01.19.2017

One restaurant's fight to return after a devastating fire

january 19

LETTERFROMTHEEDITOR

2016

LOL

I had a column in my high school newspaper called "Oh Really." For those of you that don't yet know me, the title was a shameless pun on my name. For those of you that do know me, I'm sure you're adding this particular new tidbit of information to your bank of embarrassing Orly facts.

The column wasn't particularly good. What started as a pseudo–satire evolved into a first–person, stream–of– consciousness rant. Every month I sat down with one prompt: write anything.

Having no guidelines was daunting.

I was limited by nothing, so I wrote about everything. I wrote about yoga.

I wrote about movies and college and love. Today, you can find maybe one or two online. But please, don't try to find them.

Although I regret most (read: all) of what I wrote, that column and that space gave me the opportunity to exercise power. I had the space to say what I needed to say and use words to do so, and to me, that's the most incredible position of power there is. Putting words out into the world and hoping that they'll have some kind of impact, any at all—there was nothing more

3 HIGHBROW

hit it or quit it, overheards, roundup

4 WORD ON THE STREET

majors and parents

5 EGO

eotw: Teni Ransome-Kuti, penn self home self

LOL

LOL

7 TECH

academic services, safe apps, dorm party

10 FEATURE renata

12 VICE & VIRTUE

smoke weed, peace sign

LOL

LOL

14 F&TV

theater roundup, planet earth

16 ARTS

mummers, penn and pma

18 LOWBROW LOL

pottruck, resume, winter fashion guide

exhilarating. Street gives me that same rush. It gives me a place to say important things surrounded by people that matter (yes, this means my new and shiny and supremely talented staff).

I'm scared of the power Editor–in– Chief gives me. I'm terrified. But I'm also humbled and invigorated by it.

Throughout my term I hope to feature articles and photographs and videos that contain power and excite every reader. I hope to provoke something moving and dynamic. I want to honor the power of words and the power of narrative by publishing the best and the most thought–provoking material we can possibly produce. I want Street to empower—whether it be our readers, our writers, or even the campus.

I'm thrilled to be taking on this position. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to deliver new and impactful content to Penn.

Love,

NICE TO MEET YOU, HOW YOU BEEN? STREET COULD SHOW YOU INCREDIBLE THINGS. WE'VE GOT A BLANK SPACE, BABY – COME WRITE YO NAME AT OUR WRITERS' MEETING TONIGHT, 6:30 P.M., 4015 WALNUT. BYO BIDEN.

34TH STREET MAGAZINE Orly Greenburg, Editor–in–Chief Dani Blum, Managing Editor Chloe Shakin, Audience Engagement Director Sofie Praestgaard, Design Director Corey Fader, Photo Director

Dalton Destefano, Film & TV Beat Michaela Reitano, Film & TV Beat Dayzia Terry, Film & TV Beat Annika Iyer, Ego Beat Julia Bell, Ego Beat Jackie Lawyer, Ego Beat Caroline Harris, Highbrow Beat Nick Castoria, Highbrow Beat Alix Steerman, Highrow Beat Claire Schmidt, Lowbrow Beat Andrea Begleiter, Lowbrow Beat Andreas Pavlou, Vice & Virtue Beat Gomian Konneh, Vice & Virtue Beat Aliya Chaudhry, Tech Beat Annabelle Williams, Tech Beat Colin Lodewick, Arts Beat Linda Lin, Arts Beat

Bowman Cooper, Julie Levitan, Emily Cieslak, Lauren Donato, Sabrina Qiao

Staff Writers: Caroline Simon, Emily Rush, Haley Weiss, Lily Snider, Meerabelle Jesuthasan, Michelle Pereira, Shilpa Saravanan, Steph Barron,

Kyler McVay, Copy Director Paola Ruano, Copy Editor Erin Farrell, Copy Editor Perren Carillo, Copy Editor

Remi Lederman, Features Editor David Murrell , Features Editor Emily Schwartz, Word on the Street Editor Nick Joyner , Film & TV Editor Elena Modesti, Highbrow Editor Michael Coyne, Ego Editor Zoe Albano-Oritt, Vice & Virtue Editor Talia Sterman, Music Editor Morgan Potts, Tech Editor Katie Marshall, Lowbrow Editor Jillian Karande, Music Beat Mark Paraskevas, Music Beat Angela Huang, Music Beat Jamie Gobreski, Music Beat 2

3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E J A N U A R Y 1 9 , 2 017

Zack Greenstein, Design Editor Carissa Zou, Design Editor Teagan Aguirre, Design Editor Gloria Yuen, Illustrator Anne Marie Grudem, Illustrator Edward Kim, Design Contributor Autumn Powell, Photo Editor Naomi Elegant, Photo Editor Brinda Ramesh, Photo Editor Young Lee, Video Editor Emily Hason, Video Editor

Sofia Price, Social Media Editor Cole Bauer, Social Media Editor Maya Rosenberg, Social Media Editor Blake Brashear, Social Media Editor Unless otherwise noted, all photos are by Corey Fader, Autumn Powell, Brinda Ramesh and Naomi Elegant.

Contacting 34th Street Magazine: If you have questions, comments, complaints or letters to the editor, email Orly Greenberg, Editor–in–Chief, at greenberg@dailypennsylvanian.com. You can also call us at (215) 422-4640. www.34st.com "I still can't believe Lauren and Colin are dating!" ©2017 34th Street Magazine, The Daily Pennsylvanian, Inc. No part may be reproduced in whole or in part without the express, written consent of the editors (but I bet we will give you the a-okay.) All rights reserved. 34th Street Magazine is published by The Daily Pennsylvanian, Inc., 4015 Walnut St., Philadelphia, Pa., 19104, every Thursday.

HIT IT

HIGHBROW

Sometimes you're in, but most of the time you're out...

OR QUIT IT

QUIT IT: Finsta in general

2017 is already the year of #nofilter, so stop hiding behind your fake instas and let everyone see the “real” you (new year, new me, amiright.) Trust us, you’re not the only one who has 7 chins, psychopathic boy

HIT IT: Canadian Citizenship QUIT IT: Canada Goose

Might as well escape America before it’s too late. With Obama leaving office and Trump moving in, we should all get the hell out of here. Your $1000 coat won’t be enough protection from what’s about to go down.

HIT IT: Benching QUIT IT: Ghosting

Cuffing season is well under way, and being single is starting to look like a death sentence.

Instead of ghosting your hookups, just put them on the bench. That way, on one of these cold winter nights, you’ll

QUIT IT: Short Breaks

Do as those who don’t give a shit about time and deadlines do and take the break you deserved, but didn’t receive. Even if you came back to campus for the day that marked the end of our ungodly short break, take off and relax for as long as you can. We recommend getting high and taking a mid–day shower just for the hell of it.

Remember, we accept the breaks we think we deserve.

HIT IT: January Joggers QUIT IT: Joggers

have a list of people to text for warmth. Benching allows you to save past hookups for future power plays—ghosting leads to loneliness for everyone.

HIT IT: Finsta on Rinsta

THEROUNDUP With only one day until our President is a toupee–wearing version of the Lorax, Highbrow has decided to go #unfiltered just like good ol’ Donald would do. You’ve had your break from our drama, but now we’re back and going to reveal some shit that could use Olivia Pope’s damage control.

Penn's Men's Crew team almost had to row their way back to Philadelphia after their week–long training trip. The boys pre–gamed their flight a little too hard, showed up to the airport wasted and got themselves banned from the plane. After getting into a belligerent brawl with the Southwest agents, security was brought onto the scene. Four rambunctious rowers were then escorted out of the airport by the

obsessions, and a creepily impressive ability to binge watch Netflix. Let's all rejoice together.

HIT IT: Long Breaks

New Year’s resolutions are in full swing and the gym is packed. But for how long?

Join the craze and hurry to your desired Potruck floor.

It’s time to trade in your elastic waistbands and start actually jogging (if you’re a more committed participant, you might even “run”). With a few trips to the gym you might actually be able to wear pants that aren’t of the sweat clothes variety. We don’t care how tapered the leg is — they're till sweatpants, and you’re still lazy.

cops. Maybe they should’ve stuck with what they know and just booze–cruised back to Penn.

