The CURRENT Fall 2021 Issue

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221 W. Saginaw St., Lansing, MI 48933 Phone: 517.203.0123 Fax: 517.203.3334 Publisher Tiffany Dowling Account Managers Megan Fleming Liz Reno-Hayes Melissa DeMott John Tripolsky Senior Editors Kate Birdsall Mary Gajda Graphic Designer Grace Houdek Content Manager Shelby Smith Project Coordinator Mitch Carr Writers Jenna Merony, Jennifer Bell, Lacie Kunselman, Laura Westcott, Lucas Polack, Lucy VanRegenmorter, Peyton Fredrickson, Rachel Huculak Editors Aleaha Reneé, Alec Parr, C Rose Widmann, Iliana Cosme-Brooks, Mai Vang, Peter Morrison, Shelby Smith

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A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

By Lacie Kunselman Dear Reader, In our last issue, the hot-button topic was the anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it was wearing on our minds and spirits. The spring semester, when this issue was crafted, was a race to escape never-ending screen time. Every writer and editor was wearing ankle weights of fatigue and burnout as they crawled to the finish line. Now we’re past the 1.5 year mark of the pandemic, and things are returning to a new type of normal. The fall semester is chalking up to be a cross between track and dodgeball as we keep trudging on while trying to avoid any more unprecedented events. Many of us are probably feeling like we missed some practice.

But what is a sport if not a team effort? Just like a relay, The Current team passed the baton of our magazine from writer to editor to publication team and then ran to the finish line. We carried each other through every mental muscle cramp, benched ourselves when we needed a break and walked on the field whenever needed. Why? Because that’s what a team does.

During a time when there is inclement weather, hurdles of all sizes and the rules of the sport change on a whim, The Current takes another lap. And we’ll do it again, all the way to the finish line of the semester.

In this issue of The Current, we invite you to sit in the virtual stands, grab some popcorn, and watch these stories unfold like a sporting event. Our athlete writers and editors have worked hard on content that drew them to the metaphorical track of magazine publishing in the first place, taking advice from our coach, Dr. Birdsall, who supports us through every race. Sporting events need spectators, and this past year has proven that many things can weather the pandemic if their audience participates virtually. We thank you for supporting your home team at The Current.

So now, rest and refuel your mind with our stories. The finish line is just around the corner.

C. Rose Widmann C. Rose Widmann (they/them) is a first-year M.A. student in arts & cultural management at Michigan State University and a graduate assistant at The Cube. This is their second semester with The Current; their earlier article “Creating Something Out Of Nothing [...]” inspired further interviews on creativity during COVID, produced as a selection for the 2021 CAL CREATE Grants (going live fall 2021). When not writing grant proposals or playing Planetside 2, C is competing for both the MSU club fencing and club gymnastics teams. Insta: @C.rosewidmann

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Give us a call at 517.203.3333 or email at mary@m3group.biz The Current is published seasonally by M3 Group, Lansing, MI. All rights reserved. © 2021 M3 Group No part of this magazine may be reproduced whole or in part without the expressed consent of the publisher.

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CON TEN TS

Pandemic Gaming

How gaming became a saving grace to many amidst the pandemic.

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Pawing at Heartstrings The survival of animal shelters during COVID-19.

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Amazon: Behind the The Future of Downtown East Lansing Smile Explore the ever-changing landscape of Grand River and beyond.

The inconvenient truth of two-day shipping for workers and the economy at large.

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Second Chance to First Choice: The Rise of Thrift

To the Core: The Crippling Culture of High School Athletics

Debunking the arguments against thrifting.

The nuances of mental health and eating disorders in high school sports.

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Trauma, Disability & Popcorn

Overwhelmed and Overlooked: Women Explore the impact depictions with ADHD of trauma and disability in the media have on those who consume it.

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Radical Listening

Dive into the difference between listening and hearing.

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A personal story

How people are revitalizing domestic skills as hobbies.

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Black in the Ivory Tower: The Toll of Tokenization

Dating Digitally

How romance has gone virtual.

New Old Skills

Put and end to the Cancel Culture

How cancel culture is doing more harm than good.

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PANDEMIC GAMING How gaming became a saving grace to many amidst the pandemic

By Peyton Frederickson With the pandemic, 2020 was a hard year for everyone. For a significant part of the summer, people who were usually out and about were confined to their houses, severely limiting the realm of possible activities.

Everyone deals with these problems in their own way. Some become artists, some learn new skills and some watch television and spend their time on social media. Others picked up a widely popular but new-to-them practice: gaming.

According to Statista, the total increase of video game sales worldwide went up 63% in March 2020 compared to 2019. In the United States alone, there was a 45% increase in video game sales. The largest consumer age group was 25-34 years old, which has a significant overlap with the age group who were the most laid-off during lockdown, 18-29 year olds, according to Pew Research Center.

With all this unfortunate, yet new, free time on their hands, former workers turned to video games to help manage their boredom. While some went to YouTube, Twitch or Facebook Gaming to watch others play games they were interested in, many more went and bought games to join the fray themselves.

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Many began with single-player games to get a feel for how video games work and what sort of system they liked to play on.

A lot of these games played into the escapism that many people wanted. Games such as ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ were the perfect source of self-therapy that (almost) everyone needed to get through the bulk of the stay-at-home order. In these kinds of games, there were no politics or illness or riots; it was pure happiness. It was a mental break that people were thankful for. However, it didn’t satisfy everybody.

While some gamers stayed with the singleplayer format, many amateur gamers turned toward multiplayer games to compensate for their lack of human interaction as the stay-at-home orders persisted. After all, communicating through Discord and playing multiplayer games was better than nothing.

Games like ‘Fall Guys,’ ‘Among Us’ and ‘Fortnite’ saw significant increases in player records. ‘Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout,’ released in August 2020, sold over seven million copies within the first month, according to Statista. When it was first launched in 2018, ‘Among Us’ had only a meager 1800 concurrent players, but due to the pandemic

and exposure gaming sites like Twitch and YouTube, the number of concurrent players jumped to a whopping 3 million in October 2020 according to Business of Apps. In August 2017, ‘Fortnite’ was released and about one million people were playing, but Business of Apps also reported that those numbers spiked to 350 million players in May 2020.

A big reason why these games became so popular is because indie games, like ‘Among Us,’ are generally cheap or even free-to-play, which is a perfect match for low-income players. They are affordable because the games are individually produced or produced by a small team. In order to compete with the big companies, they lower their prices. The passionate game developers have low prices simply because they want the players to enjoy their game, not just make a profit. Nevertheless, fun, cheap games are perfect for players on a budget.

Many people started to play video games and found the habit changed their lifestyles completely. However, it is not just the average person whose life changed due to video games. A variety of popular (and not so popular) YouTubers have branched out into the video game circles, some gaining a

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whole new demographic of followers and subscribers, and some gaining a higher amount of subscribers in total.

Some of the more notable branching YouTubers are James Charles, Bretman Rock and Corpse Husband. James Charles, a popular make-up artist on YouTube, is an apparent fan of video games.

During the lockdown, he was in many lobbies of “Among Us” and featured in collaborations on video games like “Minecraft” with PewDiePie and Lazarbeam, and “MarioKart” with TWD98. He has

also participated in various “Minecraft” tournaments and “Minecraft” Monday.

While James’ subscriber count seems to go up (and down) consistently each month, it is hard to tell if he has gained a more diverse subscriber base due to gaming. But it is interesting to watch how a make-up artist expands his content through gaming.

Bretman Rock, also a beauty guru and makeup artist, started out on social media before moving to YouTube. During the lockdown, he expanded his user base to create a gaming

channel on Twitch, where he streamed videos of (mostly) “Among Us” lobbies. While he has only a fraction of followers on Twitch compared to his YouTube channel, it is amazing to see how many fans are willing to step out of his usual content and support him on his side venture to becoming a Twitch gamer, and how many new fans are willing to give him and his new content a chance.

Corpse Husband is a faceless YouTuber who originally narrated horror stories on his channel, and wrote and produced music on his second channel CORPSE. After a collaboration with PewDiePie in an “Among Us” video in September 2020, he started to stream “Among Us” lobbies on his channel.

As the pandemic and his gaming continues, Corpse’s subscriber count rose significantly from two million in October 2020 to over seven million in January 2021 due to his collaborations over video games with popular YouTubers and Streamers. He participated in various multiplayer games such as “Phasmaphobia,” “Raft” and “Pummel Party,” but is most notable for “Among Us.” Corpse is well known for saying that one of his biggest fears is being relevant one day and completely forgotten the next.

This came after his surge in popularity from his engagement with multiplayer games, which leaves everyone to wonder: what will happen to video games once the world returns to normal? (Or a new version of normal at least.)

Will the video game boom continue? After all, even TikTokers are expanding into video game circles now. One such person is SunflowerMag who, only one month after her

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first stream on Twitch, already accumulated close to two thousand followers. Some streamers, who have streamed for years, barely reach that number.

Even popular artists and celebrities have moved into gaming to relax, have fun and interact with others. Many popular K-Pop idols play “Fortnite,” “OverWatch,” “League of Legends” and more, and videos of the icons playing these games can be found on YouTube. In April 2021, even Jimmy Fallon played a few rounds of “Among Us” with popular streamers CorpseHusband, Sykkuno and Valkyrae, and celebrities Noah Schnapp and Gaten Matarazzo.

Video games have been a strong source for entertainment since well before the pandemic and will continue to be afterwards, but how will these newfound gamers acclimate to the change when the world looks different? Will they continue to play or fade away? Obviously, the answer remains a mystery.

People around the world turned to video games in order to escape from the fear of a global pandemic knocking at their doors.

They utilized online gaming to communicate and interact with their friends while forced to stay in their homes to lower the risk of spreading the virus. Not only that, online

gaming was one of the biggest reasons why people were “staying sane” during the heavy lockdowns, according to Forbes.

The pandemic broke people mentally, in all different ways, but video games helped some get through it. In the case of pandemic vs. gaming, gaming wins, hands down.

Peyton Frederickson is a third-year student working towards a degree in public and professional writing with a focus in editing and publishing. She dreams of being a successful author but wants to first work professionally in a publishing company as an editor. One of her career goals is to translate and edit books from foreign countries, specifically Japan. In her free time, she is either reading, writing or working on her Japanese.

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PAWING AT HEARTSTRINGS The survival of animal shelters during COVID-19

By Rachel Huculak As the coronavirus pandemic lingers across the globe, one thing is for certain: there is a greater appreciation for time spent with loved ones whether they have they two legs or four. For animals who are homeless, abandoned or in need of medical care, animal shelters are a safe haven. It is a stepping stone toward finding a family, a place of peace and familiarity.

Animals are experiencing changes to daily life in much the same way humans are, but how has the pandemic affected them directly?

The happy truth of it is that more animals have found homes during the pandemic than in years before.

Washington Post reporter Dana Hedgpeth said, “Some shelters and humane rescue groups are seeing double the typical number of requests from people to adopt dogs since the pandemic hit the United States in early spring. As organizations have switched their in-person adoptions to virtual meet-andgreets, they also are competing with rescue groups in other parts of the country to bring in animals.”

There was an expectation that animal adoptions would not increase as individuals may want to save their money during the pandemic.

However, animal shelters found the opposite.

Cats and dogs are being adopted at a rapid rate, often until there are very few pets left.

“They’re going like hot cakes. We can hardly 08 FALL 2021

keep them in stock,” said Cindy Sharpley, founder and director of Last Chance Animal Rescue in Waldorf, Maryland.

With millions of animals finding themselves in shelters each year, it’s heartwarming to hear they are being recognized and cared for. NAWS, a No-Kill Humane Society in Mokena, Illinois, has experienced an increase in pet adoptions over the course of the pandemic. Allison Alpers, club manager of NAWS, was able to give a detailed synopsis of how the organization has coped during the pandemic.

well. The director of community relations, Penny Myers, also had hopeful things to say about recent animal adoptions. Myers said, “We did see an increase in adoptions in 2020 and actually had a record-breaking adoption year, with 4,018 pets finding their forever home.”

Myers continued to say that by the spring, adoptions are usually lower in number.

Though it is too early to see if the numbers will remain high throughout the entirety of 2021, Myers seemed to have hope for the future of CAHS.

“There has been a large increase in pet adoptions and we have not seen too great of an increase in relinquishment, luckily. We’ve still been pulling a lot of cats from other shelters in the southern states,” said Alpers.

Though animal shelters have been finding luck in providing animals with homes, they have faced repercussions as a result of COVID-19.

These setbacks have had an effect on their staff, particularly on expected income.

When asked whether pet adoptions will continue to increase, Alpers said, “I certainly hope so. I do think that it will continue. I think more people are looking towards adoption now and certainly as our organization has grown and as word has spread within the community about our organization, I think people are continuing to look more towards adoption.”

Myers said, “It has definitely been a challenging time for CAHS. We had to close the shelter for close to two months when the pandemic started and had to lay off most of our staff. Our largest fundraiser of the year, which typically brings in over $260,000 was cancelled, and we had to suspend our volunteer program, as well as other important programs that help fund our mission.”

The Capital Area Humane Society, an animal shelter based in Lansing, Michigan, has seen an increase in pet adoptions as

Increased adoption hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for the people who process them.

However, people have been willing to help.

“We also thankfully have had an increase in donations as well. I feel like people are more generous with their giving and have really stepped up for all of the animals,” said Meyers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also taken a toll on NAWS, though they have been successful regarding adoptions of their dogs and cats.

