em Magazine F/W 2016 - "Spectrum"

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Volume 22 F/W 2016 Sprectrum Editor-In-Chief Carina Allen Photo Director Adam Ward Assistant Photo Director Allison Nguyen Editorial Director Jacqueline Weiss Assistant Editorial Director Marisa Dellatto Digital Editor Jillian Meehan Design Director Carly Miller Marketing Director Alex Sieklicki Beauty Director Courtney Kaner Production Coordinator Daniel Kam Marketing Julianna Sy Anna Marrone Laura Tormos Annie Huang Writers Caroline Long Courtney Major Rebecca Szkutak Jenny Griffin Noel Gasca Isabel Crabtree Margeaux Sippell Delia Curtis

Stylists Brandon Murphy Katya Katsnelson Beauty Peri Lapidus Catherine Amoriggi Ava Feneberger Samantha Goodman Designers Casey Denton Julianna Sy Julian Baeza Hochmuth Jess Gomes Daniel Kam Katrina Chaput Morgan Wright Copyeditors Katherine Hildebrandt Amanda Gutierrez Lilly Milman Photographers Allison Nguyen Andri Raine Becca Chairin Yasmina Hilal Noah Chiet Vishwang Gowariker Darren Samuels Goldmond Fong Tom McLaughlin On the Cover: Kate Bartell wearing Vivienne Westwood.

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR MY FAVORITE COLOR IS FIVE MIND GAMES WALK THE LINE REFRACT QUIETUDE SHADES OF THE SEASON TINDER-ELLA INCARNADINE WELL SUITED ONLY NINETIES KIDS WILL GET THIS STORY OF A SCENT LIVE IN COLOR RAGS AND RICHES SPIRITED AWAY ONE NATION, INDIVISIBLE...

LET'S TALK ABOUT SEX LIGHT: A REVELATION RED

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With this being my first semester as sole Editor-in-Chief, I finally feel my three years on staff have paid off. After semesters full of various hiccups, I might have finally gotten a grip on how to make things run smoothly. This being said, with a staff that shifts and remolds with every new semester, making every issue of em is always a fresh experience that keeps me both inspired and challenged.

This is really all I could ask for from any artistic endeavor I throw myself into, and from any staff that I have the pleasure of working with.

This issue has been particularly challenging simply due to the nature of the theme. When we picked "Spectrum" I knew it was going to be difficult to tackle, but the end result had potential to be very insightful, innovative, and educated.

When landing on a theme that quite literally implies encompassing everybody and everything out there, it can seem quite intimidating. At a school where the student population does not necessarily reflect the global population we are aiming to represent, working on this issue has made me think a lot about media inclusion and diversity, the way that the fashion industry–that even we as a student publication are inherently influenced

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by–has stereotypically functioned and how it is now responding to demands for change, and how we as young creatives are becoming the voice of our generation.

In today's highly polarizing political climate, our society is marked by deepening divides. While right now it may feel like you either identify with one side or the other, there is still an infinite range of ideas that reside within the spectrum.

While reading this issue, I hope you can not only identify with some of the people or ideas featured, but that you also choose to consider the value of opinions different from your own.

This semester we have made major steps toward expanding em Mag as a fashion publication, a student organization, and as a work of art. I am extremely proud of and thankful for my all-star executive board, my dedicated and imaginative staff, and simply for the opportunity to make this magazine.

Thank you for picking up this magazine and thank you for still believing in the world of print publishing!

Magazines are magic!

Sincerely, Carina Allen

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MY FAVORITE COLOR IS FIVE

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Text: Isabel Crabtree Photo: Becca Chairin

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ero, light gray.

One, light cyan.

Two, deep blue.

Three, yellow.

Four, fuchsia.

Five, gold. This is how Madeline Addis, Theatre Studies Acting ’18, sees numbers. She is synesthetic, which means every letter, number and figure she encounters is paired with a color. M, for example, is a deep cranberry. Nine, on the other hand, is brown, so when she turned 19, she says, she was like, “What do I do with it?”

Synesthesia is a condition in which senses are connected in an individual’s brain.

This can manifest itself in color associations like it does with Addis, which allows emotions to become associated with the colors. Thus,

people, and anything else she interacts with makes Addis sees the world in a different way than other people, literally. Memories can also have colors associated with them, but colors don’t bring to mind specific memories. Synesthesia is a complicated phenomenon that affects the people who have it in unique ways; it enriches each artist differently.

Addis discovered that she experienced synesthesia when she was seven years old. She was being driven by her friend’s mom, who pointed out a beautiful field of vibrant tulips. She started talking about a thing called synesthesia, where people would see a color and feel something when they saw a letter or heard a song. “I was like, ‘Oh, I have that!’”

Addis says. “And she was like, ‘Honey, no you don’t,’ but I knew I did.

I thought that was what it was just supposed to be like for everyone.”

When Addis’ speech patterns are disturbed - for example, after drinking - the easiest way for her to describe things is through her synesthetic associations. “I can sometimes be grasping for a word,” Addis says. “And know the color of it, but not the world itself.” It’s like the brain of someone with synesthesia is hard-wired to process information in a visual, color based way, perhaps even allowing a fuller spectrum of

“I can sometimes be grasping for a word, and I know the color of it, but not the word itself.” she sees the world in a way unusual to most other people. The color associations can also come from musical notes, making films and other art media a different experience for Addis. Addis’ mind’s eye sees a color, similar to an aura, when associated with specific people, places, or things. Visualizing and associating emotions through colors with objects,

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emotion to be experienced, since there are no boundaries dictated by linguistic rules and structures.

“Words are muddier,” Addis says. “They’re sometimes too much to classify.

But never is a word, in my mind, just in black type.”

Years also have colors associated with them; 2014 was a sunset pink, 2015 a golden yellow, and 2016 a cyan blue.

These associations can then cause emotions in Addis based on the color she is presented with. For example, when New Years of 2016 rolled around, Addis was surprisingly disappointed in the color, and found herself looking ahead to the coming year with that coloring her expectations. “I sometimes have negative connotations with things,” Addis says. “But more often, if, say, a person I love brings to mind a color I don’t love, I’ll come to love the color because of the person.”

These synesthetic associations have created challenges in the past for Addis, especially in her art: “It can be frustrating as an actor as far as the preconceived ways I can accidentally approach a character because of colors I already associate with them,” Addis says. “But, then it becomes a matter of either finding other colors or simply digging deeper.”

Sometimes, for example, if she’s watching a film where the choices in color and tone don’t match the emotions in the film the same way as Addis sees them, or similarly if the song being played doesn’t match the colors Addis associates with it, the

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“All the chords were blue for me, too, so I just burst into tears.”

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results can be disorienting.

“Any kind of disconnect like that is crazy and kind of awful,” Addis says. “But, I can often find a connection, like with Wes Anderson’s films.”

The hues and feeling pairings Anderson uses make sense to Addis, and sometimes correlate. “It can make me feel uncomfortable when associations that are not my own are presented to me,” Addis says. “It adds an element of the sublime! Which, when that’s not what’s being gone for, can be disconcerting.

But, I am also a human person, and I’ve learned to deal when things outside don’t always look like the inside of my head.”

It also makes the world a distracting place for Addis.

“The class next-door to one of mine is a dance class so when they play music I’m all distracted in my own class,” Addis says. “Also, I ate an edible in Amsterdam that made it so the colors of music I heard made it almost difficult for me to see. So, I responded by trying to draw the sounds I was hearing.”

However, the nature of these colors and associations is subject to change from outside influences. “With sickness and fever sometimes the colors are unaffected,” Addis says. “But sometimes they either get dulled and grey or oversaturated. The saturation comes more with fever.”

Constantly being surrounded by these colors and their relationships to aspects of her life has created a need for a certain level of neutrality for Addis. “It absolutely affects the colors I wear,” Addis says. “That’s why I wear a lot of black and white, because they don’t have connotations attached to them.” Similarly, when she first moved into her apartment at the beginning of the semester, she struggled for a long time with decorating. “For the longest time my bedroom was just completely white,” Addis says. Each color she added had to be chosen deliberately based her connotations to it.

Synesthesia creates a challenges for Addis to put names to feelings, especially in her acting classes. However, she did have one teacher that talked about feelings as colors, and she could relate instantly taking full advantage of her synesthesia. Addis says it also helps for “dropping into various feelings states” in her acting. “On a basic level, it helps my acting because I’m really good at memorizing,” Addis says. “It doesn’t limit my acting choices, but my costumes are really important to me and what colors they are.” Synesthesia adds an extra layer of emotion to Addis’ life which can be translated through her work on stage. “As an actor, I love lighting in theatre! It has EM MAGAZINE

the potential to illuminate a very personal and inside experience of mine and put it into a tangible reality,” Addis says. This color and emotion association with music contributes to Addis’ love of musical theatre. “I love overtures,” Addis says, “because it’s not words, just themes, colors, feelings of the songs.

I love music in theatre in any capacity. Especially if you can match the color and the emotion.”