What happens when you set off a bottle rocket indoors, kick a four–year–old in the face and pee in a public place? Just ask Phi. After what they had hoped to be a phun–philled trip to the FunPlex, these boys were just lucky they didn’t all end up in jail. They were asked over the loudspeaker to leave the venue for disturbing the peace after only 15 minutes and went out to their buses, only to find that their drivers were missing. (Ed. note: One of the drivers was found eating alone in Applebee's.) With police in hot pursuit, these Phine men made their way to the other side of the parking lot, in an attempt to escape the police as they were surrounded. One rush was taken away in an ambulance, while the rest of the boys found their way back to Penn.

Girls' rush also got a little hectic over the weekend as the battle between off– and on–campus orga-

over heard PENN at

Boy with big ego but even bigger wallet: I will literally Venmo the professor to get into this class.

Confused Jasmine: Have you found Magic Carpet yet? Is it really gone?

American Castle Rush: I decided to take Indian History instead of American Political Thought because I’m really trying to diversify my mind this semester.

Stunned srat star: Every time he takes a shot he literally grows six penises.

Girl in creative writing class: Comic Sans is, like, the Nickelback of fonts.

nizations commenced. The girls over at Tridelt got their hands on the OAX bid list and sent it out to the other members of their sorority, letting them know they should reach out to any girls they liked with the hope of convincing them that they’d “messed up.”

Let’s just pray nobody gets a hold of Theta’s sacred burn book this coming week.

Speaking of Tridelt, one of its sophomores got herself into a sticky situation this past Monday at SAE golf night. The gal got naked from the waist up and let freshmen rushes lick chocolate sauce off her boobs. She then pulled her pants off and wore just her thong, letting the eager frosh lick off more of that chocolatey goodness from her cheeks. We applaud her for giving few fucks and wearing fewer clothes.

The Round Up is a gossip column and the stories are gathered though tips and word of mouth. Although we verify all the information in the Round Up with multiple sources, the column should be regarded as campus buzz and not as fact.

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WORD ON THE STREET

word on the STREET

THE UNDECIDED BOX

My younger brother, a high school senior, is applying to Penn. His college process reminds me of my own—the stress, the helicopter parents and even the same application prompt ("Why Penn?").

But despite the parallels, his application is fundamentally different from mine. When Penn asks him his intended major, he'll check the "Economics" box, while I checked “Undecided.”

If he gets in, his experience will undeniably be different from mine. Though three years younger, he knows exactly what he wants to do, where he wants to go, what he wants to be. He will likely never set foot in Addams’s arts studios, see the dusty glory of the basement of Hayden Hall or find himself sitting in the Arts Cafe of the Kelly Writers House. His path has been, and always will be, clear.

MICHELLE PERREIRA school: I felt behind.

So I continued along the science track, silencing that voice in the back of my head. My parents encouraged me to consider pre–med, which I did briefly. I’m not sure I ever actually saw myself doing the “hard” science that my parents so adamantly wanted me to do, but I still went through the motions. I thought about what I liked, and what would placate my parents, and planned to major in Environmental Science.

To my parents (both of whom voted for Trump

Illustration by Anne Marie Grudem

Mine, however, never has been. I've met the quintessential question of college—“So, what do you want to do?”— with awkward silences, inarticulate stuttering or vague, meaningless statements. In my first semester of college, I took Drawing I, Intro to Astronomy, Intro to Philosophy, and the Writing Seminar—an eclectic smorgasbord of classes.

My parents had always raised me to be a quantitative thinker. In high school, they pushed me towards math and science, encouraging me to be a “mathlete” or join the “science club.” I did what they wanted me to do: I led a data–collection club called Sustainable Seas, presented at the Astro–Geophysical Union’s annual conference and always took Honors Math classes. I assumed I'd continue down that path in college and keep believing my parents when they told me I was left–brain dominant.

But I could never bring myself to fully buy into this vision. There were shreds of doubt in my mind throughout high school, and when I finally got to college, I could finally distance myself from my parents' expectations. I was ready to dive into that indecision, to explore the parts of myself that had been hidden. But to my surprise, there were few people like me at Penn. All my friends were engineers, pre–meds or Whartonites set on finance and accounting. From day one, everyone knew what they wanted to do—and they were on their way to getting there. In a haze of paranoia and panic, I felt something that I had never before felt in high 4

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and don’t believe in global warming) this was unacceptable—soft, to say the least. But I showed them the Earth Science web page, which listed the required courses (Math 104, Math 114, Chemistry 101, Chemistry 102, Physics 101, Biology 101, etc.), and they realized perhaps Environmental Science wasn’t so soft. Perhaps I could follow on the “hard” science track, without having to choose; after all, Environmental Science is notoriously the “catch–all” of the sciences, where you get a little bit of everything rather than focusing on one thing.

Maybe I could stick with what I had been good at, while still making a positive difference.

When I declared Environmental Science, I felt like I had finally found my place in Penn's academic scheme. But my transcript begged to differ.

For someone who was supposed to be a quantitative person, my transcript was loaded with classes

Switching majors at Penn.

like Drawing and Painting, History of the American South and Intro to Creative Writing. I felt like I was missing something, like there was some part of me that I was ignoring.

I quickly discovered that I was becoming disenchanted with the path I had set out on. “Hard” science no longer really appealed to me. I found myself enjoying my other electives more so than my in–major classes. I felt like I needed a creative outlet that I just couldn’t find in classes like multi– linear calculus.

Somewhere along the line, I had unintentionally wracked up a number of English classes. And then I suddenly realized that I was way more passionate about Kerouac and Ginsberg than I was the Ideal Gas Law or Rolle’s Theorem. I felt like I had to choose between two completely opposite sides of myself, two completely opposite life paths — between choosing to make my parents happy or to make myself happy.

So to everyone reading this who has felt some, all or even more of the indecision I felt: it’s okay. I ended up deciding to be a double major, choosing to do both English and Environmental Science. And after finally adding English to my transcript, I found myself with a fresh feeling of purpose, even in my quantitative classes. At the end of the day, whatever you choose to study doesn’t actually matter that much; what does matter is that you feel fulfilled. College is a time to create habits, to learn how to learn and find yourself in the things you study.

Ultimately, even at Penn, there is a space for people who feel like they still want to check the undecided box. My brother will never face the same doubt that I faced, and he will likely be happier for that. But for me, finding happiness means pursuing that space of indecision, of apparent inconsistency, of distancing myself from the expectations of my family and building on my own. I honestly believe that Penn offers you a chance to be whatever you want to be — even if that means changing your major, or even majoring in two disparate things at once. You don’t have to choose between quantitative and qualitative, pleasing your parents and following your passions. There's a way to do both.

EGO

EGOOF THE WEEK: TEMILOLA RASOME-KUTI This former UMC chair, activist, and TV connoisseur might just save the world someday. Get to know her now.

Temilola Ransome-Kuti’s name, like many other aspects central to her identity, stems from her Nigerian roots. Temilola (Temi for short) means "God gives you wealth," not in terms of money but in good fortune—which she’s worked to bring to many on Penn’s campus. Her voice rings loud and clear all around campus, demonstrating her passion for activism and dedication to her beliefs.

When Temi joined the United Minorities Council during her freshmen year, she spearheaded several initiatives pertaining to diversity and Greek Life. In her three years on the council, she worked to ensure that fraternities and sororities provide safe spaces that are inclusive to people from all backgrounds. She brought together 30 organizations through cultural competence workshops that talk about race, class, gender, sexuality and religion. Temi and her fellow UMC members brought 30+ organizations together to start the conversation.

Street: How would your friends describe you in three words?

Temilola Ransome-Kuti: Funny, I think I’m funny? Honest and loyal.

Street: How dare you?

TR: Come for me like that.

Street: If you were on The Bachelor/ The Bachelorette how would you make your entrance?

TR: Well, a lot of my friends would probably tell you that I am super talented at harmonizing. So I guess what I would do,

According to Temi, “The go to for predominantly white fraternities is to talk about race, but that is not necessarily the case for multicultural Greek organization.

It’s more so about whether these are spaces where people can feel comfortable even if they don’t identify with the majority of the people in the fraternity. Diversity can be about demographics, but it's also about promoting differences in thought, and being comfortable with differences in opinion.”