“We’ve definitely lost quite a bit of income from it. Certainly our boarding income has become unstable. We’re not able to rely on it as much because people aren’t able to travel,” said Alpers. “We’ve taken a hit financially. I would encourage people who want to help to seek out volunteerism, whether it’s at our shelter or another. It’s a great way to give back and to help.”

Through donations, volunteerism and the adoption of the animals themselves, animal shelters have been able to stay afloat.

In fact, many individuals have looked to adoption based on the idea of the “pandemic pet.” Over the course of 2020, many people found themselves spending ample time at home alone as a result of quarantine practices.

However, being alone can often take a toll on mental health; therefore, having a fluffy companion seems the solution. The presence of an animal can often be comforting, providing a friend in a time of seclusion.

A Utah-based St. George News article written by David Louis discusses pets as a form of ‘medicine’ during the pandemic. In the article, Louis says,

“Several recent studies support the belief that ‘pandemic pets,’ as they are now being called by mental health experts, provide stable support and therapeutic benefits especially during stressful times, but the knowledge of a pet’s calming influence is well-established.”

Pets have always had stress-relieving qualities associated with them, providing individuals with a comfort that is essential to their well-being.

More importantly, adopting a “pandemic pet” provides isolated people with a friend to see on a daily basis. Louis’s article also includes

input from Christine Chew, Ph.D., an associate professor at Dixie State University.

Chew says that pets “have a lot of positive energy and are generally kind-hearted in nature. They are always happy to greet their owners when they come home. They are very loyal, and humans thrive on this attention and not being judged for our actions.”

Though pets have always been known for their love and devotion to their owners, people have paid more attention to this THECURRENTMSU.COM 09

throughout the course of the pandemic. In times of uncertainty, an individual’s needs for love and attention is at a high.

So, what does this say about the future for animals within shelters as the pandemic

eventually (hopefully) wraps up? Will adoption rates continue to rise over the course of 2021 and beyond? That is the biggest question and even bigger hope of animal shelters as the year continues. Many people are now returning to offices and daily

activities; it is uncertain whether adoption rates will remain at the high levels they have been at.

Regardless, those who wish to help can take part in this by supporting the shelters. This can be from donations, volunteering, spreading awareness, creating organizations to raise money, fundraisers and through the adoption process itself.

The more support individuals give to animal shelters, the better the chances are that shelters will continue to have increasing adoption rates, as well as keep up with the demand for pets. People have the ability to provide the support that shelters need to grow.

If shelters continue to receive the same help that has been present over the past two years, they will continue to prosper.

Shelters such as NAWS and CAHS are hopeful that their pets will continue to receive the same support and attention as during the pandemic. Their hope is that pet adoptions will continue to rise after the pandemic comes to a close. Knowing the state of animal shelters and the current demand for pets, the future may be looking just as bright.

Rachel Huculak is a senior majoring in English with a focus on creative writing. After college, she hopes to work in the publishing industry as well as create poetry and stories of fiction. Her dream is to publish a book as well. Rachel’s interests include creative writing, playing piano and spending time with her family and friends.

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THE FUTURE OF DOWNTOWN EAST LANSING Explore the ever-changing landscape of Grand River and beyond

By Lucas Polack Downtown East Lansing has been no stranger to change in the last few years. Particularly the kind of changes that involve elegant luxury housing, slick new restaurants and a whole lot of construction. But for whom is this all for?

Despite The Hub, Landmark and The Abbot— now one of Grand River’s most prominent features—all being marketed as student housing, Michigan State University students aren’t necessarily the ones benefiting.

Standing above Barrio and Jolly Pumpkin on Albert Avenue is Newman Lofts, a high-end condominium complex reserved for tenants over the age of 55. While senior housing might not be everybody’s first answer when asked what should be built next to bona-fide college bars like The Riv and Lou and Harry’s, that has been the City of East Lansing’s hope for many years: to bring diversity into an area dominated by MSU students.

“The continuing policy of East Lansing is to push the students out of the downtown area,” said Matthew Mitroka in a 2016 article for the Lansing State Journal. While the city insists this is not the case, Mitroka worked on the city’s Planning Commission back in 2006

when a $750 million redevelopment project for the area containing Cedar Village and The Hub was in the works. Though this project eventually fell through due to a myriad of issues (including the 2008 recession), its lasting effect was a zoning restriction that required 50% of housing built in the area be owned, not rented (the usual housing choice of college students).

This zoning requirement—now down to 25% and amended to include senior and fixed-income housing—has been the crux of East Lansing’s redevelopment saga.

Since 2006, the city has seen several major redevelopment projects fail, in part due to the difficulty this requirement imposes. A museum, a movie theater and a riverside park are just a few of the attractions proposed that never materialized.

If the Newman Lofts conundrum is any indicator, integrating the senior demographic into downtown East Lansing could be a painful process altogether. There is, however, an alternate route to diversifying downtown: the 25% housing requirement can be met through fixed-income housing. Not only

would this mend the affordability of living downtown, but it could bring a younger crowd into the area. Minneapolis-based nonprofit Artspace is hoping the city will let them do that and more.

ELi covered a January 28 meeting between Artspace and the Downtown Development Authority that saw the company pitch their vision “to create, foster and preserve long term affordable space for artists and arts organizations” in East Lansing. Artspace boasts 54 active projects like this across the country, including one in Dearborn, MI. The central feature of these spaces is live-work studios for artists of all kinds.

Another proposal the city is considering comes from Core Spaces, the developers that brought The Hub to East Lansing. Listed on the city’s website under “projects” is The Hub 2, a pair of 14-story buildings that would house three times as many people as the first rendition. If built, they would go directly behind The Hub on Bogue Street, replacing all existing buildings except for the Farmhouse Fraternity, whose landlord was uninterested in selling their property, per ELi.

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Local landlords are quite concerned about the possibility of The Hub 2, as it could have significant ramifications on the East Lansing rental market. This could be beneficial for students by lowering rent prices through increased choices. On the other hand, the first Hub provided plenty of cause for concern upon opening. In addition to a botched move-in day and foul play in their Google reviews, The State News profiled a Hub tenant whose apartment literally deteriorated within days of moving in. A chunk of the ceiling fell in and caused a flood which forced the tenant to move out of the unit with no compensation.

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MSU’s decision to require students to live on campus for their first two years, beginning in the fall of 2022, only thickens the fog surrounding the future of renting in East Lansing. To get to the bottom of what lies ahead, “The Current” talked with Adam Cummins and Annette Irwin, the city’s Community and Economic Development Administrator and Housing and University Relations Administrator, respectively.

Their conversation, lightly edited for clarity, follows below.

The year is 2040. Who is living in downtown East Lansing?

Annette: Who isn’t living in downtown East Lansing in 2040, man? [laughter] A lot of different people, a lot of different crowds?

Adam: Well, you know, we’re really striving to diversify downtown and not just the economy, but the residents, you know, we have Newman Lofts here, 55 and over. And so, we hope it’s very diverse, it’s a good mix of students and people of all ages, all walks of life.

Annette: So I think that even now, the perception is that nobody lives downtown except for students. But, there’s a lot of non-students that live directly downtown in some of the condominiums that are out of students’ price range. So, I think we’re slowly working our way towards that diversity. I think it’s easy to forget it isn’t just a college town, because the students are clearly a dominant demographic.

What advantages does a downtown with diverse housing have over a one full of MSU students?

Adam: In my opinion, it’s more sustainable.

It’s a more interesting place when you have diversity. When you have a mix of any kind of housing, any kind of demographic, it’s just gonna be more sustainable. From an economic standpoint, all your eggs aren’t in one basket.

Annette: You don’t want to have a community that only appeals to one demographic. It doesn’t make for a very exciting place to live. People like to be around others that aren’t always exactly like them.

And then, it gives the area something to offer.

You want a downtown with options.

How does the strong student presence downtown affect East Lansing’s ability to attract other demographics?

Adam: In my opinion, it’s a pro and a con.

There is the perception that it is just students down here, and so some people may avoid it for that reason because they don’t wanna be in a student-dominant area, but it’s also a pro because students bring a lot of activity, a

lot of life and lot of new ideas into the area. I think it’s also a huge asset.

What kind of problems are you anticipating with integrating different crowds into East Lansing?

Adam: The typical ones. When you have a younger age group who may like to stay up a little later and be a little louder, and you have an older group that, you know, may go to bed earlier and not enjoy the bass coming through the windows, there’s always gonna be ongoing challenges. We are determined to learn how to get through those hurdles as a community because a lot of this is new and we’re learning as we go.

Annette: There’s always gonna be some worries when you have people who aren’t used to downtown living coming into apartments in the heart of the city. The noise

level is much different right downtown versus a few blocks away versus a few miles away.

We hope when people move into the area they find the right spot for them. Everybody gets irritated with their neighbors once in a while, but that we can handle.

How will the Hub, Landmark, and The Abbot affect rental costs for students living elsewhere?

Annette: Isn’t that the million-dollar question? You know, I don’t know. It’s been hard to say and everybody talks about that.

I think it’s just gonna depend a little bit. So for students that are living in the houses in the neighborhoods, I think the houses are still gonna be in the same kind of level of demand. This is only my opinion now, but it’s my opinion of watching housing in East Lansing for 25 years. I think the houses are gonna remain kind of the same because it’s a THECURRENTMSU.COM 15

finite market with a pretty high demand. Now the only place that we may see a softening eventually in the market, I would anticipate, would be in some of the older apartments farther away from campus. Because you know, maybe there’ll be enough supply that it will start to soften a bit. I don’t think we’re gonna see anything earth-shattering. I just don’t. But I think those will be the soft edges of our market.

What would you tell somebody who’s worried about the affordability of off-campus living and the rising costs?

Annette: I would tell them to shop. And I say this out of experience. You know, not only work at the city but I happen to be a parent of nowalumni, and I let them kind of do their own thing, but I did remind them that there is no rush to find a place to live. There’s plenty of places to rent in East Lansing for students, and you can negotiate.

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And in fact, tell people no, you’re not gonna live there because it is not in your budget. And I think if more of that happened, students would find they could negotiate a little bit. My kids had landlords calling them in the spring going, “Hey, you still interested in my house?”

There were a couple hiccups with The Hub opening and the quality of those apartments. Considering there’s a proposal for a second Hub building, what can the city do to prevent those mistakes from happening again?

Annette: The problem was timing. They were backed up and they were in a rush, and I think that’s what caused two kinds of problems.

One was some things that clearly had to be redone, and then the other, marketing.

Students had very high expectations of what they were going to be walking into based on their really splashy marketing plan that was

disingenuous, to be honest. We had residents asking if a good Google review would earn them a gift card. Some business practices are not under our control, but I think we would do more in writing beforehand and they would have to meet certain deadlines with us as a city when we’re doing inspections to be able to open by a particular date.

On the note of the Hub 2, what are your guys’ thoughts on the potential for that? Are you in favor of building another one?

Adam: I don’t have historical context with the Hub, but I would like to not see so much going up. I think we have enough student housing. And I’ll just leave it at that.

How would Artspace change East Lansing, and particularly what would it change about East Lansing to college students?

Adam: In my opinion, it’s gonna fill a gap on some affordable housing that we need downtown, especially for the creative sector. I just feel like it will provide more opportunities for the creative sector to actually conduct business here and stay here. You know, more entrepreneurial opportunities and to that point, more diversity over time. With all the diversity in housing, retail and restaurants that we’re trying to achieve here, we hope that there will be more opportunities for the student population to stay in town, and live, work

and play in East Lansing long after they graduate from MSU. As time moves forward, so too does progress.

This is an aphorism that is only beginning to prove itself in East Lansing. But with these significant strides towards the city’s vision comes equally significant uncertainty. Will East Lansing look like East Lansing in 20 years? Can the desired demographics be successfully integrated into the community?

Will students survive the overhaul along Grand River? Perhaps there is just one

certainty surrounding the future of downtown East Lansing: change.

Lucas Polack is a junior studying professional and public writing. He is an avid music listener and devout fan of “The Simpsons.” Lucas works as a co-director of editing at VIM Magazine and has aspirations to write and edit music journalism in his professional career.

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AMAZON: BEHIND THE SMILE The inconvenient truth of two-day shipping for workers and the economy at large

By Jennifer Bell Amazon is far and away the biggest name in online shopping in American households.

It has grown even more popular during the pandemic due to its low prices, convenient shipping and massive range of products for sale without leaving the house. It has grown, in part, because of the Amazon Prime subscription service that charges consumers a monthly fee for access to free one-to-two day shipping as well as streaming platforms. Amazon’s convenience is undeniable, but few consumers are aware of the scope and scale of what happens behind the scenes to make the corporation’s online empire possible.

L Ruhland worked as an inductor at an Amazon Fulfillment Center for six months in 2020. During her nine-hour shifts, she put labels on packages and placed them into tote bags. Ruhland rarely spoke to anyone on her shifts and said the work was monotonous and isolating.

“The average customer may take for granted what it takes to get a package delivered in a day or two, or the amount of people and systems who are working together, and the care that is taken,” said Former Amazon Area Manager Michael Smith* of his time with the corporation.

Professor Sarah Gibbons is a professor at Michigan State University in the department of Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures who studies the impact of Amazon’s business practices on the book publishing industry.

Gibbons explained how Amazon started as a book retailer, and ultimately used books as their “loss leaders,” selling them below market price to attract consumers. Amazon’s inexpensive books became so ubiquitous that brick and mortar bookstores selling at market prices were either forced to close or continue to struggle desperately to stay afloat.

