4
OPINION Embrace the freedom of freshman year LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 22, 2018 VOL. CXXXIV, NO. 31 134th Year of Publication DAVID AKST President REBECCA TAN Executive Editor CHRIS MURACCA Print Director JULIA SCHORR Digital Director HARRY TRUSTMAN Opinion Editor SARAH FORTINSKY Senior News Editor JONATHAN POLLACK Senior Sports Editor LUCY FERRY Senior Design Editor GILLIAN DIEBOLD Design Editor CHRISTINE LAM Design Editor
O
ver the next few weeks, new students will receive truckloads of unsolicited advice. Some of it will be valuable and much of it will be useless, if not plain wrong. You’ll have to sort through the platitudes, to learn what to trust and what to eschew. My advice is in the newspaper, though, so you might as well trust me blindly. For many, college represents a radical departure from the soft yellow walls of adolescence. The choices facing you are incalculable, endless even, and sometimes their consequences can be far-reaching. In all likelihood you will have more academic, social, and professional freedom now than you ever had before. The range of opportunities available to you cannot be overstated,
nor can the caliber of the people around you. It is easy to understand the University of Pennsylvania as an institution so steeped in history, prestige, and endowmentdollars that its structures and systems are unassailable. It is easy to see professors as giants of academia, to be feared instead of approached as they stride through the halls. Some clubs appear so serious and closed-off that the thought of joining (or, God forbid, being rejected from) is entirely unappealing. These illusions must be broken for you to thrive here. Through some combination of hard work and sheer luck — and it always is a combination, one way or another — you are in a position that only a tiny fraction of the people in the world will ever enjoy. To believe that you aren’t deserving,
ALANA SHUKOVSKY Design Editor BEN ZHAO Design Editor KELLY HEINZERLING News Editor MADELEINE LAMON News Editor HALEY SUH News Editor
Join eight clubs and figure out your favorites later. Wear a muscle tee to the gym, even if you have small arms. They’ll get bigger.”
MICHEL LIU Assignments Editor
Through some combination of hard work and sheer luck — and it always is a combination, one way or another — you are in a position that only a tiny fraction of the people in the world will ever enjoy.” or aren’t capable, of taking advantage of the incredible opportunities at this school is to waste the effort and good fortune that earned you a spot here. Marketing materials and Convocation speeches often say things like, “Students from our university go on to change the world,” as if it is the education alone that empowers them to impact their surroundings. The degree can’t hurt, obviously, but the truth is that you already have the power to change the people around you, or Penn, or even the world. Be ambitious. Take risks. Start a petition for whatever the hell you want; if no one signs it, you’re no worse off than you were before. Sign up for 300-level classes just because
the syllabus sounds awesome, no matter what the difficulty rating is on Penn Course Review. Join eight clubs and figure out your favorites later. Wear a muscle tee to the gym, even if you have small arms. They’ll get bigger. Of course, now that you’re in college, you’re responsible for your own actions. Gone are the rigid structures of high school and life at home. This newfound agency is daunting at first, but the rewards — for yourself and the people around you — can be immense. Thousands and thousands of students have come through Penn’s doors and made it out the other side to have happy, successful lives, regardless of how badly they bombed their a cap-
DAVID AKST pella audition or how awkward their meeting was with an econ professor. Not all risks pan out, but memories of getting rejected from a party or being bored at the Penn Ikea Furniture Building Club’s first meeting will fade fast. This is not to say that, after freshman year, it’s too late to try new things and take risks. However, the sooner you realize your potential, the more campus can benefit from your skills, talents, and passions. One last piece of advice: The Compass thing is a myth. If you fail your midterms, it’s your fault (but you will be fine). DAVID AKST is a College senior from Tivoli, N.Y. studying history. His email addres s is akst@ thedp.com. He is the president of the 134th Board of The Daily Pennsylvanian.
MARC MARGOLIS Sports Editor THEODOROS PAPAZEKOS Sports Editor
CARTOON
YOSEF WEITZMAN Sports Editor ALISA BHAKTA Copy Editor ALEX GRAVES Director of Web Development BROOKE KRANCER Social Media Editor SAM HOLLAND Senior Photo Editor MONA LEE News Photo Editor CHASE SUTTON Sports Photo Editor CAMILLE RAPAY Video Producer ALLY JOHNSON Podcasts Producer
DEANNA TAYLOR Business Manager ANDREW FISCHER Innovation Manager DAVID FIGURELLI Analytics Director JOY EKASI-OTU Circulation Manager
KRISTEN YEH is a College sophomore from West Covina, Calif. Her email address is kristeny@sas.upenn.edu.