Synesthesia affects how she listens to music in general, too. “My music taste is very weird. I have to be in a specific mood,” Addis said.

“I have to try each song and see if it matches.” Allowing space for these associations in Addis’ life takes deliberate attention and effort, but when things add up, it’s extremely rewarding. When Addis was in choir in school, she was listening to a choir sing “Song in Blue,” and “all the chords were blue for me, too, so I just burst into tears.”

Being able to experience these extra layers can be a blissful part of Addis’ life. “If I’m walking down the street listening to music I will tune out everything that’s in front of me,” Addis says. “Because I’ll just be seeing the song.”

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mg ai mn ed s Text: Caroline Long Photo: Allison Nguyen

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It’s like watching TV. A shiver down the spine and an instantaneous image gives Grace what she needs to know, but not what she can understand. “I’ll starting seeing things. I get symbols, I get pictures…” she says.

Her bedroom is is canvas for layers of posters, sheets, and tchotchkes, and her hair is fire-engine red. Her eyes are large, deep, and accented with thick winged eyeliner. Her skin is pale and her arms are artwork as they hold tattoo after tattoo like delicate paintings, each one with different significance, but her mind is far more filled with urgency.

She sees people that aren’t here, and things that have yet to come; Her name is Grace Waronker, and like any Emerson student, unique and comfortable in her own light, but she posses a quality that in comparison, is not so common.

She’s psychic.

It’s not a newfound gift, this ability to see things that aren't tangible; she says that her mother noticed something different at infancy. “I was very into spooky things”, Grace says, casually, referencing halloween and not-so-pleasant things like death and

destruction, things the normal child would shy away from. As she talks, I notice the lack of caution in her tone. It’s clear that being a psychic is something Grace has been comfortable with and explaining to people for quite some time. As a baby, she remembers seeing her mother and babysitters astral bodies (an out-ofbody physical embodiment of a living person) walking around when Grace was asleep. “These are memories I’ve had since I was 8 months old”.

Her first psychic premonition wasn’t too far after. In kindergarten, she predicted that her best friend]’s brother would smash a plant and get grounded for three weeks. She said she wasn’t surprised to have that same friend run over to her in class the next day to report that everything Grace predicted came true exactly as she said it would: As juvenile as some would consider a smashed plant, it’s when Grace realized that the other kids didn’t see what she saw.

After graduating to middle school a few years later, she started predicting pregnancies of the female teachers, and after multiple correct

guesses, they started coming to Grace to ask for the sex of their babies. She was right every time.

One Thursday afternoon, Grace read me. I had come with an open, yet curious mind, and in comfy clothes.

Feeling homesick and tired after a day of classes, I was wearing leggings and an oversized sweater that I had stolen from my father, whom I had just gotten off the phone with. I entered her room and sat down in a low chair in the corner of her room while she sat cross-legged on the floor in front of me.

She closed her eyes slightly, but didn’t look like she was thinking too hard.

She looked as though something entirely ordinary had entered her train of thought and said “Your dad.”

She asked me if I was close with my father, because it was the first thing she saw when she focused on my energy. Then she inquired about his size, saying that he was a really big presence, but wasn’t sure if that was because of his physical or emotional significance. While he is not a physically big man, I indeed have an extremely

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close and prominent relationship with my father, and the fact that she recognized this intrigued me immediately. I wanted to know more about what was significant about my being.

My aura is blue, and although I am a Gemini, which is considered an air sign on the astrological scale, Grace saw lots of water symbols and waves, as if I was a water sign, like a Cancer or a Pisces. When she focused on me, she said she saw symbols instead of premonitions. Because she is also a medium, she was able to communicate with my late maternal grandparents. “Sometimes if I do a reading on someone who has had a lot of people pass away, it’s stressful because there are so many voices- so many people trying to connect with them at once,” she said. Suicide victims will often try to talk to her, which she reports is extremely difficult, because she has had her own experiences with loss from that cause. “Once I’ve started to connect with someone who has killed themselves, I get crazy images in my head, and I can see it all very clearly. it’s hard.” It can be overwhelming, she says, to have that responsibility.

I haven’t had a lot of experience with death, and there wasn’t anyone in particular I was concerned about, but Grace saw an uncle of mine that was of significance. She saw my grandparents holding hands, putting a specific emphasis on one of uncles,, but it was unclear as to why, how, or what for. All of my uncles are alive, so I was puzzled, but Grace was too. A misconception about psychics is that they know everything, and while they have the power and potential to see things and experience feelings that other people cannot, Grace is not clairvoyant. She cannot entirely predict events of the future or beyond normal sensory contact.

“I’m not one hundred percent accurate, and sometimes people don’t believe me”, she says of her skeptics. “I understand, because there’s also a part of me that’s also skeptic.

I understand that there’s a disconnect and some people just can’t get it, and that’s okay, People are allowed to have their own opinions.”

Grace views her psychic and medium status not only as a gift, but an obligation to do good no matter the circumstances, which sometimes means approaching people she doesn’t know, or who don’t believe her. Walking down the street or in a crowded elevator, her SPECTRUM

abilities are not put on hold, and often times she will see images or have a stranger’s loved one communicate with her. A boy’s deceased mother grabbed her mental attention one day, and she felt it necessary to go up to the stranger and tell him who she was, the gift she possessed, and that someone was trying to talk to him. Although the boy’s mother had actually passed away, he walked away upset and in disbelief.

“Afterwards they told me they didn't believe me, and I went away thinking, ‘Wow, this person thought I was only trying to pry into their life or that I did research on them’. It made me feel bad about the whole situation.” Grace still gets her fair share of skeptics and people that call her “a freak” or “schizophrenic”.

Talking to someone who is unwilling to believe can be like talking to a wall, but Grace assures that a lot of people she reads are believers, and the fact that she has the ability to help them in some way or another makes the uncertainty worth it. Roommates, classmates, friends, and strangers will come to her with questions, or with nothing but confusion and curiosity. It’s given her friendships, relationships, and a way of being able to personally connect with people here at college, so far away from her home in Los Angeles, California. “I don’t think of it as an issue, it’s a gift.” As a psychic and a medium, she has been able to give the gift of assurance to many people who didn’t get a second chance or a goodbye. “At the end of the day, what I’m most satisfied and gratified about is helping living and helping dead, because there are dead people that suffer, and they want their loved ones to know certain things, and I’m a vessel. I’m allowed to communicate things so they are able to ascend peacefully.”

Being a psychic is something that has changed the way Grace views life. So why does she have this ability and others don’t? “I have no idea, it kind of baffles me. I feel like in a way special people just get picked out. I feel like I was just a lucky one, you know? I got it.” This sporadic gift has not only given her the ability to communicate with people we cannot hear and to see things we cannot, but it has given her perspective; The outlook she needs to understand that what people look like on the surface is not always what it seems, and that the present, past, and future holds more than what we can ever predict.

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Sophie wears stylist's own glasses and pin (as earring) by Cynthia Lรณpez Joyera/Toque Final.

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w a l k t h e l i n e

Lauren Hoyerman, Sophie Schoenfeld, and Vasantha Sambamurti photographed by Carina Allen Beauty by Courtney Kaner and Peri Lapidus

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Lauren wears stylist's own earrings and necklace.

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Vasantha wears one earring from Cynthia LĂ“pez Joyera and one earring from Vegan Supply Co. SPECTRUM

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Clockwise: Sophie wears choker and earrings

by LUSCONE and ring by Cynthia LÓpez Joyera.

Vasantha wears hair pin by Kapelika and rings by Cynthia LÓpez Joyera.

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Lauren wears hair pin by Kapelika and earrings by Cynthia LÓpez Joyera.

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Luna Lewis photographed by Allison Nguyen Beauty by Courtney Kaner and Samantha Goodman / Styled by Katya Katsnelson All looks from Shop Castanet.

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Luna is wearing a Marc Jacobs top, vintage dress, and a Dries Van Noten jacket.

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Luna dress

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is wearing paired with

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vintage Marc

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pants Jacobs

and top.

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Quietude Text: Jenny Griffin Photo: Tom McLaughlin

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smoked my first pink cigarette on February first. “Coldest day of the year,” I said as I flitted down the street in an ivory slip and a puerile pleasure. It also happened to be my eighteenth birthday. I was welcomed into the world of womanhood by an a epiphany swaddled in blush sunrise and the flick of an ash. I watched with Bambi eyes as scarlet ember caressed my tutu-colored cigarette, curious as to why my pupils dilated at the manifestation of what I now acknowledge as my essence: a love affair with the color pink.

My perspective on the forgotten shade shifted as I granted my inner purity the permission to meet adulthood. I was intoxicated by the emergence of a new definition for the color pink, swept off my feet by the sensual juxtaposition of innocence and new knowledge. I realized that I was being reintroduced to a friend I no longer recognized -- humbled by our reunion, yet feeling ashamed of our years apart.

Grounded and ready, I shook her hand, remembering the girl she was, and the woman she now asserted herself to be. The sun rose, illuminating the first morning of 18, and the color that

would shape its days.

