Garnet & Black Magazine Fall 2018

GB

HOW TO 1

2 HOW TO

GB

STUDENT MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF C A R O L I N E F A I R E Y CREATIVE DIRECTOR G R A C E S T E P T O E MANAGING EDITOR C H R I S T I A N C O M P T O N

PR I N T AR T I C L ES ED I TO R Jenna Schiferl O NLI N E AR T I C L ES ED I TO R Zoe Nicholson

DI R ECTOR OF S T UDEN T M EDI A Sarah Scarborough

STAF F W R I T ER Courtney Carrick STAF F W R I T ER Mary-Bryant Charles STAF F W R I T ER Hallie Hayes STAF F W R I T ER Nicole Kitchens STAF F W R I T ER Almeera Lateef STAF F W R I T ER Sarah Nichols STAF F W R I T ER Rose Steptoe CO P Y C H I EF Maura Forsyth AR T D I R EC TO R Gracie Newton STAF F D ESI G N ER Meredith Price STAF F D ESI G N ER Emily Schoonover STAF F D ESI G N ER Katie Slack P H OTO ED I TO R Alyssa-Leigh Willey A S S I S TA N T P H OTO ED I TO R Coleman Rojahn S TA F F P H OTO G R AP H ER Mark Maddaloni

CR EAT I VE DI R ECTOR Edgar Santana A DVER T I S I N G M A N AGER Patrick DiDomenico S OCI A L M EDI A M A N AGER Sydney Patterson FACULT Y A DVI S OR Scott Farrand CR EAT I VE S ER VI CES Calista Berner Emily Schoonover Meagan Sigmon Grace Steptoe A DVER T I S I N G R EPR ES EN TAT I VES

ST Y L E ED I TO R Caroline Hart A S S I STAN T ST Y L E ED I TO R Jasmine White

Tommy Aiken Cal Dean Evan Johnston

PUB LI C R EL AT I O N S D I R EC TO R Abby Bickel

Torey Powers

M U LT I M ED I A D I R EC TO R Steven Tapia MU LT I M ED I A ASSI STAN T Keylan Hanna A S S I STAN T W EB ED I TO R Chandni Amin S O CI A L M ED I A CO O R D I N ATO R Frazier Bostic

Advertising: (803) 777-3018 To contact G&B, email sagandbe@mailbox.sc.edu or visit www.gandbmagazine.com Garnet & Black magazine is produced four times a year by students of the University of South Carolina and is distributed free to members of the university community. All editors and staff members can be contacted at (803) 777-1149. The office is located in Russell House room 339. Email letters to the editor to sagandbe@mailbox.sc.edu or to Garnet & Black magazine, Student Media, 1400 Greene Street, Columbia, SC 29208.

Letters should be 250-400 words and must include name, address, phone number and academic information (if applicable). Garnet & Black reserves the right to edit for libel, style and space. Anonymous letters will not be published.

WANT MORE FROM GARNET & BL ACK MAGAZINE? CHECK OUT O UR ONL INE CONT ENT AT: GANDBMAGAZINE.COM FACEBOOK.COM/GARNETANDBL ACK TWIT TER: @GARNETANDBL ACK INSTAGRAM: @GARNETANDBL ACK ISSUU.COM/GARNETANDBL ACK

I N T E REST E D IN JOIN IN G T HE G &B STA F F ?

ED ITOR-IN-CH IE F sagandbe@mailbox.sc.edu CRE ATIV E D IR ECTOR gandbart@gmail.com A R TICLE S E D ITO R gandbwriting@gmail.com PH OTO E D ITOR gandbphoto@gmail.com ST YLE E D ITO R gandbmoda@gmail.com W E B E D ITOR gandblog@gmail.com PUB L IC R E L ATION S D IR ECTO R gandbpublicrelations@gmail.com

Contents Garnet & Black Magazine Fall 2018

08

24

ACE

EMPOWERMENT

One student speaks up for asexual visibility

Style inspired by the power of women

12

32

NOT YOUR AVERAGE STUDENT

LOCKED DOORS

A spotlight on a non-traditional student

Is campus truly accessible for everyone?

15

The post-study abroad adjustment to America

36

Styled by Naida’s mission to help women dress professionally

18

40

LOST IN TRANSLATION

SUITED FOR STYLE

ELECTION FEVER

INVISIBLE ILLNESS

Students, civic duty, and sixty-hour weeks

How the stigma surrounding mental health affects students

23

43

GOD ASKS YOU A QUESTION

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Poetry by Adina Lasser

How The Senate is changing Columbia’s music scene

COVER PHOTO BY ALYSSA-LEIGH WILLEY • STYLING BY CAROLINE HART

MAKE ULTRATAN YOUR PREFERENCE.

GB

U P CO M IN G E V E N T S

RUSH IN FOR A

10

$

SUNLESS SPRAY

FOR A LIMITED TIME *STUDENT ID REQUIRED

Fall Launch Party at Tapp’s Space Hall Main Street 9 PM – 1 AM Oct. 16 Come help us celebrate the launch of our first magazine of the year in the Space Hall of Columbia – located in the basement of Tapp’s Art Center

Professional Headshots Fundrasier The Horseshoe Nov. 9 & Nov. 10 Need a new LinkedIn profile picture? Come see us on the Horseshoe for a professional-level photo for $5, and help support Garnet & Black Magazine!

BOLD BROWS. MY KIND OF COUTURE. YOUR FIRST WAX IS FREE* ONE WAX IS ALL IT TAKES TO FALL IN LOVE. COLUMBIA - WOODHILL | 803 834 6130 141 Pelham Drive, Suite E

WAXCENTER.COM I europeanwax *Offer expires 11/30/18. First-time guests only. Valid only for select services. Additional terms may apply. Participation may vary; please visit waxcenter.com for general terms and conditions. ©2018 EWC Franchise, LLC. All rights reserved. European Wax Center and the other identified marks are trademarks of EWC P&T, LLC.

Letter from the Editor EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CAROLINE FAIREY

LATELY I’VE BEEN FASCINATED WITH THE CONCEPT OF CURATION. This semester, I’m taking a variety of subjects that, on the surface, seem disconnected—geography, poetry, accounting—but all of them have satisfyingly overlapped in that way that good classes sometimes do. In each subject, we go out into the world and explore, collect knowledge, and expand our mental database, so to speak. And afterwards, we narrow down, we sculpt and chip away at the edges of what we’ve learned so that we can present it as something whole and useful and beautiful to others.

As we, the dedicated staff of Garnet & Black Magazine, worked throughout summer and early fall on the magazine that you’re holding in your hands (or scrolling through on your screen), we engaged in this process of curation. We looked to the magazines of the past ten years for inspiration and answers, and we studied the student magazines of many other universities to learn what the world outside of USC has to offer. We examined our own experiences and the experiences of our friends, and we discussed at length what kinds of stories students want to read. And afterward, we put our best effort into curating interesting, satisfying, relatable stories—stories that matter.

