Artichoke Vol. 5 No.5

mag

WARM FEELINGS 04

The Vagina Monologues A Look Back

FERBUARY 2016 | VOL. 5 N o . 5

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ARTICHOKE

CONTRIBUTORS

CONTENTS FEBRUARY 2016

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Feature: The Vagina Monologues, A Look Back Mayeesha Chowdhury

Editor-in-chief

Mayeesha Chowdhury

Major Speak

Writers

Alex Gage Christina Zisko Cole Kennedy Curtis te Brinke Elijah Budgeon Janae Diaz Katherine Collier Nadia Rompas

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Art Director

Karen Keung

Designers

Camilla Dinardo Caroline Gonzales Daniel Kim Justin Veneracion Maryanne Cruz Olivia Chan Scott Osbourne

Untitled Thoughts Curtis te Brinke

Creative 10

I Would Like to Dedicate This Very Special Valentine Alex Gage

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Kevy Katherine Collier

Entertainment Keeping You Company, A Playlist Nadia Rompas

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Rebirth: The Next Stage of DC Comics Cole Kennedy

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A Modern Age Explained—Going Boom Elijah Budgeon

Lifestyle 20

Being Single in 2016: The Tinder Trap Christina Zisko

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The Man Bun Janae Diaz

VOL 5. No. 5 | FERBUARY 2016

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ARTICHOKE

LETTER

FROM THE EDITOR

DEAR ALL, We’re almost at the end! We hope you’ve all had an amazing reading week—taken some time to reflect, recuperate, and relax.

For those of you who went to Montreal with Winters, I hope the recovery process is going well and steady. February is undoubtedly my favourite month­—we get the opportunity to celebrate love; love for others, love for ourselves, love for our body. Which brings me to our feature for the month: V-Day @ York’s 6th production of Even Ensler’s Vagina Monologues—a show that teaches women to love themselves inside out (in more ways than one, ha!). Thanks to Rowena Tam, and her entire team for constantly putting up with my questions, photo requests, and what not, and a big shout out to our Winters College Council member Kendra Lemon for making us proud with her amazing performance!

As the end of the academic year draws close, I would like to thank my lovely team for holding down the fort that is this magazine.

Big changes have been made in the past year, and I am extremely excited to see what the future holds! The March-April double issue will be our end-of-the-year special issue, available in print! The issue will feature lookbacks, previous cover-arts, and you!

If you would like to submit a piece for our special issue (articles, creative pieces, comics, cartoons, etc.), please send them over to wintersfreepress@winterscouncil.com! I look forward to hearing from you guys!

WITH LOVE, AS ALWAYS Mayeesha C.

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WINTERS

UPCOMING EVENT: CONSTELLATION Constellation is an Interdisciplinary Annual Arts Festival that celebrates the creativity and passion of York’s Fine Arts students from all departments and disciplines.

On March 18th, the open spaces of acw, cfa, and cft are free-range for students to showcase their creativity outside the studios and into the halls: performances, interactive installations, film and video presentations, creative activities, and more. casa collaborates with the Student Associations of the Faculty of ampd, (Dance, Design, Digital Media, Film, Music, Theatre and Visual Arts), who each host an exhibit during the Festival.

You can get involved with casa or an sa’s exhibit, or you can submit your own art to feature. You can also just attend the festival and engage with the ongoing activities through the night.

This is a chance for artists to promote themselves and their work while meeting other artists.

Students can find a submission application and more information on our website and Facebook Page.

We will also be printing copies in our office and handing some out to each sa.

If you have a project idea for Constellation but need funding, you can apply for casa’s Winter Term Grant.

grant deadline: March 1st constellationsubmission deadline: March 11th 164a cfa contact@creativestudents.ca www.creativestudents.ca

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ARTICHOKE

WINTERS

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THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES

BY MAYEESHA CHO

A LOOK BACK V-Day@York’s production of The Vagina Monologues is easily one of my favourite events of the year. As someone who enjoys theatre, it is only normal that I attend one of the most hyped plays of the yearhowever, as a woman, it is extremely important that I make myself present at events that allow open dialogue around the existence of, and the prejudice against female sexuality.

Women often have a difficult time expressing their sexuality, sexual desires openly—I mean, they usually have a difficult time even owning up to the possession of a vagina. Did you cringe a bit as you mentally read the word vagina? Vagina, vagina, vagina! Are you still cringing, or getting used to it? Or did the word lose its meaning because of the number of times you mentally said it, or did your mind just bleep it out as you were reading my last sentence...or are you completely okay with saying vagina?