It sounds a bit silly to call pink a “loaded concept,” yet in the eyes of a culture forced into the smallest of boxes, the idea of a color becoming a trigger is normal. Haunted by childhood bedrooms, ballerina memories, and the expectations given within the moment baby girls are swaddled in pink, it made sense to put a color to

marked a revolution of reclamation.

A year after my cigarette vignette, Pantone announced its colors of the year, the first time the singular color of the year was a blend of two hues: Rose Quartz and Serenity -- a gentle ode to a broken world. The shades unite together in representation of fluidity, equality, and peace contrasting the harshness of its ancestors Radiant Orchid and Tangerine Tango.

Both colors remind us of simpler times and aid in eliminating stigmas associated with their message, however it is the rose quartz that soothes my exhausted soul.

Pantone beautifully articulates a concept I grapple with by explaining that, “Rose Quartz is a persuasive yet gentle tone that conveys compassion and a sense of composure. Serenity is weightless and airy, like the expanse of the blue sky above us, bringing feelings of respite and relaxation even in turbulent times.” 2016 made a statement through a quiet messenger. It was a year of crumble and rebuild that left us on our backs, staring at a sky painted in the hope of rose and serenity, the hope of a calmer tomorrow.

Pantone reaffirmed a piece of me

"However, it was in the quiet, hiding gently behind the mask of a color where I found my answers."

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bed. Women worked tirelessly in order to grow up -- euthanizing associations of girlhood and neutralizing traces of weakness. We hushed, shushed, and dulled a color that even after years of rejection, still whispered gentle poems of power, begging us to take another look. The cries for reconciliation grew louder until there was no choice but to listen to the power behind softness and in 2016, at the dawn of change, color crusaders made it official and EM MAGAZINE

that I am still trying to understand: a rosy gentleness, guarded by a hardened heart, so intimate and feminine that it can only be articulated through the lens of color. I decided to explore my “rebirth” further. Through platforms like Instagram, I chose to mold my pink awakening into a type of self discovery. I was determined to rebrand myself in ways so unapologetic that people would be forced to notice. I studied people who had been exposed to “thinking pink” and figured out their secrets. I decoded Joanna Kuchta, a Norwegian Instagram model, dedicated to American Apparel minimalism and Lolita vibes. I read everything I could about Lora Mathis, a pioneer woman for “radical softness” and spinning weakness on its head. I studied photographs of rose-gilded midsections and blush lingerie.

I turned to consumerism, reading between the lines of dusty matte Acne ads and barely there Glossier packaging. Pillowy Calvin Klein sets infuriated me as I tried desperately to crack the code. I dipped my toes in pop culture, praying to Lady Gaga’s rose fedora and waiting for my hotline to bling with bubblegum blessings. I studied pink-sugared aesthetics and cotton-candied concepts under a microscope to figure out what this color was doing to me. I listened for the loud cries of self promotion and thought I couldn’t hear the coral choir begging me to come home. However,

it was in the quiet, hiding gently behind the mask of a color where I found my answers.

I present to you Quietude: a way of existing subtly through rose-inspired colors, fabrics, attitudes, and lifestyle in which a subconscious sense of irresistibility is evoked among anyone who comes into contact with its carriers. Like a thief in the night, quietude is the girl your mother warned you not to fall in love with. It is the kiss of death, the sweetest sleep, the peace of an answered prayer. The concept has slipped between fingers and left men dizzy, wondering how something so soft could be so intoxicating.

I watched in the holiest of awe as quietude took over instagram through effortless ivory threads slipping through grey buttons stuck onto the mouths of those who tried to object.

Artists, feminists, and people who understood the power of soft took muted, pale colors, employing them in the name of setting a wilted rose free.

As I reflect, I think of those who do not quite grasp the message behind the stillness. I think of the women, who have finally given themselves permission to be loud, shun pink for fear of combating progression. I think of the men embracing fluidity or remaining in ignorance. I think of myself changed forever, affected over time by the silence of color.

These words are laced with a feral protection. Although I acknowledge SPECTRUM

I do not possess sole ownership of rose quartz, I will defend it with every piece of my being. I believe we all have something within us, something exuding a personal essence that words will never be able to explain. For me, it arrived in a color, a metaphor on an eighteenth birthday, clothed in acceptance and permission to be myself. I hope that this sense of freedom will find you; I hope that one day you too find your own pink cigarette.

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Shades of the Seasons

by Daniel Kam

The idea of a stereotypical supermodel is fading away as this season’s fashion month features the most diverse casts ever across the globe.

While this change has been slow to arrive, more models of color walked in the Spring 2017 season than ever before. From the four major fashion weeks—New York, Milan, London, and Paris—25.4 percent of all models cast were models of color. This is a step up from the 22.4 percent from last season, and a huge improvement from the 17.5 percent we saw just two years ago.

These numbers are still nowhere near where they should be, but the fashion industry is slowly working to improve its model representation with New York leading the way. This season, New York Fashion Week (NYFW) featured a casting of 30.3 percent models of color presenting looks never before seen on a runway. J. Crew got real people who work for the company to walk for them, Opening Ceremony and Christian Siriano featured a wide range of racial and body diversity, and Yeezy Season 4 featured a cast made up of 97 percent non-white models.

These statistics come from diversity reports conducted by the online publication The Fashion Spot. Since 2014, the publication has reviewed thousands of runway shows to see how ethnicity, body type, gender, and age are represented on the runway. Just this year alone they went to 229 shows and analyzed the looks of 8,832 models.

And overall things have been getting better; across the board, representation is higher than it has ever been. This season saw a variety of ages, body types, and a good amount of transgender models, although these minority groups do not have the same traction as racial diversity.

But that is not to say that the runways have

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become a safe haven for models of every type, many shows are still being run with only tall, white, and skinny models. Milan is most known for this; since The Fashion Spot started recording representation on runways, Milan has consistently scored the lowest. This season was no different with 20.9 percent non-white models.

But this issue isn’t just regional, designers like Junya Watanabe hardly ever feature non-white models in their shows. The Comme Des Garcons creative director and Japan native has not featured a model of color in his personal collection since his Fall 2015 menswear show.

The topic of diversity on the runway is still an issue that gets quickly dismissed, but for the first time this season a governing fashion body is acknowledging the problems. In a letter sent to all designers featured at NYFW, Steven Klob and Diane Von Furstenberg of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) urged each company to be more inclusive since the world is watching them. The letter then listed six tips companies should follow to bring diversity to their shows.

The bullet points on the list were simple and straightforward. Suggestions for improving model diversity included things like: “Ask model agencies to include and send models of color when casting,” “Request models of color every season,” and, finally, designers should “Be open-minded to models of color.”

For many, this letter came across as unsettling because many of the ideas listed seem fairly obvious. For decades the fashion industry has faced

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the same criticism for its lack of diversity, and it’s troubling to think that they are just starting to try and fix that. If all it took was one letter to invoke change, why didn't these changes come sooner?

Within the industry everyone is trying to pass the blame for the lack of diversity onto another party. Many blame the casting agencies since they’re the ones who find and supply the models. So if there’s a lack of diversity, it’s because they only offer one type of model.

Others blame the designers themselves since they have the final say. What they want, they get; all they have to do is ask. They have all the control for what’s shown on the runway, so the lack of diversity is because they don’t want models of color.

The media is also at fault for not calling out more designers and ignoring the whitewashed runways except for the occasional op-ed. They only seem to care when it will get them more hits on their stories.

And finally, the blame for the lack of diversity gets put on consumers. The fashion industry is still based on supply and demand, and consumers have continually supported brands that only feature white models. If consumers actually cared about this issue, then they would have voted with their money and not supported companies who didn’t support model diversity.

While it would be the easiest to place all of the blame onto one group, the reality of the situation is that we all share the blame for the

lack of diversity in fashion week. And now is the best time to change that. All of the arguments brought up against each group are valid criticisms and show easy ways in which the entire industry can change.

The reason we are seeing strides by some designers to be more inclusive is because 2016 has been the most politically charged year in recent history. Diversity and inclusion are issues that exist well beyond the runways and have been the subject for both national and international debate. Minority groups are calling for change. Designers have to answer that call and be the change they want to see in the world.

The runways are the best place to start because of the size and shared values of the community. For large issues, it can feel hopeless at times because you’re not seeing any instant change, but fashion week is different.

Because there are a limited amount of runways, change only has to happen in a small group of like-minded people, and the impact will reach a global audience.

It won’t take a lot of effort, which could be why CFDA’s bullet points were so straightforward. By simply having the top designers feature a more diverse range of models, global audiences will see a wider range of beauty and will begin to dismantle the idea that a beauty only comes in one form.

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t i n d e r - e l l a

You’re sitting in a packed train 15 minutes from your stop, or maybe waiting for your to go order to finally reach the counter. For these in-between moments you reach into your pocket, your purse, or maybe your phone was in your hand the whole time as an extension of you used to fill those empty moments with the search for love. You flit through your apps and settle on Tinder, or Grindr, or Bumble, or Coffee Meets Bagel—it doesn’t really matter.