Amazon’s services rely on a workforce of over 1.2 million people doing consistent, rigorous labor, according to Statista. Twoday shipping may be a simple click away for the consumer, but for employees like Smith, it requires countless hours of difficult work. The labor required of Amazon’s workers is often repetitive and physically demanding.

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“Working there made me feel small in the world,” said Ruhland. Ruhland’s experience is reflective of the negative psychological impact of working long shifts doing robotic work. The impact of Amazon’s convenience reaches beyond the working environment in warehouses to the larger economy in a frightful way.

This under-pricing of products is a strategy Amazon employed across industries, forcing

a wide range of retailers to make up the loss margins on their product’s low Amazon prices.

This approach to pricing makes for cheap, convenient products that benefit consumers, but ultimately hurt small, independent businesses who simply cannot compete with Amazon’s scale or convenience.

Amazon’s customer-centric business model values profit above all else, masking this motivation as benefiting the consumer while forgetting the cost to the worker. This contributes to what Gibbons calls late-stage capitalism. Late or late-stage capitalism is an economic theory commonly used to refer to the current economic situation in the U.S. It is marked by extreme income inequality between the wealthiest one percent and the rest of the population, monopolistic control of the economy and a lack of social safety nets for people.

Amazon is the pinnacle of late capitalism; its founder and executive chairman, Jeff Bezos, is the wealthiest man on Earth, valued at over $214 billion as of July 2021, while Amazon workers make $15 an hour doing menial labor. It’s worth noting, too, that when this article was originally drafted in April, Bezos’ net worth was at $196 billion. While the world at large continues to cling to livelihood in the face of the pandemic, Bezos hoards more and more wealth.

*Names have been changed to protect individual’s privacy

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Amazon’s $15 minimum wage is significantly higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. This relatively high wage for a job that doesn’t require higher education makes Amazon an attractive workplace to many. Ruhland sought out her Amazon job for the high pay, and even said that the workplace felt safer and cleaner than other manual labor jobs she’s had.

However, even with these increased wages, many workers are still struggling to get by.

Smith said most of the associates he managed were working full-time jobs elsewhere, working multiple part-time jobs or were

parents working third shift to make ends meet. Amazon offers comparatively good wages, but the fact that many employees are forced to work multiple jobs on top of their long, physically demanding Amazon shifts is indicative of larger social and economic problems within the U.S. While Amazon’s wages are double those mandated by the federal government, their employees still consistently fall below the poverty line or need other jobs to supplement their income.

The economic struggles faced by many connect back to the late capitalist landscape,

which has been (and continues to be) molded by Amazon. The corporation is worth over $1 trillion and is building a monopoly across industries. It hosts millions of items in its online marketplace, owns brick and mortar store Whole Foods and online retailers and platforms including Zappos, Twitch, Goodreads, IMDB and many more.

On top of its retail holdings, Amazon also operates Amazon Web Services, a massive cloud-hosting platform that supports over 16 million websites worldwide. They also own and operate streaming platforms including Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Music and audiobook leader Audible.

Amazon owns so much of the current economy and holds so much power that they practically write the rules of the economy.

They hold power over a 1.2 million person workforce, determine retail prices and work to steer the economy to place consumer convenience above worker welfare and ethical practices. Their convenience capitalism determines consumer expectations for products and services and, in doing so, determines the experience of workers and the success of competitors.

Amazon’s reach in the market is so pervasive that snubbing it completely is no easy task.

Ruhland and Gibbons, who were both critical of Amazon, still use their services. Ruhland is a filmmaker and hosts her films on Amazon Prime, and would even consider working at Amazon again for the wages. Gibbons, despite believing Amazon negatively impacts small businesses and workers, still shops using Prime and subscribes to their streaming services.

Boycotting Amazon is not easy, or necessarily even possible in the modern consumer and media landscape. Amazon’s range of services

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and companies are so ubiquitous that even the most adamantly opposed consumer probably uses at least one of Amazon’s services, whether they know it or not.

Smith offered a different perspective on Amazon, valuing their consumer-oriented mission. He said, “It was an exciting place to be a part of because they care about customers probably more than almost any other corporation cares about customers.”

As a manager he implemented these values by encouraging associates to treat packages as though they were birthday or anniversary presents, making the work and consumer attention feel all the more meaningful. He

remains an Amazon Prime member and understands the work, time and effort that goes into delivering packages.

Whatever consumers believe about Amazon is grounded in the fact that this corporation has saturated the economic landscape with cheap prices, widespread business holdings and convenient shipping. Amazon’s scale makes its products easy to mindlessly consume. The allure of seemingly everything and anything merely a click and a twoday ship away is a modern siren song.

This convenience is easy to enjoy without ever thinking about its larger impact on the economy, small businesses or workers.

Shopping at Amazon is an individual choice, but it is important to understand the massive economic systems that lie behind Amazon’s success. With more knowledge, consumers can choose how they want to shop and who they want to support and maybe play their own hand at setting the tone of the market.

Jennifer Bell is a third year undergraduate studying professional and public writing.

She works as a writing consultant and the undergraduate media coordinator for the Writing Center at MSU. When she’s not working, Jennifer can be found listening to podcasts, wandering the outdoors or escaping into a book.

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RADICAL LISTENING Dive into the difference between listening and hearing

By Laura Westcott As children, we’re told to listen to our teachers and our elders, but as we age out of school, many can make the dangerous mistake of thinking they’re done learning. It can be difficult as an adult to identify our teachers, but the truth is that our new teachers are all around us.

With the rise of a global pandemic, we’ve been told to listen to the experts. The matter of determining who, exactly, is an expert and who is spreading dangerous misinformation gets murkier by the day.

Experts are, by definition, people with authoritative knowledge in their field.

They’ve put in the time and the schooling to deserve a certain amount of credit for knowing what they’re talking about. It’s easy for humans to slip into preconceived notions and gut reactions. We want things to “make sense,” but in reality, not everything can be understood. Our own biases can greatly affect how we listen and learn from others, so the first step to truly listening and understanding is to acknowledge our biases where we can.

It’s important to know that experts aren’t omniscient and shouldn’t be given more esteem or credibility than they’ve earned.

They may be experts in certain fields, but not necessarily in everything they discuss. Put simply: tread the internet wisely.

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This is learning in its simplest form: listening to people who we know know more, and have the paperwork to back it up. But not every expert has a college degree; many are experts through personal experience and learning isn’t always about new information.

Sometimes, it can mean unlearning what we thought we already knew.

Evelyn Koh, a Harvard Grad and Gender Scholar, also known as TikTok user @ herspective, practices and teaches a concept called “radical listening.” She explains this concept as, “if someone with an identity that is different from ours speaks about what is hurtful, what is damaging and what is offensive, we listen, learn, change and use our social power to advocate for that person.

When a disabled person says something is ableism, it is ableism. If they say something is hurtful, it is hurtful. That’s not up for debate.”

She explains that when someone speaks on something that she herself does not experience, she defers to them on what is damaging and what is not.

While there are many examples of people (especially young adults) practicing this concept and learning to the best of their abilities, there are still those who defend their hurtful language and practices. This is because of their refusal to acknowledge the root of their ignorance: privilege.

A prominent example of this is the movie “Music,” written and directed by Sia with Maddie Zeigler as the lead. The main issue here is that Zeigler, who is not autistic, is playing a non-verbal autistic teenager.

Sia’s intention was to “lovingly represent the community,” but that is impossible without the base requirement of hiring autistic actors for autistic roles.

If a movie is made to help cast a less harmful light on autistic people and to bring awareness, autistic people must be a central part of its making. This was not the case. Sia argues that she researched neurodivergence for years, but it soon came out that her “research” was only through talking to the parents of neurodivergent children. While parents have a unique experience of care for their kids, only those actually in marginalized communities can accurately determine what is and is not their personal experience.

Even prior to its release, the movie caused massive discourse on Twitter with people pointing out Sia’s insensitivities. Sia harshly defended herself and her movie, tweeting “Grrrrrrrrrr. Fuckity fuck why don’t you watch my film before you judge it? FURY.” Autistic actor @HelenAngel called Sia out on Twitter, tweeting “Several autistic

actors, myself included, responded to these tweets. We all said we could have acted in it on short notice. These excuses are just that—excuses. The fact of the matter is zero effort was made to include anyone who is actually autistic.”

Sia responded with, “Maybe you’re just a bad actor.”

Not only was she rude to fans and misrepresented communities of which she is not a part, but fans also brought attention to the use of restraint on the autistic lead, a practice that is extremely damaging and has

not been suggested by experts for a long time.

It was stated that if Sia truly did her research, she would have known not to perform this technique or to suggest it in her film.

Sia, who claimed to be a friend of the autistic community, refused to acknowledge her own ableism and the destructive nature of her movie, further digging her heels into her ignorance rather than listening to those who she hurt and trying to do better. Sia’s responses may have permanently cast her in a dimmer light, and it certainly lost her many long-term fans. With Sia’s high-profile platform, many fans were disappointed she

didn’t use her status to amplify the voices of austistic people instead of her own.

This is a perfect scenario of not listening to your teachers, however untraditional they may be. Her fans cared enough to use their time to educate her, but she refused to admit her mistakes and instead made a performative apology only addressing the issues. Sia tweeted a blanket apology and said the movie would be aired with a warning, saying that “Music” does not condone or recommend the use of physical restraint on autistic people, as is shown in the film. After that, she simply tweeted “I’m sorry.” While this THECURRENTMSU.COM 23

warning was a necessary addition to the film, it far from addressed the extent of her missteps in the making of this movie.

This particular crossover of hate and ignorance isn’t reserved for Sia, though. In the same way it is vital not to perpetuate stereotypes and to listen to the people in marginalized groups when they are telling you their experience and truths, it is also important not to spread hate-charged lies to the media as if they are true. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia made a Facebook post suggesting, in all seriousness, that the 2018 California wildfires actually had nothing to do with climate change, but instead Jewish “space lasers.”

This is such a ridiculous claim that you’d think it would be easily dismissed as sheer antisemitism, but it has not been. Avery 24 FALL 2021

Tyson, a junior at Michigan State University, knows all too well how little people are willing to listen and learn from her about her Jewish culture.

“People all the time have tried to explain the Holocaust to me, acting like I don’t understand it. I’ve also met Holocaust deniers,” said Tyson. “I’ll tell them they’re wrong, and they’ll say the Holocaust didn’t happen and mean it. I’ve also tried to explain to someone why Jews aren’t going to hell and they told me to shut up and that I was wrong, and then they told me I was going to hell. I was in third grade; that was fun.”

Tyson has all too many personal experiences with antisemitism. She devotes countless hours of her life diving into Judaism as an ethnicity and religion. She dedicates time to learning about the history of the Holocaust and her own

personal heritage. She knows that she has every right to educate others on this subject especially when they are being rude, but often gets frustrated when people do not accept her as someone who is knowledgeable on the subject.

“I’ve had people tell me that I talk too much about my Judaism, and that I’m too intense about it and that I should just chill out about Jewish rights,” said Tyson. But she isn’t planning on doing so any time soon.

It can be difficult to recognize our peers as our teachers. It takes practice, but we all must take a step back and try to realize that the only step forward is through open ears. Tyson understands the concept of radical listening from the opposite side as well. She has also been caught in situations where she’s talking to someone who knows more than she does on a subject, particularly the LGBTQ+ community.

“I know an okay amount about it, but often I go into conversations thinking I know more than I actually do. I always try to be aware of that and learn from those situations,” said Tyson.

Sometimes it can be easy to get lost within our own marginalized identity and recognize that we can be queer, disabled or Jewish and still have much to learn in the way of empathy for those who are different from us. No one can understand everyone’s experience, and there is always something to be learned.

rooted in empathy, so for those who struggle with empathy, try this: focus on the needs of others in conversations. Ask, what do they need from this conversation right now?

Why are they saying this specific thing? And when the answer is apparent, ask them if it is correct. It isn’t healthy to assume, and people will appreciate the genuine interest. Just be prepared for people to answer in a myriad of ways.

Making mistakes and saying tactless, sometimes ignorant things is an inherent part of life. It’s what one does with those mistakes and how they conduct themselves the next time that matters most. Mistakes are opportunities to learn.

“Be quiet. Listen if you don’t understand something. Ask people to elaborate. If you still don’t understand, Google,” said Tyson.

“You should take time out of your own life to educate yourself, and if you can’t do that then you need to shut up and listen when someone is trying to educate you.”

Not everyone is born with natural listening skills. Listening, really listening, is largely

As a community, we need to start normalizing listening and changing our opinions after

hearing more information. If we cannot do this, then we’ll all be stuck in our ways forever, with no growth or space for new ideas. In order to grow as a community, we cannot let judgement cloud our conversations. We must listen, learn and look for our teachers in all their forms.

Laura Westcott has a BA in professional writing with a concentration in publishing and editing from Michigan State University. She is an editor, artist, storyteller and published comic book illustrator. In her free time you can find her knitting, bingeing “Schitt’s Creek” over and over again or so enthralled in a book that she hasn’t looked up past the pages in hours. If you’d like to follow her art journey, you can find her @laurasartspace on Instagram.

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SECOND CHANCE TO FIRST CHOICE: THE RISE OF THRIFT Debunking the arguments against thrifting.

By Lacie Kunselman Fashion trends are cyclical. They’re designed by the industry to rotate every season, every year. This means trends are introduced constantly and can go out of style just as quickly. But one of the biggest trends in fashion isn’t a particular item, pattern or defined aesthetic; it’s a way to shop: thrifting. And it won’t be going out of style any time soon.