I have heard people say that Vagina Monologues are just a one-time thing—since the same script is performed every year (new monologues are often

added), people feel that it is not a show they need to attend every year. After attending it two years in a row, I can assure you—it is not a one time thing. They come back with a completely new cast every year, and that is what makes it worth going back to. Unlike other plays and performances, there’s something inherently personal about The Vagina Monologues. I often see the monologues merging into the performer, and vice versa. There is unique invisible bond between the piece and the performer, and that manifests the essence of the show in different ways each year, which is why I keep going back, and will continue to do so. I have seen these monologues transform the lives of those who have performed it, I have seen them empower these women, open their mind, and further spread awareness on issues surrounding women around the world.

Attending this year’s Vagina Monologues only made me further realise the unique nature of the show— how even if the script is still fresh in your mind from previous years, nothing can compare to the experience of attending that show—at any given point in time.

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ARTICHOKE

UNTITLED THOUGHTS

CURTIS TE BRINKE

This patriarchy is getting real tiresome, everyone.

And as a white, cisgendered male I barely know anything about it.

A few weeks ago I sat in my apartment and very calmly explained to a friend’s boyfriend the fact that feminism is a school of thought that applies to every gender, and that he as a cisgendered male had just as much to gain from it. His eyes lit up, and gave me a “you know I’ve never thought of it that way before.”

My friend, dead eyed and seemingly tired of this whole thing, said “I’ve been telling him the same thing for years.” It took me, a fellow male, explaining it to him for him to finally see another side to the conversation.

While I was glad to help, I was grossed out by that fact.

It is undeniable that western society is built around a gender problem. We’re a patriarchy, and if you say otherwise, I would love to hear your side of the story.

All five seconds of it.

MAJOR SPEAK

I’m an angry, queer feminist. And while I’ve always seen feminism as just being common sense, I’m starting to realize I have more at stake than I thought I did. I’m a white guy, there’s no way I’ve ever faced gender based discrimination right? Only now am I realizing that I have been on the shit end of the patriarchy stick my entire life without really thinking about it.

Our society hates women. Systematically. And while I’ve dealt with homophobia throughout my life, I never realized that a large part of homophobia is hatred of the feminine. I’m not saying that gay males are factorydefault feminine, but you can’t argue that it’s how we are perceived. Standard gay representation pre-Glee was mommy loving effeminates, limp wrists clutching shopping bags, all sibilant S’s and watered down sexuality. We were neutered for a western consuming base. We were feminized, because we still see the feminine as docile, weak, and non-threatening. We were/are perceived through our sexuality. Remind you of anyone? When I was growing up, this was the gay I saw represented. It was the gay the people around me saw represented.

So in a world built around the subjugation of the female, any male connected to this purportedly feminine sexuality was seen as equally qualified for subjugation. It lead to me growing up scared of my own “feminine” aspects. Learning the fluid nature of gender, and the fact that it’s one of the biggest imagined construct we partake in has changed my perspective on that. But at thirteen, this was of no help. So we raised

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a generation of queers who avoided anything seen as feminine. We were weird enough already, we were not about to add anything to that pile.

So I’m making an effort. Not to look at the things that make up my personality as male looking or female looking. They’re just the things that make up the way I act, the way I perform myself. Because every boy who’s been told to stop acting so girly has been fed the lie that 1—His worth is derived from his ability to perform his own gender norms, and 2—That to behave female is bad, whether perpetrated by a male or female. It’s a self fulfilling lie, and it’s so goddamn boring. Call me idealistic, but being a part of a world where the female is not hated on principal, and that the issues of queerness didn’t get dragged into that hate, sounds far less boring.

While studying gender discrimination from the female perspective is integral to this conversation, so too is studying the intersectional nature of it. I’m just a white guy, and even I’ve been on the harmful end of the patriarchy. I quite literally can’t imagine what it must be like for people who aren’t white and cisgendered males. Because feminism isn’t exclusively white, and it certainly isn’t exclusively heterosexual.Homophobia is ugly. And it looks like misogyny. I’m over it. You should be too. Let’s be feminists, friends. The alternative is exhaustively uninteresting.

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ARTICHOKE

BY ALEX GAGE

I WOULD LIKE TO DEDICATE THIS VERY SPECIAL VALENTINE Flip on the radio and hear the air fill with generic love. love without meaning, without salt.

The classical station is as bad if not Worst: Dedicating a love like no other To the phone-ins’ “Friend, Partner, Caring, Wonderful.”