Although it’s not always love you’re after, is it?

It’s projected that nearly a third of all marriages started online before escalating to vows. But why does a stigma arise when removing a computer and adding the convenience of a phone?

Perhaps it is the label “hookup culture” that is so often used to describe the demographic frequenting dating apps, often called hookup apps. Each app has its own specific personality traits—Grinder for casual hookups, Bumble for something with more long-term potential, and Tinder which falls somewhere in between. Tinder is more than a place for hookups and entering relationships; it is also the base of a surge in the casual, noncommittal dating trend. Young adults today are more hesitant when it comes entering into a serious relationship, and often they would rather meet people like they meet the latest fad—with little to no obligation.

In an online survey, responses showed both the potential for and frequency with which these apps sparked long term relationships, while of course acknowledging the stranger side of these apps. In many cases, the apps were originally used as a joke or for hookups, but they led their users to something more serious. Maddie, a 21-year-old from New York, says, “I was surprised when I found someone.

I don't have a great history with guys and I have been screwed over a lot.

He's the first boyfriend I've ever had.”

She explains how she entered the app dating sphere with low expectations, she wasn’t looking for a hookup exactly, but finding someone who she fell in love with took her by surprise. Despite

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being with her boyfriend for eight months, she still encounters stigma around a tinder relationship: “We say all the time that we should come up with a better story because everyone thinks that Tinder is gross.”

When looking at hookup apps in the same light as more common dating websites, why does meeting someone on Tinder or Grindr seem dirtier when dating websites are often accepted?

The demographics of online dating, people over 30, and app dating, people 18–24, can’t be the only difference in perception. These 18–24 year olds are labeled as only wanting to participate in hookup culture even though these apps are a reconstruction of dating in person.

If you’re on Tinder, absentmindedly swiping, maybe a subconscious part of you could want a deeper relationship—doesn’t that mean there are other people who could also want the same thing? Meeting someone on your phone can’t be that much different than meeting in a dark club or a crowded bar. Tinder has around 1.4 billion swipes per day and 26 million matches a day, so it’s not surprising that common survey responses included “I've been with my boyfriend for almost a year now and we met on Tinder.

We now live together” and “I met my boyfriend on hinge and we've been together for two years [and we] just moved in together.”

For people not looking for a onetime thing or a serious relationship, the initial anonymity of Tinder allowed them to feel secure—it was a safe place where they felt protected by their screens and had seemingly endless options. Most app interfaces allow you to unmatch with someone if you change your mind, or if the match turns out to be the type with harassment and uncomfortable messages. The perceived atmosphere of safety creates a comfortable place for

"The

meeting people. Nicole, a 20-year-old from Boston, says, “As a woman who is looking for other women or non-binary peeps, I feel pretty safe on Tinder for the most part. I've only ever met with two people on Tinder and both were good experiences! The first time I ended up steadily hanging out and having sex with a really cool Harvard student for like two or three months.”

The separation of a screen serves to relieve anxiety. It gives users the opportunity to carefully think and curate messages rather than send an immediate response, which is necessary when meeting people in public. These apps become a haven for both introverts and extroverts alike. Introverts get the chance to choose exactly who and how to respond before deciding whether or not they want to meet in person, while extroverts have the ease of talking to and meeting with as many people they want wherever and whenever.

Tinder, and other apps, still have their downfalls. That separation the screen provides could also lead to some uncomfortable messages and requests, or the apps could leave your security vulnerable. The person asking for nudes before names or trolling online are not a rarity.

Patty, a 22-year-old from Boston, says, “I've had to file a restraining order for a guy that hacked my account and then hacked my email, my social media accounts, found my home address, etc.” Even after all that Patty didn’t want to stop using apps, and she met someone that she’s been with for two years now.

People keep returning to these dating apps because they create a virtual dating experience that mirrors dating in public, but with a lot more convenience and control. As the user you have the power to chose who to swipe right on and how you to communicate with them. Dating and hookup apps create a new type of freedom for romance and relationships.

separation

of a screen serves to relieve anxiety."

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Well

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reaking glass ceilings can be hard, especially when the ceiling you’re breaking is the highest office in the free world.

Men have ruled this country for too long; women are far underrepresented in our government, our businesses, and in almost all leadership roles. However, the 2016 election cycle markets progress—a step in the right direction.

A step made while adorned in red, white, and blue.

There is no denying the misogynistic rhetoric that clouded this election cycle, most of which came from the president-elect. Unfortunately, the outside world contributed the rest in all shapes and colors. Hillary Clinton was nitpicked in a way her opponents were not. While her policies and beliefs came into question, so did her looks, and her stance as a mother and wife. The clothes on her back were not just fashion choices—they became statements, apparently equivalent to the policies she proposed, in many listener's minds.

Aside from the obvious, there is another reason this election cycle will go down in history: a candidate’s sartorial choices have never before

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Text: Marisa Dellatto Illustration: Morgan Wright

dominated the public’s attention like they did this year. Clearly, this discussion sparked from sexism. It’s no secret that women are judged much more for their looks than their male counterparts are. While most of the Republican candidates showed up to each debate in similar dark navy suits and red ties, it was Clinton’s outfits that were spoken about on the news the next day. Although Bernie Sanders, who became famous for his unapologetic, raspy rhetoric of reform and unconvention, donned the same oversized suit jacket and unkempt hairstyle for each public appearance, it was Clinton’s pantsuits that became a running joke. The fact that this fixation on clothing showed up along the campaign trail as the country chose the first female nominee from a major political party was not a coincidence.

Clinton has been in the public eye for most of her professional career. She was a boho-chic law student, wearing bold, wide-rimmed glasses only a hipster could love. It was the time of flower power, and her long hair and frills were evidence of the freethinking she participated in during this era of education and self-discovery. Her wedding day choice—an ivory, empire waist, bottom-tiered dress with EM MAGAZINE

a collar and bell sleeves—screamed ‘70s. It was understated and modest, perfect for the Clintons’ living room ceremony.

Her clothes continued to change with the times, as did her career and title. As the first lady of Arkansas, the “Annie Hall” look dominated Clinton’s closet. Mixing masculine pieces with the extremely feminine, she compromised these starkly different aesthetics to be professional yet approachable. In short, she dressed like the ideal politician's wife.

As an impassioned first lady of the country, Clinton’s now-signature monochromatic look arose. Her style became more streamlined, and branched off from first ladies before her. She was no Jackie O—Clinton famously donned the same bubblegum pink as the sweetheart widow, though with her own twist in a tweed blazer, as she uttered the chilling “Women’s rights are human rights” speech in China. Her looks became more tailored and finessed, a clear sign that she was not simply a doting wife, but an important political figure ready to roll up her sleeves.

As the senator of New York, and, later, the secretary of state, her clothing was even more tactful. The

monochromatic pantsuit became her trademark. She varied colors, shapes, hemlines, and collars, but created an emblematic appearance. She was professional and ready to be taken seriously. There were no frills about it.

Michelle Obama, on the other hand, takes the opposite approach to fashion. Flowy skirts, chic cardigans, and feminine dresses in all prints and fabrics are staples in the current first lady’s closet. Obama has become a style icon in her last eight years in the public eye. We track her outfit compilations to state dinners in Vogue like baseball stats. Her style drowns in personality and she is not afraid to be herself.

Obama is an accomplished first lady, championing healthy eating initiatives and changing the way we think about food.

However adept and politically savvy she is, Obama is still a first lady in the public’s eye. She is primarily the president’s wife, and only secondarily a political influence. Because she goes out

nominee with their interests in mind.

While Clinton will not find herself in the Oval Office come January, her historic run raises many questions about changing gender roles in our political sphere. For example, more attention could be paid to men and what they wear. This election cycle, unsurprisingly, the string of male candidates all chose the same, safe look. As gender roles continue to change, we could possibly see a time when a male candidate strays off the beaten path in an embellished suit, a hued jacket, or even a print. Men have many more professional options available outside of the simple grey and navy wool that usually comes into play. If Hillary’s uniformed style was nitpicked, maybe one day we will see a time when men will rise to the dressing challenge and take risks with their appearances and personal expression, as women are expected to.

However, even if men begin expressing themselves more actively through

set for women by the patriarchy has become commonplace. By trying to lead in this man’s world, by wearing a pantsuit, and by speaking with nerve, Clinton committed a crime against her brainwashed sisters—she was different and she did not obey.

Luckily, each generation brings a new wave of feminists who, in demanding respect and equality, challenge the convoluted rhetoric that poses them as lesser. Clinton wore her feminist principals on her back. She was savvy in her choices. She knew that, as a woman, her dress would define her campaign just as much as her actions would. For this reason, she dared to be different, to fight, and to remain true to herself.

On November 8, women across the country donned pantsuits to vote.