The act of thrifting and buying secondhand clothing is not new or revolutionary. Though digital consignment and resale platforms like Poshmark, Depop and thredUP have made it more accessible, there’s no obvious reason for the sudden rise in the popularity of thrifting.

And it is popular. Ask a handful of college students what they like to do for fun, and at least one is bound to say thrifting. Just look at a few of The Current’s staff bios.

Thrift shopping comes with a lot of positives, one of which is sustainability. Goodwill Industries explains that one American throws away 60-80 pounds of clothing each year, much of which is in like-new condition.

Making new clothes uses a lot of resources and produces just as much waste. It takes 400 gallons of water, the amount used to fill a

standard hot tub, to produce the cotton for just one shirt. Anytime someone buys an item from a thrift store instead of buying it brand new, they’re saving material, energy and money.

Jose Medellin, director of communications for Goodwill NY/NJ, explained to HuffPost how Goodwill handles products. Accepted donations are put in stores using a colored tag system. Donations are grouped by colored tags each week, sold at a discount during their fourth week in the store, then pulled if they remain unsold.

insulation and furniture. The other 5% is sent to landfills or incinerated Another appeal to thrifting is the thrill of the hunt. Unlike traditional retail stores, thrift stores have no control over what products they receive. While that sometimes means the racks are full of worn-out sweatpants and cheesy t-shirts, it also means that treasures

From there, the items go to a Goodwill Outlet or a Last Chance Goodwill, where they are sold by the pound or at a flat rate by item that decreases every day. The stores are a treasure trove with completely fresh inventory at least every week, if not every day, and exceptionally low prices.

Next, the unsold clothing goes to an auction where it is sold unseen in bins or sent to a textile recycling factory. These factories sell about 45% of clothing to other used clothing companies or foreign markets, cut 30% into rags for industrial use and use 20% as fiber fill for things like

Lexi Ciagne THECURRENTMSU.COM 27

and unique pieces are given a second chance to be appreciated.

“I really like how it can be a different experience every time you go,” said Michigan State University student Danielle Carpenter. “Sometimes you can find great basics, and other times you come across more unique things. One of my favorite things I’ve gotten is a pair of embroidered floral ankle boots, but I also love the staples like my Polo Ralph Lauren white button-up.”

Most major thrift stores put out new stock daily as they receive donations, so there is always something new to discover. Inventory updates are dependent on the amount of donations stores receive, but just because a town is small doesn’t necessarily mean they have a bad selection. And, with a little imagination, even dated pieces can be turned into something worth wearing again.

But if thrifting is so great, why did it take so long to become popular? Refinery29 went so

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far as to say, “For Gen Z, thrifting isn’t just a way to shop—it’s a lifestyle.” And yes, factors like impending environmental doom and student loan debt keeping everyone on a tight budget are definite agents in the rise of thrift.

But there’s more to it than that.

A study from AdWeek reports that Millennials seek validation from others regarding their purchases, but Gen Z shoppers are valuing individuality more than any generation before. There’s a sense of pride that comes with wearing something no one else has, going to a thrift store rather than the mall or finding something trendy at a better price than everyone else. Wearing clothes from fast fashion retailers like Target, H&M or Urban Outfitters means that hundreds of thousands of other people are likely wearing the exact same thing. While that safety is appealing to many, others prefer to dig for gems rather than settling for rhinestones.

However, there’s an important distinction between the resale model and thrifting. And, with the rise of resale raising the prices of thrift stores, it’s brought a whole new angle to the balance between accessibility, opportunity and ethics. Both models (resale and thrifting) handle only secondhand items. Some are used and some are not. Items in both places may come from individual donors or from corporations. Goodwill, for example, is known for its partnership with Target in which Goodwill receives unsold or damaged merchandise. The difference, though, is that resale shops pay for the majority of their inventory, whether directly, by paying sellers for products to resell, or by giving suppliers a portion of the sale. Thrift stores, on the other hand, rely on charitable donations.

While that distinction has some blurred lines and exceptions, it explains the next major distinction between the two types of

Medium estimated that 46% of Gen Z shopped second hand in 2019, making them the dominant consumer for the industry. And, as the generation gets older, they’ll have more and more spending power, gaining influence in the economic market. They have the power to truly change the fashion industry with their spending habits. That’s why even as 25 major fashion brands have declared bankruptcy since the start of the pandemic, and most brands saw an average 24% dip in growth, resale stores like thredUP maintained a 20% growth, even during the shelter-in-place order, according to their annual report. Forbes reported that Goodwill retail stores sales reached about $4.9 billion, with a total company profit of $271 million (which also includes money from government and private donations).

Lexi Ciagne

secondhand stores. Because resale shops are usually paying more for their products, they are more selective about what they sell, providing a more curated experience, which usually comes with higher prices. Thrift stores, on the other hand, have less control over their inventory, meaning the customer is responsible to a degree for the sorting and selection process. While resale brands like thredUP, Plato’s Closet or local vintage stores identify the ‘good’ products and sort them by size, color, item and brand, thrift stores may only sort by product category and leave the rest to the customer.

Many thrift stores, unlike resale places, are fundamentally charitable organizations or nonprofits. Local options can support anything from pet rescues, to women’s shelters and schools. The charitable aspect encourages people to support the stores, but some forprofit stores have used the assumption to make even more money.

without any payments to named nonprofits.”

Johnson adds that the store has effectively screwed nonprofits twice, using them to collect and deliver their products and leading consumers to believe their purchase supports nonprofit organizations when it does not.

Even those organizations that are nonprofits don’t always use their money in the way consumers probably imagine. Goodwill and Salvation Army are the leading nonprofit thrift stores. Goodwill’s highest employee compensation is $486,214 annually, according to Forbes, and likely goes to their CEO. Still, 89% of their revenue was spent on charitable services, from job-training programs and community-based programs.

Savers and Value Village, which are owned by the same company, are the largest forprofit thrift store. In 2019, the attorney general of Washington state charged them for “generat[ing] more than $1 billion in annual revenue by hiding its for-profit status behind a veneer of charitable goodwill.”

The Salvation Army, on the other hand, is a little messier. They have a long, dark history of discrimination against LGTBQ+ folk that was most notably highlighted by trans activist and writer Zinnia Jones’ 2013 piece in the HuffPost. The organization members are called “Salvationists” and often operate on conservative religious grounds, resulting in anti-LGBTQ+ behavior from promoting conversion therapy and campaigning against legislation intented to improve LGBTQ+ rights, according to Vox and the HuffPost.

The Salvation Army has since worked to promote their agency’s inclusivity, with the organization’s saying being, “We love and serve everyone.” However, not all its members and leaders reflect that value as individuals.

Just like with big businesses, consumers can’t always be blamed for supporting organizations with poor values, but supporting local charity-connected thrift stores is usually a safer, less homophobic bet. Most importantly, consumers should be aware that their money is more likely to fund the operational costs of the business rather than actual charitable services, meaning they can’t rationalize every purchase as contributing to a good cause.

Regardless of where shoppers’ money goes, the most enticing aspect of thrifting is the price. Thrift store prices are miniscule compared to what similar, new items cost in retail stores. Even consignment models like thredUP and Plato’s Closet, where the individual seller gets a (small) portion of the sale, advertise that their products are up to 90% off retail price.

Author and economist Kevin Johnson wrote about the situation for Nonprofit Quarterly, saying, “In short, nonprofits ask their volunteers and paid staff to gather and deliver tons of goods that Value Village/ Savers then sorts and sells retail or in bulk to recyclers. Value Village also uses logos of nonprofits with permission, though at times, it has used names without permission and

It didn’t take long before savvy consumers who loved to shop realized they could

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turn their hobby of thrift shopping into a profitable business. The affordability of thrift store items, the factor responsible for their previous stigmatization, is now seen as a positive—an opportunity even. Resellers are some of thrift stores’ most loyal customers, scouring for unique pieces, potential flips or easy money.

It’s not a new concept; resellers have been searching for collectibles and brand name items and selling them on eBay since its inception in 1995. Now there’s just a lot more options, from Facebook Marketplace and Offerup to more fashion-specific platforms like

Poshmark and Depop, which take a 10-20% commission of the sale.

And with each platform comes the same question: is it ethical to buy something at a low price and resell it for a profit?

The answer is shades of grey. The largest criticism of resellers, especially those on Depop, is that items are being extremely overpriced. As second-hand shopping rises in popularity, the prices are following. In a TikTok video, user Andrea (@andrizzlesauce) shows screenshots of items listed on Depop that are sold at exorbitant prices (think $250

for a Nike tennis skirt) or are described as vintage items but actually fast fashion items sold at 400% markups. Her video goes on to describe accounts that have bought or traded from her own page and then sold the items at a higher price, serving to highlight the dysfunction in the community.

This seems clearly wrong, right? Some argue that it’s only following the traditional retail model. HowStuffWorks reports that most boutiques and department stores price items at 50-80% higher than wholesale value, but some of that markup covers outside costs like insurance, employee wages, rent/property tax, electricity etc. So, even when someone is a full-time Depop seller, it never really justifies such extreme markups, and something being #rare, #vintage or #Y2K isn’t enough to boost a product’s value to the level at which it is often listed. And who said big business markup is okay either? But that’s a conversation for a different article.

Another common argument against this type of reselling is that it’s clearing out all the good products at thrift stores. Because the low price makes the clothing accessible to people at any income level, critics argue that people reselling thrifted clothing at a markup are taking away all the nice items from people who actually need them at those prices. But that’s the thing: everyone has a right to buy things that are cheap, regardless of their income. And if thrift stores are only selling 20% of all their donations and exporting 1 billion pounds of used clothing overseas, according to Fashionista.com, then no amount of Depop girls are going to be able to significantly deplete the supply of used clothing. They aren’t clearing out any thrift

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store; they’re keeping items from going into landfills (even if their pricing is astronomical).

Even though some thrift stores are raising prices in response to the increased demand, that blood is on capitalism’s hands. Capitalism has created a system wherein the consumer will always be at least partially in the wrong.

It’s unfair to put the weight of an imbalanced, unjust economic system on people who are simply looking for an affordable way to shop sustainably, or even resellers looking to make a profit off their keen eye for great products and sense for sales.

The only real argument to this claim about depleting the thrift supply comes when considering plus sizes, which are much harder to find in thrift stores. Large sizes became

even harder to find when thrifting became especially popular, and a quick YouTube search will reveal thousands of tutorials for flipping larger-sized clothing into something else. And, while the lack of plus-size fashion options is a problem all its own, reselling isn’t at fault. To simplify a very complex problem: many designers don’t make plus-size fashion because they claim they don’t know how, which fashion expert Tim Gunn explained to the Washington Post. When there’s less supply in big retailers and pieces are less trendbased, fewer pieces show up in thrift stores, as described on the thrifting blog Dina’s Days.

Not all reselling is bad, and platforms like Depop allow people to discover a love for upcycling and transforming clothing. MSU student Marta Vait, creator of Instagram and TikTok page @bunniemustard, began upcycling after seeing clothes online she thought she could replicate with old clothes she no longer wore. She sells her items on her Depop @martavait.

“I found that there are so many ways to make really cool pieces out of old clothes and even small scraps instead of throwing them away,” Vait said. “I started bunniemustard because I wanted to share what I make in an organized collection, kind of like a portfolio. While I haven’t done a lot of work that I’ve sold, I always keep my commissions open for any sort of custom clothing work.”

Handcrafted clothing can be very expensive, but using thrifted items for material drastically cuts the cost of creation, and it’s better for the environment. For Vait, both of these factors play a role in why she thrifts. She also enjoys how unique thrifted items are, saying, “I also

thrift because sometimes you can find some amazing statement pieces that don’t even need to be altered.”

“I think everyone should thrift no matter your income or status,” Vait said. “The only unethical thing is when people thrift and resell clothes for much more money without any work being done. When custom work is done, of course the value will go up, but when a thrifted skirt for five bucks is bought and resold on Depop for $50, it wrongly takes advantage of the accessibility of thrifting.”

A lot of people were drawn to thrifting for ethical reasons like reducing waste or boycotting unethical retailers, but with the rise of thrifting came a rise of criticism. But rest easy, thrifters; there’s nothing wrong with buying second hand items or even reselling items at a reasonable price. Thrifting isn’t perfect, and the best way to truly benefit the environment is to buy less altogether, rewear clothing and resist the need for new.

The fashion industry may move fast, but thrifting moves at its own pace, and it’s here to stay.

Lacie Kunselman is a second-year student pursuing a double major in professional writing and public relations. She aspires to one day be managing editor for a magazine or a PR executive at a sustainable fashion or lifestyle brand. Her less-academic pursuits include beach volleyball, macrame and thrift shopping.

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TO THE CORE: THE CRIPPLING CULTURE OF HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS The nuances of mental health and eating disorders in high school sports

By Jenna Merony Adolescence is frequently a time of instability and stress, whether at home or at school.

Modern teens are so familiar with the filtered lens and false captions through which many portray their lives that they may even struggle not to see it as reality, and this isn’t even to mention the mental consequences of diet culture, which often seems inescapable.

Young people are all too familiar with the idea that they can and must work (or pay) enough to reach the fictitious standards they’ve been spoon-fed by their parents, their peers and the media. This has led to significant problems, especially in the world of high-school athletics, where winning and losing can feel like life and death.