To commemorate this love unlike any other give them “The Bach Cello Suite, any of them ….because he loves them.”

(It will be the prelude from No. 1) Or a Mozart duet, “Here you are, from The Magic Flute....”

Adore with rhinestones of …. ….endearment?

Toleration, rapproachment, complacency, acceptance, gesture, Boredom.

Creative

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ARTICHOKE

Dear Levin, You’re an idiot, that’s the best way I can put this.

After everything we’ve been through, you’re giving up so easily. There are much worse things I should call you, could call you but that would all be for naught. I’m still in love with you and I’m afraid I always will be. You’re the first person I ever loved…

CREATIVE

As he read the letter that had been slipped under his door that morning, his mind lashed back to the day they had met. It had been a relatively warm day, the first one of frosh. He was comfortable in his white v-neck v and jeans. He had clearly been looking for attention, which in a way he had gotten. Their eyes had met and he had known in that exact moment. It was as if he could see the world held in bright warm eyes.

Despite the problems that would arise, he had known. Their love was an epic one. One that was written in the bright stars of their late night trips to the roof, their personal haven from the turmoil of the world on earth. Their love flew on the wings of the highest soaring birds who sang the dawn of a new day when they had spent entire nights awake in his room, wrapped around each other whispering their secrets that they couldn’t share. Even now, his arms ached to be wrapped around his love, but he had given that up. He had made his decision that night when he hadn’t shown up on that roof the night before.

That’s why I’m writing you this. I need you to know the way I feel about you and if you still don’t want anything to do with me, I understand. If you love me let me go, well those apparently really are the words that often leave scars…

He was taken back to the boat cruise, the two of them stolen away to the stern of the boat for privacy when what would become their song came on. They had both grinned, singing along, two souls speaking to one another. They were inseparable, so much so that people had started to catch on, but they always managed to play it off. When around their friends, they would steal glances at each other, turning it into a sort of game; which one could turn the other on first with a simple look.

It was only at that moment, at that memory that Levin realized just how empty he felt; just how alone. No, he wouldn’t let another one get away. He wouldn’t be left alone again.

I just need to see you one last time. I need you to tell me you don’t want me anymore and I’ll leave you alone. But don’t let your fear stop us from being what we could be. I will be with you, through it all. I’m not leaving unless you tell me to. I’m not giving up. I’ll be in my room.

The bottom of the page was stained with tears, the authors name unreadable, but Levin knew what he had to do.

The letter was thrown on his bed, discarded but not forgotten.

Levin’s feet moved as if on their own, taking him on a path guided by his heart. The faint notes of their song came from behind a nearby door, which he pushed open. The lump of blankets and sobs did not even seem to be a shadow of the person Levin had... fallen in love with.

“Levin…?” came a hoarse voice from the jumble of blankets.

“I’m an idiot,” Levin said, moving to the bed and revealing the face of the man he had fallen in love with, giving him a chaste kiss which could explain far better than words.

KATHERINE COLLIER

KEVY

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ARTICHOKE

A playlist for February 2016

CURATED BY NADIA ROMPAS

KEEPING YOU COMPANY

ENTERTAINMENT

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Valentine’s Day. It is traditionally an occasion for lovers to express their affection for one another through flowers, chocolates, and greeting cards on February 14. With all traditions, some dread it, others embrace it, and many feel indifferent about it. But at its core, the holiday is a reminder that love is a common feeling that humans look for to spark up their lives—whether it is received from family, friends, or a romantic partner. But romantic love, in particular, is harder to attain and more emotionally messy to let go of.

Although February has flown by, I still wanted to make a playlist covering a few types and associations of a romantic relationship. While some songs capture the overflowing raw, tender moments of being in love, included are themes such as polyamory, lust, and heartache. The tracks are categorised by relationship status—I know, not the most original idea but it gets the point across—to cater to your current situation and keep your full, content, or broken heart in sonic company.

in love in a state of heartache or emptiness “Downtown” by Majical Cloudz I sent this song “Hellhole Ratrace” by Girls Get your wine to my best friend when she started falling in love. ready. Christopher Owen’s shameless “I’m on the floor and crying with this playing on confession about finding companionship repeat,” she says, added with a bunch of crying will satisfy and comfort your tears. Initially emojis. (I’m sorry). Composed of Matthew Otto’s accompanied by a piercing acoustic guitar, minimalistic, soft-sounding synths paired with the epic tune later intensifies with fuller Devon Walsh’s heartfelt lyrics, the authoritative sounding electric guitars and soaring highvocals add emotional depth to the simple lyrics. pitched melodies.