They wore white to honor the suffragists who fought for the Nineteenth Amendment as they cast their presidential ballots for a woman for the first time. That day, Hillary Clinton became

Even if men begin expressing themselves more actively through fashion, the problem remains in the double standards: men do not have to be expressive to show that they know who they are and that they are in control, while women must always be creative, put together, and appropriate to be taken seriously." of her way to look her best, it seems commonplace that her personal style is up for discussion. Clinton, on the other hand, is a politician first. Her demeanor is much more subdued than that of the first lady’s, and this discrepancy between the two women’s positions is apparent in their sartorial decisions.

Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, drives home a much different public discourse when it comes to her clothes. In fact, Merkel is almost famous for the lack of attention she pays to her appearance. She repeated a single outfit 18 years in a row, bearing the same uniquely-designed silk tunic to many public outings. While it was a German newspaper that originally reported this news, she is, for the most part, taken seriously as a chief leader in her country, en vogue or not.

Her demure suit sets in no way reflect her ability to run a country. And, as we have seen for the past 238 years, the United States has seen man after man prove this statement true.

As the first female presidential nominee from a major party, Clinton gave women—some of whom were born before the Nineteenth Amendment— the chance to cast their ballots for a

fashion, the problem remains in the double standards: men do not have to be expressive to show that they know who they are and that they are in control, while women must always be creative, put together, and appropriate to be taken seriously. We are still waiting for a time when women will be able to wear dresses, skirts, and even more adventurous fashion choices, without sacrificing power.

To some voters, especially to women, Clinton’s lack of feminine wear was a reason to push her hopes aside.

Many ladies found her style, both in personality and in wardrobe, to be unfulfilling. Her lack of traditional femininity scared women who were taught that they could not exhibit the traits she does. Men have mandated a false credence of what women should be, and how they should act, dress, and express themselves, forming an unspoken societal tenet for centuries.

Eventually, after years of patriarchal oppression, women started believing this propaganda themselves. They did what they were told to do and bred daughters, to whom they passed on this harmful and critical misogynistic weight. The cycle still continues to this day—to follow the list of demands SPECTRUM

a fashion icon. Women dressed like her, not because they loved her style, but because they wanted to rebel with her, to show society that her ideas mattered, and that women should be socially, politically, and economically equivalent to men.

Clinton may not have won the election, but she won the popular vote.

The majority of Americans chose a strong, capable, well-suited woman to run their country. While we mourn the fact that she did not get the chance to do so, we honor the bar she set for women everywhere. As women, we now have a guideline for how a female presidential candidate should act, dress, and carry herself. Clinton made the rules simple—a woman in politics should dress however she wants, whether her choices are frilly or ordinary. A woman running will always be pushing uphill, one reason being that her ensemble and presence will always be scrutinized. Fortunately, the more women that step up to run for office and fight this battle, the less clothing will play a part in their success. Until then, the women in white pantsuits will not rest until this injustice is served.

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o n l y nineties k i d s w i l l g e t t h i s Text: Noel Gasca Photo: Darren Samuels From fashion, to film, to music, the ‘90s have made a comeback. Between chokers becoming the hottest fashion accessory almost overnight, the resurgence of Pokémon, and Britney Spears’ comeback to the music industry, it feels like America broke open a ‘90s-themed time capsule. But history repeating itself isn’t limited to the clothing we see on the runways or the TV show reboots we see on Netflix.

In more ways than one, it seems like our nation is rehashing and recycling almost every political, social, and economic issue of the 1990s. While this argument can be made about almost every decade of our nation’s history, the 1990s and the 2010s have been

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considered particularly rocky times for Americans. Between the rise of right politics in Washington, cuts in social spending, racial tensions, and technological advancements, the parallels between these two decades are seemingly endless.

One such parallel exists between the Los Angeles riots and the Black Lives Matter movement. In the spring of 1992, Americans found themselves glued to their televisions during the Los Angeles riots. These riots began after four police officers, including one sergeant, were acquitted of assault and use of excessive force after they were caught tasering, batoning, and beating Rodney King, a black man, on video EM MAGAZINE

tape. While this was certainly not the first time a black man had been beaten by authorities in the United States, it was the first time such violence was captured on tape and spread through mainstream media. Rodney King and the L.A. riots set a precedent for the Black Lives Matter movement, which began just 21 years later. Spencer Wright, a visual and media arts student and budding social activist, sees the L.A. riots as inspiration for social activism today.

“When we were growing up, we saw [the L.A. riots], we saw what happened to the generations before us and how they were instilling this need to stand up for justice. We saw the

civil rights movement, and how those people were present at riots,” Wright said. “Now, in this current generation, we are looking back and we’re using that as inspiration for the Black Lives Matter movement.”

While police brutality certainly didn’t stop between the L.A. riots and the creation of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2013, social media platforms and cellphone cameras were as instrumental to capturing the latter as 24-hour news stations were to capturing the former. While Americans in 1992 had to rely on the news to see the Rodney King video, it only takes a few seconds for current Americans to pull up the video of Walter Scott being shot or of Eric Garner being choked.

Just as we did 20 years ago, America struggles with police brutality. It’s also likely that we will still be struggling with police brutality another 20 years from now, but the progress that has been made since the L.A. riots should not be overlooked or diminished.

Like the riots, the Black Lives Matter movement has solidified itself as one more small, active step toward racial equality in our nation.

Another unavoidable parallel between the 1990s and the 2010s is the presidency of Bill Clinton and the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton

this past year. While Clinton may not have been able to clutch the presidency and shatter the glass ceiling that is as firmly in place today as it was during the ‘90s, her campaign struck a chord with many, including student Kathryn Garelli.

“There’s a lot that can be said about the election from a non-’90s standpoint,” Garelli said, “but it’s interesting to see how history repeats itself in that sense. I think that the fact that a Clinton [ran] for president [was] celebrated in a lot of ways, just like it was in the ‘90s. People regarded Hillary with the same kind of respect and excitement.”

While this excitement was not enough to win Clinton the presidency in November, and while we will never be able to draw parallels between the presidency of Bill Clinton and the presidency of Hillary Clinton, her campaign contained many updated proposals to stances she took during the 1990s. By focusing on concepts like the growth of the universal health care program started by Obama, the creation of manufacturing jobs in the States, and the prevention of gun violence, Hillary Clinton’s campaign was all about providing solutions to issues that have beset our country since her husband ran in 1993.

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The return of the 1990s has not just rehashed the social and political unrest of the decade, though. Although our generation must now confront many of the social and political issues that got swept under the rug by our parents, there are still traces of the ‘90s that are positively impacting us. According to Garelli, one part that can stay is the strong sense of independence.

“The youth culture of the ‘90s had a certain defiance toward authority, almost, and a sense of independence. I see the value of independence coming back a lot in today’s culture, in addition to certain senses of comradery, in marginalized groups, or groups of individuals,” Garelli said.

This sense of comradery should become the greatest force in evolving our nation. For the sake of the nation 20 years from now, we need to start confronting the issues we see in our society. Otherwise, we will be doomed to continue the cycle of political and social unrest we have grown all too accustomed to.

And for those who are still mourning Clinton’s loss, I hear her daughter Chelsea is being groomed for a presidential campaign, maybe in time for 2040.

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story of

Text: Jillian Meehan Photo: Goldmond Fong

a

I’ve been a dancer for most of my life, performing at recitals once a year and getting all dolled up for dance competitions in the spring. The dressing room backstage at these performances, with all of its chaos and drama and glitter, will always feel a little bit like home to me, despite the fact that I’ve been in too many different dressing rooms to count. Usually it’s a gym or a cafeteria or an empty classroom in whichever high school the performance is being held in, totally unfamiliar until it is filled with dancers of all ages, their mothers, clothing racks overloaded with costumes, and a cloud of hairspray.

The smell of hairspray has followed me from dressing room to dressing room for as long as I can remember.

Even though I don’t dance anymore, a hint of the sweet, chemical scent can still take me back to the days of ballet shoes and false eyelashes, triggering my memory in a way only certain smells can.

In Perfume: The Alchemy of Scent, perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena says, “The human sense of smell is closely involved in emotional life: intoxicating pleasure in the aroma of a wood fire, of a garment, of skin. The pain of the lingering fragrance left by those we have lost. The desire and pleasure aroused by a perfume, a wine, or a dish. Aversion to the sickly smell of hospitals. The warning smell of smoke, of gas, of pollution, and so on.”

Everything has a scent, and each scent leaves a powerful, though sometimes quiet, impression.

It’s the way sunscreen reminds us of summer, the way a partner’s shampoo or deodorant reminds us of home, the way candle smoke reminds us of birthdays. I wore Commodity Rain every day during a trip to France, and smelling it now still takes me back to Cours Mirabeau. Ellena says, “Perfume

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scent

has something extra that fashion and advertising cannot do: it transports you through time.”

The olfactory system is not particularly sexy. Odor molecules make their way to the upper part of each nasal cavity to touch down in a thin layer of mucus, in an area that has several million receptor cells that help the olfactory bulb identify the odor and send the information to our brains—including parts of the limbic system, which processes memory and emotion. Is it any wonder, then, that fragrances have such a strong emotional impact? In her essay “A Scent of Always: A Personal History, with Perfume,” Alison Townsend writes, “Mainlined into our limbic system at the cellular level, perfume travels to that part of the brain where, unfettered by language or reason, we experience the world directly and completely.”