But of course, the burden of deciding that does not fall to me, but to you, the reader, the viewer standing in a museum gallery. If you love our magazine, we’re thrilled—if you don’t, we’d love to hear from you. At the end of the day, what you hold in your hands is the best effort of students just like you, and hearing from readers helps us build each magazine better than the last.

With that being said, I truly hope you enjoy this first issue. Our staff has worked for many months putting it all together, and I can’t wait to share it with all of you.

I thought about including a list of people that deserve recognition for their brilliant ideas, their hard work, but then I realized that you can simply read their names at the beginning of the magazine. Thank you to all of my loves who brought this magazine into existence.

Thank you to our professional staff members for keeping us afloat.

And thank you, reader, because without you, none of this would exist at all. We hope you enjoy the collection.

Love and relationships as an asexual student.

BY ANONYMOUS • PHOTOS BY ALYSSA-LEIGH WILLEY • DESIGN BY KATIE SLACK

ACE

8 HOW TO

I GOT MY FIRST KISS at senior prom. It wasn’t something I planned, instigated, or even expected. It just kind of happened, and when it did, I was relieved. It was the one thing on my high school checklist that I’d never found time in my schedule for, and I could finally walk around without feeling like I was missing out on something.

Rationally, I knew it was fine that I’d always been inactive in that area — that people have different paths, that they check off life’s milestones at different rates — but I felt that if I made it through the doorway of my first college dorm without even holding hands with a guy non-platonically, it would just feel a little bad. It was great to finally get it over with. Don’t get me wrong, my first kiss was fantastic. But it was also like finally finishing a chore.

So was this it? The final hurdle I needed to cross to get into the world of real relationships?

I thought it was. I had all these notions about how things would be, about the order and structure with which things would progress.

I would meet a guy, we’d start dating, and it would continue on from there. It was how I thought I should feel about dating and, ultimately, sex. This was college, after all. I was naive, but not so much that I didn’t know expectations would be a lot different here.

Sex is always sold to you as a million different things. You’re told that it’ll mess up your life in moment’s lack of vigilance.

That it’s the ultimate form of

intimacy that can possibly blossom between two people.

That it’s sinful, it’s holy, it’s all just good fun. So many opinions, so many Cosmo articles and smutty vampire novels my middle school friends and I would giggle over while waiting for our parents in carline. Everything is sex, so I have no idea how I managed to totally ignore it the first 18 years of my life.

Up until I got my first kiss, sex wasn’t something I thought about.

Ever. It was a concept, something for other people to deal with while I got comfortable off to the side with a bowl of popcorn and a good view of all the resulting theatrics. What I didn’t realize is that it meant everyone around me was getting experience, learning what they liked and didn’t, what they wanted and didn’t want to do with intimacy. While I just had vague, romcom-flavored ideas of what I wanted, they had realworld data to back theirs up. Now that I was actually getting that kind of attention, sex wasn’t something I could leave to other people anymore. I had to figure out how I felt about it. For myself and for any future partners.

And the answer was nothing. I felt absolutely nothing about it.

When I first got to college, I told myself this was due to lack of experience with guys. Then I switched to telling myself that it was because of bad experiences.

The second guy to kiss me did it to cheat on his girlfriend. The third was just a fling that fizzled into a casual friendship after a week.

Which was fine, I knew something

stable would come eventually.

Then something stable did come.

Someone that made me feel wonderful and comfortable and all the warm and fuzzy things. But still, when it came to taking things further, I felt nothing. I wasn’t repulsed or scared by the idea.

Like my first kiss, I knew I’d get it out of the way eventually. I just had no active interest.

I felt like something had to be wrong with me. Maybe my mind had been botched by a Southern Baptist upbringing, by the standards of shame society imposes on women and how they use their bodies. Maybe it was because of my own immaturity, maybe I’d done this to myself. Many times I thought about breaking things off with my partner, not because I felt pressured to do anything, but because I was scared I’d never be able to meet his needs the way he met mine. I believed he deserved far better. I felt broken. I felt stupid and childish. I thought this was my new normal until one of my friends asked me a question: “Do you think you might be asexual?”

It was a term I’d heard before, but mostly in biology classes talking about plants or certain species of fish. I knew there were people who identified as asexual, but all I had to go on were stereotypes. In my head, asexuals were loners. They kept to themselves, they were prickly, they were unfeeling and cold.

Nothing that could possibly apply to me. I found people attractive.

I’d had a few crushes. I couldn’t be asexual. But still, it was an idea.

ACE 9

So I went back to the place where I started my whole education on gender and sexual identity: Tumblr.

It took two clicks to find a massive community of people with stories just like mine. I also got a better definition of asexuality itself. Turns out, your romantic and your sexual orientation can be two separate things. You could be asexual, or “ace,” and still have romantic feelings for anyone of your preferred gender. Asexuality is simply the absence of sexual attraction. It has nothing to do with your capacity for dating or romantic feelings.

It doesn’t mean you necessarily have to be repulsed by sex. Some asexuals are, but for others it’s just total apathy. When it comes to intimacy, their needs are met by a more mental or emotional connection to a partner. It doesn’t even mean you can’t have or enjoy sex. It just means it’s not important or necessary for you in a relationship.

I’d never met any asexuals. I didn’t have any prominent asexual celebrity role models or ace characters from my favorite books or TV shows. This was the first time I’d seen this part of myself reflected back at me in a way that didn’t make me feel othered.

There wasn’t anything wrong with me. I wasn’t just being fearful or repressed or immature. This was how my brain worked. There was nothing wrong.

Part of me still thought that putting a label on it shouldn’t matter. That it wasn’t a big enough deal. I was just trying to make myself feel better by finding a box to get settled in. But I didn’t feel like I was putting myself in a box.

It felt like stepping out of one. I’d

10 ACE

seen how damaging the traditional heteronormative relationship model could be for people in non-traditional relationships. I didn’t realize it affected people who didn’t follow the traditional intimacy model, as well. People aren’t broken because they aren’t sexually attracted to people of the opposite gender. I’m not broken for not experiencing sexual attraction at all.

The first time I said it out loud was to my partner. We were lying on my dorm room futon, watching old episodes of “Catfish.”

It had gotten to that time of night where for some reason you’ve got the courage to say anything that’s on your mind, and I said it: “I am asexual.” He’d never heard the word before and asked me to explain. Rambling out a hurried definition, I was terrified. I was scared that he’d think of me the way I’d thought of myself. Childish.

Immature. Too inexperienced to know what I wanted.

“That makes perfect sense,” he said from his spot next to me in the dark. I flinched. He went on, “I mean, I knew I was interested in sex before I did it, so it makes perfect sense to me that you’d already know you aren’t.”