Thus, creating a melting feeling as Walsh sings, “Nothing you say / Will ever be wrong / Cause it in a hunt for eye-candy just feels good being in your arms.”

“Aqua Profunda!” by Courtney Barnett In this short two-minute number, Barnett describes her crush on a stranger at a public swimming in a polyamorous relationship pool. And let’s face it, daydreaming about “Multi-Love” by Unknown Mortal being with a stranger we find attractive and Orchestra While the song title is selfsubtly trying to impress them is fun. This explanatory, lead singer-guitarist Ruben Nielson playfulness comes across in the song through makes it crystal clear in the chorus, saying, the uplifting beat, lively guitar riffs, and “Multi-Love has got me on my knee / We were comically relatable lyrics. one, then become three.” Sharing his personal experience with his wife and another lover, in a stable relationship Nielson’s interviews in addition to the track “Still Together” by Mac DeMarco Think challenge the taboo subject of polyamory and you’ve found ~*The One*~? Well aren’t you represent an alternative manifestation of love. lucky. Reflect on your happy relationship with Mac DeMarco and his slacker style acoustic guitar playing. Find your loved one, wrap your arms around them, and dissonantly serenade them because “it’s easy love, fits like a glove.”

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REBIRTH: THE NEXT STAGE OF DC COMICS

BY COLE KENNEDY

ARTICHOKE

This May, DC Comics will officially launch its new initiative appropriately titled “Rebirth”. Editors and associates at DC have stressed that this is not a reboot, that Rebirth will be a continuation of the world from their New 52 imprint. They’ve also stressed that this is not an event, but an “ongoing mission” for the publication and the ongoing comic book series within it. In case you don’t dedicate every waking moment to comics and superheroes like me, let me get you up to speed and explain why this ongoing mission of DC’s, this “Rebirth”, is exactly what both the publisher, and the reader, need.

ENTERTAINMENT

In September of 2011, DC launched a line-wide reboot on all of their series called The New 52. This new imprint was both a new beginning for both publication numbers and the stories within the pages themselves.

Not only were all comic series returned to first issues with new #1’s, most of the series brought the characters back to their early days of heroism and villainy (like Superman when he first arrives in Metropolis, or the initial meeting of the Justice League). In short, The New 52 left some aspects of these characters relatively the same, while drastically changing others.

If you visit any forum page that discusses anything to do with New 52 you will find at least some hint of debate and argument between fans. This is because some people love it, others hate it, and some pick and choose what they like and dislike about New 52’s alterations.

Beyond all the arguments against The New 52, one can’t deny that truly great story arcs were created during this imprint, some ranking among the best we’ve ever seen in comics. I dare anyone to say Batman’s Court of Owls or Death Of The Family, or Justice League’s Darkseid War are bad stories. In fact, series like Batman, Justice League, Batgirl, Harley Quinn, and many more have become stronger since the beginning of The New 52. But with all the successes, come just as many mistakes.

The problems that arose through the implementation of The New 52 were of the “continuity” variety.

Minor problems included the eradication of characters

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and the alteration of others. Fan favorite Wally West, who acted as The Flash in comics for 30 years, was reverted back to a teenaged version of himself, with some personality changes. As you can imagine, fans of the original Wally West were not too happy to see these changes. Aside from personal opinions fans may have toward minor character changes, the real issues lie with the timeline, and how it is majorly disjointed because of The New 52’s changes (for example, how did Batman cycle through four different Robins in just over 5 years?).

To fix all of these mistakes, as well as to satisfy upset fans, DC announced “Rebirth”. Just five years after The New 52 reverted the issues to #1, Rebirth will do the same, but this time, it will maintain much of the continuity, while introducing elements from classic DC stories set before The New 52. The question now is: how? The only explanation I can think of is some magical being arrives and reintroduces past stories in conjunction with current ones, but that’s not good storytelling. In this case, that magical being is made up of the creative teams at DC, and I have complete faith in them. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until May to learn the real secrets of DC’s Rebirth.

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ARTICHOKE

ENTERTAINMENT

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BETWEEN PANELS: A MODERN AGE EXPLAINED—GOING

BY ELIJAH BUDGEON

The Modern Age of Comics began approximately 1985’s. The early Modern age followed the darker precedent set by what came before, and with the new freedom granted with the quieted Comics Code Authority, creators were free to write more violent stories, and to explore sex and sexuality. With that said, the Code still remained in place, and imprints like Vertigo Comics, which published Hellblazer, Swamp Thing, and Sandman were created to produce stories with more graphic content.