“Eating disorders have the second-highest mortality rate of all mental health disorders, surpassed only by opioid addiction,” according to the New York Times. “They have continued to increase for girls ages 15 to 22, which directly overlaps with the peak of adolescence, commonly spent in high 32 FALL 2021

school and college sports. Over one-third of N.C.A.A. Division I female athletes exhibit risk factors for anorexia nervosa.”

For example, Gretchen Fata fell in love with running at 13 and ran cross country throughout high school. She found community with her team and enjoyed the structure of the sport. But with team camaraderie came social pressure not only to perform but to fit in and measure up. To what, exactly, was a mystery. In addition to locker-room dynamics, Fata faced coaches who demanded that she keep food logs of everything she ate and count her calories. Runners were asked to keep a log during pre-season training and throughout each cross country season.

For anyone, especially those still inhabiting growing and rapidly changing bodies, this hyperfixation on food and weight can have major consequences.

“Our coach gave us the same packet every single year about how to eat when running.

The packet included special diets such as a high iron for girls who, like myself, were anemic,” said Fata. “Every week, we turned in a graded food log. If we forgot to turn them in, he would make us write down what we ate at practice.”

The concept of grading what a growing teenager eats is nowhere short of harrowing, especially considering the pressure young women are already bombarded with concerning their weight from anyone and everyone, and this extends to young men, who are now expected to resemble superheroes. This sort of tracking is more than likely to lead to tumultuous relationships with eating and may even lead to anxiety and disordered eating.

“There were many days when I just wrote down what I knew my coach wanted to see.

It makes you self conscious to have to keep a record of what you eat for someone else to examine and judge,” said Fata.

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Fata ran for varsity until her senior year, when her body began to give out. Due to acute hip and back pain, along with a variety of other physical problems, doctors told her she had to take a step back. That was when Fata’s insecurities skyrocketed.

“When I was running, I didn’t hate my body, despite the stress surrounding staying small. When my body started paying the price for running, though, that started to change,” said Fata. “When I was injured and had to stop running due to kidney issues, my confidence plummeted. Without the running, my body was growing in ways I wasn’t used to.”

“Between eighth and ninth grade, I gained 15 pounds in about a month,” McAndrews said. Unlike cross country runners, for football players, food logs and calorie tracking weren’t the expectation.

McAndrew’s team didn’t get any coaching in the way of nutrition, but that didn’t mean diet culture didn’t circulate amongst the students themselves.

“I used an app to make sure I was eating enough. Most of the time, my problem was that I did not eat enough to compensate for the calories I was burning,” McAndrews said.

Similarly to Fata, many female athletes struggle with their body images and battle with maintaining a certain weight. However, many male athletes also face the pressure of having to fit into an ideal look.

For example, Peter McAndrews is a former football player who began playing in the third grade and went on to play varsity in high school. “All juniors and seniors got to play on varsity,” he said, “so muscle mass and weight were not too big of a concern in terms of being on the team. However, to be competitive and earn playing time, having a lot of muscle mass definitely did not hurt.”

The pressure then is on for aspiring high school footballers to pack on as much weight as possible to make the right team. This pressure may or may not come explicitly from a coach’s mouth, but it’s just as strong either way. The overwhelming perception is that getting big equates not only to time on the field but perceived success amongst peers.

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Football taught him a lot about weight training and physical fitness, but it also taught him lessons about insecurity, comparison and struggles with body image. He was concerned with looking similar to his teammates, without considering the great many factors that make it an impossible goal, from metabolism to genetics and beyond.

“I do struggle with self-image because of the high standards I set for myself, as well as the constant comparison to other people throughout high school. This has made it hard to have a positive view of myself and my

fitness despite the time and effort I put in,” McAndrews said.

The corruptive competitive nature surrounding sports for adolescents isn’t restricted to the walls of a high school. Gymnasts, too, focus so much on achieving the lean bodies expected of them that many, like Fata, keep food logs or count calories, which causes unhealthy habits of skipping meals, not eating enough food and having a bad relationship with food overall.

Helen* became a gymnast at age three. She competed in recreational and club gymnastics throughout high school. Her program existed outside her high school, but that did nothing to calm the insecurities surrounding her body, both within and outside of the sport.

“I was prone to restricting myself, but would get really hungry from the exertion and not meet the eating goals my coaches had for me,” said Helen. “I was acutely aware how much skinnier the other girls were. I wanted to fit in and look like them, not feel like I was out of place.”

According to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, “Young male and female athletes tend to be at a greater risk for having an eating disorder if they play sports that focus on personal performance, appearance, diet, and weight requirements.” Gymnastics more than qualifies.

“Eating disorders are like wildfire. We had a teammate who had to quit because of a severe eating disorder, and it reverberated throughout the team. We felt guilty for not reporting it sooner,” said Helen. “We also felt like we needed to slim down. There was a mentality of if she doesn’t think she’s a good weight, what does that make us? This pressure

Gretchen Fata wasn’t intentionally inflicted by the coach, but that didn’t make it any better.”

The impending doom of inheriting a world quite literally on fire, the all but guaranteed financial hardships of adulthood (barring adequate generational wealth) and the constant murmurs from their elders that they’re “too young” to know about pressure and stress can make teenagers feel like they’re carrying the weight of the world, while at the same time berating themselves for not being able to do it better.

As if the competition to succeed in school, gain the approval of peers and get into the right college isn’t enough, some students have

the competitive culture surrounding sports to deal with, which permeates every aspect of student athletes’ lives—perhaps most notably, their self-images. *Photo credits Gretchen Fata (girl running) Peter McAndrews (boy playing football) Jenna Merony is a senior pursuing a double major in professional writing and English with a concentration in creative writing. Her plans after graduation involve graduate school to get a M.A. in creative writing and possibly write a poetry book dwuring that time. After graduate school she hopes to work for a publishing industry as an editor. In her free time she likes to read, run and write poetry.

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36 FALL 2021

BLACK IN THE IVORY TOWER: THE TOLL OF TOKENIZATION A personal story

By Charlotte Bachelor I’m tired of playing the role of the Black sidekick in my friend’s lives. I oftentimes feel like a cross between Mammy and the Magical Negro. Part confidant, part caretaker, always the one expected to fix everyone else’s problems. This surely stems from my selfless nature. A nature that was exacerbated not only by my role as the eldest daughter in a Black family but also as the token Black person friend in my social circles.

Clair Shores. You see, St. Clair Shores was made up of the kind of white people who felt like they were being edgy by just going downtown to a Tigers game, and mind you, this was 2010 before Detroit got gentrified by the same white folks who were too scared to go beforehand.

It wasn’t always this way. Growing up in Detroit, everyone looked like me. I was raised by a village of strong Black grandmothers and aunties. I was privileged enough to attend private school until sixth grade. In my early elementary classes, we learned basic Swahili and hosted a Black History Month living wax museum every other year. There was a pride instilled in me of being Black. Impressing white folks wasn’t at the top of my to-do list.

On my first day of sixth grade, a kid asked me if I was in a gang or if I’d been shot before after I told him I moved from Detroit. I felt a little embarrassed at the time. Looking back at it, I’m angry at the Caucasity this child had to make such disrespectful assumptions about me. Even though my family was much more invested in my education and success than their parents were, my white peers assumed I was gangbanging before even hitting my teenage years. They couldn’t fathom a young Black girl from Detroit outsmarting them. It challenged their status quo.

That changed when my parents divorced and my dad moved closer to the Air Force base where he was stationed. My parents decided to put me and my sisters in a public school in a particularly white suburb of Detroit: St.

The first year at the new school involved a lot of shutting up and keeping my head down. It wasn’t until the next year I finally made solid friends with a group of equally awkward tweens, who now would be

considered “chronically online.” I was able to fall into a sense of returning to pre-move normalcy, but the illusion didn’t last. My so-called friends started with microaggressions, though I didn’t recognize them as such. The word microaggression wasn’t in my vocabulary at the time. A friend told me the only Marvel character I could roleplay was Black Panther. At a sleepover, my friend’s dad refused to make eye contact, let alone speak, with me. He watched Fox News all night. This disrespect continued because I didn’t have a need or desire to speak out. I valued making white people comfortable over protecting my own dignity. Assimilation was complete, to the point where I rarely associated with my Black peers because I thought I was one of the “good ones.”

High school was a different story. Nearly three years later and the district was more diverse, to the dismay of white parents who took to Facebook to complain that schools of choice THECURRENTMSU.COM 37

were “ruining” an otherwise prestigious district.

My friend group expanded as I got involved with the marching band and Gay-Straight Alliance.

I felt more confident in myself and came out as transmasculine to a small group of friends.

I thought I would be safe since there were other queer kids in our friend group. Why wouldn’t they accept me? When I came out to one of my friends via Facebook message, she told me I changed. I was constantly deadnamed and my pronouns weren’t respected. Cis, white gay men were okay in her book because they were a thing to be fetishized. But a queer, Black person coming to terms with their identity wasn’t acceptable.

Despite this friend using the label ally, her blatant transphobic sentiments morphed into racism. It started with getting shoved in the halls nearly every day and having my lunch spit in. It ended with her calling me a nigger 38 FALL 2021

twice. When I confronted her, she told me it’s a free country; and she could say whatever she wanted. Then, she followed up with, if Kevin Hart could say it, why couldn’t she?

Looking back on it I should’ve punched her in the mouth, but I didn’t want to cause a scene and I was afraid of being the angry Black woman, the loud uncontrollable ghetto woman. And do you know, not a single white person in that situation came to defend me?

They just sat there like deer in headlights and eventually abandoned me. It didn’t matter that I spoke like them, dressed like them, I was still just a negro.

Nearly a decade later, I found pride in my Blackness and queerness once again, thanks to the supportive communities I built at MSU. However, the white folks stay the same with their insincere notions wrapped in faux-wokeness alongside a heaping serving

of white guilt. Their systems of accountability are little more than farces to keep one hand on the purse strings and the other over our mouths as we drown in silent suffering.

We’re left to hope one day they can smell their own shit.

I am not your mammy.

I am not your magical negro.

I don’t, and I won’t, make myself smaller or quieter to make the white folks comfortable.

I will take up all the space I want and need and continue to shine brighter than them all.

Charlotte Bachelor is a junior in the Professional and Public Writing and Digital Humanities She is an avid writer and social media strategist. When not working she can be found watching commentary YouTube videos and thrifting.

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Iliana Cosme-Brooks 40 FALL 2021

NEW OLD SKILLS How people are revitalizing domestic skills as hobbies

By Peyton Frederickson When people have spare time, they often turn to video games, TV or sleeping. But there are other relaxing things to do, such as sewing, cooking and even calligraphy, all skills that many people relied upon prior to the 21st century.

alumna and Jacqueline Bell, a senior at Kalamazoo Central High School, all revitalized antiquated skills as a hobby in their free time. Iliana sews and crochets, Shelby does embroidery and Jacqueline knits.

Traditional home economics courses, where students learned such skills as sewing, knitting and embroidery, are being offered less and less in K-12 schools because the skills are no longer seen as necessary. After all, why learn to do work that can be easily outsourced? A button fell off? Take it to the dry cleaners to fix. Don’t feel like cooking? Doordash. Need a sweater? H&M.

Q: When did you get into your new skill?

For some, though, the do-it-yourself spirit lives on, whether for hobby or function.

Perhaps the most prevalent way of keeping these skills alive comes from those who turn them into hobbies or a side business. Such pastimes are becoming increasingly popular with Generation Z. These hobbyists explore traditional skills to craft for themselves, their loved ones or even to sell. Some have been learning since middle school while others began when the pandemic inspired them to do something other than (or while) binge-watch television.

Iliana Cosme-Brooks, a student at Michigan State University, Shelby Smith, an MSU

Iliana: I didn’t do many of these sorts of crafts before the pandemic—most of my skills surrounded hat making and woodworking.

But, after being stuck at home for a few months, I picked up embroidery since I had some experience with hand sewing. That turned into getting a sewing machine over the summer and learning how to crochet over winter break. And now it’s turned into a bit of an obsession of mine.

extracurriculars under my belt, but reading was the only thing I did for myself. I always wanted to expand on my needlework and fabric crafting experience, especially after landing a gig as a costumer with the Roial Players, a student-run theater group on campus. So, when the pandemic hit, I saw it as the perfect time to learn these skills with the main goal being that I want to be able to make my own clothes and costumes.

Shelby: The day I brought home my cat, a friend commented I should pick up embroidery to round out the picture, and I

Shelby: I embroidered for the first time in September 2020.

Jacqueline: I started knitting back in sixth grade when my aunt gave me a knitting loom for Christmas.

Q: What motivated you to learn the skill?

Iliana: I’ve never had any real hobbies outside of reading; I have a bunch of

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thought it sounded like a fabulous idea. It helped that I was living alone many months into a pandemic, so the methodical nature of hand embroidery was a fabulous way to pass time and create finished pieces to smile at.

Jacqueline: I love crafts. It’s really all I do besides read. What got me motivated was when I made a hat for my sister’s birthday and she loved it. I wanted to keep learning so that I could learn how to do more.

Q: What was your learning process?

Iliana: For the most part, I learned everything online. With embroidery the learning curve wasn’t that bad—I just looked up YouTubed tutorials for different stitches— and it was a similar process for crocheting, though I didn’t have any previous experience with yarn crafts. Learning how to use a sewing machine was a whole other beast since I was reliant on the machine’s manual instead of online resources. I still reference it from time to time because there are an insane number of

settings, and I don’t know if I will ever be able to remember them all.