And there it was. The one thing all the research, all the articles and conversations with online support groups never turned up. The most obvious, most cliche moral of any story: The fact that I knew myself. It’s the best advice I can give to someone trying to answer all the questions I was. You know yourself, no matter what trajectory you’ve set for your relationships or that’s been set by the world around you. You know what you want and you’re not broken.

HOW TO 11

12

NOT YOUR AVERAGE STUDENT One woman’s success in going back to school

BY ROSE STEPTOE • ILLUSTRATION AND DESIGN BY GRACIE NEWTON

In 1986, Heather Coleman embarked on a journey that many still consider a rite of passage for young adults today: she began her undergraduate degree. Studying music at Oklahoma Baptist University, Coleman dove headfirst into her college degree as an 18-year-old. However, her life quickly became complicated. Coleman met somebody, got married and had children, and eventually dropped out of school. Now, 32 years later, Coleman again is in the midst of pursuing an undergraduate degree.

Coleman is a student in Palmetto College at USC, an online degree-granting program, and is a part of the growing population of nontraditional students in the United States.

Initially, going back to college after many years away was daunting for Coleman: “I still remember the first day I set foot on Midlands Tech Campus, after 20 years of not being in college, and I was terrified.” Coleman has been slowly working towards her degree by taking just two classes a semester, and by the time she graduates in 2020, it will have taken her almost ten years to complete her degree. Over the years, however, Coleman has grown to love being a student again. “I wanted to go, and so I just kept going, and every year it got a little easier. So now, I’m not afraid – I love it,” she says.

In her effort to earn her Bachelor of Arts with an emphasis in Liberal Studies, Coleman has taken many classes both on campus and online. She concedes that each type of class has its own advantages and disadvantages.

In taking classes on campus, “I’m usually the oldest person in the class,” Coleman admits. The expectation for younger college students makes it difficult for older students like Coleman to relate to others in the classroom.

“Sometimes I was able to sit beside someone who was roughly my age and help each other through the class, but a lot of times when it was me and 18- and 19-yearolds - I couldn’t connect,” Coleman says.

Online courses, on the other hand, tout flexibility but are too impersonal for Coleman: “Online is much more convenient, [but] it’s not as personally enjoyable, because you don’t have the campus [or] the classroom experience. I love walking around the USC campus, so I miss that.”

The age difference of traditional classes and the isolation of online classes encompass one of the largest obstacles of being an older student for Coleman. “I had this epiphany that I’m an excellent student, I work hard, but I don’t know anyone,” she says. Finding a community among nontraditional students has been nearly impossible for her. However, she hopes to change that.

“I actually hope to do something ... to help create some connection there. It’s never gonna be the same, because some of us are in Columbia, some are in Georgia, some are in Texas … but just to have a little bit of personal connection,” Coleman says.

As for Coleman’s reason for going back to school, her passions lie in making sense of the world around her: “As I’ve gotten older … I’ve become fascinated with how people work … just kind of stumbling into a sociology class and being amazed to discover that there’s this system of society that influences us — that was just really eyeopening for me.”

Coleman’s interest in sociology is the driving force behind her career goal: helping women. “Especially in more conservative regions like the South, I think [women] have hurdles … there’s a mindset that comes with the South, and especially Southern-type Christianity. Even [for] women who aren’t Christians, [religion] still influences society.

It has potential to hold women back or even harm them,” says Coleman. Upon the completion of her degree, Coleman expresses interest in counseling, therapy or even working with other nontraditional students to empower women.

Working a full-time job and raising children while at school, Coleman has become well-acquainted with some of the pressures that are unique to the nontraditional experience. “As an adult ... it’s all on you. Finances are on you, your livelihood, just paying your own bills, managing life,” Coleman explains. Despite these added difficulties, she remains an advocate for the value of education at any age.

“Whether it’s men or women who are 25, 45, [or] 55 [years old], education is hugely powerful, something that can help someone become a better version of themselves,” she says. “It pushes you and stretches you and grows you in a really important and valuable way.”

When it comes to others who may be considering returning to school, Coleman has one piece of advice: “It’s just worth doing.”

NOT YOUR AVERAGE STUDENT 13

Food shouldn’t be scary or complicated.

We want you to love your plate again.

Grow your skills.

Eat intuitively.

Plan ahead.

Know the facts.

Fuel your body.

L

V E

P L AT E

Learn more by using:

#loveyourplateuofsc

Leadership and Service Center | Student Health Services | Carolina Food Co.

IT WAS MY FIRST DAY OF CLASS BACK ON CAMPUS after a semester

abroad, and it was surreal. Walking down Greene Street, the masses of garnet-andblack-clad students seemed more like an army of drones than my peers.

The intensity of school pride was jarring after a semester at University College Dublin, Ireland’s USC-equivalent. UCD has a similar population and campus size as Carolina, so I felt right at home as soon as I began my semester in Dublin. The lack of initial culture shock was a surprise, but Ireland is culturally similar enough to the U.S. where I brushed it off. What I didn’t expect was the shock I felt after returning home.

Enter reverse culture shock. The feeling, which usually presents itself in an unsuspecting way – say, when walking down a crowded sidewalk to class – comes from change. Our home may not have changed— but we have. In most cases, “home” often becomes idealized as we spend time away from it, which can also lead to feelings of shock.

“A lot of students come back and have a reverse culture shock situation,” USC study abroad administrative assistant Taylor Armstrong says of what she sees in students during re-entry. She explains it comes when faced with a situation you adapted to abroad and have a hard time adjusting to when back home – like public transportation or ordering fast food.

“For my first meal, Bojangles was obviously my choice since I landed in Charlotte, and it was the most awkward experience I have ever had while ordering food,” junior engineering major Brian Youngblood says of his first meal back from studying in Madrid during the Spring 2018 semester.

LOST IN TRANSLATION 15

16 LOST IN TRANSLATION

“I went up to order and froze for a few seconds, trying to remember how to order.

Then, reminding myself that I could speak English... I word vomited my way through,” he says.

Language immersion may offer a few cognitive roadblocks, but small hiccups like an embarrassing encounter at Bojangles are dealt with fairly quickly. This phase of re-entry is known as “the crisis moment,” and is the low point in the culture shock theory, or the w-curve. Used to explain culture shock, the w-curve follows an up-and-down pattern and explains each person’s personal travel experience.

The “w” shape comes from the cultural rollercoaster a student experiences when they arrive for their semester abroad and once they have returned home. A honeymoon phase is usually followed by a crisis moment.

Following the initial crisis moment, a gradual upward slope leads to adjustment and contentment abroad. When you return home, the second half of the curve starts all over again – the second gut-wrenching drop.

Once you hit the jolt of being back home, it’s a gradual adjustment back to reality. The best ways to adjust, according to Armstrong, are staying busy and involved.

