saw them make amazing progress. There are also lots of benefits to volunteering, and most of them centre around your CV. Volunteering at blogs, like TWE can help you with your writing skills, and prove that you can work to deadlines, and work in a team. Working at charity shops can classify as retail experience (which lots of employers tend to look for). Raising money for charity shows an employer who you are as a person, making you look kind-hearted and caring (which for an employer, means you will look after customers and do what you can to make them happy). Other skills, like photography and design, communication and working with different software and programs are all desirable skills that you can obtain through volunteering! Looking away from getting a job, volunteering can also give you a personal satisfaction. Knowing that you’re giving up your time to help someone can feel really really good! So my advice is - volunteer! Whether it is here with us at TWE or at any of the positions above, volunteering is one of the best things you can do for yourself, and your future. Kaitlyn What Exactly is #ProjectPan?
#ProjectPan is a small group of people within the makeup community that take part in what is known as either Project Pan or Pan That Palette. Many makeup lovers will know the intense feeling of FOMO that can come with new makeup releases. It can feel like a new eyeshadow palette or foundation or lipstick collection comes out every day, and each one screams ‘BUY ME’. This incessant consumerism can lead to thousands of pounds or dollars spent and makeup collections so huge that it could never be used up in an entire lifetime. Pair the sheer quantity of makeup some people own with the fact that all makeup has an expiration date (most eyeshadow palettes expire within 24 months, for example), then you end up with a problem. For a lot of bloggers and makeup lovers, Project Pan is the solution. ‘Panners’ as they are known, will pick a few products from their makeup stash, and set themselves the challenge to try to use them up completely in a certain amount of time. The products people choose can range from skincare items, haircare, makeup, perfume, and free samples. Alongside this, people will attempt to not open anything new of the same category, so if a foundation is in your project pan, you wouldn’t open up and start to use a new one! They also won’t buy anything new unless there is a very good and rare sale or deal that would save a lot of money. I attempted a Project Pan for one month, and it was incredibly difficult. I did save a lot of money as I attempted it around Christmas - a time dreaded by makeup junkies like me. Endless Holiday and Christmas collections and limited edition releases dying to tempt me into buying them, but alas I stayed strong! It helped me to really see the value in the makeup that I had, and led to me realising that many of the items that were being released, were already in my collection just from a different brand. I didn’t need another brown-orange toned eyeshadow palette, because I already had one! I just wanted it. If you need inspiration, just a quick google search of Project Pan will find you tons of bloggers who are taking part. Personally, I would recommend KitschSnitch and JustBuyTheMakeup on YouTube, they are two Aussie makeup lovers who co-own the Beauty News channel. They both have an ongoing series of Project Pan videos (or ‘Empties’) that are really helpful and fun to watch. Kaitlyn So, the implant. A small thin device that gets implanted into your arm to stop you getting pregnant. Sounds great, right? Well, for some. There are so many ways for women to use birth control, and not all of them will work for you.
The main way women use contraceptives is through the pill, a small pill you take at the same time every day to stop you getting pregnant. There are some that involve a week of ‘placebo’ or fake pills to regulate your period, some where you skip a week completely and some where you just take one every day. There is also an injection of hormones that do the same thing that you get into your leg every three months. You can also (and ideally should use these as well as other methods) get condoms - many places offer these for free such as sexual health clinics. And then, there’s the implant. The implant is another method of hormonal contraception that actually lasts for 3 years. However, this personally has been the most controversial, with every woman I’ve asked about this having had different experiences. All of these methods (apart from condoms) are free on the NHS,and I am unsure about other places in the world. Personally, I’ve had the implant in my arm for around a year and a half now. I’ve been with my boyfriend for over 2 years, and not to be crude but we are quite sexually active. I am terribly forgetful and already knew that taking the pill for birth control just wasn’t right for me. I am also deathly afraid of needles, so the 3-monthly injection also was not for me. So I looked at getting the implant as I could just forget about it for 3 long years, have it taken out and another one put back in. Sounds like a dream! The side effects. Oh, the side effects. Your periods can become heavier or lighter, more irregular, they could carry on for longer or they could just stop completely! However when I went to my nearest sexual health clinic, I was assured by the nurse that these side effects are rare. This felt like a lie. Within a year, I had massively irregular periods, sometimes twice or three times in one month, my mood swings got worse and worse, as well as some stubborn cystic acne that would not go away no matter how many products I slapped on my face. A friend who had it for a few months, had her period for 7 weeks STRAIGHT. Many women also experience acne either appearing or worsening, as well as weight gain or loss. Problem is, having no periods, nausea and weight gain are all symptoms of PREGNANCY. So the thing that is designed to stop me from getting pregnant (the NHS claims it is over 99% effective), gives me the same symptoms of being pregnant. The past year and a half have been full of panic over whether it has failed or not. It’s not a good idea for me to recommend any type of contraception to anyone as there are pros and cons for each one that will be different for every woman. While I, and a lot of women, have had bad experiences with the implant, there are many that have had good experiences! For some that have had bad experiences, the pros still outweigh the cons. I am happy to answer any questions and chat about contraception and sex if anyone has any worries, I can be reached at maraclekaitlyn@gmail.com. If you are considering contraception, definitely speak to your doctor too, they will know more than I will! Kaitlyn As a student, and throughout my time in education since the government announced the £3,000 increase in student fees (and the additional £250 for most institutions), I have always wondered where my £9,250 actually goes. It is important to note for any non-UK readers that this money (thankfully) doesn’t come out of my own pocket, it comes out of the governments’. However, I do pay this back through a “graduate contribution scheme” where part of my paycheck every month goes straight to the government. The average ‘debt’ of a graduate in 2017 was roughly £50,000 after the already high-interest rate was raised. This ‘debt’ consists mainly of your student fees of £9,250 a year and up to £8,700 in maintenance loan - what the government give to you to pay your rent and eat with, and the amount will change depending on things like your family income.