Shelby: I began with kits that came with fabric with a pattern on it printed on it, all the string you need and detailed instructions to get you through the project. I looked up how to do different stitches online and learned from YouTube videos. I also purchased a few books on the craft. I found one from 1973 at a used bookstore that has hundreds of pages of stitches I never would have learned otherwise, and it has really illustrative pictures and useful explanations. That has been a great resource.

Now I make my own designs on Photoshop and by hand and work with a much wider variety of mediums to put my stitches on. Once you become comfortable with the basics, the possibilities are as wide as your imagination.

sure it’ll wane when life gets busy. It’s my new favorite way to make gifts for people, too, and that’ll always be fun. It has become my favorite way to wind down at the end of the day and I suspect that won’t change.

Jacqueline: For sure! Knitting is a very relaxing hobby and it actually helps with my anxiety a bit. Hopefully in five years I will be knitting sweaters for myself and my friends.

Q: If you could make a profit off of the things you make, would you?

Iliana: I don’t know if I would. This is something that I like to do for myself (and to make gifts for other people, of course). I’m definitely not a business-savvy person, and I don’t think I could produce items fast enough

Jacqueline: I learned mostly through watching YouTube. And by watching so many tutorials, I went from knitting on a loom to needles.

Q: Do you see yourself continuing to do it in the future?

Iliana: I do see myself continuing to make clothing, but probably not at the rate that I’m doing it right now. Once life returns to inperson things, I don’t foresee myself having a ton of time to put into making clothes, costumes and crafts. I will still have books to read and homework to do over the next few years, but after that, I don’t know where life will take me. I think there is a very good chance I will keep up with this, because why would I buy something if I can make it myself?

Shelby: With how much I love it, I don’t think I’ll ever drop the craft entirely, though I’m

Jacqueline 42 FALL 2021

Shelby Smith

to keep up with any level of demand.

And besides, none of my pieces are ever “perfect.” I have been doing all of this for less than a year, so I see every project as a learning opportunity, rather than a way to make money.

Shelby: I don’t have the time to keep up with an actual business from my embroidery pieces, and I don’t want to morph something fun into something exhausting, but it’s nice to earn a little money when I’m up to it. I’ve sold and commissioned a few pieces to friends.

need to be able to make something that I will be happy with.

of dreaming up and executing a project is so fulfilling I keep going back for more.

Shelby: At first, a lot. In order to get good at it, though, I had to swallow my perfectionism and keep going when my stitches were less than perfect. It’s difficult but important to remember that the beauty is in the joy of creation more than the perfection of the product. Have I entirely abandoned certain projects that became more frustrating than fulfilling? Many times. Sometimes I’ll return after a few months away. I’ve only been doing this for about a year, but the process

Jacqueline: Sometimes I do feel like stopping. Knitting takes a lot of time depending on what it is you’re making and it can get a bit frustrating. The looks on my friends and family’s faces whenever I show them what I just knit, keeps me going.

Q: If someone wants to try to learn how to do your skill, what tips would you give?

Jacqueline: I definitely would. I have wanted to open an Etsy shop to sell my crafts for about three years now. From a young age, I’ve always loved making and selling things.

Just the thought of someone buying and liking something I made makes me really happy.

Q: Did you ever feel like stopping?

What kept you going?

Iliana: Part of the reason I am so willing to invest my time and money into crafts like these is because they give me a chance to test my patience threshold, as well as my problemsolving skills. Because I learned all of these skills by myself, there is no one who I can ask for help when something isn’t working; I have to figure it out myself. And, as someone who isn’t generally patient, I can appreciate how practicing crafts like these help me visualize solutions and work-arounds instead of ragequitting (which I have been guilty of in the past). When I do get frustrated over a project, I will usually let it sit for a few days before going back to it, giving myself time to mull over the issue before sitting down again to work on it. Because I never have deadlines for my projects, I can take as much time as I

Shelby Smith THECURRENTMSU.COM 43

Iliana: I would start by watching lots of videos. Before I started any of my crafts, I would just sit and watch videos of people making things—tutorials or otherwise.

Being able to visualize something before buying supplies and sitting down with a tutorial gave me a good idea of what I was getting myself into. Watching skilled makers makes it clear that you are not going to learn a new skill in a day, but they also display the mechanics of the craft, which really helps when you get to the stage when you’re working without patterns or instructions. Also, crafting isn’t the cheapest, so I would recommend getting good at couponing and thrifting.

Shelby: I always told myself I wasn’t an artist outside of writing and could never do something like this, but the reality is that I went from novice to pretty damn good in mere months. It requires precision and impeccable lighting, but I think embroidery is a really accessible medium that anyone could learn if they desire to. YouTube videos are really useful in showing you how to work your needle and kits with instructions are available all over the internet to help get started.

Jacqueline: YouTube is going to be your new best friend. You can learn so many tips and tricks on the different kinds of stitches you

can do and it will really help you get started.

Trust the process, it takes a lot of practice to get the hang of knitting.

These three young people picked up what were considered traditional domestic skills and turned them into modern hobbies, which aren’t limited to needlework and knitting; crafts such as jewelry making, traditional and westernized calligraphy and metalworking are also gaining momentum.

While for some, hobbies are just for fun, many crafters make a profit off their wares.

E-commerce websites and social media networks like Esty and Facebook Marketplace have become a hobbyist’s best friend if they wish to sell their items online.

Many online businesses sell handmade jewelry, ceramics and interesting art pieces.

Consumers can also find people who do calligraphy to write invitations or posters for events like weddings and birthdays. There are countless hobbyists who love to make things with their niche skills and share them with their communities, and purchasing through small shops helps support artists and local communities.

Peyton Frederickson is a third-year student working towards a degree in public and professional writing with a focus in editing and publishing. She dreams of being a successful author but wants to first work professionally in a publishing company as an editor. One of her career goals is to translate and edit books from foreign countries, specifically Japan. In her free time, she is either reading, writing or working on her Japanese.

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46 FALL 2021

TRAUMA, DISABILITY & POPCORN Explore the impact depictions of trauma and disability in the media have on those who consume it.

By Lucas Polack It’s never “just a movie.” Whether in blockbuster films, Netflix shows or other forms of media, fictional depictions of sensitive issues come with real-life consequences. For example, Netflix’s teen drama series “13 Reasons Why” had significant correlation to an increase in monthly suicide rates among youth in the U.S. after its 2017 release, according to a study conducted by the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

There’s no shortage of media that depicts highly-traumatic events, their contributing factors and ensuing aftermath. Similarly, extensive scientific research is being conducted to examine how these kinds of films and TV shows affect viewers. Many of them focus on “13 Reasons Why,” which is subject to criticism regarding its explicit portrayal of main character Hannah Baker’s death and suicide. Stories that romanticize suicide can be traced as far back as “Romeo and Juliet,” but if Netflix’s removal of the controversial “13 Reasons Why” suicide scene in 2019 is any indicator of a change in the tides, filmmakers

are reconsidering how they should handle trauma in entertainment.

The increase of awareness and creative responsibility is largely thanks to advocacy groups such as Action Alliance, a nonprofit organization focused on suicide prevention.

One of their “National Recommendations for Depicting Suicide” encourages filmmakers to collaborate with experts in the field and individuals with personal experience when creating entertainment that involves suicide.

Additional focus points, which can be found on their website, include emphasizing the complex nature of suicide, showing characters who find help and, of course, avoiding graphic depictions of suicide methods.

When done right, movies and TV shows can have the power to deter people from selfharm, encourage help-seeking behavior and destigmatize misunderstood issues. And, though entertainment that abides by all of Action Alliance’s recommendations is few and far between, that doesn’t mean all unabiding media is hopeless. A 2020 Health Soc

Care Community study found, including the negative effects “13 Reasons Why” can have on viewers, evidence exists for beneficial effects among those who watched through season two.

While the 2014 film “The Skeleton Twins” has its flaws—methods of suicide are depicted twice—it otherwise tackles suicide and depression responsibly. Listed on the National Alliance on Mental Illness’ list of “Best Movies About Mental Illness,” “The Skeleton Twins” shows estranged twins played by Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig brought together by dire circumstances.

The story begins with Hader’s character moving in with his sister after an attempted suicide—an important plot point that coincides with Action Alliance’s guidelines. In efforts to more accurately depict suicide, the advocacy group urges filmmakers to “portray characters with suicidal thoughts who do not go on to die by suicide.” This is the reality for 90% of individuals who attempt suicide, according to Action Alliance.

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Another film featured on NAMI’s list is “Silver Linings Playbook,” a curious inclusion considering criticism of the movie’s portrayal of bipolar disorder vocalized by some film critics and even doctors. In 2012, Vulture interviewed Harvard psychiatrist Steven Schlozman for his stance on the film’s portrayal of mental illness. Schlozman generally liked the film, but he identified one key flaw in the movie’s plot: Pat (Bradley Cooper) overcomes his disability through a romantic relationship with Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) and, of course, tango dancing. Referring to the act of falling in love, Schlozman said, “it’s not going to cure 48 FALL 2021

bipolar disorder any more than it’s going to cure diabetes.”

The validity of that critique, in part, depends on a somewhat debatable plot point in “Silver Linings Playbook:” whether or not Pat continued to take medication for his condition. In any case, Richard Brody for The New Yorker condemned the film’s “faith-based view of mental illness” and what he interpreted to be a challenge of the validity of medical treatments. A scene in the movie that shows Pat’s therapist intentionally triggering him with a song— which is not a common medical practice—is

cited by many critics with similar gripes.

This amounts to the potential for further stigmatization of science-based mental health care.

Stigmatization is a chief concern in entertainment that portrays disability. Films like M. Night Shyamalan’s “Split” or Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” sensationalize a condition that can “upset and potentially exacerbate symptoms in thousands of people who are already suffering,” according to Dr. Garrett Marie Deckel, a psychiatrist at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine.

Whether the problem is inaccurate depictions or offensive portrayals of disabilities, there has been an influx in movies about disability in recent decades, and they’re often problematic. The Washington Post found that, since Dustin Hoffman won the Oscar for Best Actor for his work in “Rain Man” in 1988, 14 of the 27 best actor awards went to those portraying a character with some sort of disability, despite abled actors playing them.

Hollywood’s fixation on disability has the potential to spread awareness and champion oft-unsung stories, but more often than not, Hollywood falls flat on these feats.

“While most of these popular disability films surely did introduce many non-disabled people to new ideas about disability, and provided at least some much-needed representation for disabled viewers, they also perpetuated and even deepened ableist stereotypes and cliches,” Forbes’ Andrew Pulrang writes on the subject. An example of said stereotypes is “the child-like and virtuous intellectually disabled character” exemplified in Tom Hanks’ “Forrest Gump.”

Regardless of subtext in these characters, Hollywood movies about disability are often inherently offensive when an able actor is casted in a disabled role. While audiences have endured these portrayals in “My Left Foot” with Daniel Day-Lewis and

Eddie Redmayne’s performance as Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything,” the 2019 film “Peanut Butter Falcon” flips the script. Starring Zack Gottsagen, an actor with down syndrome, the film follows its protagonist on his quest to become a professional wrestler. According to Pulrang, “Peanut Butter Falcon” is an enthusiastically welcomed depiction of disability by disabled viewers, and a big hit all around.

“Sound of Metal” is another 2019 film that is integral in the ongoing movement towards responsible and accurate depictions of disability. When heavy metal drummer Ruben, played by Riz Ahmed, loses his hearing on account of his profession, he must learn to adapt. Reluctantly, Ruben moves into a community of deaf people to learn the beauty of life without hearing, though he ultimately plans to get a hearing implant surgery and resume his music career.

At the core of the film is Ruben’s struggle to “fix” himself and get back to his past life. Importantly, the core belief in the deaf community is that deafness is not something to be fixed. It is a way of life and a source of pride for individuals who live it.

The making of “Sound of Metal” involved extensive collaboration with deaf people on part of both Ahmed and director Darius Marder. According to Variety, Ahmed

spent seven months learning American Sign Language under the tutelage of Jeremy Lee Stone, who also played an ASL teacher in the movie. Although some supporting roles went to deaf actors—namely, Lauren Ridloff, Shaheem Sanchez and show stealer Chelsea Lee—“Sound of Metal” is not perfect in terms of inclusion and representation. As reported by publication Disability Horizons, the film received some backlash from the deaf community concerning the portrayal of a deaf character by Ahmed, an actor who is not hearing impaired.

There may always be room for improvement in the depiction of trauma and disability as entertainment. While it is great to see significant strides made toward more responsible filmmaking, it is important that this trend continues to right the wrongs that have been so pervasive in past media. Let the stories about marginalized experiences be told by people who experience them. To echo the mantra of a bigger movement in disability that remains relevant in entertainment: “nothing about us without us.”

Lucas Polack is a junior studying professional and public writing. He is an avid music listener and devout fan of “The Simpsons.” Lucas works as a co-director of editing at VIM Magazine and has aspirations to write and edit music journalism in his professional career.

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OVERWHELMED AND OVERLOOKED: WOMEN WITH ADHD

By Jennifer Bell

Alice Williams* is an intelligent, high achieving college senior. She has always done well in school, and prior to her freshman year of college, never considered that she could have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. This all changed when, at 19, she tried adderall for the first time. She hoped it would help her study, not lead to an unexpected ADHD diagnosis.

Adderall is often used as a recreational “study buddy” because, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, it sends excess dopamine to the brain. In neurotypical users, this flood of dopamine causes a euphoric feeling. For people with ADHD though, the drug helps balance out the baseline dopamine deficiency that causes ADHD symptoms.