Temi discovered very early that sororities were not for her. They were just too big, and she found it hard to relate to many people.

She decided instead to join St. Elmo, a co–ed fraternity. “It’s an incredibly inclusive place, where people can but heads but still feel connected in some way,” she says.

As a student in Wharton, Temi is not only passionate about activism, but also about business as well. She hopes to tie these interests together to bring

is get another person and harmonize with them because that’s my thing. I like to sing even though I can’t very well.

Street: What would you sing?

TR: I’d probably sing "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill." So there’s the album and the song, which are both amazing.

Street: There are two types of people at Penn…

TR: I think there are people who can tolerate having 1000+ notifications in their email and then there are people who can’t.

more wealth into marginalized, low-income communities and to economically empower as many people as she can. She believes she can make the greatest impact in her West African home. “If I could dedicate my life to improving others’ lives, not through charity but by giving people resources to use their own skills to boost those who might not have been otherwise, I think that would be really cool," she says.

"If I could do this while traveling and meeting new people across the world, I wouldn’t be mad about that either.”

Temi's eyes brightened as she spoke of Penn’s black community. “I am obsessed with black Penn,” she says. “They are so thought–provoking, inspiring and supportive.” Her peers, she says, have challenged her to continuously fight for rights.

in herself since freshmen year.

Even though those around her have never been sources of pressure, her time at Penn has taught her that internally she can be extremely critical of herself. “I’ve given myself more room to fail and I think this in itself has given me more confidence,” she says.

INTERVIEW CONDUCTED

BY ANNIKA IYER

GET TO KNOW TEMI A BIT BETTER IN HER OWN WORDS:

But despite all she does on campus, Temi is able to give herself a break. This, she believes, is the biggest change she has observed

Street: What’s one question we forgot to ask you?

TR: What are my hobbies, or what I do for fun? I don’t really have any specific hobbies but I do watch a TON of TV. I’ve probably tried every show anyone has suggested for me.

Street: Current show recommendations?

TR: Atlanta is a really good show, it won two Golden Globes and even has Childish Gambino!

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EGO

RETURNING TO PENN: LAMENTATIONS FROM ABROAD

Because you can't live in a hostel forever ANNIKA IYER, JACKIE LAWYER & JULIA BELL

Getting back to the states is rarely easy after a semester filled with super cheap intra– Europe air travel, a lower drinking age, plentiful beaches and hopefully easy As. Alas, study abroad always comes to an end, leaving students in the harsh American sunlight with only their stories from the past semester and Instagram posts of that wall in Spain to comfort them. Read on to hear how some of your fellow Quakers are handling the transition.

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LANDON ECHOLS (W ’18) Echols thought the culture shock was greater between his American and Australian universities than between America and Australia themselves. There wasn’t much of difference when he came back to America after a semester down under, but returning to Penn itself was a big adjustment. Echols noted the marked difference between Australia's relaxed culture and “the very go–go–go culture we have here" at Penn.

He was also struck by the

discovery that, even 10,000 miles away, Australians were very knowledgeable about American politics.“I remember the day of [the election], the Australians were so much more into our politics than their own, because ours is such a reality show,” he said.

And true to the Australian stereotype, Echols encountered at least one highly poisonous creature while studying abroad: a boxed jellyfish, which he saw while he was snorkeling.

MEREDITH BRANDT (C'18) "IEASYCARE miss the freedom stand–up comedy for the first was so amazing. I now BRANDofADliv-B&W EASYCARE BRAND AD B&W EASYCARE BRAND AD B&W which ing in London," said Brandt. time while abroad. You know have a whole crew of British friends that—if I hopefully "Compared to Penn, I had what they say: you can take so few commitments and the girl out of Penn, but she'll one day get to go back––I’ll get to visit again." responsibilities.EASYCARE It was aBRAND little AD B&W still join ten clubs. intimidating and overwhelm"The best part of my study abroad experience was the ing at first, but being back I people," she says.True "ultra-premium I had the ultra-premium already miss it."

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CAROLINE COUGHLAN (E'18) Coughlan's favorite memories of abroad center on adventures with fellow Penn students —namely, ones involving authentic German dirndls and Oktoberfest in Munich. The trip to Germany was one of the first she took while abroad, and to her delight, it was incredibly easy visiting new cities.

"One thing I miss is being so close to Mainland Europe and being able to cheaply fly to completely different places in just a few hours," she says.

Returning to Penn, Coughlan also reminisces on her classes abroad. "They were definitely more relaxed than Penn classes. I didn't have as much work, so I could do a lot more with my day other than going to class and doing work."

Being home, however, has its own charm. As much as she loved being abroad, sometimes it's nice to take a break from all that jet–setting.

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Photos courtesy of Creative Commons.

GET SMART, NOT BROKE TECH

For when you don’t want to admit you lied about Excel on your LinkedIn profile

Like every other Penn student, you probably resolved to work really hard this semester.

The motivation deficit hasn’t kicked in yet. Pottruck is full, your Google Drive is organized. People really seem to have their shit together. But inevitably, at some point in this semester, you’ll need a quicker way to get stuff done.

Our tuition goes to academic services that could be the difference between passing and failing your Chem lab or BEPP class. For common dilemmas, check out these already–paid–for ways of easing your academic burden (even just a little).

IF YOUR COMPUTER (OR PHONE) IS DEAD AND YOUR CHARGER IS MIA:

Your computer being dead doesn’t mean you have license to go home and sleep. Weigle Information Commons (WIC) in Van Pelt will lend you an extra charger for free.

They also lend cameras, projector screens and cell phone chargers.

IF YOU’VE BEEN PUTTING EXCEL ON YOUR RESUME BUT ACTUALLY COULDN’T USE IT TO ADD 2 + 2: HEAD TO VP. WIC

offers a service where you can ask Excel–specific questions or just sit and talk with a grad student for help with MATLAB, Excel, presentations and all the other stuff that you probably get sick just thinking about.

IF YOU ARE YOUR OWN WORST DISTRACTION: Chrome

Nanny: it’s like an opt–in Big Brother (but a little less creepy). You can use this to limit yourself to an hour a day on Facebook, forcing you to actually pay attention in accounting, or block yourself completely to make sure your all–nighter isn't a continuation of the procrastinating you’ve done all semester. Best of all, Penn doesn't even need to pay for this. It's free!

IF YOU’RE ON THE 10TH PAGE OF GOOGLE RESULTS:

Sometimes, Google Scholar just doesn’t cut it. Try using EBSCOhost and JSTOR for general searches, and check out Penn’s exhaustive list of academic databases by subject.

IF YOUR PROFESSOR KEEPS WARNING YOU ABOUT PLAGIARISM: EBSCO-

host and many other academic databases have built–in citations in every style under the sun. If that’s not enough, Penn Libraries has five different types of citation management software available to download.

And if you need a picture to spice up your underwhelming Consumer Psych presentation, check out AP Images.

IF YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHERE TO START: Just go ask a

librarian in Fisher, VP or Lippincott. They can help you figure out something to say

ANABELLE WILLIAMS

about 19th century French impressionism or direct you on where to look for your mergers and acquisitions class. You can also ask a subject expert any question short of paying them to write your paper.

There you have it. Penn tuition provides us with some pricey academic journals and free chargers. Go ace your classes and prove to yourself that you’re a responsible human. Only to screw it all up in time for Fling.

Photo courtesy of Creative Commons.

$$$ GRANTS AVAILABLE FOR YOUR GROUP $$$

The Trustees’ Council of Penn Women (TCPW) is accepting applications for its Annual Grants Program and encourages members of the University community to apply.

Grants ranging from $1,000-$5,000 will be available to individuals or organizations which promote: • women’s issues • the quality of undergraduate and graduate life for women • the advancement of women • the physical, emotional and psychological well-being of women Favorable consideration will be given to projects that: • affect a broad segment of the University population • foster a greater awareness of women’s issues • provide seed money for pilot programs that have the potential to become ongoing self-supporting programs To apply, visit the TCPW website at www.alumni.upenn.edu/tcpwgrants and download the application from the grants page. Applications must be submitted no later than February 10, 2017. Awards will be announced in the Spring of 2017 and funds will be distributed in July/August 2017 for projects in the 2017-2018 academic year.