Townsend writes about her own life, as told through perfumes she and loved ones dabbled with throughout the years, and about how those scents were always able to conjure up certain memories. Perfume kept her mother alive after her death, connected her with an old friend, kept her in touch with her Irish heritage, and brought back her angsty teenage years. Certain scents, she says, are able to summon specific feelings, like anticipation and failure. Of perfume, she writes, “I also wear it to feel like who I really am, because of what it brings back and how it connects me to my own past and to the many selves I have been.”

Perfume reviews on sites like Frangrantica or BaseNotes are rife with similar sentiments. My first perfume was Vera Wang Princess, which I loved for years when I was younger.

I coveted samples from magazines and department stores until I finally received a rollerball of the scent for EM MAGAZINE

Christmas one year. Frangrantica user AmyX feels the same way I do about Vera Wang Princess, writing in a review, “I love this fragrance. I loved it in my late teens, and I still love it a decade later. When I was younger, this made me feel older, grown-up, elegant. Now, it makes me feel young and playful.”

Chanel No. 5, on the other hand, one of the most iconic fragrances of all time, often reminds people of powerful and elegant women who came before them—mothers, grandmothers, and Marilyn Monroe, who popularized the scent. Fragrantica user Erinbath22 left a review of Chanel No. 5, saying, “I would like to add that for me, this perfume has the ability to transport me back in time, watching my mom get ready to go somewhere important, then smelling this glamorous cloud of heaven around her! It's like caramel flowers, warm amber, sunshine and sky in a bottle. Obviously, these aren't the official notes but how I imagine them when I catch a whiff.” User RaeGoLightly, however, finds a heavy feeling of power in this perfume, saying, “Every time I wear it, I think of my journey and how I came out on top.”

Everyone experiences each fragrance differently—there is no one correct way to feel about a scent.

Townsend writes, “Perfume interacts with our individual chemistry, becoming something as unique as a fingerprint or signature,” equating perfume with personal identity rather than fashion or beauty. What might smell beautiful to you might smell terrible to me, and an odor that triggers an unpleasant olfactory memory for one person might trigger a pleasant one for another. Ellena writes, “Perfume is a story in odors, sometimes a poetry of memory.” The beauty of perfume is its complication, its incapability of fitting a mold, its unpredictability.

"there is no one correct way to feel about a scent."

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LIVE IN COLOR

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Morgan Wright and Dorcas Thete photographed

by Noah Chiet / Styled by Katya Katsnelson / Edits

by Julian Baeza Hochmuth, Jess Gomes, Casey Denton, Carly Miller, Daniel Kamand Katrina Chaput.

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Dorcas is wearing UNIF pants and the stylist's own shirt, while Morgan is wearing a vintage jacket with a Topman shirt and his own Vans.

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Dorcas is wearing a Free People jacket, while Morgan's wearing an Allsaints shirt and Brixton coat.

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rags a n d riches

Madeleine Kerr and Alfonso Mateo photographed by Vishwang Gowariker / Styled

by Katya Katsnelson and Brandon Murphy.

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On the left, Madeleine is wearing Vetements.

On the right, she is wearing a vintage blouse, UNIF pants, and a Saint Laurent blazer.

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Alfonso is wearing Christian Dada and Adidas.

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Riccardi is a specialty mens and womenswear boutique located on Newbury Street. Since 1978, the store has connected Boston to influential European and American luxury designers, offering a curated array of ready-to-wear and accessories. While Riccardi serves as a functional resource for those in search of the season’s latest pieces, it also serves as a window to the world of high fashion; browsing through racks at Riccardi can be nearly mistaken for a stroll through a contemporary art exhibition.

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spirited away Text: Delia Curtis Illustration: Katrina Chaput

After long, stressful periods of time in my life, I like to go on walks. I wind down pathways full of foliage and greenery.

Something about nature draws me in. I’m in tune with the wind and the trees and the critters that buzz and flap around.

I look for birds splashing in ponds and ducks wading through the water. I feel in sync with the world and the people and things that inhabit it. I notice kids that run and scream, chasing each other around, and the men and women with briefcases and suits briskly walking with headphones glued to their ears.

I am aware of it all, a kind of hypersensitivity. I am at peace with myself and everything around me. This is how I define my spirituality.

Having a sense of spirituality and oneness with the world is just one way to connect with yourself and others. People find their own way to do this whether by creating their own comprehension of spirituality, embracing a religion, or defining their own interpersonal relationships. Finding oneself in this way can be helpful in creating your own belief system and set of personal values. There are endless varieties and understandings of religion and spirituality. You are free to chose the value system and set of beliefs that best suit you, or you are free to create your own.

Religion is something fluid. Every person’s interpretation of religion will be entirely different from the next. When asked how she defines religion, Lindsay Peichel ‘17, a Presbyterian Christian explained that “Religion is based on community. It’s something that someone teaches you and how you interpret it. Religion might be based off the same text, but can be interpreted in different ways. It’s also an individual experience—a personal relationship with the text and God.” While Peichel is very devoted to her religion and trying to practice away from home, she doesn’t necessarily identify with being spiritual.

In her view, “Spirituality is something that you discover for yourself.”

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Spirituality and religion can exist separately, though they often exist together and are associated with one another. For Lexi Amato ‘18, both religion and spirituality are intertwined.

Amato was born a Roman Catholic, but after her family determined the religion to be too strict, they converted to Lutheranism in 2nd grade. She stopped going to church in 4th grade, but she decided to survey her own spirituality when she was a bit older. In doing this, she dabbled in different religions during her sophomore year of high school, seeing what they could provide her and what new perspectives she could gain.

Her definition of religion and spirituality is an awareness of herself. “It’s about waking up everyday and letting things happen the way that they’re supposed to happen and worshiping yourself in the sense that you’re treating yourself nicely and making your body a temple,” she says.

Brihathi Cherukuri ‘17 is Hindu, and for her, religion encompasses both practice and spirituality. She comes from a very religious family. Back home in India, her family, who all practice Hinduism, prays everyday. She explained that there are parts of Hinduism that anyone can do, like yoga or believing in the idea of karma.

She explained that, “[Religion is] something that people can really identify with. It is a factor that affects thinking and helps me cope with stress.” Cherukuri is so strongly connected with Hinduism partially because she’s grown up with it, but also because it gives her so much strength and confidence. It’s become such a part of her identity that she can’t separate it from her individual life.

On the other hand, Sofia Barrett ‘19, a Reformed Jew, considers herself to be religious but not spiritual. As we chatted about religion, she explained that “Religion is what you make of it. The teachings of Judaism guided me on how to form my own values in life.” She doesn’t focus on the spiritual side of it, but allows the religion to help her form her own values and beliefs. When I asked her why the two did not intersect for her, she said “I don’t live my life in a way that [I believe] a higher power is watching over me. My definition of spirituality is living life with the notion that someone is watching over me or that my actions are determined by a higher power. That’s a part of religion that I don’t identify with.” Barrett’s relationship is more cultural. It’s something that she grew up with, and it bonds her with her family and home in Pennsylvania. Religion is a constant familiarity for Barrett.

What’s important to remember is that everyone’s interpretation of religion is valid no matter how secular or devout it might be. Religion and spirituality can be very beautiful and raw, but often this interpretation of religion is glazed over with the extreme representation that we see in many media platforms. Peichel, the Presbyterian, is always worried that people will think that she’s less intelligent or ultra-conservative because of her religious beliefs. She said, “People instantly judge you because they don’t know about the beliefs that you have and what it means. [Religion] is misconstrued by the media

"Religion and spirituality can be very beautiful and raw, but often this interpretation of religion is glazed over with the extreme representation that we see in many media platforms."

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and skewed by extremist groups. It’s used as a tool for hatred.

It’s disappointing that it’s like that. People want to demonize religion, keep it in a box, always see it as a bad thing.” Even though people aren’t outwardly rude to her because of her beliefs, people do tend to give her strange looks when they see the tattoo of a cross on her forearm as she goes about her day at Emerson.

Amato, the ex-Roman Catholic and Lutheran, says that religion “makes me feel like I’m in harmony with the universe.

There’s no sense of superiority. It makes me feel like I’m in a better place—stable. I [am able to] put emotions and feelings into something bigger than myself.” It creates a feeling of comfort. For Cherukuri, religion is something that keeps her feeling stable. When she’s feeling very low and depressed, religion brings her back up. It helps her to relax and calm down.

“Knowing that God will always be with me, taking care of me and supporting me, keeps me grounded,” she said.

In transitioning from place to place, some people find it hard to keep their religious traditions and practices in tact. For some, coming to college means losing some rituals and for others, which drives them to put in more effort than before.