“I made sure to keep myself engaged when I got back to the U.S. because I didn’t want to sit around and do nothing. I knew that would be unhealthy after going full speed for so long,” senior Brandon Samples says of his post-study abroad adjustment period.

As with the actual study abroad experience, everyone’s adjustment period is different, too.

For some, coming home is exactly that, and they settle right back into life in America. But for others, the shocks just keep coming.

Armstrong, who studied abroad herself in London during her undergraduate years at USC, says keeping a dialogue is an important way to “unpack the baggage” every student comes home with, and a good way to reduce the number of shocks you may experience.

“The reflection is really important, and students that have that chance and opportunity to reflect do a lot better when they come back,” Armstrong says. But for many study abroad returnees, reflecting is the hard part of the adjustment process. The most anticipated, dreaded question asked when a study abroad student comes back home quickly becomes, “So, how was your semester?”

“You can’t really answer that in a simple way.” Samples, who studied abroad in both Barcelona and Buenos Aires, says of the often-asked, rarely-answered question.

“I’m also worried about being that person that’s like, ‘this one time in Barcelona.’ But sometimes there’s just no way around that.”

But even when you do manage to answer the question, there’s always more to tell.

“You can show them pictures and tell them stories, but it sometimes feels like they don’t really understand what it meant to you,” senior Abby Holdeman says of her experience after studying abroad in Spain her

“I went up to order and froze for a few seconds trying to remember how to order. Then reminding myself that I could speak English... I word vomited my way through.” sophomore year. “They may get to see/hear the big picture, but they’re missing out on the small moments, the daily activities that made it so special to you.”

Working with the study abroad office, or with the study abroad experience in some capacity, is an easy way to combat this issue. It allows you to tell the obnoxious “this one time when…” stories. Telling personal experiences to potential study abroad students means the person on the other side of the conversation is envisioning their own upcoming experience, not vaguely interested like a friend or family member.

Not only does this allow that “unpacked baggage” to be worked through in healthy way, it helps to process the things learned abroad, whether it be cultural, linguistic, or academic, so you don’t end up “shoeboxing,” or compartmentalizing your experience.

But even after all the adjustment periods, shocks, and awkward conversations with your aunt, some things are still difficult to get used to again.

“Excuse me, would either of you be interested in joining our Bible study on the Horseshoe?” A random student asks Samples and I as we conduct our interview for this piece in Starbucks.

“No,” we both politely, but awkwardly, say.

He walks away.

“Another typical U.S. thing - can we just talk about that,” Samples remarks when we’re alone again.

“Can you imagine someone in Dublin passing out Bible flyers?”

LOST IN TRANSLATION 17

BY JENNA SCHIFERL • PHOTOS BY ALYSSA-LEIGH WILLEY • DESIGN BY MEREDITH PRICE 18 HOW TO

SOME COLLEGE STUDENTS IGNORE POLITICS COMPLETELY,

some feign polite interest when it comes up in casual conversation and some have a broad understanding of the subject. But a small fraction of students and recent graduates are invested enough in politics to willingly sacrifice their time, money and effort to work for a political campaign.

For those of us on the outside of the political sphere, these types of positions are often shrouded in mystery. It’s difficult to find any information on student experiences working or volunteering within the realm of politics. The lack of available information raises a few important questions: How do students and recent graduates become involved in political campaigns? What do they actually do? And most importantly, why would a student sacrifice so much time and effort to work for a candidate that may or may not be successful?

For many students, becoming involved with local politics serves as an opportunity to network with business officials, learn about government processes and gain rare insight into a tumultuous political landscape.

In this realm, 20-year-olds can climb the chain of command successfully in a matter of months. They are assigned responsibilities that students without this opportunity might not receive until their first job months after graduation. They are required to face the real-world demands of an industry that never sleeps and juggle the task of keeping up political appearances and the necessary grunt work that comes with the job.

Three days after crossing the stage at graduation, former Student Body President Michael Parks started working for South Carolina’s current governor, Henry McMaster.

“The president, the governor, US senators,

all typically have a younger staff member whose sole role is to be like their personal aide. It typically is a younger person, because it’s kind of like the entry-level gig. But in a weird way it’s very valued because you learn a lot, very quickly,” Parks says.

Parks was hired to help with the transition team after McMaster succeeded to the governorship after Nikki Haley became the United States ambassador to the United Nations. Parks held the position for 15 months, and he is now pursuing a degree at the University of South Carolina School of Law. As McMaster’s bodyman, aide de camp and special assistant, Parks’ responsibilities varied day to day, but generally included keeping the governor on-time, organized and informed. His tasks included providing the governor with all of the necessary materials he needed to make decisions, respond to crises and adequately serve the state.

“As a result, I needed to be well informed and aware of whatever the topic of the day is, or the topics of the day and then knowing who the appropriate person in the office is that he needed,” Parks says. “Time is money, and his time is the people’s time and the people’s money,” he continues.

His position, like other positions in the industry, didn’t conform to traditional office hours — especially during a key midterm election season. Throughout the summer, Parks traveled with the governor throughout the state on a promotional bus tour.

“There were days we would leave at seven in the morning, come home at midnight, and then do it again the next day,” Parks says.

“You can pick up the entire flavor of the state on a charter bus in a week, very quickly, especially if you do it twice,” he says, referring to the second bus tour preceding

“You have to have your phone on at night. It’ll ring at 11, it’ll ring at six in the morning. Because for him, when he needs something done, he needs it done.

Part of the job is understanding that – that’s what you signed up for.”

ELECTION FEVER 19

the Republican runoff election between McMaster and John Warren.

As with most positions in politics, Parks was always on-call during his tenure as special assistant.

“You have to have your phone on at night.

It’ll ring at eleven [p.m.], it’ll ring at six in the morning. Because for him, when he needs something done, he needs it done. Part of the job is understanding that – that’s what you signed up for,” Parks says. “My friends never really understood. We would make plans like, ‘Saturday, let’s go do this’ and 30 minutes before I would have to say, ‘actually I can’t go anymore. I have to go in.’”

Scott Harriford also became heavily involved with a major political campaign shortly after graduation. During Harriford’s final year at USC, he worked as a State House page. This is where he was introduced to James Smith, who at the time was pursuing a District 20 Senate seat. But when Harriford started working for the campaign in June of 2016, Smith hadn’t yet announced his intention to run for governor. A year later, he secured the Democratic nomination. He will face incumbent Governor Henry McMaster in the general election this November.

After two months of working for Smith, Harriford was promoted to deputy political director. Like Parks, his primary responsibilities involve assisting the candidate with a myriad of assignments. This includes briefing Smith before meetings and events, providing talking points, and assisting with campaign finance activities. But it’s nearly impossible to summarize the daily nuances of the job. “‘Political Director’ wouldn’t encompass everything that I do,” Harriford says.