By the early 90’s, frustration regarding ownership rights flared within both DC and Marvel comics.

Writers and artists were propelled to stardom within the industry but because the characters they created for the big two and didn’t belong to them. In 1992, creators Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld and Todd MacFarlane left Marvel and DC Comics respectively, and created an independent third party company called Image Comics, the company that would publish the anti-hero, Spawn.

The Modern Age saw the rise of the anti-hero in comics, the characters that don’t necessarily exhibit a hero’s set of ethics and would often fight the enemy using lethal force. Characters like Wolverine and the Punisher were

precursors to this trend, but with the 90’s, anti-heroes became more common because they straddled the line between right and wrong, and sold well for it. Characters like Venom, Deadpool and Cable were so popular with readers that they appeared more frequently until they received top billing in their own limited and on-going series.

During this time, relevancy became the battle to fight. DC Comics published two epic stories, the Batman story “Knightfall” and Superman’s “The Death of Superman.” The writers of Superman struggled for years to make Superman relevant to the

time, and decided to kill him. These two stories were a financial success, and the death of Superman received mainstream attention for killing an iconic character. As this happened, Marvel tried to compete with events with their two top selling properties, Spider-Man, and the X-Men, producing the acclaimed X-Men storyline “Age of Apocalypse” and the reviled Spider-Man story called “the Clone Saga.

In the shadow of these other events, economic recession hit the late-1980’s. The belief of many, mostly non-readers, was that buying comics, no matter what they were and especially if they were

first issues, were a better monetary investment than placing money in company stocks. Consumers would buy issues in twos and threes, with the expectation was that the issues they bought would become as valuable a comic from the Golden Age of comics. With sales going up, so did the print runs, which meant more copies to be shipped to retailers. When consumers tried to sell the comics the bought to collect a lump sum of money, they found it wasn’t worth much and many stopped buying. This was called the Speculator Boom, and because the many companies, especially Marvel who filed for bankruptcy in 1996,

bled money with little returns, it nearly killed the industry. Next month, in the final part of this article, we’ll tackle the late 90’s and the mainstream success that came from then to now.

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Being Single in 2016:

THE TINDER TRAP

BY CHRISTINA ZISKO

ARTICHOKE

There are over 53,000 students at York. That translates to a lot of young, single people. Add to that the fact that we are surrounded by technology and social media, and that gives you a lot of young, single people on their phones most of the day. In honour of the new movie How To Be Single, starring Dakota Johnson and Rebel Wilson, let’s talk about how to be single as a university student. Yes, I’m talking about using Tinder.

If you don’t have Tinder yourself, you definitely know someone who does. This fast- paced, fun dating app allows you to make snap judgements about potential matches. If you like someone, swipe right, and hope that they did the same for you. If you don’t, swipe left, and away they go into the virtual garbage bin of suitors.

Generation X is always saying that us Millennials are shallow, self

LIFESTYLE

centred kids with a short attention span, and Tinder perfectly caters to that demographic. We get to choose our best selfies and judge others’, all the while swiping at 60 profiles per minute. No wonder it can be so addictive. But does it really work? That depends on what you’re looking for.

Tinder advertises itself as a “social discovery” app, but the consensus is that it’s considered a “hookup” app. One only needs to check the Instagram account @TinderNightmares to learn that predominately, a large amount of male Tinder users are looking for exactly that. According to my own experiences and the experiences of my friends, users can expect no shortage of sexually suggestive messages in their inbox. This isn’t exactly conducive to looking for a relationship based on mutual respect and conversation.

But one can’t make sweeping generalizations. For example, a friend of mine met her boyfriend of a year and a half on the app. This is the exception rather than the norm. Think about it- what are the odds that you would swipe right on Prince or Princess Charming, they would also swipe right on you, no one would send a gross sexual innuendo as the first message, you would talk and get along, and get along well enough to meet in person and fall in love? It’s not impossible, but it’s also not very likely. Unfortunately, for the users of this app, this is how to be single.

One three-day texting relationship after another.

Allow me to speak for myself for a minute. I’ve met three of my Tinder matches in person.

Between those three “dates”, I have experienced a guy who invited myself and another girl from Tinder

to his party, perhaps hoping to increase his odds of a hookup (it didn’t), a guy who showed up late and quite possibly high, and one catfish who looked nothing like his profile photos. Just this week I was texting with a guy who I later found out was engaged. Thats 0 for 4. Four strikes and I’m out! These situations gave me a good laugh when talking them over with my friends, but this is not how I want to be single. I would much rather have fun with my girls. Queue “Single Ladies” by Beyonce.

