niamh yehezkel
Stories (3/0)
Number 22
Number 22, my home for the past 18 years, the home which I love so much. The home which is always filled with music, for as long as I can remember. Mum forcing my brothers and I to do our violin practise, Gil playing the guitar loudly until late at night. Shai attempting to play the trombone, an instrument that was just too big for him at his young age. Myself finding peace in the piano, learning from YouTube videos, playing the same song for hours on end. My mum and dad blasting music from their childhoods through the speakers, dancing and laughing. My brothers and I could never clean the kitchen after dinner without listening to our music. Number 22 without music is a rare occurrence.
By niamh yehezkel5 years ago in Families
Coral Reefs
I watched an eye-opening documentary on Netflix today, Chasing Coral, which highlights the issues faced by our coral reefs. These issues being caused by none other than climate change. A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem which should be thriving with life; however, as the seas warm up, it causes the coral to bleach then causing the polyps to eject their plant-like cells, causing them to lose their source of food, and eventually, this causes them to die. It is thought that within recent years, this has happened to half of the world's coral reefs. Two-thirds of one of the most well-known coral reefs, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, has died. Some scientists believe that by the end of the century, coral reefs will be completely extinct. (Blue Planet II, 2017). Our marine ecosystems are facing a possible collapse if nothing is done to stop these environmental issues. This major problem is being addressed in so many ways, art being one of them. Jason DeCaires Taylor, a sculptor, created his own artificial coral reefs after looking at the effects of global warming, pollution, overfishing, and ocean acidification, the impact of tourism and habitat loss. Initially, Taylor placed one sculpture, called “The Lost Correspondent,” off the coast of Grenada, where he quickly saw how it was quickly transformed by marine creatures, making it their own. This first sculpture then led to many more in an attempt to continue growing his artificial reefs. Taylor has created over 800 new coral habitats. The sculptures are created with a PH neutral marine cement for healthy and natural growth, that coral polyps can easily attach to and allow fish to congregate on a large scale. The marine creatures turn the sculptures into their own. Taylor stated that once the sculptures are submerged, they no longer belong to him, they belong to the ocean (Ted Talk, 2015). The pieces are never finished as they are continuously changing due to life forms constantly adding to the sculptures. Taylor now has a large range of underwater sculptures, his largest being 60 tonnes in Nassau, the Bahamas. The piece, titled “Ocean Atlas,” presents a young girl kneeling on the seafloor, holding up the ocean, like she has the weight of the ocean on her back. “The piece symbolizes the burden we are currently asking future generations to carry and the collective responsibility we have to prevent its collapse.” (deCaires Taylor, n.d.). This particularly spoke to me. We are a generation who seems to be blissfully living in ignorance. We all know that climate change is a major issue but that’s it. We hear about it but none of us act upon the information we hear, unfortunately.
By niamh yehezkel6 years ago in Futurism
Periods and the Menstrual Cup
March 1, 2013. The day I first got my period. I remember the date because it’s Justin Bieber’s birthday and for some reason, that’s engraved into my brain. Anyways, I go to the loo, and BAM, I shapeshift into a woman. I don’t freak out about it. I was actually excited because all my friends had started theirs and I was starting to get worried I didn’t have a uterus or something. I go and unpack my first pad and I spend the rest of the day walking around like a boss ass bitch. Either that or my pad was put on wrong and I was walking around like an inexperienced 12-year-old—most likely the latter.
By niamh yehezkel6 years ago in Viva