Harriford also serves as Smith’s driver and right-hand man. He’s with Smith “pretty much all day, every day.” He picks Smith up each morning and drops him off each night. Like Parks, he also traveled across the state this summer to campaign with Smith.

For many students, working closely with high-profile elected officials can come with a lot of pressure. “Deputy Political Director” or “Special Assistant to the Governor” are titles that come with heavy responsibilities – especially as a recent graduate.

20 ELECTION FEVER

“People see James and I’m not far behind.

It’s definitely a change of pace as far as my role and how I conduct myself in public and things like that,” Harriford says.

AC Parham, a 2017 graduate, also had the opportunity to work closely with a major political candidate. During the thick of the primary season this summer, she would volunteer every day for Smith’s campaign.

As soon as she got off work from her job at a local law office, she would drive to the campaign headquarters to stuff envelopes with promotional material and deliver yard signs and bumper stickers.

After two months of volunteering, Parham was promoted to become a member of Smith’s campaign finance committee. This allowed her to accompany Smith and his running mate, Mandy Powers-Norrell, to various fundraisers and events.

Mark Bonnoitt works closely with the governor as the Midland’s field director for Governor McMaster’s campaign. He is a fourth-year political science student at USC and he started working for McMaster’s campaign in April. Like Parham, Bonnoitt recalls working intense hours May through June – at one point clocking 60-80 hours a week.

He is taking the fall semester of classes off in order to work full time. As Midland’s field director, he spearheads projects to increase local voter turnout rates via phone banking, door knocking, hosting events and recruiting volunteers. In June, he helped to organize the #SCWinning Bus Tour — the same bus tour on which Michael Parks accompanied Governor McMaster.

“Recruiting volunteers is a huge aspect of my job, and I was able to do that because I’m still a student at the University of South Carolina,” Bonnoitt says. “That’s why it’s so cool that the governor was able to give me the opportunity, because it opens up a lot of doors, not only for me but for the 22 interns and other student volunteers that we had on the campaign.”

Bonnoitt often has to balance the professional and physical tasks that the job demands.

“There were the times when you’re banging up a sledgehammer, putting signs in the ground, but there’s also the times when you’re on the phone with the senator from York County,” he says.

“It brings it full circle because most likely the congressman or senator or representative understands where you are because he’s been there too,” Bonnoitt says.

These are positions where there are no real “off” hours. There isn’t a standard set of job requirements, and each day is completely different from the previous.

For current students interested in becoming involved with local politics or working for an election campaign, Michael Parks summarizes it well – “It’s a job for a hustler. If you’re not ready to hustle, it’s not for you.”

ELECTION FEVER 21

JAY L A , 20

The “your body is awesome just the way it is� birth control.

The IUD. Now FREE or low-cost. Stop by the USC Center for Health & Well-Being or visit whoopsproofsc.org.

Fees for extra services requested or required are not covered by WhoopsProofSC. Valid only for students at participating colleges & universities in South Carolina thru 12/31/2019. Schedule an appointment to review your eligibility.

22 HOW TO

God asks you a question and instead of answering you shrug.

You ask god back if he has ever heard of Zeno’s paradox, if he’s ever actually crossed a threshold. God answers: if something can be divided into threes it can be further divided into nines-this is why seven is the holy number.

In fact, you remember your bat-mitzvah feeling god circle seven times around you, the bride. But god rested on the seventh day in a dark room with a playstation and a flat screen and called it holy. Do we constantly crest smaller and smaller infinities? Are we bored?

God knows you have never been through a door, or entered a building, or crossed the street --only come asymptotically close.

Today is Yom Kippur and that means that god is standing closer to you than ever, centimeters from your face, almost touching.

The body enveloped in prayer whatever that means.

The body divided by the father whatever that means.

By Adina Lasser • Design by Emily Schoonover

POETRY 23

Left to right: Red Soft Sweater, Vestique, $30 | Leopard Print Shorts, Wildflower, $42 | Dotted Textured Earrings, Fab’rik, $26 | 24 Print HOWBubble-Sleeved TO Cheetah Top, Wildflower, $48 | Black Leather Mini Skort, Vestique, $40 | Red Clutch, Fab’rik, $54

2018 has been labeled as “The Year of the Woman.” Women are fighting back against oppressive social structures within Hollywood and corporate landscapes. They are learning how to take no shit and hold others accountable for their actions, inspiring movements like Time’s Up and Me Too that have encouraged others to speak out about discrimination and sexual assault.

For our fall style shoot, we wanted to emulate “The Year of the Woman” by choosing bold animal prints and classic monochromatic pairings. Boxy gingham and nontraditional combinations challenge traditional norms of business attire. Choosing red as our primary color was no accident. It is a color of extremes. It symbolizes power and passion. It is associated with both birth and death, and with love and loss. It is fearless and unapologetic.

The gender pay gap still exists, rape culture remains rampant, and the patriarchy still dominates the political sphere. However, more women than ever are running for elected offices. Powerful men are stepping down. Change is happening. And from the women across the United States that are making it happen, the message is clear: “We will not be silenced.”

STYLED BY CAROLINE HART • WRITTEN BY JENNA SCHIFERL • PHOTOS BY ALYSSA-LEIGH WILLEY, COLEMAN ROJAHN, MARK MADDALONI, MEREDITH PRICE AND STEVEN TAPIA • DESIGNED BY GRACE STEPTOE AND GRACIE NEWTON STYLE ASSISTANT: JASMINE WHITE • MODELS: AKUYA SAKURA, DANA TILLEY, SYDNEY ZARSADIAS, ANTIONNA FULLER

STYLE 25

Left to right on opposite page: Red Ruffle Tie-Front Top, Vestique, $24 | Cheetah Print Pants, Wildflower, $58 | Red Crop Top, Entourage, $18 | Black Corduroy High-Waisted Pants, Vestique, $48 | Cheetah Print Belt, Wildflower, $32 | Animal Print Bracelet, Fab’rik, $24

Left to right: Cream Sweater, Fab’rik, $97 | Plaid Jumpsuit, Fab’rik, $87 | Cream Tassel Earrings, Fab’rik, $50 | Black Ruffle Sweater, Vestique, $20 | Plaid Ruffle Romper, Entourage, $37 | Snakeskin Earrings, Fab’rik, $24 | Tan Polka Dot Button Down, Fab’rik, $49 | Tweed Black and White Dress, Fab’rik, $72

HOW TO 27

28 HOW TO

Left to right on opposite page: Black and White Striped Slit Pants, Entourage, $29 | Black Buttoned Top, Wildflower, $42 | Black and White Side Stripe Pants, Fab’rik, $63 | Black and White Side Stripe Shirt, Fab’rik, $42 | Black Leather Jacket, Fab’rik, $98 | Black Geometric Earrings, Fab’rik, $18 | Black Criss Cross Back Crop Top, Wildflower, $42 | Snakeskin Pants, Vestique, $48 | Cream Marble Earrings, Fab’rik, $18 | Black Jumpsuit, Vestique, $15 | Polka Dot Hair Tie, Fab’rik, $18

HOW TO 31

32 HOW TO

locked

doors A closer look inside campus accessibility

BY SARAH NICHOLS • PHOTOS BY ALYSSA-LEIGH WILLEY • DESIGN BY GRACIE NEWTON

Picture this: it’s the day of your final exam. You anxiously walk to the Humanities building to get to your class, only to find that both elevators are broken. You’ll probably groan to yourself and head to the dreaded staircase. But then you find that the doors to both staircases are locked. Your exam starts in ten minutes and nobody is around to unlock the doors. What do you do?