J A N U A R Y 1 9 , 2 017 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E

7

HEY ALEXA,

TECH

WELCOME TO MY DORM PARTY

New year, new robots: Robots Penn students need in 2017​

AMAZON TAP (ALEXA) PRICE: $129.99 (or try the smaller speaker, the Echo Dot, for $49.99) With just 13 Wharton Behavioral Lab studies, this bot can be yours. (Ed. note: We know, we know...robots don't come cheap.)

AVAILABILITY: Amazon The Amazon Tap is a sleek, portable Bluetooth speaker that responds to the name Alexa. You can ask her to play music from Prime Music, Pandora and Spotify. She can also read news, report weather and Google anything you need her to. You can tell Alexa, “Open Dominos and place my Easy Order,”—and she'll do so within seconds. If you and your roommates feel like having a 2 a.m. dance party, she can blast your favorite booty–shaking playlist or play a calmer one for your Sunday hangover. She’s the perfect party speaker or companion to talk to when your roommates are away. Alexa is the roommate who always listens—and we all love that roommate.

OLLY PRICE: TBA AVAILABILITY: Olly will be available for purchase in spring or summer this year A new friend for you and your roommates — one who knows how unique you all 8

Second semester slump is kicking in, and our dorms look just as mopey as we feel. Do you really want a pet, but you live in college housing? Is your room a mess? Do you and your roommates need something new to help you procrastinate? Is there just not a single human who truly understands you? Street has found the robots to make spring semester a little more bearable. are. Olly is a table–top bot that recognizes the different members of a household and changes its personality to fit each housemate accordingly.

A serious, logical person’s Olly will give more data–driven answers than a curious person’s Olly, which would talk fast and give an array of options and suggestions. Olly’s personality also can evolve based on interaction patterns. Its functionality is focused on smarter scheduling, so it’s designed to help individuals who need help optimizing their time.

If you’re on a tight schedule but inform Olly that you need time to destress at the gym, Olly will prompt you at opportune moments. You can also use Olly to remind you of items on your schedule , like a meeting or recitation. Olly, like other voice command devices, will be able to perform Google searches, but it will also be able to autopilot your domestic lifestyle needs once it gets to know you and record your habits. For example, if Olly starts to realize that you listen to the same song every morning while you're in the shower, it will start to play that song—without you even having to ask.

in time for Christmas 2017.

Do you want to spy on what your roommate does while you’re gone or what your cat does when nobody’s home?

This robot from Mayfield Robotics can help you do just that. It drives around your home avoiding obstacles and has eyes equipped with a camera that can capture photo/video, recognize faces and monitor your home. Kuri can safeguard your house while you're out and even record what your pet is doing while you’re asleep in lecture. This robot has emotive eyes and is super friendly—a perfect addition for your apartment in 2017.

ROOMBA PRICE: $374.99-$899.99 (divided by your number of housemates!)

AVAILABILITY: iRobot

A robot that vacuums for me, say what? Face it, that cleaning rotation cycle in your apartment just isn’t cutting it anymore. Nobody has time to vacuum during midterms, anyway—and that’s why the Roomba should be your newest apartment member. This robot is a small computerized cleaner that roams around your KURI house automatically brushing and vacuuming the carpets, PRICE: $699 (go sign up for rugs and floors. The Roomba 70 Wharton Behavorial Labs roams on wheels and can clean now) almost any space it can drive AVAILABILITY: You can into. It has sensors onboard to preorder now with a $100 detect dirt and avoid objects deposit and KURI will arrive that might get in the way. The

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best part: it puts itself back in its charger when it’s done. It’s the perfect roommate: one that cleans without you reminding them to.

age Penn student. But there’s nothing like a smart friend to help you get through a rough semester.

Okay, maybe these robots seem smarter than the aver-

LAUREN DONATO

TECH

APPS FOR A SAFE NIGHT OUT CIRCLE OF 6 PRICE: FREE How it works: To use of Circle of 6, you designate six people to be your emergency contacts. The app will send a text message with your location to these contacts if you get into a dangerous situation. If you’re out with your friends and get IF YOU’RE WALKING separated from the group, you ALONE AT NIGHT: can send them a “Come and get me” message, which will COMPANION: MOBILE also give them your location.

PERSONAL SAFETY KITESTRING PRICE: FREE PRICE: FREE How it works: You put in How it works: Kitestring your destination and program isn’t an app—it’s a free online some of your contacts to be and SMS–based service (which your “Companions” (these means you don’t need a smartcontacts don’t need to downphone to use it). You set up a load the app). As you walk, time for Kitestring to check your Companions receive up on you, which you can do updates on your progress. If online or by texting them the you don't make it to your time when you would like to destination on time, you start be contacted. Kitestring will to run, your phone falls or text you then, and you can your headphones are pulled check in by replying to the text out of your phone, the app will message or checking in online. check in on you. If CompanIf you don't, it will alert the ion doesn’t receive a response emergency contacts which within 15 seconds, it will alert you set in advance. For added your Companions. You can use security, you can set a check–in the “I Feel Nervous” button to password and a duress code, indicate areas that feel unsafe which sends a message to your and the app sends the informa- emergency contacts. tion to your Companions. You can also use the app to call the TO KEEP TRACK OF police.

YOUR FRIENDS: BSAFE PRICE: FREE LIFE360 FAMILY & How it works: Like other FRIENDS LOCATOR safety apps, you choose certain PRICE: FREE (WITH IN– people to be your safety conAPP PURCHASES) tacts, but bSafe also allows you How it works: While this to send your location. The app app is geared toward keeping has a feature called “Follow track of family members, it can Me," which allows a friend to be just as useful for friends. It trace you through GPS. You allows you to view the location can also set a timer that will of a friend on a map and sends sound an alarm if you don't alerts when they arrive at or check in on time. The app's leave programmed locations, other features include a "Fake such as home, work, school Call" option, a siren, and a or any other place they go to Guardian Alert button, which frequently. You can also use the will send your location and app to send messages and track video to friends and family. phones.

"Get out of MERT free" card not included ALIYA CHAUDHRY

While you’re busy using your phone to call an Uber, send a snap or keep your New Year’s Resolutions, you can also use it to stay safe and have a great night out. From keeping track of drinks to keeping track of your friends, these apps are your new go–to for going out.

SIGN TODAY

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FREE CONTACT US FOR DETAILS

Read more of this article @ 34st.com/tech J A N U A R Y 1 9 , 2 017 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E

9

F E AT U R E

F E AT U R E

Renata's Rebirth

F

or the longest time, there was nothing, save for a pile of towels and a black plastic crate. It was 8:30 at night and the linens had just been brought back from the laundromat next door. They lay firmly packed on top of each other, still warm from the dryer. Earlier they had been used to clean a greasy stove top, or maybe it was the oven. The final employee soon locked the doors for the night.

The smoke began shortly thereafter. For nearly six hours the towels sent it wafting into the air as if it were a last–ditch attempt to warn someone, anyone, what was to come. But nobody seemed to notice. A chain reaction was underway, heat begetting heat, smoke begetting smoke, until there was only one final step to take: flame.

K

ate Steenstra had only been dating Yasser Aiq for around three months when she heard that Café Clavé was closing. The building was microscopic, stuck like a forgotten puzzle piece at 4305 Locust St. between the “U–do We–do Laundromat” and “PP Grocery” Oriental food market. But she immediately thought of Yasser, who was a chef at the Rock School for Dance Education, and dreamed of opening his own restaurant. She forwarded him the realtor’s phone number.

“Are you in?" he texted her.

“What?” she sent back.

“Do you want to manage the place? Do you want to manage front of the house?”

Kate told him sure, half joking. It seemed a crazy idea at first. But then she began to consider the proposition—the grant supporting her work as a lab manager at Penn was set to expire, and she had worked part–time at restaurants before. Plus, she could always quit if she didn’t enjoy it, or so she thought. “I quickly found out that that wasn’t the case,” she says.

After some negotiations with the landlord, Yasser and Kate signed the lease on January 17, 2013.

Eleven days later, Café Renata opened its doors. Kate and Yasser harbored a grand vision for the place, one that included full-service meals and a professional kitchen. They scoured Craigslist for equipment, and after three months of steady improvements were able to build their first brunch menu, which would come to be Café Renata’s signature meal.