While Williams’ peers felt euphoric on adderall, she became calm and focused, a personal rarity. This experience pushed Williams to consider the possibility of having ADHD, and three years and six difficult semesters later, she finally pursued formal testing at 22. Williams received a diagnosis for inattentive ADHD and, for the first time, she considered: maybe I’m not just lazy. Her diagnosis gave a name and an explanation to her daydreaming, listening problems, struggles with memory, executive dysfunction and more.

Williams is not alone in her experiences.

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that impacts one’s ability to regulate attention.

It is typically diagnosed in childhood, but according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, young boys are over two times more likely to receive a diagnosis than young girls. According to an article published by the American Psychological Association, this disparity occurs because the majority of research and diagnostic criteria focuses on how ADHD presents in young boys, ignoring how it presents in young girls.

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*Names have been changed to protect individual’s privacy

quality of life drastically improved. She had more energy and a sense of calm that she had never known before. For the first time, she could completely control her surroundings, her schedule and the distractions around her.

Former MSU student and psychotherapist Bridget Marchese had a similar experience when she was diagnosed with ADHD at age 24. She always did well in school, but when pursuing her masters degree, she found herself struggling to complete work or find motivation. She researched her symptoms and ultimately pursued testing for her ADHD.

Boys are more likely to display hyperactiveimpulsive ADHD, which is characterized by being disruptive in class, having difficulty sitting still and acting impulsively. Girls are more likely to display inattentive ADHD, characterized by daydreaming, becoming easily distracted and feeling overwhelmed.

Parents and teachers have learned to look for disruptiveness and high energy as signs of ADHD. Distractedness? Not so much. For this reason, many girls go undiagnosed and are left to struggle through years of school and work before realizing as grown women they have ADHD. Dr. Karen Moroski-Rigney is one such woman.

She completed years of higher education, a dissertation and years of teaching and working in writing centers before being formally diagnosed with ADHD and autism at age 31. She decided to seek diagnosis after being sent home for COVID-19. Instead of feeling the loneliness and anxiety many experienced, Dr. Moroski-Rigney felt that her

As a mental health professional and someone who experienced a late ADHD diagnosis, Marchese explained that “a lot of the time the people who were missed in childhood just end up researching it on their own and almost doing a self diagnosis, first in their 20s or so, and then they go out and seek help once they realize the symptoms ring true for them.”

Williams, Dr. Moroski-Rigney and Marchese all received their ADHD diagnoses as adults, likely in part because they are all highachieving students and professionals.

“People who have ADHD are typically of average or above average intelligence. I think a lot of the time they end up developing these different coping mechanisms to fit in this neurotypical world and kind of get them through,” said Marchese about why many go undiagnosed.

Although many women with ADHD are intelligent and high achieving, it is utterly exhausting to constantly use coping strategies to meet the expectations of success. This draining and frustrating

experience can lead to depression, anxiety, low self esteem, perfectionism and a number of other mental health struggles common in people with ADHD. Williams was diagnosed with persistent depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder just before getting her ADHD diagnosis. She sees these diagnoses as working in tandem.

“They go together so much that I don’t know which is which when I’m having a hard time,” said Williams. “It’s so hard to accept that you aren’t lazy, because people are always like you know what you need to do, why can’t you just do it? And they seem to be able to take their own advice, but I can’t get my brain to work that way.”

For Dr. Moroski-Rigney, the exhausting experience of having undiagnosed ADHD THECURRENTMSU.COM 51

minors, interviews with parents and teachers.

A person’s results will then be compared to results typical of ADHD to see similarities or differences. Examiners look at many different elements to confirm whether a person is experiencing ADHD or something that presents similar symptoms.

Marchese is especially aware that a diagnosis gives patients access to stimulant medications, which risks addiction. Testers have to be aware of potential malingering, wherein people mimic known symptoms to receive medication they don’t actually need. Marchese is also concerned about giving children medications that may not be helpful or could impact development. She errs on the side of caution when diagnosing, and often gives the least serious diagnosis possible for children to avoid the risk of addiction as they grow.

led to a diagnosis for clinical depression at age 18. When she tried the prescribed antidepressants, they never made her feel less depressed. She resigned herself to being sad and overwhelmed for her whole life. However, when she realized she had ADHD and autism, she found that her depression was a side effect of being constantly overstimulated and overwhelmed. ADHD medication improved Dr. Moroski-Rigney’s quality of life in a way that antidepressants never did.

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Williams, Dr. Moroski-Rigney and Marchese all benefited from their ADHD diagnoses.

However, the process of testing and receiving care can be complicated, high stakes and financially inaccessible for many. Marchese administers ADHD tests, a process that involves an interview, self-report questionnaires, surveys about depression and anxiety, intelligence tests to investigate other possible cognitive disorders, computer tests to measure sustained attention and, for

Even when testers like Marchese are working to support patients, the path to getting a diagnosis can feel frustrating and difficult to navigate. It took Dr. Moroski-Rigney six months of appointments with doctors, psychiatrists and therapists as well as referrals to receive an affirmative diagnosis.

She is still working to receive disability accommodations from the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities at Michigan State University. She also acknowledged her ability to seek diagnosis because she has access to health insurance, time to pursue testing and is financially stable. For many people, especially students and lower income families, the time and money required to receive a diagnosis is simply not a reality.

ADHD does not discriminate between gender, socio-economic status, race or

culture, but the process of receiving a diagnosis and care does.

“We get told that normal exists and we need only work harder to achieve it. It’s a chronic invalidating of neurodivergent and disabled people,” said Williams.

Many women are pushed to fit their ADHD symptoms into the boxes of what normal is perceived to be when interacting with the larger world. This masking, or hiding, of symptoms is a way to get by in a neurotypical world, but it leaves many people without support because their needs are invalidated, misunderstood or simply unseen.

As Williams, Dr. Moroski-Rigney and Marchese have shown, the road to a mental health diagnosis is rarely straightforward, and often paved with societal and financial obstacles. Privilege, power and intersecting identities all affect a person’s access to a diagnosis. This is a deeply unfair and frustrating truth, especially because a diagnosis can provide access to life-changing care and support.

Although access to a diagnosis is far from equal, a person’s right to a happy, healthy life should be. Acknowledging the barriers to access, Dr. Moroski-Rigney encourages anyone who feels that they are struggling, overwhelmed, unmotivated or experiencing symptoms of ADHD or autism to do research and, if possible, pursue testing.

“If you have the resources and privilege to pursue the testing, pursue the testing. Because what if you could be happier?” asked Moroski-Ridney. “What if you could be less overwhelmed? What if you don’t have to be

sad and overtired every day for the rest of your life, just because some psychiatrist said you were depressed when you were 18?”

Everyone with ADHD has their own story and experience, but those of people born female are often marked by being chronically overwhelmed and overlooked. If you resonate with the stories in this article, think you have ADHD or are struggling to manage your mental health, consider investing the time

to do research, reach out to a mental health professional if accessible or look for support online or in your community. And in the meantime, be kind to yourself.

Jennifer Bell is a third year undergraduate studying professional and public writing.

She works as a writing consultant and the undergraduate media coordinator for the Writing Center at MSU. When she’s not working, Jennifer can be found listening to podcasts, wandering the outdoors or escaping into a book.

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54 FALL 2021

ONLINE DATING IN A DIGITAL AGE

By Laura Westcott People were making “personal ads” in the newspaper as far back as 1685. There are records of dating profiles in magazines and newspapers as recently as the 1990s, when dating sites had already started gaining traction. People have always been seeking to make connections with those they’ve yet to meet. The easiest way to do that these days is far and away dating apps, but this doesn’t mean they’re easy to navigate.

The first computer-actualized matchmaking service was a class project at Stanford in 1959 called “Happy Families Planning Services.” In 1964, Joan Ball started the first commercially run, computer-generated matchmaking company in England, which predates the first American program, “Operation Match,” by a whole year. At this time, there weren’t any preconceived notions or stigma surrounding computer-assisted matchmaking.

Digital dating was quite a niche habit for a long time. The first glimmer of legitimacy came in 1998 when “You’ve Got Mail” starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks hit the silver screen, and popularity only grew as digital dating profiles progressed from home computers to pockets with the release of the iPhone in 2007 and the app store in 2008.

But it wasn’t until the release of Tinder in

2012 that online dating was revolutionized.

Tinder’s signature swipe-to-like approach made the process fast and easy. It became so popular that during America’s 2016 presidential election, one of the Democratic campaign slogans encouraged voters to “swipe right for Hillary.”

Now, there are over 1,500 dating apps to choose from. Many dating apps have different niches to help an interested individual pick a platform, but this isn’t to say any reigns supreme. Tinder is a solid option for those who aren’t sure what they’re looking for, since it is considered somewhat of the dating app baseline, with over 100 million downloads according to the Google Play Store. Many college students think Tinder is exclusively for hookups, but couples who met on the app beg to differ.

Bumble is a good dating app for women who want to make the first move because its unique system requires those who identify as female to get more of the immediate power and message first, but this system falls apart for same-sex and gender nonconforming pairings. Hinge is a new popular platform to start looking for a more serious relationship. Grindr is strictly used by the LGBTQ+ community and is the largest and most popular mobile app of its kind.

If these apps prove to be too big an ocean, there are plenty of specific apps for different niches. Woman looking for another woman?

Try HER. Looking for someone in a particular faith group? Try Christian Mingle, JSwipe or muzmatch. Farmers looking for others in your farming community? (Yes, that specific) Try Farmers Only. Or there are apps like The League or Luxy, the latter of which problematically claimed to be “Tinder, minus the poor people.”

Those unsure of the right place to start should be as forthcoming with their interests and intentions as possible before picking a platform and be ready to be patient no matter which they choose. Since dating apps are the new norm, college students in 2021 know this better than anyone, but online dating is actually widespread amongst every generation. 50% of college students use dating apps, according to the Pew Research Center, while 30% of Americans have used dating apps at some point in their life, according to a survey of the general population. It is more likely for older generations to use dating apps more seriously, but all demographics have their successes and failures.

Online dating is certainly widespread, but so are malicious users perusing the internet.

For a generation of kids told not to talk to THECURRENTMSU.COM 55

confident will help you weed out the creeps,” said Gable.

Jada Jenkins, a MSU senior, gave a similar testimony. “Most guys won’t tell you if they have a felony, if they’re drunk drivers; sometimes they’ll even lie about age. From my experience, I’ve had boring dates and okayish dates, but I’ve also had dates that put my life in danger, and it’s a little scary to think back on now.”

Gretchen and Reese strangers online, ignoring that advice with apps like Tinder can lead to some unpleasant experiences. Sadly, this is the norm for online dating, especially for women.

Sienna Gable, a junior at Michigan State University, said, “So many guys would message me only interested in nudes.” She went on to share tales of homophobia and other disturbing behavior, including an instance that forced her to take legal action.

Gable was in an admittedly bad place when she started using Tinder and Bumble, and her experiences on the apps only made things worse. “My advice would definitely be to be confident in yourself before downloading, because it can be a scary place if you aren’t comfortable with yourself, and also being 56 FALL 2021

Jenkins had some positive experiences but also said, “The downside of online dating is not really knowing who they are until you meet in person, and that’s a really scary thought. You don’t really get to see a person’s personality until you see them in real life because social media can only reveal so much.” ”In all honesty, while the experiences have been somewhat unpleasant, I’ve learned so much about instinct and self-worth, so I’m grateful,” Jenkins said. “This isn’t saying don’t try online dating, but just to be careful about who you choose to meet up with and watch out for red flags.”

Dating apps can have such a bad reputation that some people refuse to use them at all, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t success stories.

Lon and Sheila Hambrice, who have been married for over two years now, met on an app called Coffee Meets Bagel. While Sheila was skeptical of dating apps, Lon was not.

Lon had been trying to meet his perfect match for years, and Sheila matched with Lon only four days after downloading the app.

“I have only EVER been on exactly one date from online dating, and it was Lon,” Sheila

said. “We met each other and then we both discussed it and immediately canceled our other dates that we had previously set up.

I think that is unusual to do and even more unusual to go exclusive like that and verbally say it to each other on the first date, but we both knew we hit it off right away. We met at a pub at nine o’clock after my kids had been put to bed, and we were there until it closed and the staff were kicking us out.”

As a woman, Sheila said she had rules for herself when meeting strangers online that Lon didn’t have to deal with. “Someone always knew where I was. Public places only. The guy was not to know where I lived and couldn’t pick me up or drop me off.”

Sheila also had her kids to worry about. “For me, I had the added challenge of needing to schedule childcare for my two super-young children prior to going on any dates. So, I definitely wanted to vet someone carefully before I was willing to invest money into childcare and time away.” Thankfully, Lon bonded with Sheila’s little ones. Now, Sheila and Lon are expecting a baby of their own.

Marriage counselor, author and CEO of Loves Locket LLP, Jason Slaughter also met his wife online on plentyoffish.com. Slaughter said he has faced no animosity or judgement about meeting his spouse online and has no embarrassment whatsoever about telling people how they met. He even suggested online dating to others “but with caution.”

How Slaughter’s clients meet their partner has no effect on how he does his counseling, “because how you meet is only the beginning.

Why you leave or stay is what we teach. Only difference is the choices that are made after.”

He also wanted to give advice to single people looking for serious relationships, saying, “Don’t date just for entertainment.”