This isn’t the start of a riddle. If you’re a teacher’s pet like me, this probably sounds like the stuff of nightmares. But to Brianna (Bri) Ash and many other students on campus, these barriers are a reality.

Ash is a senior psychology major and social work minor at USC and a selfproclaimed “military brat” who went to high school in Jacksonville, North Carolina, but is used to making any place her home.

Ash was born with Cerebral Palsy (CP), a disorder that damaged her brain and makes certain movements difficult or impossible.

CP looks different for every person who has it, but for Ash, it means that she has been and will be in a wheelchair her whole life.

For the majority of students on campus, USC’s hills, staircases and broken elevators are something to groan and complain to your friends about. But for people with disabilities, these inconveniences are real restrictions to their education.

“USC is not the worst place that I’ve been as far as accessibility – they’re not the best – but they’re not the absolute worst that I’ve dealt with, either. There are places that I wish they would fix, but I realize that means shelling out money that the university does not have to spend or does not want to spend,” Ash explained.

“The biggest issue that I have is they have so many older buildings that they don’t bother to update at all. Like if you’ve been in the Calcott building and you’ve seen how tiny that elevator is... my wheelchair barely fits in there.” Ash said. “And I am not the only person in a wheelchair on this campus. I am one of the few, but I am not the only one. So if I’m having that issue, it’s definitely not just me. And that’s in a lot of the buildings around here.”

Ash’s main source of university assistance is through the Student Disability Resource Center. The center serves students who have a documented disability (both LOCKED DOORS 33

and even when the university does offer accomodations

“

physical and mental, internal and external) that affects their major life functions and students who have temporary injuries.

The types of accommodations that they provide vary on a case-by-case basis, because the needs of their students are so different, but some common examples of their accommodations include extended time on tests and test proctoring, audio recording, preferential seating, allowing laptops for note-taking, note-takers and alternative format books.

For students with injuries and/or in wheelchairs, they offer adaptive transportation, which is run by the same people who run the university shuttles. Adaptive transportation is based on student’s individual schedules, and it picks up and drops off students as close to their buildings and locations as possible.

34 LOCKED DOORS

It only runs on campus, but they work with students to find the closest pickup location.

However, some issues that arise are difficult for the disability resource center to address. Take, for example, the issue of elevators being broken. If a student contacts their disability coordinator about this, there isn’t much they can do in the moment, other than advise them to contact maintenance.

This is why the center encourages selfadvocacy among their students, who often have to take matters into their own hands.

“I actually, during the summer, got locked out of one of my finals, almost, because the back door to the building where the ramp is was locked,” Ash said.

“The other doors that were in front of stairs were not locked. I emailed my teacher and said, ‘This is what’s happening, I’m stuck,

”

it is still often not so accessible

can you please come let me in?’ And she immediately emailed me back and was like ‘I’m coming,’ and she was like, ‘I didn’t even think about that door.’ And that’s an issue.”

Another example of outdated and inaccessible buildings that may create problems is the Humanities Classroom Building, where one or both of the elevators are often broken. So when both of the elevators are broken, and you’re in a wheelchair, what do you do? You have no choice but to miss class.

Even when the university does offer accommodations for accessibility, it is often still not easily accessible.

“The other problem is finding ramps, because they like to hide them around the backs of buildings, and you have to email your disability coordinator most of the time and be like, ‘Hey, where is it?’ Because nine times out of the ten, the teachers have no clue. No idea. Because they don’t have to use them, so why do they care where they are?” Ash said.

Ash did emphasize, however, that one of the best things about this campus is the overwhelming majority of teachers who are willing and eager to accommodate their students with disabilities.

“If a teacher knows there’s an issue, they’re gonna do their best to take that weight off you, because they know that the

university isn’t going to be quick about fixing it unless they do something too,” Ash said.

She also acknowledges that the weight of this issue cannot fall squarely on the teacher’s backs, as they juggle busy schedules and many responsibilities.

“I think honestly it’s not on the teachers, because they deal with so many students day in and day out, it’s just too much to juggle to also worry about ‘Where are the ramps? Can everybody get to them? Is there accessible seating?’” Ash said. “I think it’s more on the university to focus more on the people like me. Because, I mean, there’s not many of us, but there’s enough of us to where it’s an issue. And they don’t do a lot to update their accessibility. They just don’t. Once they build a building, they’re like ‘Okay, it’s cool. It’s up. Good luck.’”

Since buildings are left the way they were long before cell phones existed, students like Ash are pushed further into the margins, with more barriers in front of their education.

USC’s Director of Public Relations, Jeff Stensland, said in an email, “USC’s Students Disability Resource Center works diligently to ensure our campus maintains a safe and accessible environment for those with disabilities. Since USC is a historic campus situated in an urban setting, we are sometimes faced with challenges, but the Center coordinates with faculty, staff, students and advocacy groups to address concerns and work toward common solutions.”

While it’s easy to talk problems, it’s often harder to come up with common solutions. Some buildings – such as the Discovery Building -- have good examples of innovative, accessible solutions according to Robbie Kopp, the director of advocacy and community access at Able SC. One of the first steps in making accessibility improvements is making sure that students like Ash are thought about and consulted when making campus decisions.

Organizations such as Able South Carolina, a statewide non-profit that seeks to empower and advocate for the disabled community, are often called in to consult and train employees for governmental organizations and businesses to make sure their work policies are accommodating to those with disabilities.

Kopp said that departments or professors at USC will often ask for the organization to present to their classes, but that they don’t work closely with the university as a whole.

“I wish they would really look at campus and start making changes to the already accessible options that they have,” Ash said.

Bringing in diverse community voices brings forth diverse and inclusive solutions.

It’s something that that requires being mindful and intentional.

“Accessibility isn’t something that will just happen, magically,” Kopp said.

“It’s something that you have to plan.”

And for students like Ash, their demands are simple: listen and pay attention.

“If you could just make it a little bit easier by paying attention, that’s all we want, really, is somebody to pay attention and to listen when we complain about things like this,” Ash said. “Because we’re not just complaining to complain. If we’re complaining, there’s a real issue.”