College senior Elena Crouch first visited the restaurant around 2014 to pick up a gift card for a Penn Appetit–sponsored competition. Kate and Yasser, 1 0 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E J A N U A R Y 1 9 , 2 017

car blocked the road. The officer told her the laundrowho were trying to tap into the nearby Penn clientele, were more than happy to donate. Crouch ate at mat had caught on fire. On that quaint little block the restaurant, then soon returned with friends once with the buildings smushed together it could have more. Café Renata may have been a bit “off the radar” been easy to mistake one business for another—but Kate knew Café Renata was the victim when she compared to more popular Penn brunch locations like Sabrina’s, but to Crouch, the restaurant held its saw the laundromat still open for business, its lights own with its fava bean salad and shakshouka. Soon turned on.

She and Yasser sat in the street until three in the it would become a bona fide destination for Penn students—one group of fraternity brothers visited the morning, watching firemen burst into their livelirestaurant almost every day, even introducing Kate to hood, destroying its windows, smoke stained and scalding hot, one axe blow at a time. They watched their parents when they graduated.

Building such a positive as their curtains were reputation among locals and pulled down from the “THE OFFICER TOLD HER THE inside and thrown students alike was no easy LAUNDROMAT HAD CAUGHT ON into the street. They task. In the early months, watched as their bilco Kate and Yasser would wake FIRE.... BUT KATE KNEW CAFÉ doors leading to the up at 6 a.m. every mornRENATA WAS THE VICTIM WHEN basement were thrust ing and work sixteen hour days. The restaurant began to SHE SAW THE LAUNDROMAT STILL open. All the while, gushed from the acquire a personal signifiOPEN FOR BUSINESS, ITS LIGHTS water hydrants, flooding the cance to the couple beyond TURNED ON." street. simply being their business.

Eventually, one of “It kind of became a part the firemen let Yasser of our relationship,” Kate inside the building. It says. Which is why it was all was humid from the smoke and smelled of burnt plasthe more devastating when, in the stroke of a night gone horribly wrong, the young couple awoke to find tic. Yasser was led to the right side of the back room, which didn’t make sense, because there was notheverything destroyed. ing hot on that side of the room. He had assumed someone left a pot on the stove or forgot to turn off obody heard the smoke alarm until it was too the oven. The fireman gestured in the dark and said, “Here it is.” Yasser found himself staring at the melted late. Its shrill beeps, pulsating with maniacal rhythm, continued for six hours straight. The plastic remains of a crate. There had been a stack of neighbors in the apartment above the restaurant were towels there. Now all that was left was blackened char.

Still not fully comprehending what had happened, somehow unaware of creeping destruction just one Kate and Yasser went home, realizing there was nothfloor below. It was only after the flame came to life that workers at the laundromat called the police. Fire ing more they could do. It wasn’t until then that Kate began to cry. It was 4 a.m. and Yasser hugged her. trucks were dispatched 46 seconds later.

Yasser’s phone rang at 1:15 in the morning. A voice “It’s gone,” Kate said. “I am Renata.” on the other end broke the news: “The shop is on fire.”

Yasser, still in disbelief, sprinted out of the house ndy Leonard visited Café Renata most days. in pajamas and boots into the cold March night. It The fifty–three–year–old had a simple routine: wasn’t until he reached the CVS Pharmacy just across drop his kids off at the elementary school down the street from the restaurant that he saw the fire trucks—five or six of them in the middle of the street, the block, then swing by for a morning cup of coffee. sirens piercing the otherwise quiet night, their lights But on March 12, 2015 he was greeted by a ghost of a building, plywood covering where the glass windows flashing in a deranged loop.

He stopped running. With that many trucks out- once were, black tendrils of smoke smeared over the entryway. Kate stood on the front steps and told him side, he knew Café Renata was gone.

Kate embarked upon her own midnight run shortly the news: everything was destroyed. The towels, which after Yasser, stopping at Spruce Street where a police had been brought back from the next door laundro-

N

A

mat, caught on fire. Something to do with static electricity. It was ironic, Kate said, because she and Yasser had been solicited by a cleaning service salesman before, who told them they shouldn’t wash their own linens at the laundromat due to the risk something like this could happen. They hadn’t bothered, and now Leonard was standing in front of Kate, unsure whether or not to give her a hug.

Kate was determined to rebuild the café as soon as possible, but Yasser wasn't so optimistic. “I was so tired of that work," he says, "building the place with our hands, putting in the kitchen—it just got to the point it was devastating, exhausting, like physically.” There were also the practical hurdles: they had lost $40,000 worth of supplies—the entire kitchen, the whole food inventory, the freezers. “If it wasn’t burned down it was water,” Yasser says. “If it wasn’t water it was smoke.”

But the community’s support of Café Renata began to change his mind. In the aftermath of the fire, people anonymously slipped cash–filled envelopes under the front door. A fundraiser organized by patrons of the restaurant also yielded a huge turnout.

“It was there and then,” Yasser says, “when we're like half–drunk, we said, ‘Okay, we have to go back and do this.’”

Yasser began to search for a new home and soon discovered a Subway for sale a few blocks away at 4533 Baltimore Ave. When Kate saw the store she instantly said, “Oh no, this is not gonna work.” But Yasser had a vision for the place, telling Kate, “Imagine this without all this crap. Without all these posters, without all these refrigerators, soda machines.”

She became convinced, and a new lease was signed in May. The couple worked in a haste to reach their goal of opening within six months of the fire—any longer and Yasser figured, “We might as well not do it because no one’s going to know who you are again.”

Fortunately much of the material from the old café was salvageable—chairs, tables, artwork, the wooden bar. But despite recouping some losses from their insurance, Kate and Yasser still needed to invest an additional forty percent into the new location. The expenses accumulated in the oddest places: $5,000 just for the drawings of new electrical outlets, $3,000 for the gas.

Finally, on September 23, 2015, the new restaurant opened its doors. It had been just over six months; one hundred and ninety–five days. Kate and Yasser decided to use the opportunity to rebrand—Café Renata became Renata’s Kitchen. It seemed appropri-

ONE RESTAURANT'S FIGHT TO RETURN AFTER A DEVASTATING FIRE ate, a combination of old and new, much like the restaurant itself.

“It was as if we didn’t miss a beat,” Kate says.

“We opened the doors and it was…”

Yasser completes her sentence: “Flood.”

O

n an early Sunday afternoon in November, only three small tables are empty at Renata’s Kitchen. The clientele is mostly families and their children. Around 9:30, two separate groups of Penn students enter the restaurant. A shift begins as college students begin to awake from Saturday night slumbers and replace more and more of the quiet families who make up the early brunch–goers.

From the kitchen, Yasser whips up food as quickly as possible, looking perfectly culinary in a black chef ’s cap and a white apron singed and stained with brown specks. He passes a plastic Subway guide hidden on a side wall, the only evidence of the building’s past occupant, which gives cheerful health advice: “Use your head, stop germs before they spread. Cover your cough or sneeze.”

In a roundabout way, the fire has been a blessing to Yasser. His goal was never to run a café, which is ultimately what Café Renata was. “The fact [is] this is an actual restaurant, I have to be 100–percent chef–ing it out, it brings you back to your dream,” he says.

But for Kate, the pain of losing Café Renata in the fire still resonates. “We poured so much of our hearts into it," she says. She remembers waking up the morning after the fire and thinking, half–asleep, that she had to get to the café to make the day’s croissants. Then she realized it was gone.

To this day, she avoids walking down Locust Street where the café once was. The space is empty now, all evidence of its past life having been erased. Even the once–inviting yellow walls have been painted a cruel, pasty white. It is nothing more than an anonymous For Rent sign in a city full of them. Still, the memory lingers. And in that building, Kate can still see the long communal table where patrons once sat, the orange juice and coffee and pancakes, the students. In it all, she sees a reflection of herself.

DAVID MURRELL J A N U A R Y 1 9 , 2 017 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E 1 1

VICE & VIRTUE

SIX PLACES TO SMOKE WEED

Street is here to help you expand your list of go-to spots for smoking pot.

