Why rest and relaxation are such a serious business
Written for New Scientist in October 2016, reviewing the theme of rest in a London exhibition and upcoming book
We’re all only a night or two of decent sleep away from being high functioning, entirely successful members of society – right?
You can read the piece in full here.
Meet The People Living on (Artificial) Mars
Written for Alphr in March 2016, exploring current and recent simulated Mars missions.
How many people are currently living on Mars? You may raise your eyebrows and wonder whether I expect Mark Watney to wander around the corner at any moment, fresh from running roughshod all over planetary protection protocol.
But the answer to my question is a real number, and it’s an ever-fluctuating one. In the preparations for a human mission to Mars, the headline glamour belongs to the development of the technology that will get us there – however, the question of what we will do when we reach the red planet has been on the minds of scientists and researchers for many years.
You can read the piece in full here.
Carol Isn’t A ‘Queer’ Film, But It Is The Queer Film I’ve Been Waiting For
Written for the Huffington Post blog in November 2015, analysing queer representation in Todd Haynes’ Carol.
Carol.
Ca-rol.
The name fills your mouth before your tongue flies up to your hard palate, trapping it. Like a secret.
Ca-rol.
Anyone who’s spoken to/crossed paths with/been in a building adjacent to me in recent weeks has been powerless to escape mention of the current love of my life. Adapted by Phyllis Nagy from Patricia Highsmith’s novel of the same name (originally The Price of Salt) and directed by Todd Haynes, Carol is possibly better known to you as “the new Cate Blanchett film” or “the one where she’s a lesbian”, depending on your news outlet of choice.
You can read the piece in full here.
It Starts With A Body
Feature for Vagenda Magazine in December 2014, exploring the phenomenon of the Serial podcast.
Feminism is something we often treat like a religion; it’s a set of values against which we constantly check ourselves and what we’re doing. Also, all too often, it’s a stick we use to beat each other. I kept questioning myself as I listened to this podcast. Was I finding this wrong or did I think I should be? Which was it? Was this bad feminism or bad ethics in journalism (god that phrase feels like it has a missing word now, doesn’t it?) or both or neither? I became consumed by the need to hold my experience up against other people’s.
You can read the piece in full here.
Mary Halton 