Barrett practices her religion even while at school. After leaving home, she joined the Emerson College Hillel—a student group for those that culturally practice Judaism, and she has worked her way up to Vice President of the organization. Being a part of a community group like this one allows her to keep some of her religious practices and celebrate holidays with people with the same beliefs as her. Cherukuri’s religion is something that has always been personal for her. She was exposed to it all her life growing up, but when she lived at home, she didn’t pray as much. This is because she was always surrounded by her family and friends that gave her strength, confidence, and support. Now that she’s hundreds of miles away, she prays everyday to make up for the lack of family around her. She’s also found solace in the on-campus organization called Desi. It is in no way religiously affiliated, but brings together South Asian people. Desi is open to everyone, but it focuses on learning about one another’s culture.

For Peichel, leaving home was a turning point in her religious life. While she grew up, she was surrounded by a loving and supportive community, and not having that constant in her life once starting at school posed a challenge to her. Because of this, she felt less motivated to practice and continue with her religion. She tried seeking it out in college because religious communities tend to group together, but she didn’t feel like any of the organizations on campus were what she was looking for. Being separated from her community at home made her stronger and encouraged her to think about who she wanted to be - as a believer and as a Presbyterian. The process of finding yourself, she explained, is all about your relationship with God - even if you don’t have a community at school that believes the same thing. It’s about moral principles and being yourself. It took Peichel awhile to realize this. At the time she questioned whether she was going about finding religion and herself incorrectly.

Everyone thinks differently and believes in different things.

People are bound to judge us based on our religious or spiritual beliefs. It’s almost inevitable. Some, like Peichel, have felt that people assume the worst of her when they find out her beliefs and religious associations. Others like Amato, Barrett, and Cherukuri find that Emerson is a very accepting and tolerant community. To further Emerson’s mission to foster cultural inclusion, if you’re curious about someone’s religious beliefs or want to understand more about them—just ask.

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One Nation, Indivisible...

by Margeaux Sippell

The 2016 election cycle was a wild ride from start to finish. The truth about the nation was exposed before our very eyes—we had the opportunity to see what each of us values most, and what we are willing to fight for. Some of us lost friends due to seemingly irreconcilable differences, while others found allies with a shared vision. Opinions ran rampant across every media portal imaginable. For the last year, it seemed like everywhere we went, someone was trying to influence our vote. How could such an important decision come down to just one check mark on a piece of paper? And how could we, humble college students, be expected to make a choice that would go on to influence the entire world?

At Emerson, students discuss politics over coffee with nonchalance; they hang posters in dorm room windows; march in political rallies in the streets; bluster and argue and complain and try to predict the future; use their voices and demand to be heard. Most of the time, this is all done with respect for the opposition— but sometimes, it seems as if there is only room for certain popular opinions. This exclusion does not come out of malice, nor does it stem from the desire to silence someone’s views. It is simply the way that young people rally together. It is inevitable that someone be given godlike status, like Bernie Sanders was last fall, while someone else is vilified into the devil, like Trump on our predominately liberal campus. In the end, a choice has to be made.

As Obama’s eight-year presidency comes to a close, it’s time for us to reflect on what we believe the next four years will bring. I’m not talking about in the government—I’m talking about us. You and me. Us and them. Our student body is made up of individuals with differing opinions, and not all of them are so-called “politically correct” – a phrase so overused it has coined its own acronym of P.C. To gain an understanding of the true range of opinions that go on existing silently within our student body, I set about interviewing members of popular political parties: democratic, republican, moderate, socialist, and libertarian. It was a privilege to speak with each and every one of them. As I listened to them describe their opinions, I learned what makes up the fabric of our wild, colorful and magnificent student body.

"It’s important to remember that we call it a political spectrum for a reason.”

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Brad Trumpfheller, Sophomore, WLP, Democrat, 19 Raised by conservative parents in Virginia, Trumpfheller felt his political allegiance first begin to shift in middle school.

Through the pre-pubescent exchange of ideas shouted across lunch tables and whispered between 7th grade lockers, he reevaluated the conservative sentiments instilled in his upbringing and began to explore liberalism.

Around this time, Trumpfheller recalls thinking, “All my friends are liberals—I guess I’m a liberal too.” This sentiment is popular among first semester freshman at Emerson; while being flooded with new, radical ways of thinking, many students begin to adopt new political views out of a need to relate. That’s nothing to feel ashamed of, though—it’s a natural step towards figuring out what we really believe.

Nowadays, Trumpfheller is interested in diving into the issues he feels most passionate about. “There seems to be a national narrative right now that we need to focus on the economy and jobs. I just feel like we’re not talking about social issues enough,” he explains. “There has been a rift in the past year in regards to race, class, gender and sexuality issues. I’d like to see the next administration acting liberally

and progressively, and taking steps to resolve them.”

His views are arguably some of the most widely accepted here at Emerson—ask any student walking down Boylston to weigh in and they will likely agree with him.

Still, Trumpfheller acknowledges a silent minority who feel discouraged from speaking up.

“There’s an echo chamber that exists here, and if you don’t agree with majority, you will be ostracized,” he comments. “I mostly agree with the majority on social and political issues as a whole, but I find myself wondering during class discussions if anyone in the class is a Republican. They must not feel at ease,” he considers resolutely.

“I know there’s a lot of people who would say, ‘You’re a Republican, fuck you,’ but there’s a lot of Republican thought that is not altogether based around oppression. It’s just another mode of thinking,” he adds.

He makes a point here that most everyone is aware of, but few are willing to admit: “Emerson is a great place if you want your liberal progressive opinion repeated back at you, but it’s not a good place to go for even-handed discussion of the issues.”

Beau Salant, Junior, Political Communications, Moderate, 20 Well versed on the differences between Democrats and Republicans, Salant has one foot planted on either side of the line between red and blue. Up until the 2012 election, he considered himself a Republican; after that, he made the switch to Democrat. Though on the whole he leans to the left, he identifies as a progressive conservative.

“Progressivism is a problem solving method, while liberalism is an ideology. They’re very different things,” he explains of his unusual, self-chosen label. He points out that, contrary to popular belief, it is possible to agree with liberal opinions such as gun control while still being concerned about the fate of free trade and foreign policy.

Whether left or right, Salant assures me that politics do not affect his friendships in any way. “It’s often a false equivalency that our political views have to affect our daily lives in a big way. I’m friends with socialists who, at times, seem farther to the left than Trotsky,” he laughs. Although he cannot agree with them politically, at the end of the day he says, “I shop at Primark, they shop at Primark. We both go to Whole Foods. It’s important to remember that we call it a political spectrum for a reason.”

As for his views meshing with those of the Emerson community at large, Salant says, “I actually stand more in line with Emerson than Emerson thinks I do.” If that sentence raises a knowing chuckle, then I’m glad, but it’s important to take a closer look at the darker sentiment lurking behind those words. The idea that Emerson at large judges the individual on how well they conform to the accepted way of thought is a scary realization, but one that I was faced with over and over as I compiled the material for this article.

Every Facebook status, tweet and finsta caption is read and reread by the members of our tight-knit group. Don’t think for a second that what you say doesn’t follow you.

“On reddit, in the cesspools that we call comment sections, that’s where you’ll get relentlessly attacked for what you believe,” he continues. “At Emerson, however, I only recall one or two people who gave me a hard time for not agreeing with them.”

I had the strangely comforting thought at that at least Emerson isn’t as harsh as some people on the world wide web. But should we be patting ourselves on the back simply for staying above Internet trolls?

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Anonymous, Junior, BFA Theater Production, Republican, 20 I could tell something wasn’t quite right when, after weeks of searching fruitlessly for a Republican willing to be interviewed, the person who finally met with me requested to remain nameless. What does it say about our community that someone is so afraid of being branded a Trump supporter that they insist on keeping their identity a secret?

For the record, this interviewee, like many others in her party, feels that Trump is not an accurate representation of what the Republican Party stands for. So why wasn’t that disclaimer enough to dispel her fear of exposure? It’s because admitting you’re a Republican at Emerson College is dangerously close to committing social suicide.

“You can’t say you have any sense of being red on this campus without being attacked,” she confides. “The thing with Emerson kids is that they feel like the other side is out to get them.”

When asked if she’d ever felt attacked for her political views on campus, one instance immediately came to her mind. “It was a social media post,” she recalls. “There was a Facebook group that said, ‘If you’re voting for Trump, get the fuck out. Don’t come to this event.’ It made me realize that conservatives are being put in a corner, even if we’re

not voting for Trump.” Our conversation was beginning to hit a nerve. Whoever posted that message in the group probably didn’t give a second thought to how others may react—a symptom of the Emerson bubble.

“What people don’t understand,” she says, “is that when someone talks about how ‘evil’ every Republican is, you know, they’re really talking about someone’s dad.”

For underground right-wingers, discussions among friends and peers alike can often feel lonely and frustrating.

For those that fit comfortably into the accepted way of thought, the idea of being afraid to broadcast your beliefs campus wide for fear of losing friends or getting judgmental looks on the street is unimaginable. In a community of students working towards a common goal, some form of mutual respect and understanding is essential.

“Everyone has an opinion, everyone has an argument,” she remarks. “That’s where America came from. Having conservative views doesn’t make me a bad person, but the guy in my gen-ed who’s openly hating on Republicans doesn’t know me like that,” she says wistfully. “For a college that focuses so much on innovation, we are in such a bubble.”