REMI GOLDEN Marketing Manager
THIS ISSUE
Diversity in media representation pays off
GRACE WU Deputy Copy Editor NADIA GOLDMAN Copy Associate SAM MITCHELL Copy Associate FRED LU Copy Associate TAHIRA ISLAM Copy Associate LILY ZEKAVAT Copy Associate NICK AKST Copy Associate RYAN DOUGLAS Copy Associate BONNIE MENDELSON Photo Associate CINDY CHEN Photo Associate CAROLINE GIBSON Photo Associate EVAN BATOV Photo Associate
LETTERS Have your own opinion? Send your letter to the editor or guest column to letters@thedp.com. Unsigned editorials appearing on this page represent the opinion of The Daily Pennsylvanian as determined by the majority of the Editorial Board. All other columns, letters and artwork represent the opinion of their authors and are not necessarily representative of the DP’s position.
ROAD JESS TRAVELED | ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ proves the strength of communities of color
I
t’s been around one year since I wrote one of my first opinion columns for The Daily Pennsylvanian, sitting in my summer housing in Philadelphia — an article titled, “Growing up (wanting to be) white.” Kevin Kwan, the author of “Crazy Rich Asians,” shared my article on his Facebook page soon after, and my whole world stopped for a moment: Kevin Kwan is real, his book is real, this movie with an all-Asian cast is happening, and he shared my article. One year later, I find myself in a vastly different place. This summer, I had the opportunity to intern for a studio in Los Angeles, my first extended time so far away from home and the east coast. Thrown into a new environment, learning about something as volatile as the entertainment industry — it was nerve-wracking, but also extremely enlightening. Amid administrative duties and 9-to5 job exhaustion, I watched some of the best movies of my life, all the while waiting for the movie I’d been waiting a year for.
JULIA SCHORR | DIGITAL DIRECTOR
The biggest thing I learned, and perhaps the simplest? Money is truly the beating heart of every industry, and the film industry, one of the most impactful branches of media representation, is no different. Studios make films to turn a profit, to keep surviving. Why don’t we have people of color represented on the big screen? Because, simply, big studios don’t want to risk losing money
‘Crazy Rich Asians’ hitting No. 1 at the box office means one thing, loud and clear: There is a space for our stories, and people want to hear them.
to do the right thing. I remember being nervous for the opening of “Crazy Rich Asians,” wondering if people would pay money to see a bunch of Asians on screen. I remember sitting at an early screening a week before the official release date, sinking into the plush theater chair and praying every ticket be bought. I’ve never cared much about box office numbers or dollar signs, but in that moment, I realized a good number could dictate everything — if more Asian films in the future would be greenlit, if we could see more faces that looked like mine across the screen. Fast forward to now, and the movie is a triumph — raking in $35 million over a five-day opening, exceeding critical expectations and being called a “watershed moment” by Asian Americans across the country. I was swept away by how my
community could rally together and fill those seats. Wealthy Asian influencers literally bought out theaters to support the movie; the hashtag #GoldOpen was created to anticipate the opening. Asian people across the country came out and showed unadulterated support. I was impressed by how many non-Asians I saw in the theaters, and speechless at how Asian stories could matter at the box office too. ”Crazy Rich Asians” hitting No. 1 at the box office means one thing, loud and clear: There is a space for our stories, and people want to hear them. There is a space for Asians to be represented and heard, and that’s the main space of the theater: the center of attention. We spoke with our wallets this weekend, and the white majority of Hollywood and the country better be listening now, too, if money is what it takes. While “Crazy Rich Asians” represents a historical turn in representation for Asian Americans in Hollywood, I do not pretend this movie has no flaws, or that it perfectly represents all Asian experiences. The movie itself is a far cry from my own experiences growing up as a middleclass Asian American, or a fair representation of Asians that do not fit in the East Asian identity. Singaporean politics and racism is also its own beast that the movie does not attempt to battle or address. However, the fact that this movie exists, even with just the purpose to entertain as a romantic comedy and showcase an extremely talented cast
JESSICA LI that happens to be Asian, is a feat in and of itself. The fact that people will support a movie like this and make it a reality is a huge, crazy rich success. As consumers and students at Penn, the fight for media representation doesn’t stop here. If you’re an artist of color, keep working at your craft, keep acting, singing, dancing, writing, creating art. Financially, we can all support smaller content creators of color, support our friends’ creative endeavors, consume the diverse movies and shows and music that we want to exist: The $15 ticket we pay at the theater can go so many ways, and help so many voices be heard. Money matters, if we use it to strengthen our communities and our visibility. After all, while the movie ticket was $15, the feeling I got when I heard the opening tunes of an old Chinese song my own parents could recognize: priceless. JESSICA LI is a College junior from Livingston, N.J., studying English and psychology. Her email address is jesli@sas.upenn.edu.