LOCKED DOORS 35

FOR

Breaking barriers, one outfit at a time

BY COURTNEY CARRICK • PHOTOS BY MARK MADDALONI • DESIGN BY GRACE STEPTOE

36 SUITED FOR STYLE

A

s a young girl, I often found myself watching reruns of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” with my mother on our early 2000s new wide-screen, yet still box-like, television my family kept in the living room. Hailing from the 1970s, the show often appeared dated and backwards in all the ways you expect. Still, my mother had her reasons for loving the show: Moore was a woman who chose to leave her fiancé, move out on her own and start a professional career as a single, independent woman. The sentiment at the time was almost unprecedented. As I grew older, I came to learn that Moore was the first woman to wear pants (capris at that, how daring!) on television—giving girls everywhere their first taste of women in professional dress within the media. Men have been represented as professionals within the media since its genesis, while women have just recently made their media debut in professional garb. The expectation for women to understand how to dress professionally still exists, despite many women having little to no guidance. Luckily, modern-day feminists and businesswomen like Naida Rutherford, of Columbia’s own Styled by Naida, are acting as a liaison with women working toward a common goal of closing the gap within the professional realm between women and men.

Naida is a modern Mary Tyler Moore.

Single mother of two young boys, trained nurse practitioner, and a former foster child who worked diligently to graduate at the top of her class in college. Naida has taken leaps of faith and conscious strides toward success, leading her to the woman she is today. Styled by Naida is a thrift store that opened in the Vista this past March, but it is also a resource to countless women and female students transitioning into the workforce who receive assistance,

donations, classes and scholarships from the Styled by Naida Foundation.

When I meet with Naida in her store, she is pulling collections for an upcoming fashion show that serves as a fundraiser for the Styled by Naida Foundation. She does not hesitate to give me a warm welcome as I enter the store. Naida is just as vibrant as the inside of her boutique, which is hard to believe, considering the diversity of her store.

Bold prints, bright colors, and everything from business suits to swimsuits line the wall in a way that can only be described as tempting – especially because there is hardly an item over $15. Fundraisers are not the only means of how the Styled

by Naida Foundation typically get the financial means to run the programs offered to the women of Columbia and various areas around the country.

“A dollar from every sale goes directly into the Styled by Naida Foundation,” she says with a ferocious smile. “Making women feel beautiful is addictive, but to then have the purchases they [customers] make help fund the foundation – that is even more addictive.”

So, what does the Styled by Naida Foundation do exactly? Naida explains, “The foundation is to help people who are like me, or yourself. People who came from poor situations, no matter what that may be. You can be rich and still come from a poor situation. Maybe you didn’t have the family support, maybe you didn’t feel loved. It doesn’t matter, we all have battles to fight. My foundation is to help students who don’t have the resources to do what they want, and to look the part for what they want.”

The foundation consists of three classes: code switching, dress for success, and resource management.

HOW TO 37

The classes include topics like communicating professionally and managing oneself in the workplace.

Due to not having these types of resources accessible to her as a young woman, Naida developed the programs with students and women like herself in mind. She jokes with me that she was clueless as to how much she was judged by what she wore as a woman in professional settings until a professor pulled her aside to discuss her clothing. This left Naida more aware than ever of how little resources female students like herself had to pull from to know how to dress.

Bombardment from media of how a professional woman should dress in conjunction with lack of education or resources leaves female students exiting college to join the workforce confused and anxious, which has led to a proliferation of articles in the New York Times in the past five years discussing the difficult intricacies of female dress in the workplace. Those driving forces lit a fire in Naida - “I said, one day, I’m going to help others” - and now she is doing just that by filling a void in Columbia many communities still experience. With all of the confusion on how we, as both students and women, are to represent ourselves as we begin our lives as professionals, Naida lets me in on some wise words.

“Dress the way you want to be addressed.

It’s a timeless concept. What you wear matters for where you are trying to go. The first part is knowing what your foundation is: what are you trying to do and where are you trying to go?” Naida is aware that every job has a different expectation for office attire.

“The second part for that is, are you

38 SUITED FOR STYLE

dressing for your body type? A lot of women don’t understand how to dress for their body.

And then, what does what you’re wearing say about you?” Naida says these are some of the many concepts taught in her Dress for Success Program within the foundation.

Still, being able to express yourself isn’t off the table either, says Naida. Small and unique touches to an otherwise plain work outfit help fuel you as an individual during office hours, while the concept of ‘code switching’ allows for women to still dress how they’d like in their time out of the workplace. ‘Code switching’ is the ability to separate your work-self from your everyday-self – essentially, knowing how to act and dress both when and where.

“Did someone teach you how to dress [professionally]?” to which I shake my head ‘no,’ realizing the closest thing I’ve ever had to a professional dress lesson was via the “Mary Tyler Moore Show” and Instagram models.

Yet, Styled by Naida and the foundation have fostered an environment where women and students no longer have to look to intangible resources for assistance, but can interact with a physical touchstone in the community instead. Women in Columbia transitioning from college to the workforce can rest assured that Styled by Naida will help us learn even the simplest of lessons.

“The most satisfying thing about what I do is helping women see they have the ‘it’ factor,” Naida says. “You don’t have to be famous, you don’t have to have society’s ‘ideal’ body type.

You can be just how you are: with your size, with your cellulite, your lumps and bumps and rolls, and you can still be and feel beautiful and confident about what you look like.”

HOW TO 39

BY HALLIE HAYES • PHOTOS BY COLEMAN ROJAHN • DESIGN BY EMILY SCHOONOVER

40 INVISIBLE ILLNESS

MENTAL HEALTH: two words that many of us are aware of, yet few of us talk about.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 1 in 5 adults in the United States will experience a mental illness within a given year. That means that of the almost 35,000 students here at the University of South Carolina, nearly 7,000 of us will suffer from a mental illness within a year’s time. The question is, how many of us will reach out for help?

We acknowledge that mental health is a serious issue that needs to be addressed, yet often we avoid the hard conversation and focus more on the stigma surrounding it.

Why are we marking the state of our mental health as a disgrace? Why are we afraid to utilize the resources that we are given on our college campus? Is it the stigma we are worried about, or our lack of knowledge of the resources that we are offered? More so, is it simply that the marketing of these resources offered are not reaching and connecting to our students?

“Young people are very interested in knowing that there are a lot of resources on campus and they often cite other students,” states Dr. Rebecca Caldwell, USC’s Director of Strategic Health Initiative.

However, according to Dr. Caldwell, students often have the mindset that it’s okay to refer a friend to counseling, but when it comes to seeking help themselves, they fear judgment.