“For a college that focuses so much on innovation, we are in such a bubble.”

Alex LaRosa, Sophomore, IDIP, Libertarian, 20

A rare Libertarian in a time of political polarization, LaRosa has grappled for years over party lines. Having switched from Democrat to Republican to something else entirely, today he prefers to pick and chose policies from each side.

Few can say they are smack dab in the middle.

For LaRosa, the choice to switch parties was a result of a gut reaction. “I used to consider myself a Democrat a long time ago--it was the party of forward progress and positive change. So then Obama took office and I thought, ‘Wow, the first African-American president!’ Hope and change, he’ll save the economy, he’s young, this is great,” he explains.

His optimism was undoubtedly mirrored by many of us in the elections of ‘08 and ‘12. It wasn’t until the passage of Obama Care that LaRosa began to question whether he wanted to stand by the Democratic party. “It seemed inherently wrong that the government would force someone to purchase insurance and then tax them extra if they refused.

I wasn’t sure why I disliked it, but I had to decide whether I still supported the president politically.” These moments of

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uncertainty are stepping stones on the path to solidifying our beliefs.

“Everyone thinks they’re doing what’s right for their country,” La Rosa explains. “We’ve come to these drastically different conclusions because we want what’s best for our children and our posterity. For me, that meant realizing that I wasn’t a Democrat anymore.”

There’s an easy way to find out whether you, too, fall into this way of thinking. “If you’ve been called a Democrat and a Republican in the same day, you’re probably a Libertarian,” he laughs.

For LaRosa, the most important platform of Libertarianism is freedom of speech.

“I try not to let people censor me,” he says resolutely, “and I’ve made my fair share of enemies that way.” At the end of the day, it all comes down to the Constitution. “We have a first amendment so that our words are protected.”

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Michael Vitz-Wong, Senior, Cinematography, Socialist, 20,

Members of more radical parties are more than happy to explain the platform of their organization. To Vitz-Wong, educating the uninformed is the noblest and most useful service he can do for society. In the span of our forty minute interview, I learned more about Marxism, Trotskyism and the larger umbrella of Socialism than I did in all four years of high school history class.

When asked to counter the popular arguments against Marxist thought, Vitz-Wong was one step ahead of me—the interviewee became the interviewer as he turned the question around on me.

“Why are you in art school?” He asks, eyes glittering with the confidence of someone used to playing hard ball during heated political arguments. A bit surprised at the role switch but willing to play along, I answer simply, “Because I love writing.” He had me figured out.

“Exactly. You’d probably be writing even if no one is paying you, which will probably be the case for a while. We as a people are innately creative and productive beings,” he explains.

“There are spiders that weave webs that would put human architecture to shame—but we can plan in advance. Our capability for intellectual creativity is boundless. We live for a greater purpose than just having more money than the person next to us. I’m a filmmaker because that’s how I express myself. The argument that money is the motivation I have always found to be degrading.”

As I sat and listened, Vitz-Wong explained to me how Socialist Alternative, a grassroots organization, fights every day for the proletariat. “I want to sit down with people and ask them, ‘What’s hurting your existence? Do you have student loans? Did your dad get laid off? Can you not afford school next year?’ I want to know how we can fight to improve your life.” He acknowledges that, though his organization is small, they are still able to make change. “Reform,” he says, “improves material conditions of the working class. It teaches them how to organize and fight back, while at the same time instilling confidence that when people fight together, they win.” As we spoke, he urged me to make note of Socialist Alternative’s true goal.

“Reforms are temporary,” he tells me, “but they do not replace revolution. We are a revolutionary party, I want to be clear. We won’t stop until we’ve overthrown capitalism.”

Though his party often goes to extremes, the fuel behind the fire is something we can all identify with--especially in these trying times. We can all agree that, as students, it’s important that we see our beliefs represented. For Vitz-Wong, it makes all the difference in the world. As I’m sure many of us can relate, his middle school rebellious phase was wrought with opposition to authority... and a lot of Rage Against the Machine. “The more I learned about the world at large,” he recalls, “the more I got jaded. I was very pessimistic. I thought, ‘I’m going to watch the world burn, put in my time, and see how long I survive the apocalypse.’ I had zero hope for society coming into college,” he remembers earnestly.

“Then Kshama Sawant got elected in Seattle.” Having an elected official representing his views in political office channeled that disappointment and confusion into something more constructive. To Vitz-Wong, it was a call to action. “Here are people doing exactly what they said they would do. If I didn’t sign up right then and there, I knew I’d be the biggest hypocrite walking the planet.” When I asked him how he got involved in the Socialist Alternative, Vitz-Wong grinned. “The website.”

Chuckling, he says, “Go to Socialistalternative.org and press ‘Join.’” He encourages anyone seeking more information to contact him directly at (210) 661-7806.

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LET'S TALK ABOUT SEX Text: Rebecca Szkutak Illustration: Julianna Sy

As humans, we are put into categories. We are separated and branded by characteristics like political views, astrological signs, favorite sports teams, and everything in between.

But what happens when easy categorization isn’t possible? What if you are a Yankees fan born into South Boston? Not everything can fit into a compartment, and more often than not, these compartments are restrictive to who we really are. For example, sexuality isn’t clean-cut or simple to categorize. Sexuality cannot be contained, even by words.

As a society, we have tried to dichotomize the subject into two categories: straight or not. We blanket everything else on the spectrum under the term LGBTQ+. Everyone who is not heterosexual is supposed to cram themselves down into an acronym. A title which is meant to include expansion but doesn’t scratch the surface, because sexuality is too fluid to contain.

It’s hard to place oneself on this spectrum. There are no set distinctions, but rather guidelines that constantly overlap and overlay. If sexuality were a scale, where would people put their mark?

Even those who identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community don’t find the acronym sufficient. To them, it’s just another label. James Rowland, a junior visual and media arts student said that he identifies as queer. He feels as though he doesn’t even fit into LGBTQ+’s definition or image of the term.

“I think the term queer is much more open and much more accepting of the idea of being gay,” Rowland said. “I don’t always uphold that stereotype image of the LGBTQ+ community.

[Queer is] open to the type of fluidity.”

Rowland elaborated that being called a gay man just doesn’t feel right. He says that he is not the person people picture when they think of a gay man, and he doesn't want to be thought of as that person either.

In contrast, the senior visual and media arts student Christian Mudrick says that he proudly identifies as a gay man. “I’ve had plenty of thoughts about my identity,” Mudrick said. “I very confidently am a gay man. There is such a push to be on the spectrum, and be fluid with everything. That’s all well and good, but I’m confident in where I am.”

According to Teen Health Source, other common sexualities found on the perceived spectrum are pansexual, which means that one is attracted to people regardless of sexuality or gender, and bisexual, which means one is attracted to people of more than one gender. Another sexuality that is seemingly forgotten is one that is actually of a non-sexual nature: asexuality, which is what Emerson student Meghan Corless identifies as.

“I kind of always knew something was up with my sexual orientation,” Corless said. “I knew that something was a little wrong. I wasn’t reaching milestones that people were. I figured once I got to college everything would come flooding naturally and it didn’t.

[Asexuality] was like finding the last puzzle piece I needed.”

Members of the asexual community are supposed to find comfort in being the “+” in the term LGBTQ+. This “+” is supposed to mean that they are still members of a community, even though they do not fit neatly on this spectrum.

This is not always the case, however.

Corless said that the most discrimination she has ever faced for her sexuality has been from those within the LGBTQ+ community who trivialize the legitimacy of asexuality, which is a term employed by only about one percent of the population.

A common misconception is that asexuality means that one does not have romantic or sexual relationships, but Corless explained that the word is also an overarching term to describe a variety of different sexualities. For SPECTRUM

example, asexuality includes demisexuality, which means one can only create sexual desire for someone who they have a relationship with, regardless of whether or not it is a romantic one. Within asexuality, there are also three distinct mentalities toward sex: sex-positivity, sex-neutrality, and sex-repulsion.

Ultimately, those who identify as straight are left out of this complicated labeling process—one that is unique to those who have come out as members of the LGBTQ+ community. Although society is constantly changing, we are still raised to believe we are straight and may only question this fact later in our lives. It is in that moment of questioning that we take ourselves out of our perceived categories, even if only for a moment. It is moments like these that prove sexuality is too personal to be confined by clinical labels.

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l i g h t : a revelation

Kate Bartell and Celia Reilly photographed by Adam Ward / Styled by Katya Katsnelson / Featuring projections by Rafael Rosendal Kate is wearing Sacai.

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"Light has thingness itself, so it’s not something that reveals something you're looking at, but it becomes a revelation in itself." - James Turrell SPECTRUM

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Kate and

is Celia

wearing Vivienne Westwood is wearing Thom Browne.

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Celia is wearing Vetements, while

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Vivienne Kate is

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Westwood and wearing Sacai.

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Red

a typology by Adam Ward

All six of these models show ways to style the same Dior

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different sweater.

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