THAT AREN'T THE BIOPOND Every now and then, we all need a minute to de-stress, relax and kick back with a good old lungful of marijuana.

Sadly, however, finding a convenient place on campus is never actually that easy. Sure—you could go to The Biopond, but you risk being trite and cliché (come on people, Biopond is so freshman year). Luckily, Street is here to help you stray from the beaten path, and find some other cool spots on campus to light up.

2

CLARK PARK Located at 44th and Baltimore, Clark Park is a little bit of a hike from campus.

With lots of soft grass and open space, however, Clark Park is definitely worth the trek. The park offers a nice break from the hustle and ous atmosphere to toke up. But bustle of campus. Plus, it’s THE SKETCHY STAIRS IN KINGS the circulation is good and the surrounded by a bunch of cute cafés: perfect for the post-high COURT ENGLISH space is cozy. Share your bud munchies. and get a freshman to swipe HOUSE you into the dining hall downYes, Kings Court is a freshFRANKLIN FIELD—THE man dorm, and yes, the dingy stairs — that grilled cheese SPLIT P would be heavenly while high. stairways across the building Everyone knows that don't provide the most glamor-

1

3

PHILADELPHIA

more than just kick–off happens on the Split P inside Franklin Field. Though Penn Athletics will have you believe that the only way to get into the Penn Athletics Hall of Fame is by being the best at your sport, we prefer this strategy. Smoke a j on the Split P and join a long line of Penn mischief makers.

of hands, Addams oozes creativity. The first floor is flooded with student artwork, and the gallery almost always has grad– student projects on display.

Expand your consciousness by lighting up in Addams, and have your mind blown or your inspiration tickled. Watch out for smoke detectors and flammable artwork, though.

VAN PELT 6TH FLOOR ROOFTOP Sometimes (in fact most of the time), Van Pelt can be way too intense.

The 6th floor especially needs to take a chill pill. All the way in the back, behind the messy sprawl of corporate meeting rooms, lies a pretty sick outdoor terrace. With a cool view of Center City, the terrace is a much needed escape from the stuffiness and paranoia.

Help all of VP mellow out by lighting up.

THE CATACOMBS Legend has it that the Catacombs are an underground tunnel network hidden below the Quad. While we haven't visited this spot first–hand (and are unsure whether these tunnels actually exist), the Catacombs are bound to be one of the most mysterious spaces on campus to light up.

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WWW.IHousePhilly.org/special • 215-895-6540 3701 Chestnut street, Philadelphia 1 2 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E J A N U A R Y 1 9 , 2 017

ADDAMS HALL Penn's studio art building is easily one of the coolest buildings on campus. Fenced in by an iron gate

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VICE & VIRTUE

KATHY CHANGE:

WOMAN ON FIRE The History Behind the VP Peace Symbol

mean in relation to the time and place in which we live. The way we transmit our message may be as important as the message itself.

This sign is forever characterized by Kathy Change’s actions. While there are no concrete lesson to be learned

Most students rush past the thin, steel peace sign statue near Van Pelt Library. But in 1969, when sculptor Robert Engman built the Peace Symbol, the statue easily fit in with the politically active and anti– war student body.

The significance of the statue changed drastically years later — when activist Kathy Change lit herself on fire.

On Oct. 22, 1996, Kathy Change committed suicide in front of the Peace Symbol via self-immolation in her final act of performance protest.

Change was a lifelong activist, who stood against nuclear proliferation, the criminalization of marijuana and American involvement in Iraq. She would

from her activism, Peace Symbol prompts us to re–think the ways we try to create our own change.

ANDREAS PAVLOU

dress in costume and dance in front of the peace statue to protest these issues. She would also protest at Philadelphia

Over 20 years later, Change’s suicide remains a large part of the Peace Symbol's character.

The once somewhat basic message of peace is now complicated by a political suicide. And just as students tended to ignore Change's daily protests, many students now may not notice the statue she died in front of.

As a campus with a fairly politically active museums and theaters across student body, there are near the city. constant protests, demonstraThe day she decided to set tions and discussions pushing herself on fire, she sent out us to fight for what is "right." packets of her writings to vari- To understand what Kathy ous news outlets and friends, Change's suicide means, and explaining the rationale for her what it means in relation to the suicide: an attempt to bring statue on our campus, we need more attention to her activism. to examine what our actions

In understanding what Kathy Change’s suicide means in relation to the Peace Symbol, let us think about what our own actions mean in relation to the time and place in which we live.

J A N U A R Y 1 9 , 2 017 3 4 T H S T R E E T M A G A Z I N E 1 3

FILM & TV

PENN'S GUIDE TO PHILLY

MOVIE THEATERS

family films. Rogue One, Sing and Assassin’s Creed are currently screening, and with the theater’s student discount and close proximity to campus, it’s a perfect place to go with a group of friends. Plus, the seats and omnipresent popcorn theater sells beer and wine aroma, the Cinemark is about on–site. Tickets run about $9, as conventional as it gets. This depending on the day of the is where you go to see the week and time of day; there's latest blockbusters Hollywood also a discount every Tuesday, has churned out, be it Marvel with $5.50 tickets. action explosions or animated Go here when: You and your friends want to bask in convenient nostalgia by seeing the latest iteration of Toy Story, Finding Nemo or The Incredibles.

The Rave is convenient, but there are sexier fish in the sea.

From commercial multiplexes to indie arthouse nooks, Philly has movie theaters scattered across the city. Below are some of the best and most intriguing spots to offer you cinematic solace from Penn.

CINEMARK UNIVERSITY CITY PENN 6 Where: 4012 Walnut St. What it's like: With its neon sign beaming across the street from FroGro, classic red velvet

RITZ EAST/RITZ 5/ RITZ AT THE BOURSE Where: 125 S 2nd St., 214 Walnut St., and 400 Ranstead St.

New Year, New Beer.

What’s it like: These theaters, all owned by Landmark Theatres, are essentially triplets—they’re just a few blocks apart. They’re located all the way in Old City, so you'll spend a little extra on the Uber, but it's worth it for the relaxed ambience and selection of limited–release indie films.

La La Land, Moonlight, Manchester by the Sea and Jackie are all currently playing at these locations. All three theaters offer tickets with student discounts for $7.75, a fair price to pay for their no–alcohol policy.

Go here when: You want to see that quiet Sundance drama that your Cinema Studies–majoring friend won’t stop talking about.

THE ROXY

Where: 2023 Sansom St. What’s it like: Nestled among the various stores and restaurants in Rittenhouse, the Roxy is a hidden gem for film lovers. Along with screening the newest indie movies, this theater holds special screenings of previously released films (like 12 Years a Slave) and smaller, international movies.

Additionally, every Wednesday night, the theater holds a BYO, where they provide glassware for you to enjoy a movie while sipping wine with your friends.

Tickets run for $12 with a student discount.

Go here when: You want to enjoy a retrospective of an esoteric foreign director—or you want to publicly drink somewhere classier than Beijing.

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Studying hard?

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2206 Washington ave, Philadelphia

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(215) 546-7301

Take a break with us.

DALTON DESTEFANO

FILM & TV

WHAT TO EXPECT

no conceivable way of getting a closer look into the private happenings of the world’s wildlife. Planet Earth II proves them wrong. The series utilizes some of the latest and greatest advances in modern technology to capture nature’s most intimate phenomena in the highest definition possible.

Devices such as aerial drone technology and remote recording allow for us to intrude on the mating habits of a desperate–to–impress bird of paradise, or the stealthy parenting We know that video of the iguana techniques of a glass frog—and escaping a nest of snakes. at alarming proximity.

While Planet Earth spent a large portion of its runtime If your mother loved nature documentary to ever be exploring the world’s various you, chances are you’ve seen created by the English–speak- biomes, Planet Earth II brings ing world. That is, until now.