My experience on the app may be nothing like yours. I may have just had a string of bad luck, and you could hit the jackpot. All I know is that, for a lot of people, being single in 2016 means swiping left or right on people within a 25 kilometre radius, hoping The One (or maybe The One Right Now) will appear. We are surrounded with

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technology and social media all the time, may it be Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, and that probably won’t change. It’s only natural that romantic relationships and dating would move to social media apps as well. This iscompletely different from how our parents or grandparents met, and time will tell if that’s a good or bad thing. But for now, I’ve decided that I’m swiping left on Tinder.

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BY JANAE DIAZ

ARTICHOKE

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T H E MA N B U N

“Bro, by January, I’ll be able to rock a man bun.”

“You could totally pull off a top-knot.”

Last December, all of the girls were swooning over the hockey players and hipsters with long hair, also known as “flow.”

Flow would catch a girl’s eye as she walks through the mall, draw her to university hockey arenas, and distract her during lectures. I remember that my co-worker once told me: “I love guys with flow. It makes me weak. I just want to run my hands through their hair.”

However, the men with flow have taken it one step further, growing their hair out just enough to create something even more sensational: I give you the “man bun.”

Many hockey players may try to pull this look off—and some succeed.

However, the man bun—also known as a “top-knot”—seems to fall into the style category of a hipster. A

LIFESTYLE

flannel shirt, a well-groomed beard, and a perfectly styled man bun can be found on almost any man in your local Urban Outfitters. Man buns look even better when their hair hasn’t been washed in a couple of days and it’s greasy. Crazy, right?

Think of it as “homeless chic”. The two most popular ways to rock a man bun are: keep it long and tie it all up or shave the sides of the head and keep the top longer. The latter is the more common style as it still appears groomed and pairs well with a tailored suit for those attending a formal function.

Celebrities have been spotted rocking man buns on and off of the red carpet. Orlando Bloom, Russell Brand, Harry Styles, and David Beckham are some well-known names that know how to pull off a good top-knot. Whether it’s in a suit and tie or an old Pink Floyd

t-shirt to run some errands, these men wear buns better than most women.

YouTube tutorials on how to style the perfect man bun are popping up. Online blogs, like Elite Daily, are creating compilations of man buns and writing articles on how they are “everything right now.” There are Tumblrs completely dedicated to the new hairstyle, like “Fuck Yeah, Men with Buns” and Instagrams who take submissions, such as “Man Bun Monday”. I may or may not follow these blogs religiously. Social media is bursting, guys are missing trips to their barber, and girls are falling at men with buns’ feet.

Man buns are everywhere. You cannot escape the man bun ... and that’s the problem.

The man bun was first attractive to many females because it was different. It seemed artistic, strategically messy, and just appealed to our senses on so many levels. I was obsessed with man buns when they first appeared, but now they’ve begun to trick us. I’ve stopped as I’m walking to class on so many occasions because of a beautiful bun on a not so greatlooking guy. I’m attracted to your bun, not to you. Can you see how confusing this must be to us?

The man bun is getting overdone. Scratch that—the man bun is overdone.

No longer is this perfectly careless hairstyle unique or shocking. I can count on both hands how many man buns that I see as I’m walking through campus, simply from one end of York Lanes to the either. The worst part is that a lot of these guys shouldn’t even be wearing man buns. Go ahead, ask me why.

“Why?” Listen to me very carefully, men. If your hair is not long enough to pull off a proper man bun, then please refrain from doing so. Just because you missed your last hair cut and it’s a little bit longer than usual does not justify trying to pull off a top-knot. Top-knots are majestic; a tiny knob of a bun or

what looks like a bean sprout does not constitute as “rocking a man bun.” Furthermore, if you cannot pull off a top-knot, then let it go.

Maybe it’s just not for you. Maybe you’re not a man bun’s type. Either way, you should not do it.

I would demand death to the man bun, but it is still my favourite hairstyle on a man. By dating a man with a top-knot, a woman will always have a hair-tie and Friday nights at home would consist of pulling each other’s hair. Keep the man buns, but eliminate the overabundance of them. Certain men are ruining it for all of us. It’s like when guys complain that all girls wear the same army green jacket in fall with ugg boots. Well, guess what? Man buns are just like that.

Seriously, though ... you look like an apple stem.