Being intentional, especially on dating apps, is important if the user is looking for an actual relationship, but this isn’t always what everyone is seeking with online dating.

Young adults can sometimes be more concerned with instant gratification and short-term fulfillment than long-term commitment, which makes way for hookup culture. The pervasivity of hookup culture has skyrocketed with the rise of the online dating craze. Swiping apps like Tinder make it so

users don’t even have to leave their bed to find someone to join them in it. In college environments, it can seem like everyone’s doing it, creating the perception that sexual escapades are a compulsory part of the college experience. Such escapades more often than not come with emotional, if not physical, consequences.

It’s certainly true that some people thrive in this casual culture while others avoid it completely, a choice that can lead to some extent of social isolation, especially in college cultures like that of MSU. College hookup culture and binge drinking are inextricably

linked, and the combination can lead to a lot of risk.

Though this dangerous culture is a much more popular feature with younger people, there are still lots of other reasons why college students in particular use these apps. Many people face boredom, especially during a pandemic.

Dating apps have become like a game for many people as a fun way to escape their current reality, but this isn’t Temple Run, and people’s feelings could be on the line. Studies done at the University of Amsterdam showed that passing time is the number one reason young adults use dating apps.

Gretchen and Reese THECURRENTMSU.COM 57

There are even drinking games associated with dating apps, urging people to drink when certain bio staples come up in their swiping.

Online dating has become such a common part of society that many people have it just because all of their peers do. Tian Hao, a 2021 MSU graduate said, “I only ever downloaded Tinder because my roommate did. I wasn’t even looking for a relationship then; frankly I didn’t even know my own sexual preference then. Like, it was just for something fun to do.”

Apps and sites like this can be semi-addictive because of the serotonin correlated with

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them. It’s the same phenomena as posting on Instagram to see how many likes the photo will get. People get a little thrill when someone compliments or shows interest in them, no matter the app. Smartphones bring entirely new ways to receive compliments and validation, especially if someone is new to dating apps and unfamiliar about how quickly the tide can turn.

On the flip side, “dating app fatigue” is an entirely different phenomenon. Hao said, “I had Tinder for years. I would date a guy for a few months, I would delete the app

and then I would redownload it after things ended up not working out. But each time I redownloaded it, I was just a little more tired of it,” Tao said. “I still have it on my phone, but I haven’t opened it in months. I just don’t feel connections through it like I do when I meet people in real life. Plus, I would never want my parents to find out that this is how I met someone, so I’m hoping to meet someone a different way.”

Despite the social stigma and all the bad stories, many people have abundant, even mind-blowing success. Another inspiring

example of success with online dating comes from Gretchen Stormes, who will celebrate her eighth anniversary with husband Reese this fall. Stormes said she met her spouse on Christian Mingle after the site listed them as compatible.

daughter, and she has also found success and is married to a man she met online.

This family has three generations of success through dating online. But Stormes wanted it to be clear that in her relationship, they chose to get offline quickly.

“We chatted online that night for several hours. He asked for my phone number that night and called me the next day. When I heard his voice, I just knew,” said Stormes. The pair had only used the site for a few months before connecting. They bonded over similar experiences before they officially met about a month later.

“We only chatted that first time on the app.

We went to ’real life’ over the phone the very next day and met in person within a month. I think that saves a lot of potential heartache,” said Stormes.

“The friendship we had developed over the phone bloomed instantly into romance in person.” said Stormes, who never felt embarrassed about meeting her husband online and has even suggested it to her friends. Her own father was also trying out dating apps around the same time and met his now wife online as well. Years later, Stormes suggested dating apps to her

Stormes certainly wouldn’t change her experience for the world, saying, “I believe God used the app to bring us together.”

People all over the world use dating apps for validation, acceptance and hope of meeting someone in whatever capacity they can. The best blanket advice for anyone looking to make a profile would be this: always practice safety, no matter what, and try, try, try again.

This was a sentiment that previous couples shared as well. Lon Hambrice also said, “It is annoying because you never know who you will meet since people can be different hiding behind a screen.”

Especially in the digital age with social media and limited face-to-face contact, people can struggle to make genuine connections. But if someone is really trying to find their person, it’s important not to get discouraged when bad dates occur.

Laura Westcott has a BA in professional writing with a concentration in publishing and editing from Michigan State University. She is an editor, artist, storyteller and published comic book illustrator. In her free time you can find her knitting, bingeing “Schitt’s Creek” over and over again or so enthralled in a book that she hasn’t looked up past the pages in hours. If you’d like to follow her art journey, you can find her @laurasartspace on Instagram.

If you are fated to meet your match through dating apps or if you’re just considering hanging out with some people from the internet, even people who seem fun and normal, one can never be too careful. Follow these tips to stay as safe as possible and to help your date to feel safe as well: · Video chat with your date before meeting them · Meet somewhere public and don’t accept or offer a ride on the first date · Make sure a friend you trust has your location at all times · Give that friend a code word you can text them that will alert them to immediately come and get you out · Don’t give too much personal info up front · Don’t come with expectations, especially for “after” the date · No means no. Another other than “Yes!” means no, including uncomfortableness and unsureness. This can and should be applied to everything · Stay sober · Feeling uncomfortable? Leave. You don’t owe anyone anything.

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PUT AN END TO THE CANCEL CULTURE How cancel culture is doing more harm than good

Polina Tankilevitch

By Lacie Kunselman The world is moving faster than ever before.

Technology and social media provides users with instant access to infinite content. It has never been so easy for an average person to access such a large captive audience with minimal effort or preparation. Although platforms like TikTok and YouTube offer some people fame overnight, it can be taken away just as quickly.

The phrase cancel culture, and the act of canceling, finds its roots in Black Twitter but is now used universally. The idea behind this term is that anyone or anything living in the public consciousness can be canceled in a way similar to canceling a contract with their phone company. The phrase originally applied to public figures like celebrities 60 FALL 2021

and social media influencers, but it’s since permeated into politics, economics and everyday life.

Dr. Anastasia Kononova is a professor of advertising at MSU who discusses the concept of cancel culture in her classes.

“The scope of ‘canceling’ was relatively small before social media emerged and helped amplify it. Now information about actual or perceived injustices can be spread around the world in seconds, which makes the effect on individuals and organizations much stronger,” said Kononova. “The idea behind ‘cancel culture’ is a noble one, especially at the time when social institutions, such as legal systems and media, are losing

authority and public trust. We, the public, have the means to collectively mobilize online and bring attention to or correct harmful thinking and actions.”

People can be canceled for anything.

However, it’s debatable whether or not certain actions have warranted the consequences they’ve elicited. Some public figures have indubitably deserved it, like producer Harvey Weinstein, whose career was effectively ended after testimonies of his harassment and assault of women were brought to light. YouTube stars like Shane Dawson, Olivia Jade Loughlin and Logan Paul were cancelled for participation in illegal or incredibly inappropriate activity including pedophilia and blackface, the college

admissions scandal, and graphic content of a man who had committed suicide, respectively.

All of these stars (and many more) saw their following decrease drastically, lost most or all of their brand deals and received the fan backlash that their actions likely warranted. However, all three of these YouTube personalities have bounced back from being cancelled and—with the exception of Dawson, whom YouTube has blocked from earning ad revenue indefinitely—continue to make massive earnings. Paul currently has 22.9 million YouTube subscribers and makes about $22 million each year through hosting social media and live events, according to eBiz Facts.

Many stars have been canceled so many times, it’s easy to lose count. For example, beauty guru James Charles has been called out countless times for a variety of reasons ranging from racist tweets, queerbaiting, criticizing celebrities and grooming underage boys. These allegations are all detailed in the Vulture article “A Complete Timeline of the James Charles Allegations and Controversies.” Charles has lost brand deals and opportunities throughout his three years of scandal, but he still has 25.6 million YouTube subscribers and makes an estimated $8.8 million a year according to NailBuzz.

“When posts are shared millions, or billions, of times, context withers away,” Kononova said.

“At the end, we see an accusation without any context provided. It just becomes ‘uncool’ to be associated with a ‘canceled’ individual or organization. This type of ‘canceling’ leads to a lack of a dialogue where we fail to ask the questions of why and how someone said or did what they said or did.”

So what is cancel culture really accomplishing?

Is it truly holding people accountable?

It doesn’t seem like it. If a celebrity like Charles can boast a growing timeline of scandals with 28 current entries and still have a successful YouTube channel with more subscribers than the entire population of Australia, what lesson is he really learning? That he can do bad things, get cancelled, and end up all right in the end?

It seems as though cancel culture doesn’t truly hold people accountable. Especially those with massive followings.

Sometimes claims for cancellation, which usually aim to end someone’s entire career, are often a bit of a stretch. For example, TikTok stars Charli and Dixie D’Amelio were attemptedly canceled after posting a YouTube video where a chef, and long-time family friend, prepared the sisters gourmet food including snails. Dixie gagged on her snail and spit it out while Charli claimed she’d rather eat dino nuggets. Their behavior was insensitive and inappropriate, but it also led Charli to break down in an Instagram Live where she discussed the video’s resulting comments telling her to kill herself.

THECURRENTMSU.COM 61

Curtis elaborated that they aren’t advocating for an end to constructive criticism, but for simply treating people kindly. “We’re not trying to be like, guys we’re so fragile, be nice to us,” Curtis said. “But you are not going to get anything across to people if you come across hateful… It makes you a less happy person to be carrying the burden of assumptions and expectations for everybody,” Curtis said. Commenting hate on a post with a plastic cup, an example Smith gave, is not going to fix the environment.

“It is often a question of whether bringing attention to and achieving accountability with one individual or organization changes the system for the better or not. Does ‘canceling’ move the social change or does it divert attention from the need for institutional reforms?” said Kononova.

Now, anyone can debate whether the D’Amelio sisters deserve their fame. But for a video intended to be humorous, which at worst was disrespectful, they don’t deserve to be told to kill themselves. What did that accomplish? And how does someone gagging on a snail, or even doing something worse, justify an action as cruel and malicious as a death threat? Imagine the backlash D’Amelio would have received if she had messaged someone telling them to kill themself. The general public can bash and ridicule celebrities and influencers, but they aren’t allowed to do the same. Why hold influencers to such a standard?

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Influencers Jaci Marie Smith and Chelsey Curties are the co-hosts of “What We Said Podcast,” and in the episode Internet Trolls & Cancel Culture, they discuss their experience with receiving criticism simply for being in the public eye. Smith shared the example of getting cruel messages and hate after posting an Instagram story with a book quote she enjoyed. Smith was unaware that the author had been accused of plagiarizing his content, but her followers were very vocal about their disappointment in her. “I just can’t post anything at all without getting [hate] …

Somehow people will find something bad about it,” Smith said.

Yes, individuals need to be held accountable for their actions, but where do people draw the line? Cancel culture often targets influencers and can have a drastically negative effect on their mental, emotional and financial state. While celebrities often have a large enough following and net worth to roll with the punches, some are not so lucky. When someone is cancelled, it has the potential to ruin their whole life, even if they take responsibility for their actions and show growth.

Take Alexi McCammond, a journalist who started at the Washington news site Axios.

In March 2021, she earned the admirable position of editor in chief of TeenVogue.

Before McCammond even began her new job, she was pressured to resign after staff spoke out about racist and homophobic tweets she made over a decade ago.

McCammond is 27. As a 17-year-old, she made a series of bad decisions and chose to make tweets that mocked Asian appearances and used “gay” as an insult. What she did was wrong, and she was the first to admit that by making public apologies when these tweets initially surfaced in 2019 and publishing a long heartfelt apology to her Twitter again in March.

Criticism stems from her addressment of these tweets in 2019 as insensitive rather than racist, but she took full responsibility for her statements and addressed why they were wrong in a later statement on Twitter.

Additionally, there is no other evidence or testimony of McCammond committing any other racist behavior since those tweets from 2011. But her actions as a teenager cost her a job she worked for her whole life.

So is cancel culture constructive at all if it prevents second chances? Hate speech is wrong, and teenagers are old enough to know that, but when the action is done, is there any way to make it right or at least move past it?

A quick Google search of McCammond’s recent work makes it apparent that the political journalist has grown immensely.

It’s time to recognize that as awful and evil as racism and homophobia are, they are not always permanent states. People learn.

People change. If someone makes an effort to learn why they were wrong, explains that they understand how they were wrong, apologizes for their actions and commits to never do it again, then there’s honestly nothing more they can do.

Cancel culture has the potential to create a connected culture of fear. A fear to express one’s thoughts at all and be wrong, a fear that prevents people from making the mistakes that allow them to learn. Although an individual’s original opinion can be wrong, ignorant and hurtful, it sometimes takes them sharing their beliefs in order for them to be taught the alternative. Even when people want to use their words for good, the fear of using the incorrect terminology or misspeaking might prevent them from speaking up at all. Making mistakes is part of growth.

That’s not to say McCammond’s tweets weren’t a mistake. And that’s not to say that breaking the law is a mistake or that anything else people can get cancelled for is a mistake. There’s a difference between hurting someone’s feelings and participating in hate speech. But why not give people a second chance if they demonstrate real growth?

It’s important to hold people accountable and be critical. Continue to call people out when need be. No one is saying to start handing out forgiveness freely, but give it when it’s been earned.

Lacie Kunselman is a second-year student pursuing a double major in professional writing and public relations. She aspires to one day be managing editor for a magazine or a PR executive at a sustainable fashion or lifestyle brand. Her less-academic pursuits include beach volleyball, macrame and thrift shopping.

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