Planet Earth. Sir David Atus more of what we really tenborough’s 2006 nature A decade later, David Atten- want to see: the animals that borough has returned to bless dominate them. Attenborough documentary series was every adventurous kid’s wet dream— us with a sequel, Planet Earth is elegant as ever in his narraII. And since I was abroad in a combination of all things tions of the delicate exchanges awesome and unexplored. Co- London where it premiered of the natural world. This time, cooned in the warm and gentle months ahead of time, I'm he enlivens every creature by here to give you the dish. The lending them their own unique embrace of Attenborough’s silky voice, audience members new docuseries is six episodes personality, turning a ten–feet– were transported to some of long, and it embarks on a scin- tall caiman into a beefy gym tillating and wondrous journey rat defending his turf. His narthe earth’s most remote corners, hostile environments, and through jungles, oceans and rative techniques have evolved untouched sanctuaries. Planet cities. Viewers of Planet Earth to adopt a more youthful tone, must have thought there was Earth is perhaps the greatest and now he says things like: “The bobcat may be in luck, for this particular valley is blessed.”

While the tone and focus might have altered slightly, the most fantastic elements of the show are still present. The series is gushing with colorful depictions of the earth’s most bizarre flora and fauna. The audience is able to watch flamingos fall asleep standing up in bodies of water and gets to watch them slip and slide in their attempts to free themselves from the frozen water in the morning. There

WITH THE

RETURN OF

PLANET EARTH

is a near head-on collision between a lioness and a giraffe, in which the lioness is brought down and trampled in defeat.

And in arguably the most shocking scene of the series, there is an epic and terrifying chase between several marine iguana hatchlings and a mass of snakes attempting to snatch the babies before they are able to reach their parents at the shore’s edge. The footage is truly wild.

Attenborough reminds us how precariously balanced our world is, and how that equilibrium is in greater peril now than it was when Planet Earth

was made over a decade ago.

Humans pose a direct endangerment to the stability and steadiness of the planet, and the series makes sure to stress the importance of preserving the world’s most beautiful and nonpareil habitats.

The series is set to air on BBC America in the United States on February 18, 2017.

With cuffing season quickly approaching, it is the perfect way to escape all humans and spend some quality time with the true baes of this world. You can catch it every Saturday.

MICHAELA REITANO

Live music • Film • Dance • Theater Art Education • Community January 18 (6:00 pm) Jammin4Justice United We Stand

January 20 (8:00 pm)

THE PINE BARRENS screening + live score with The Ruins of Friendship Orchestra, presented by Bowerbird

January 21 (12:00 pm)

Survivor Knights Philadelphia Art Show and Spoken Word

January 21 (6:00 pm)

Youth Poetry Night and Open Mic Every third Saturday of the month, Philadelphia Youth Poetry Movement hosts a youth-led open mic and poetry slam for teens to share their work in a safe, uncensored environment.

January 22 (5:00 pm)

Rita Jones Dance Co. presents Shakespeakean Bits and Pieces Admission is $5 to benefit St. Jude Children’s Hospital

January 23 (6:00 pm)

Free Workshop! Taxes for Artists, part of Vision Driven Consulting Artists Series As an alcohol-free/smoke-free venue, The Rotunda provides an invaluable social alternative for all ages.

4014 Walnut • TheRotunda.org

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A SPACE FOR

ARTS

STUDENTS AT THE

PMA

An insider look at the partnership between Penn and the Philadelphia Museum of Art beyond the NSO party LINDA LIN It was the fourth day of NSO, and you found yourself dancing in the Great Stair Hall of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, surrounded by the works of figures like Picasso, Rothko and O’Keeffe. After an evening filled with music and dessert, you bussed back to campus and didn't look back.

For many students, interaction with the PMA stops there.

Others may visit an exhibition every so often. But for students in the History of Art department and those who taking related courses, their connection with the museum runs deeper. Thanks to the strong relationship between Penn and the PMA, students are able to uniquely access art and material culture through a wide range of courses, symposia, internship and fellowship opportunities.

Given the proximity of Penn’s campus to the museum, it's common for students to have classes inside the galleries.

Not only do Teaching Assistants often hold recitations at the museum, but some professors also base their seminars on the museum’s collections. Students can then contribute their research to a future exhibition.

Kendra Grimmett, a PhD candidate in History of Art,

was part of Professor Larry Silver’s curatorial seminar “Netherlandish Art—Northern Pictures in the Johnson Collection” last spring. Students researched works of art that will appear in a centennial exhibition of the PMA's Johnson Collection. They also learned about online catalogue strategies, exhibition planning and object display considerations—alongside with the collection's curator, Christopher Atkins.

“One of the benefits of taking a curatorial seminar in partnership with the PMA is gaining privileged, behind–the–scenes access to the museum’s departments and collections,” Grimmett said.

Penn faculty members also collaborate with PMA curators to co–teach courses on current exhibits at the museum; PMA curators even lead their own graduate seminars. History of Art Professor Christine Poggi and Erica Battle, the associate curator of contemporary art at the PMA, collaborated on the course “International Pop Art,” which accompanied the International Pop exhibition last spring. Poggi, who has taught pop art before, wanted to take this new teaching op-

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portunity to learn more from an international perspective.

She invited Battle, the receiving curator of the traveling exhibition and a Penn alumna, to co–teach the course. With funding from the Department of History of Art and the PMA, they invited five scholars and curators from other institutions to speak about pop art to the class at Penn and in the museum.

“It was wonderful because the students were able to work on objects that they had seen in the show and go back and see them again," said Poggi.

"They read about versions of pop art from countries such as England, Germany, Japan, Italy, Brazil and Argentina, and explored areas that were new to them...I think the papers were stronger because the students had the chance to see so many works of art in person, not just read about them.”

Penn and the PMA also provide internship and fellowship opportunities to undergraduate and graduate students. Both the RealArts@Penn project and the Summer Humanities Internship Program (SHIP) of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships provide select undergraduate

students funds to participate in the PMA’s Museum Studies Internship Program. Penn students can also volunteer with specific museum departments, either in curatorial or administrative roles. However, the connection between Penn undergraduate students and the museum can extend beyond class visits and internship programs. More coordinated initiatives, fellowship programs and job opportunities are geared toward PhD candidates.

Roksana Filipowska, PhD candidate in History of Art, is a spotlight lecturer at the museum. She prepares and leads public gallery conversations on specific pieces of art for the PMA's education department.

She also conducts research and writes short essays on the select objects that then become part of the curatorial file. The Spotlight Gallery Conversation program is a partnership among the museum, Penn, Temple University, Bryn Mawr College and the University of Delaware, and it offers graduate students one–year work positions to facilitate the conversations.

“It’s a great opportunity to receive training in museum education, work closely with artworks and to meet gradu-

ate students from other Art History PhD programs in the area,” Filipowska added.

Another formal collaborative effort is a multi-year Andrew W. Mellon Object-Based learning grant, designed to promote museum and university collaborations. The objective is to strengthen the study of objects and to give graduate students greater access to museum collections. It includes several initiatives: an object-study day at the PMA where curators present an object and discuss it with graduate students; a student–run object–study symposium; and a fellowship position offered to a graduate student to research works of art at the museum.

Karen Redrobe, chair of the Department of History of Art and Professor in Film Studies, said, “I believe that we have a fabulous relationship with the PMA...There are many new and old friendships that sustain our work and make it the pleasure work that it is,” she said.

“One of the great things about learning in our department is that when you engage the museum and exhibition world as a student, you see its great variety and complexity.”

ARTS

MAKE MUMMERICA

GREAT AGAIN

The missteps of Philadelphia's beloved and berated marching performers

On 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 1, while other cities were still sleeping off their New Year’s Eve hangovers, Philadelphia was revving up. The annual Mummers Parade, which has shut down some of Philadelphia’s biggest streets since 1901, is a beloved fixture of the city.

Here’s how it works: brigades, composed mainly of working–class people hailing from the Italian–American and Irish–American neighborhoods of South Philadelphia, spend the year planning, choreographing and designing costumes for a themed performance on New Year’s Day. Most of this happens in the brigades' exclusive clubhouses, many of which line South Philly's 2nd Street. The brigades are divided by performance type and parade style into Wenches, Comics, String Bands and Fancy Brigades, and each division's performances are judged and ranked.

A first–place ranking within a division ensures a year of bragging rights in this close-knit, competitive community—and they're far more lucrative than any cash prize. The brigades march along Broad Street for hours, playing music, dancing alongside colorful floats, performing comedy routines, and toying with the thousands of cheering spectators who line the sides of the streets. What perhaps makes Philadelphia

mummery most remarkable, however, is its ability to make performers out of some of the least likely suspects. Plumbers and carpenters, police officers and bartenders—they’re all found parading each year, and they’ll more often than not be doing so while wearing between $4,000 and $10,000 worth of sequins.