Perhaps we fear the idea of accepting our mental state, or perhaps, as Dr. Caldwell stated, we are simply afraid of judgment or the embarrassment of getting help due to this stigma that we have associated with mental health. Dr. Mann, a licensed clinical psychologist and the Director of Counseling and Psychiatry at USC, states that there are multiple steps to stigma.

“I think we have gotten over the hurdle of asking people for help; I think we have to make it okay to know that our friends are getting help and to not feel differently about them,” says Dr. Mann.

The mental health stigma creates an idea of being judged during our quest for mental stability. But let’s consider this: if we are afraid to talk about mental health because of stigma, other people probably are too. It is a never-ending cycle that we have created, when the one thing that needs to be recognized is that it is okay to get help.

Is this stigma the only thing that keeps college students from getting help, or does the lack of knowledge on what resources we are offered factor into this as well? The mental health resources that are offered at USC are being marketed in multiple ways, but are they reaching our students?

When asked if he felt that mental health resources are being marketed enough on campus, Josh Whisnant, a third-year at USC, gave a simple yet complex answer: “I wouldn’t say that there is any marketing at all.”

The resources offered are discussed at New Student orientations, so incoming students can have some information on the resources – but what about students who are upperclassmen or live off campus? Marjorie Riddle Duffie, USC’s public relations and marketing director for Student Health Services says, “I wish that they would give us a mandatory time where we can stand up in front of everyone and just give them a good overview of our services, but they’ve got a lot of people competing for that time.”

Despite this, the marketing team still markets their services in other ways, such as Mental Health Matters, a campaign where counselors talk to students to learn what they

INVISIBLE ILLNESS 41

would like the university to say about their mental health. They are also launching a podcast called “Hear Me Out,” where two student hosts will interview other students and faculty about their resilience stories.

A few of the other mental health resources that are provided and marketed at USC are individual counseling and psychiatry, dual counseling, group therapy, suicide prevention programs and campus crisis response. One program offered is an online counseling therapist, so the patient never has to walk through the doors of the Student Health

42 INVISIBLE ILLNESS

Center if they are uncomfortable. So, there are ways to avoid the fear we have of stares and talking.

It seems that the main issue is reaching the students in need of these resources. Yes, they are being marketed, but whether they are reaching all students is another story.

“Trying to reach 35,000 students who are glued to their phones is hard,” Duffie says.

The stigma surrounding mental health should not exist, but it does. Mental health is an illness people will face, and others need to be accepting of them taking care of their well-

being. We, as students, are the best marketing strategy, and we can help one another get the help needed, when it is needed.

As said best by USC student, Jake Banner, “Mental health issues don’t discriminate.

That’s a big thing to realize when you’re going through whatever you’re going through, and I think that’s something that helped me a lot was realizing that I’m not OK, and I need help.”

Alternative Energy Inside the rebranding of Columbia’s music scene.

BY NICOLE KITCHENS • PHOTOS BY COLE ROJAHN • DESIGN BY KATIE SLACK

HOW TO 43

The atmosphere is electric,” says Bob Franklin, the CEO of Tin Roof, when I ask him to describe The Senate in his own words.

And honestly, you can’t argue with that.

But on August 10, at one of The Senate’s first fall shows since rebranding from its Music Farm name, I only count around 75 people. The opening act was a local group called Garrow, whose “about” section on their Facebook page only offers the word “doomgaze” as a description. I look around to find that more people are patronizing the outdoor bar than the inside of the venue, and with a nervous glance towards the roadies, who have started moving instruments, I’m feeling a little nervous for the sake of what could arguably be called Columbia’s main music venue. An actual cobweb is hanging from the corner of a post, threading itself onto the gate of a newly erected seating area, almost like some ominous sign of total emptiness.

44 ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

And then, when Ume hits the stage, I’m met with a huge feeling of relief. An avant-garde rock group hailing from Austin, they manage to drive inside most of the outdoor drinkers and the smokers who’ve been standing on the sidewalk. Their lead singer and guitarist, Lauren Larson, is short and blonde, and looks like the kind of person you’d expect to see looking up avocado prices at a Whole Foods. But onstage, she’s a ravenous powerhouse of a frontwoman.

Nearby, a 10-year-old girl in attendance with her dad had been head banging and nodding along to Garrow’s music. Now, she stands stock still, mouth agape like she’s witnessing what her entire future could be. By the time the main band, The Sword, appear with their Black Sabbath-esque riffs, the entire venue is packed; I can barely even make it across the room to leave when the show is over.

“We brought Music Farm out of Charleston,” says Franklin. What started as an initial threeyear service and licensing agreement with the

“The atmosphere is E L E C T R I C .”

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY 45

Charleston venue ended with the decision to turn the Columbia franchise into something that would be more unique to the city itself rather than to a chain brand. “Those guys [with Music Farm] are concentrating more on their Charleston venue and some of their festival business. So that’s kind of how this reinvention is coming up.”

It’s worth noting that oane of Franklin’s main goals for the reinvention is to turn Senate Street into Columbia’s own “Live Music Block.”

While Tin Roof is known mostly throughout the city as a late night bar, featuring cover bands and local artists, Franklin looks forward to creating a sense of connectivity between Tin Roof and The Senate.

“We’ll have more events where you can bounce back and forth between the two venues as well as more outdoor events in shared spaces,” he explains. “Like the Jon Langston concert, before the USC vs. Georgia game on Sept. 8, or the Vista After 5 concert series in the fall.”

He also mentions weekly events that will be implemented into The Senate’s calendar.

“Every Friday and Saturday night, we’ll be hosting Disco Load Out. It’s a live DJ dance party that starts at 10 p.m., or after a concert ends. We’ve added the ability to shrink the room size down to a more intimate capacity, and we’ve added a new dance floor lighting package and PA to create an awesome vibe.”

In terms of concerts, AEG Presents is now the exclusive promoter handling the bookings at The Senate, along with Nashvillebased Madison Entertainment, which sticks to Tin Roof’s own Nashville roots. AEG’s status as a well known international organization allows the venue to have the opportunity to book national acts that might have skipped over the Music Farm market beforehand.

So does this mean we can expect to see bigger acts coming to the Midlands? “‘Bigger artists’ is a bit subjective, and is in the eye of the beholder,” Franklin defends.

“But yes. The volume of national touring acts has and will continue to increase.”

In fact, you can expect to see an incredibly diverse array of artists and bands coming through The Senate in the Fall calendar, which boasts Riley Green, The Breeders, Lauv, Toro Y Moi, and even Cannibal Corpse.

“You never know which act coming through will be playing stadiums and festivals next year, so it’s a great combo.” Franklin says.

After the show, I stand back a bit and look at the venue. Aside from a new paint job and the removal of the indoor marquee sign, I realize that not that much has actually changed about Columbia’s premier rock club.

But I’m still buzzing from the show.

Electric.

46 HOW TO

HOW TO 47

48 HOW TO