But where does it go? It is automatically assumed that your fees will go to the cost of your lectures, seminars and workshops, exam entries (surprisingly, these aren’t free!), and the cost of your actual course. Some people believe that tuition fees should be lowered if your course doesn’t cost as much (for example English students should pay less than Geography students who may go on a lot of trips abroad) and this is something quite highly debated at the minute. But whether you agree with this or not, there are a lot of other things your tuition may actually go towards that you might not think of.
If you are concerned about what your tuition fee goes towards for any particular university that you are studying at or thinking of studying at, the best place to check is their website. Most universities have this information published, though you may have to search a bit. If you still can’t find it, definitely email or phone the university and hopefully they would be happy to help you. Kaitlyn Hi guys! First of all I want to say thank you for the warm welcome from the writers team as I am new! I’m incredibly excited to start writing and working with all of you!
I am a first year studying Media, Communications and Cultural Studies at the wonderful Newcastle University. I absolutely love university, however I just can’t overlook the stress that student finance has brought me. Before I even start, my first piece of advice is to START YOUR FINANCE APPLICATION EARLY. Very early, as soon as humanly possible as I often wonder if all the messing around with them could’ve been avoided if I didn’t put off my application to the last few weeks. First of all, my background is incredibly complicated. My parents surnames do not match up, I was born in Ireland so my birth certificate is in Gaelic, and I had no photographic ID (such as a passport or a driver’s license). I thought I was a British citizen when in fact I was an EU citizen, and knowing that from day one would’ve made my process so much easier. Student finance sent back my evidence and completely rejected my application and asked for documents from the Irish embassy (which I couldn’t get as I didn’t have an Irish passport either). I explained this on one of the first of many phone calls to their advisors. I was told to get a British passport as I was eligible for one. This is £100 that my single dad with 2 kids relying on benefits just didn’t have. Alas, I sorted the passport, sent a form off to SF and hoped for the best. At this point, university was fast approaching, results day was incredibly close and I was out of my mind with nerves. They then told me I needed to prove that my mum and dad were divorced. Fine, okay, I sent the forms off and went to university. I then waited 6 weeks for them to process everything, with nothing coming of it. At this point, I was massively short of money and relying on my boyfriend who I live with for everything. I then found out they sent back my documents without knowing! So I sent them back again, and then again once more until finally I got that blessed text telling me my money was on its way! My biggest piece of advice other than starting early would definitely have to be try to make sure you have all the documentation you need before even sending them away to be processed. Calling their helpful staff will be useful however be aware that every phone call I made I was told different things, so maybe call up a few times! The stress can be massively overwhelming, combined with that of your year 13 exams and results day, and maybe moving cities for university, so please take my advice if you are applying! To anyone starting sixth form, or university this year, enjoy it! I regret not being more organised, as well as not making the most of those 2 years. Good luck! Kaitlyn Dealing with loss at Christmas can be so heartbreaking. You feel as though something is missing, something just isn’t there that’s supposed to be. Almost like leaving the house with the feeling of forgetting something, but you can’t quite figure out what.
I lost my nan about a year and a half ago, and Christmas has been a difficult time since, which is weird because Christmas is supposed to be about happiness and fun. Knowing that there’ll always be that seat empty at the table at Christmas dinner, or one less gift to buy and wrap is so so difficult, I would think for everyone. I am still grieving for her, and I will be for quite a while and that’s okay! Everyone has their own way of grieving, and the process of grief can be made all the more difficult by the festivities at Christmas, the constant reminders of family and sharing and love, but I think it is important to know that no one is alone in this. No one should ever feel alone due to grief, especially at Christmas when many people focus on family. Giving advice to someone who has lost a loved one is hard, because like I said, everyone grieves differently. One piece of advice many people give is to try to remember the good times you had with your loved one, and talk about those memories! Through Twitter, a private blog for yourself or talking to a friend, just talk to someone! Don’t rush yourself through the grieving process, remember that it’s okay to cry and be upset and just miss that person for a while, as it is all part of what you’re supposed to do. I will put a link below to a page from the charity MIND about bereavement as this is a page I found quite useful in working out just what I was feeling and a healthy way of dealing with it all. To anyone grieving at Christmas, or missing a passed loved one, please remember that it is okay to not be okay! I will be thinking of you, and I do understand the feelings you may be going through. Merry Christmas x https://www.bereavementadvice.org/ - a useful charity that has a helpline that you can call if you don’t feel like you can/safe enough to talk about your personal feelings. https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/guides-to-support-and-services/bereavement/#.XAwOtWj7RPY - the page is not very detailed but lists the effects of bereavement as well as useful contacts you can go to depending on your situation. Kaitlyn |