They may only march on one day, but Philly offers a year–round chance to learn about the mummers and their history. The Mummers Museum on South Philly's Second Street is a pop of color in an otherwise simple and bar–lined strip of the city.

Walking inside is like walking into a kaleidoscope—the millions of sequins carefully sewn onto the displayed suits reflect light in dozens of colors across the walls. The museum also provides a detailed history of the traditions of the Mummers, dating back to their European origins and stories of town marches on "Second Christmas" (Dec. 26). The museum is only open Wednesday through Saturday, but entrance is free.

What the museum won't tell you is that Philadelphia’s long–adored tradition has also become one of its most controversial. Their meetings and performances are generally either boozy or followed by a celebratory bar crawl.

Countless disruptive and

rowdy incidents have outraged parade attendees, and a few performances in recent years have crossed the line into offensive territory. The past few parades have brought hateful slurs, brownface and an entire comic performance dedicated to mocking Caitlin Jenner's transition. In 2015, a Wench Brigade member walked through the streets with a sign reading “Wench Lives Matter," a parody of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. After seeing a 2017 float emblazoned with the words "Make Mummerica Great Again," Penn alumnus Ernest Owens wrote in Philadelphia Magazine that

"the Mummers Parade should be rebranded as a White Heritage Parade—for it’s really a celebration of whiteness in all its glory and disgust."

Despite sensitivity training coordinated by Philadelphia’s Commission on Human Relations and stringent pre–parade checks made by city officials, Philly was still nervous as the 2017 parade approached. But when Jan. 1 came, the progressive aspects of the parade finally outweighed the complaints.

The Landi Comic club, one of the oldest brigade groups in Philadelphia, welcomed some of the newer, more diverse groups that have popped up in

recent years. The Miss Fancy Brigade (comprised of “Philly’s Phinest drag queens”), the Second 2 None Drill Team (an African–American drumming brigade) and a Trinidadian orchestra are among the newcomers hoping to create a better image of mummery in the city of Philadelphia. If the new trajectory of the Mummers continues, they’ll hopefully be able to usher their traditions into a new era of diversity and inclusivity—without losing a single sequin.

And you thought your New Year's plans were rowdy.

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Society has come a long way.

(Philadelphia, PA)— In a shocking turn of events, West Philadelphia resident and Penn student Melissa Bartoli (W’ 17), who has been to the gym twice already this semester in the hopes of working on her glute definition, announced that she had only been harassed twice during the entirety of her time at the gym this year.

“It’s been a real shock for me,” she said.

Bartoli reported that both of her trips to her fitness centerincluded only brief instances of harassment from men who watched her weirdly for 15

THIS WOMAN HAS BEEN TO THE GYM TWICE THIS SEMESTER AND SHE’S ONLY BEEN HARASSED TWICE

minutes before approaching her and propositioning her for a date.

“I couldn’t believe that I had made it through two whole days without more than two men coming up to me and telling me that I look really cute in my work out top and if I came there often!”

Macy Greenfeld (W & E ‘19), a witness to both of Bartoli’s ventures to the gym, said, “I was completely flabbergasted. She made it through two separate days at the gym, and only two of men acted on their creepy feelings and

WINTER FASHION GUIDE

LOWBROW'S

AMAZING!

LOWBROW

bothered her!”

“And only one of those two guys called her a bitch when she said no—it was really a testament to how far we’ve come in feminism in this country,” she added.

Bartoli says she doesn’t know if this week’s events will last for the remainder of her gym time this semester, but she remains hopeful.

“Soon, I might be able to go on a run without more than, say, five different men giving me once-overs. What a world!”

The season's *coolest* looks

1. HEELYS

Fashionable in every season. Hopefully, you already own a pair and we didn’t have to tell you to get these. It’s much easier to ignore flyers on Locust when you’re wheeling past ‘em at the speed of light.

2. THE ROTTED PINE NEEDLES OF AN OLD CHRISTMAS TREE

You can probably thrift one of these from your very own sidewalk. The fact that Christmas was a month ago makes this one of the season’s most ironic looks. Channukah might last eight nights, but the commercialization of Christmas makes it last forever.

3. A SMILE TORTURED GRIMACE OF SOMEONE WHO HASN’T SEEN THE SUN IN MONTHS AND HAS NOTHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO.

Admittedly the most basic of our recommendations. I mean, who doesn’t have one?

ILLUSTRATIONS BY GLORIA YUEN (MORE ONLINE!)

4. BURNING FIRES OF HELL

It’s too frickin' cold for anything less. And hey, may as well get used to these now. It’s like Katniss —but less Hollywood and more West Philly.

Brick Oven Pizza

5. A LITERAL CANADIAN GOOSE

All Day Delivery Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Late Night

Functional and fashionable. This is a roommate who is guaranteed not to eat your food. This is a friend who will bite the fingers off anyone who gets too close. This is an international bestie who will get you into Castle any day of the week. The bird shit might get gross, but that’s a small price to pay.

6. YOUR CHEM TEXTBOOK

If you wear it, maybe your TA will think you’ve read it?

Cold Beer (Can be Delivered)

7. THE GHOSTS OF FAILED GLUTEN–FREE DIET ATTEMPTS PAST Be honest with your past, embrace it, love it, wear it!

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8. SHIT-STAINED, PEE-STAINED, DIRTCOVERED ICY SLUSH

You’ll match perfectly with our gorgeous campus! Isn’t Penn beautiful all year round?

7

LOWBROW

BUZZWORDS TO HELP YOU OPTIMIZE YOUR RESUME

B.S. doesn't just stand for Bachelor of Science.

Internship applications are right around the corner, so Street has compiled a list of quick, peppy, impactful words that will help spice up the resume you haven’t looked at since last May (unless you’re working in finance, in which case, I would suggest watching The Big Short to understand the vocabulary you’ll be working with).

PROFICIENT

Use this to describe the language that you stopped taking junior year of high school.

Ex: Proficient in Spanish, in that I know how to gaze adoringly at international students.

COORDINATE

Use this to describe the only mildly offensive mixers that you planned for the one club you’re involved with on campus.

Ex: Coordinated several ‘white trash’ mixer themes that only got mild pushback from the larger community.

DEVELOP

Use this to convey the impression that you have gained no real skills during your past three summers of employment.

Ex: Developed organizational systems for office employees, because I didn’t have the knowledge or wherewithal to do anything more meaningful than rearranging their files.

SYNERGIZIFY

The more formal version of synergize. Use to emphasize your familiarity with business vernacular.

Ex: Worked with three other employees to synergizify company’s annual conference on synergy.

LOWBROW IS FAKE. OUR DAILY ONLINE CONTENT IS REAL. YUP. YOU READ THAT RIGHT. EVERY. DAMN. DAY. 34ST. COM

LEAD

Best used to give the impression that the people in your club actually respect your authority when in reality they despise you.

Ex: Lead a group of Darien–based high school girls on a service trip to Vietnam for 5 days, where we taught local Vietnamese children the true value of having white people stare at them for a week.

TEAM PLAYER

Use to communicate your innate and utter inability to work well with a single other human being on this planet.

Ex: Was a team player at previous job, in that I didn’t discriminate to whom I gave sexual favors.

COCAINE

Literal buzzword. Use especially if planning to enter the fields of finance or entertainment.

Ex: Special skills include iMovie, Microsoft Office Suite and doing copious amounts of cocaine.

save our store.

The University of Pennsylvania has decided to terminate its lease with The Fresh Grocer® of Walnut Street after serving our community for the last 15 years.

Should our lease not be renewed, our local family-owned market would be forced to shut its doors on April 1, 2017.

Learn more & help fight back at:

www.savepennfrogro.com

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OPEN LATE & LATE NITE DELIVERY

Domino’s

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SUN-THURS: 10AM - 2AM • FRI-SAT: 10AM - 4AM WE MAKE ORDERING EASY! CALL DIRECT OR CHOOSE YOUR ONLINE OR MOBILE DEVICE

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215-662-1400

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215-557-0940 401 N. 21st St.